Crave

Well another day of Fantastic Fest has gone by and I really wanted to see Room 237 which is a documentary about the Shining and talking about hidden messages in the film but I was too late to get into that one.

Well anyway I’ll catch that flick when it is released on some of the other venues so I decided to check out the other flick that I wanted to see at the same time and that flick is Crave.

What I find interesting is that Crave is the first feature of director Charles de Lauzirika who has worked for years producing DVDs and Blu-Ray releases of such films like the Alien special edition among others.

Needless to say I am pretty familiar with this man’s work so naturally I wanted to see this flick.

Crave follows a 35 year old recovering alcoholic Aiden (Josh Lung) that works as a crime scene photographer that has frequent fantasies such as shooting men on a train that are harassing a cute girl and also beating to death people that can’t stop talking at his AA meeting and then he meets his neighbor Virginia (Played by Emma Lung) who he is attracted to and then one day they hook up.

Now the problem is that Aiden can’t handle the relationship and in time manages to mess it up sending her back to her ex (Edward Furlong) which really sends Aiden to a point where he has to make the choice of what he needs to do.

The film has many subplots such as Aiden’s friendship with a police officer Pete (Ron Pearlman) who is also his AA sponsor  learning various crime investigation techniques. Other subplots include him finding a gun after a robbery and homicide at a crime scene and then his blackmail of a pedophile.

 

All of these subplots come to a head in a surreal climax that makes you wonder is this real or is this in his head.

One thing I like about some of the movies that I watch is when there is a character that I can identify with and as a result I can feel like I am in the movie.

As a professional videographer I have been in some of the situations like the character in Crave is in. (not all of them just a few) which makes the movie harder in some of the scenes where I want to yell at the screen for the character to walk away but I know that he won’t walk away because he is not me and this is a movie and it has to go into the next scene.

 

This movie also utilizes location and set design to continue the storytelling. Such as the fact that the film takes place in Detroit which anyone that watches the news will see that Detroit is a ghost town and looks like a place of bone crushing poverty where is the characters are living.

I’m sure that this flick will receive a main stream release and we will be seeing this flick and more from this director in the near future.

4 Dead Bodies

4 Breasts

1 Beast

1 Zombie

3 ½ Stars

Check it out

 

Wake in Fright

I have always been an avid supporter for film restoration ever since it had begun.

Personally I enjoy cleaning film I find it relaxing. I am also an avid lover of finding “Loft Films”

One thing that makes me happy about my new home here in Austin, TX is that I am among other film enthusiasts. With the film festivals here like Fantastic Fest I get to see movies that I had never even heard of and then I see that they are there and that they are receiving a limited release for courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse.

One of the films that I am referring to is Wake in Fright. I saw this film advertised in the program and I decided to check it out.

The film’s director Ted Kocheff who was in attendance at the screen told an interesting story to the audience in the theater.

It turns out that despite the acclaim of the film it was not well received by moviegoers and as a result disappeared into obscurity and was lost for decades. It was not until someone actually searched for the movie that the negatives were found in a Warehouse in various stages of disrepair that it was realized what it was, and the negatives and audio marked for incineration.

Thanks to this person the film was saved and has now “returned form the dead”.

Now I will be completely honest this film got past me. I had actually never heard of it until now but I am very happy that I did.

Wake in Fright isn’t a horror movie like the title suggests it is the tale of an Australian school teacher going on holiday trying to get to Sydney and stops in a town called “The Yabba” and “The Hospitality” that they show him.

After getting drunk he goes gambling and loses all of his money for his trip and is trapped in the town.

Now when I say “The Hospitality” I am not referring to how badly he is treated in reality the people in the town are polite and want him to have drinks with them and such. That is where he has problems. HE gets drunk allot and when he gets drunk that ends up being where he gets in trouble.

There is a brutal Kangaroo hunt scene in the film.

 

I found out in the post screening QnA that at the time that the movie was being made Kangaroos were hunted and brutally killed during this time to make American Dog Food and the filmmakers were asked to keep the hunting footage in its entirety to show what really happens there being that the kangaroos were quickly becoming endangered. As a result Kangaroos are no longer killed for dog food.

 

It is common knowledge that I am a fan of Donald Pleasence I want to say that I had been a fan of his ever since Halloween in the immortal role of Dr. Sam Loomis the nemesis of Michael Myers that I wanted to see everything that he had played from one of three portrayals of 007’s arch nemesis Blofeld, to the henchman Lucas Deranian in Escape to Witch Mountain, and finally the President of the United States in Escape from New York. I have never seen Pleasence in a role like this as he usually plays clean cut and refined characters. In the role of Doc pleasance is anything but refined. As a matter of fact Pleasence is quite the opposite in this film, in a way that you have to see to believe.

 

0 Dead Bodies

8 Dead Kangaroo

0 Breasts

5 Beasts

Gratuitous Drunken Donald Pleasence

Impulsive Gambling

3 ½ Stars

Check it out

The Conspiracy

Well Here we are Kiddies another day of Fantastic Fest. I know that I seem to be a cheerleader for the found footage genre but here is the truth.

I am a documentary filmmaker, I like the narrative genre but I lean far more towards the documentary genre. It really goes back to my childhood and what scared me. When I was a child I watched everything from Halloween to Godzilla and none of it scared me. The movies and such that frightened me was both documentaries and the nightly news. I think the reason is that I know that most of the movies that I watch I know is fiction but documentaries and the news those are reality and the truth is far more frightening than legend.

As a result I naturally gravitate towards the documentaries when I go to a film festival.

 

Today I thought I was doing just that when I heard of this film called The Conspiracy.

I went into this film thinking that it was a documentary about the search for a conspiracy theorist that goes missing. What it turned out to be was another Found footage film.

The plot here is like I said earlier two documentary filmmakers decide to make their subject a conspiracy theorist that they find on the street that talks to people passing by about conspiracies ranging from 9/11 to secret societies.

All goes well until one day the subject mysteriously vanishes without a trace and the filmmakers are left with too many questions as to where he went.

One of them reacts like it doesn’t matter while the other is more driven and will not let it stop. Eventually they are both brought into the world of a secret society that has far more power and reach than they ever thought imaginable and then they are invited to join and as they say the real terror begins.

Unlike many flicks in the subgenre this flick feels more like a documentary than a film. The use of actual footage like the JFK assassination as well as 9/11 footage gives this flick a far more real feel than other documentaries. This is definitely a flick for conspiracy buffs.

 

My Amityville Horror

Well it’s my first Fantastic Fest Here in Austin. Now I have to admit that I just have a daytime pass because I thought I was going to be working for a news network at the time but that didn’t pan out like I hoped and by the time I learned that all of the badges were sold-out.

 

However that doesn’t matter because there are some outstanding flicks screening there during the day so the daytime badge is still a good purchase. Not to mention some of the events I still manage to gain access to as well.

 

One of the flicks that I have seen so far at the event was My Amityville Horror.

Now this flick interested me like many after hearing the title of the film.

When you hear the name Amityville your mind goes to one place and that is 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville New York. This is without a doubt the most famous haunting in the United States.

 

What is it about this story that has us all intrigued? Is It the people, was it the movie?

Personally I give the credit to television shows like In Search Of back in the day.

In Search of was my introduction to the case when I was an early teenager.  I will never forget the image of the doll with the glowing red eyes in that episode. Needless to say that I immediately ran out to Video Works and rented the 1979 Brolin/Kidder flick as soon as I could.

I can’t say that I was obsessed with this incident but my friend Slick definitely was.  I remember him both reading the book as well as buying the box set.

The Amityville Horror was a classic horror flick from a time that I feel horror was at it’s best. Naturally it was going to get the remake treatment.

Well I wasn’t too happy about that but after seeing some of the sequels to the flick I figured that a remake can’t be too much worse than them.

 

I was fortunate to meet George Lutz in 2005 at Hauntcon. Even having a long conversation with the man sitting next to me showing me pictures of the house on his laptop and the images of demons that take shapes in the walls and even the famous picture of a child by the staircase taken after the Lutz family fled the house leaving all of their possessions.

 

Now I know that there are many people that doubt the events that happened in that house were genuine but I can tell you this, That man believed everything that happened.

Now that being said I have just left a screening of My Amityville Horror at Fantastic Fest and now this is an outstanding documentary.

Made by filmmaker Eric Walter this film is a must for any true Amityville fan. That being said Walter even said during the post screening QnA that this may be controversial.

What I truly enjoy is the fact that this is pretty much the same story from a different perspective. The perspective of the son Daniel Lutz.

 

The reason that this is said to be controversial is because in all incarnations of the Amityville Horror George Lutz is in many ways the protagonist of the films even in the 2005 remake where he is depicted more of a crazed Axe Murder than in the other films.

However this documentary paints Lutz as a Step father that had a bad relationship with his step-son even forcing him to run away from home to live on his own when he was 15 years old.

I personally believe the stories told by Daniel Lutz. The man I met in 2005 was a nice man but you have to bear in mind that I was a convention goer and like I said HE believed everything that happened but I am a fan and a paying customer so I am sure that the man I met was a different side than someone whose mother was married to him.

Remember there are always different sides to everyone that you meet. 

My Amityville Horror also focuses attention on the aftermath of the events in the house. The children weren’t allowed to tell their stories to the press as they were sheltered from it and at the time of the documentary Daniel was the only one of the Lutz children to speak out about the events of the film.

As a result I see much hostility in Daniel and a lot of it is directed to the filmmaker while this documentary is filmed.

What is also documented in the film is the reunion between Daniel Lutz and Lorraine Warren who with her husband Ed Warren was the lead paranormal investigators before the book was released.  

Eric Walter makes an effort to show as many perspectives of the story as he possibly can. He even interviews the skeptics and professionals that give their own theories of the events in that house.  

Yes the 1979 film is referenced however due to budgetary concerns no footage was used but the movie didn’t need the footage because it worked without it.

As I said earlier I definitely recommend this film to Amityville fans.

 

 

Retro Review: The Town that Dreaded Sundown

As I pointed out in my earlier post that there aren’t too many flicks that scare me.

I also spoke in my article when I reviewed the Beast of Boggy Creek I mentioned the Town That Dreaded Sundown.

I actually have referenced this flick quite a few times. I know that I mentioned it back in 2010 When Charles B. Pierce passed away.

The truth is that this flick scarred the hell out of me when I was young. I have noticed that I really am not afraid of some flicks. I love seeing monsters because I find them entertaining. Some movies I get scared because It can actually happen but when I was a child the scariest thing on Television was the Nightly News.

Therefore the movies that gave me fear was the movies that were based on a True Story.

Now I know that the first movie that comes to mind with that tagline is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Which is one of my favorites but the real story that TCM is based on is far closer to the other flick it inspired Psycho.

However The Town that Dreaded Sundown is almost the exact story that inspired it and is more of a documentary film and the perfect companion film to The Legend of Boggy Creek.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown is based on what is known as The Moonlight Murders of Texarkana committed by a man known as the Phantom Killer. In which a masked man attacks young couples parking on Lover’s Lanes.

The Phantom’s first couple of victims survived their attacks, However He killed four others and also shot a man reading the newspaper and severely wounded his wife.

Legendary Texas Ranger Manuel T. Gonzaullas aka The Lone Wolf was sent to Texarkana to hunt down the killer but was unable to find him.

There is a small section of the Texas Ranger Museum dedicated to the cases that involved the Rangers worked including the case of the Phantom.

The case is intriguing because like Jack the Ripper the killer was never caught. However the Ripper has far more publicity.

Now The Town that Dreaded Sundown does take a few creative liberties. The first is like Dragnet despite the fact that the story is true; the names have been changed to protect the victims. Other names have been changes as well such as the character clearly based on “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas is changed to Captain JD Morales; He does keep the “Lone Wolf” nickname.

This film is super creepy in particular in scenes where we see the killer on the streets. One scene in particular we see the police talk about the killer in a restaurant with a psychologist giving them a profile and then the camera tilts down to the floor and then moves across the floor showing the killer’s shoes revealing that the killer has been sitting next to them the whole time. All of this happens without revealing the killer’s identity.

As a matter of fact the killer’s identity is never revealed and the scenes where he is seen without the mask he is shown wearing the black shoes that he wore when he committed his crimes and they are accentuated by a music motif to further show that he is there. There is one other scene where his elbow is seen sitting in a car.

I want to talk about the killer’s outfit with the mask. First off someone from Friday the 13^th part 2 had seen this flick. That is because it is basically the same mask used in the flick. What I find the most interesting about the mask is the basicness of it. It isn’t a hockey mask or a repainted Captain Kirk mask it is just a white bag with holes cut into it, but it is still a super creepy mask and that combined with the dark cinematography, the music and the editing you have some scary scenes that will make you want to check the doors before you go to bed at night.

Ben Johnson plays the starring role Captan Morales with Dawn Wells as the much hyped role of one of the victims, and Andrew Prine as the role of Deputy Norman Ramsey. 

Director Charles B. Pierce plays a supporting role as Patrolman “Spark Plug” Benson.  Spark Plug provides some much needed comic relief in the film some would say that it hurts the flick and makes the cops look inept. However I feel that Pierce’s portrayal of Spark Plug grows on you after the first couple of scenes. Some of you may not agree with me but that is my opinion.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown has received much attention especially when it was mentioned in Scream in the scene where it the characters look at the town and Sidney says that this looks like the Town that Dreaded Sundown and Dewey replies that he saw that movie “It’s about a killer in Texas”.

Now I have some fun Trivia for all of you.

The film that the citizens of the town are seeing at the end of the film is The Town that Dreaded Sundown

Also in the big chase scene at the end of the film there is a cameraman sitting on the train filming the movie.

Finally in 2013 The Town that Dreaded Sundown has receved the Full DVD and Blu-Ray Treatment by my friend Michael Felcher and the good people over at Shout factory.

The DVD comes with a Double Feature of both The Town that Dreaded Sundown as well as Charles B. Pierce’s The Evictors and both the Blu-Ray and DVD contain a fascinating Audio Commentary with Historian Jim Presley speaking of the real crimes of the Phantom Killer and the events of the film that aren’t accurate.

There are also some exclusive interviews with both Andrew Prine and Dawn Wells speaking about their experiences on the film and an interesting Essay by writer Brian Albright about the history of the film.

5 Dead Bodies

0 Breasts

1 Beast

1 Car Chase with Crash but no burn

2 Smashed Cigars

Gratitus Stock Footage

Charles Pierce in Drag

Trombone Fu

Mary Ann Fu

Phantom Fu

4 Stars Check it Out

5 Dead Bodies

0 Breasts

1 Beast

1 Car Chase with Crash but no burn

Gratitus Stock Footage

Death by Trombone

Stabbings

Shootings

Compliance

There are some flicks that I feel the need to review after I hear about them.  Now I am fortunate in the fact of where I live and my access to different events and such.

The truth is that I had heard about Compliance this past January after Sundance. There often is a film there that gets under the audience’s skin and they reach accordingly. In 2011 an acquaintance of mine screened a flick there and one person reacted to his film so angrily that he had to be removed by security and was filmed, the video went viral and the flick was given publicity that you could not buy.

Compliance had a similar situation where the QnA after the screening and you can download it on YouTube where the cast and filmmakers are standing in the front of the screen and the QnA begins and a man harshly berates both Dreama Walker and Director Craig Zobel for the use of nudity which I will rant about a little later in this article.

The film is heavily based on the true events that took place in 2004 at a Kentucky McDonalds where a man called a manager pretending to be a police officer and convinced the manager to perform a strip search of a young female employee. The situation escalated to a sexual assault by the manager’s fiancée.

Compliance follows the story very closely so close in fact that those of you that are familiar with the incident know what is going to happen before it happens. Many will complain about this fact but the real events are so unbelievable that no one would be able to embellish the story because it is unnecessary to the film.

The movie plays in real time with many continuous takes and following shots such as following the manager to her car in real time and following the lead investigator in his trip from the police station to the restaurant showing how far it was from the station. Even pointing out that he is there in less time than it takes him to finish his cigarette. That along with the use of symbolism in this film is amazing. The cinematography is also outstanding and works extremely well with both the music and lack of music in certain scenes.

All in all this flick is what it is it is an Art-house film that has the potential to go mainstream. In the QnA there is a woman that says that many young people need to see this flick to keep this from happening to someone else.

The film and the incident that inspired it brings attention to the infamous Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures. Which featured a test subject that had to shock another test subject if they answered a question wrong? The subjects were told that they must continue by an authority figure and a frightening amount chose to continue with the experiment despite the amount of pain that they thought that they were inflicting to the other test subject.

The truth is most people will listen to authority even as audacious as it sounds especially if the authority is the police.

Being that I am someone that does often question the authority the film was hard to watch In particular times. When the subject of Strip Searches came up and the fact that some refused and then walked away and stayed quiet to what was going on. However the caller even at times threatens harsher punishments to the victims as well as praises to others that are complying to his requests. The Caller, whom is given a super creepy performance by Pat Healy, even maintains his confidence and role as a police officer right until he is discovered as a hoax. Now the characters in the restaurant all think that he is the real thing but the viewers are shown pretty early on that Officer Daniels is nothing but a man at his home taking notes and getting off on what is happening. As soon as he knows that he has them where he wants them he ups the stakes and then escalates the situation.

Now on to what I was saying earlier about the man that reacted during the QnA about the nudity in the film. I feel that the film shares some commons with other flicks of the same nature. Films like I spit on your Grave, and the Woman where there are naked women in the film and the subject matter and the events that the woman are going through aren’t used for titillation but more for discuss where we are seeing how vulnerable the women are in the situation that they are in.

I don’t like the taboo associated with nudity. Now I used to be against nudity in films because of people that run websites that will just post the nude images of the women in the film and not tell anything about the film and just show the scenes or the stills taken from the film.

Now as a filmmaker myself I have seen situations in movies where it both adds to the film and takes away form the film. I can even pinpoint when nudity is used to add income to the film because the actress is willing to go the full monty and then there are times where the image of a naked woman is worth a thousand words.

Now I have also seen the negative reaction that people have against the actresses that make the choice to appear naked on film and it angers me to a point that I feel the need to speak out.

I even had an agent tell a room full of filmmakers that if you can’t make a film without nudity that you have no business being a filmmaker saying that you are being exploitive and that the actresses will regret it later on. I feel that the actress regrets it after the negative reaction from judgmental people that just can’t handle their reactions that seeing a pair of breasts on a screen makes them react and they have to get those feelings out of their heads and they feel the need to lash out at the woman that bared their breasts in the first place.

Now I am not going to say that there are some filmmakers that aren’t being exploitive with putting nudity in their films but at least most of them are being honest about it.

Now all of that aside I feel the need to point all of the creative directions that Compliance took to avoid the nudity in particular in the scenes where the sexual assault takes place and the girl is forced to perform oral sex on the man trusted to watch her. The filmmakers use different angles such as the girl’s feet and hands reacting to what she is being forced to do and I really liked the use of the footage of the straw for symbolism which makes me feel the need to point out that this actually happened.

I agree that Compliance should receive a mainstream release and should also be available on Netflix because of the subject matter. Stressing the fact that this flick is not for everyone as walkouts have happened before and they will continue but that is our privilege as the ticket buyer.

Now for those of you that go and are bothered by the content please don’t spoil it for the others that are in the theater.