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These commentary tracks are not in the feed. Visit the Deadtrax page to find a listing of all the films we’ve watched.
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Noirvember continues with a look at two of the best noirs ever: OUT OF THE PAST and NIGHT AND THE CITY
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Last week, I went to the Film4 FrightFest allnighter at my favourite cinema, Watershed. It was my first outing to a film festival, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was really well attended, and there was a great atmosphere. Everyone was getting into the movies and having a wicked time.
Here’s a rundown of the movies shown:
Bad Meat (2011), dir: Lulu Jarmen
Plot: The story of sadistic counsellors at a boot camp for bratty disenfranchised teens, who succumb to a strange illness after eating spoilt meat. The guards initially become ferociously sick, but then turn into fiends with a hunger for human flesh. The teens must put their differences aside and work together to survive.
This movie was almost great. It was utterly gross, and really funny, although it was hard to tell how much of it was intentional. I gather there were a lot of problems with the production, including changing directors and running out of money midway though, and unfortunately it really shows. While most of the movie is great disgusting fun, the last 5 minutes really fall apart and the movie ends so abruptly without any payoff. It was such a shame, because I thought there was a lot of promise here.
Faces in the Crowd (2011), dir: Julien Magnat
Plot: Milla Jovovich plays Anna, a woman who survives an attack by a serial killer, but her head injuries render her unable to recognise faces. She has to find a way to recognise the killer before it is too late.
This was a very odd choice, because it wasn’t really a horror movie at all. It was a good idea, but not very well executed or particularly believable. It had been compared to the far more superior Julia’s Eyes, and while I see the comparison, this movie just doesn’t hold up.
Human Centipede II: Full Sequence (2011), dir: Tom Six
Plot: A mentally disturbed security guard, obsessed with the first movie, sets about creating his own human centipede. This was of course the BBFC-approved cut of the film, missing around 2mins 30sec from the original (tune in to eXplodey Files #62 for our thoughts on that).
I pretty much echo Mat’s thoughts on the movie (http://www.deadlantern.com/2011/10/19/review-the-human-centipede-2-full-sequence/). Visually I quite liked it, although this is amplified by the movie being in black and white. The effects were pretty good and it was also really disgusting, which (I guess) was what was missing from the first movie. That’s about all I can really say about it positively.
Personally I don’t think it takes much talent to gross people out, and there is nothing else to this movie at all. Much like the first film, this is just a concept movie that really goes nowhere. Any preamble to the titular human centipede is a waste of time, because there is no other point to the film. While I am not repelled of offended by the (admittedly impressively gross) content, it’s meaningless if you don’t care about what is happening.
But what I really didn’t like were the constant references to the first film. The main character is obsessed with First Sequence, watches the movie repeatedly, and masturbates to his scrapbook of images and news clippings about it. To me it creates a false universe where the first movie was a big deal, and it really wasn’t. This is how Tom Six wishes the audience had reacted to his film. It amounts to the director unjustifiably sucking his own cock.
The Watermen (2011), dir: Matt Lockhart
Plot: A group of young people are kidnapped by evil fishermen.
I must confess, I fell asleep during this one. It was pushing 4am and the movie wasn’t interesting enough to keep me awake. Shame, because I was occasionally awoken by the sounds of the audience howling with laughter, so perhaps it was good for a laugh.
Cold Sweat (2010), dir: Adrián García Bogliano
Plot: A man hunting for his missing ex-girlfriend finds that she has been kidnapped and tortured by men using chemicals including acid and nitro-glycerine.
This movie from Argentina used a cool idea to disguise a pretty generic premise. There isn’t much original about people being kidnapped, tortured, and experimented on. The difference in this movie is really only the methods used. The girl in question is found covered in nitro-glycerine, and a single drop hitting the floor could cause her to explode. Pretty cool, but aside from that the movie is pretty bland. I think this is one of those movies that is going to fool people into thinking it’s better than it is because it’s in another language and has a drum n base soundtrack. I quite enjoyed it on its own merit, but I recognise that it was nothing really that special. Also I wondered why this movie was shown last, at gone 5am, when a lot of people were too tired to concentrate on subtitles.
Between the first two movies were some screenings of short films, ranging from the intensely creepy (Ark, filmed in one unbroken take) to the downright weird (Die Intrigue und die Archenmuscheln, featuring a singing stop motion penis and dancing vaginas). Some of these will be shown at the upcoming Encounters Film Festival, so please check that out if you are local.
The whole experience was greater than the sum of its parts – while the movies may not have been anything special on their own, viewed with a big horror-loving crowd was a lot of fun. It was a very strange feeling to be walking home at 7am after sitting through five (well, four-and-a-half) very different horror movies. Many thanks to my wing woman Gemma for surviving the whole 10 hours with me! And huge thanks to Watershed and FrightFest for an awesome event!
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Chris and Jo are joined by Mat and Lauren to discuss Syzygy. We also talk more about our thoughts regarding Human Centipede II: Full Sequence.
Also don’t forget to enter the first eXplodey Files competition. Tune in to hear the competition question, and email me for a chance to win the coveted prize, which is a true piece of eXplodey Files history: jo@deadlantern.com
Many thanks to Chris for the following shownotes:
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Looks like my kind of stupid bullshit.
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The Dead Lantern crew was on the scene at Anime Nebraskon 2011 last weekend and we got a ton of cool pics, so check ‘em out! Deejay will be working on a video of highlights from the con in the near future, so check back for that soon.
Feel free to save copies of any of these photos for your own use. Thanks for letting us crash your convention!
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