Hey folks, Harry here with AICN intern Ripley and her look at a pair of FANTASTIC FEST Treats, enjoy...
Hello Everyone, Ripley here. The first thing you can expect to hear about Severance, the new British horror/comedy/survival adventure from writer/director Christopher Smith, is how it stacks up against 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. In truth, the two films don’t have much in common. Severance, the fourth film from Smith, is decidedly much darker than Shaun. Although every scene contains the potential for laughs, and often reaches that potential, they are also laced with a tinge of morbidity. The story concerns a group of Palisades Defense employees who are being rewarded with a team-building weekend at a lodge in the mountains of Eastern Europe. Their bus-driver soon abandons the group due a disagreement over which road to take, leaving the group to hoof it and fend for themselves. They soon make it to a lodge which may or may not have been a lunatic asylum for war criminals at some point in history. After a few minor frights during the night, the group realizes that they are, of course, not alone in the woods. The cast is led by Danny Dyer (Mean Machine, The Football Factory), who plays the sort of likable laddish type which has become his trademark. He is joined by a motley crew of some of the best character actors in Britain including Toby Stephens (Die Another Day), Claudie Blakley (Pride and Prejudice, Gosford Park) and Andy Nyman (“Peak Practice”). The sole Yank in the bunch is Laura Harris, who manages to be the blonde female lead in a horror film without getting all her clothes ripped off. All in all, Severance is an enjoyable romp for horror fans or those who thought The Office would’ve been better if more people had lost limbs. FUNKY FOREST On IMDB’s page for Funky Forest, the movie’s genre is listed simply as “comedy.” I’m one to believe that those whose job it is to pigeon-hole movies in to certain genres sat in a room for hours staring at one another, shaking their heads, and finally weeping with the realization that in the midst of a film like Funky Forest, the concept of a genre is meaningless. This film (co-directed by Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki) was hand-picked by Alamo Drafthouse Owner Tim League to be screened at Fantastic Fest. It makes one realize once again how amazing an event like Fantastic Fest is. Though this film has screened at several other festivals, it’s not likely that it will get a theatrical release any time soon. The film is a collage of different characters and stories, some of which intermingle and connect, others which are vignettes independent of everything else to do with the story. Whether or not there is any discernable story is debatable. Some of the recurring characters include The Unpopular With Women Brothers (featuring the hilarious Guitar Brother sequences); The Babbling Hot Spring Vixens; and Notti and Takefumi (each of whom have fantastic dream sequences). My favorite segments were those entitled “Home Room!!!!!!!!” wherein one student from a classroom is given the opportunity to speak about a subject which means something to them. This leads to one student announcing that she has finally found a boyfriend, and another demanding that the person who took his shoe during gym class give it back. Yet all of this doesn’t begin to give one an idea of what this movie is like. No description can possibly do justice to this wonder of a film. All I can say is those who saw it know how lucky they are, and those who didn’t will have to wait and hope for another golden opportunity. Ripley
