raptorville

film festivals happen all the time, and often there are pretty cool looking horror fests in sydney - at least one or two a year, anyway. i never go to them, because i’m completely slack, and only go to the cinema once or twice a year no matter how much i want to see stuff.

but i went to this one! a night of horror, just over a week of horror flicks, at the cinema near my house. i didn’t go to all of them (i wondered if anyone did though - like, a million horror films), but i managed to get to two screenings on sunday april 6 (and am planning on going tonight, too).

the first screening (4pm) was based around the debut of a silent/film noir adaptation of the h.p. lovecraft story the call of cthulhu (original text) (”that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.”).

trailer:

not the one with tori ‘gory’ or ‘horse face’ spelling that i never heard of until right now and what the fuck were they thinking?!?! ‘welcome home… to the end of the world’???

trailer:

the one that i did see was so good, though. i can’t believe how good this film was! it was so true to form, so fine, so well done. the attention to detail was incredible, and the sets and models were superb. on top of this, the original score was outstanding, and perfectly suitable. i could go on. so i will. the story is really great, and from what i can gather, the film was produced by the h.p. lovecraft hostorical society - so that’s why it’s so on the money…

i have discovered that you can get in on dvd, and if you like lovecraft, or 20s style silent films, you should get it any way you can.

the film was preceded by 4 other shorts, all based on lovecraft stories, and the first of which i missed. the three that i saw left a lot to be desired.

the film that was playing when i entered, la partition, was a series of stills with a voice over (in french), as opposed to, uh, you know - film. it was better than it sounds, and there was one scene that began to put me on edge, but not enough i’m afraid. the second one that i caught, getting out (usa), was the coolest of the three shorter shorts, and featured crude animation and pretty lo-fi voice overs. i don’t really feel as though its worth going into detail of the stories, it might just be better to read the originals.

the third one, a legend told (sweden), was good for a laugh, and i got one fright out of it, but it till fell a bit flat. they really left the cinema craving something brilliant, and we got it with the call of cthulhu.

the 7pm screening - which was titled sick in the body, sick in the head and featured 10 shorts - was awesome, too. i saw my friend aaron out the front in between, and he felt as though after the call of cthulhu, he wouldn’t bother trying more films, as he was so satisfied. this made sense at the time, but i’m glad that i stuck around for the next screening.

two of the ‘films’ were video clips, from torture device (usa) and old world disorder (sweden). they were two of the worst fucking things i’ve ever seen in my life. these were the only mistakes that the curators made - they were seriously so bad, it makes me sick to think of them. not because they were grotesque, but because i was embarrassed to be in the cinema while they were shown, they were that lame. i managed to escape to the toilet during one, killing two birds with one stone, but somehow forced myself through the second. old world disorder? awful.

thankfully, the rest of the films were great fun. they went as follows: when sally met frank (victoria waghorn - aus), anesthesia (adam kargman - usa), hideous (benjamin sztajnkrycer - can), kirksdale (ryan spindell - usa), eyes of edward james (rodrigo gudino - can), on edge (frazer lee - uk), lobe massage (heath hanlin /megan ehrhart - usa), wretched (leslie delano/ heidi martinuzzi - usa).

the most terrifying, by far, was anesthesia. it began with a woman kneeling on the floor of a hospital room, praying to god make everything with her heart ok (replete with crucifix necklace). we’re then in the operating theatre, to witness her heart transplant. after anesthetic is administered, we are inside the woman’s head, looking out, and hearing her thoughts.

that’s kind of fucked up enough, right? but the anesthetic doesn’t work properly. her body movement is out, but her brain is alert. she can feel he cold of the gel applied to where her chest will be ripped open - ‘oh, that’s cold… wait…’ she realises that this isn’t right, so attempts to let the surgeons know by trying to move a body part. as she’s begging her finger to work, even just a little, she hears and sees the surgeon that’s about to operate as he turns around and offers the scalpel to a younger looking guy.

‘c’mon johnny (or whatever his name was), you’ve got to get your feet wet sometime.’ shit. she flips. she realises that not only is she going to feel everything that happens, she’s going to be operated on by a first timer. she really, really tries now, to get her finger to move. and it does. it pops up a little of the bed.

the young surgeon sees it and stops, looks around. ‘don’t worry, that’s just a nerve - it happens sometimes’, says a nurse across from him.

he proceeds to cut her chest open, and pull open her ribs. seriously, you see this shit happening. all you hear is the woman screaming - silently - screaming inside her head. screaming for god to help her, for the doctors to stop, for anything. this goes on for a while, before she screams for god to ‘take her anywhere but here, just take me away!’ and she flatlines.

the doctors, surgeons, etc. don’t know what’s happened, and they all look at the young surgeon with half-accusatory, half-sympathetic looks.

wow, so full on. it’s not that i’d neccessarily recommend watching it, because it was pretty full on, but kudos for the shock and sick factor. i’ve got a pretty strong stomach, but this had a whole theatre of slasher-flick fans squirming and looking away, including myself.

my actual favourite of the screening was probably the eyes of edward james. i won’t explain it, as i’ve been writing about these films for ages, but here’s a synopsis from the infamous imdb.com:

roughly 15 minutes in length, the eyes of edward james is a suspenseful, intriguing narrative. shot in the first person p.o.v, the film is a very accurate depiction of the subconscious mind and the blur between memory and accuracy. very hitchcockian/lynchian, very noir.

gudino treats the audience with respect, allowing for an interpretive perspective of the film, and does not underestimate the viewer’s comprehension of the material - nor does he feel the need to blatantly ‘explain’ his vision to the viewer.

beautifully shot, this atmospheric film is a welcomed addition to the suspense/horror genre.

yup, clever film. the films were great, and all worth seeing (except for the music videos, of course). i feel really lucky to have the opportunity to go and see stuff like this, as anyone who is given that opportunity should. if you are that lucky, go and check some shit out - whether it’s film festivals, bands, art shows, or whatever - because without our support, they won’t happen again.

FUN FACT: on the greatest films website, there is a list of the ‘greatest scariest movie moments and scenes’, which includes the death of bambi’s mother! it is intended to be a collection of ‘the most classic, ’scariest’ scenes in movie history, including film scenes that were once considered ’scary’ upon their initial screenings, but have lost some of their shock appeal.’ awesome.