Like Battle Royale, the 80 competitors react to their peril in a variety of ways. Some, like Eddie’s best friend Justin (Paul McCarthy-Boyington) become heroes, bottling up the runners to try and save the old marine from being lapped. Others become in turn suicidal, philosophical, stir-crazy, cynical, violent, revealing their true selves in the crucible of their desperation.
Excision Written and Directed by Richard Bates Jr. USA 2012 Fantasia imdb There were two films at Fantasia this year that took me on trips that I didn’t want to go on. The first was the winner of Fantasia’s Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation The King of Pigs. The second was Excision. Both films are about outsiders in high school, …
Toy Masters Written by Roger Lay Jr. and Corey Landis Directed by Roger Lay Jr. USA 2012 Fantasia imdb This year, Fantasia doubled the number of documentaries in their Documentaries From The Edge series from five to ten. Justine has already raved about The Mechanical Bride and I intend to write very positively about Despite the Gods and My Amityville Horror when I get a …
Hidden In the Woods Directed by Patricio Valladares Written by Patricio Valladares and Andrea Cavaletto Chile, 2012 What exactly consists of a good groundhouse picture? Which conceivable, perceptible elements are sufficient for one movie fan, presumably one owing some familiarity in the genre, to conclude that groundhouse movie ‘a’ was swell, whereas movie grondhouse ‘b’ …
Excision Directed by Richard Bates Jr. Screenplay by Richard Bates Jr. 2012, USA Writer-director Richard Bates. Jr. draws on years of movie-watching for his audacious feature debut Excision. The most obvious influences for Excision is possibly Brian DePalma’s Carrie, Todd Solondz’s Welcome To The Dollhouse and Michael Lehmann’s Heathers. Toss in equal parts Gregg Araki, …
Game of Werewolves Directed by Juan Martinez Moreno Written by Juan Martinez Moreno Spain, 2012 Ah, the classic werewolf creature. It is one of the vintage, most fondly remembered beasts made famous by Universal Studios back in the earlier days when cinema was but in its infancy. The first classic actor to portray the role? …
Asura Directed by Keiichi Sato Written by Ikuko Takahashi Japan, 2012 Who has not heard or read about the story of the man or woman who thought it was a neat idea to own as a pet, not a dog, cat, or some fish, but rather some wild beast they believed they could somehow tame …
Chained Written by Jennifer Lynch, based on a screenplay by Damian O’Donnell Directed by Jennifer Lynch USA 2012 Fantasia imdb “I shall call you… Rabbit,” is the most chilling line of any film this year. Spoken slowly but deliberately with a slight lisp and a faint Germanic accent by Vincent D’Onofrio, the voice alone places Bob somewhere between Hans Beckert and Jeffrey …
The Kick Written by Jong-suk Lee, based on a story by Prachya Pinkaew Directed by Prachya Pinkaew Thailand/South Korea 2011 Fantasia imdb Traditionally, films that pit one country’s martial arts against the martial arts from other countries are blood-soaked chauvinistic affairs like One Armed Boxer and its sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine. Both great films, they up the ante on the Kung …
Black’s Game aka Svartur á leik Written by Óskar Thór Axelsson, based on the novel Svartur á leik by Stefán Máni Directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson Iceland 2012 Fantasia imdb It would be easy to describe dismiss Black’s Game as an Icelandic crime thriller, but that would be short changing this stylish film that zags every time you expect it to zig, making choices that make …
Smuggler aka Sumagurâ: Omae no mirai o hakobe Written by Katsuhito Ishii, Masatoshi Yamaguchi and Kensuke Yamamoto, based on the manga Sumagurâ by Shôhei Manabe Directed by Katsuhito Ishii Japan 2011 Fantasia imdb The writers and director of Smuggler clearly watched Ichi the Killer a lot – A LOT – as kids. It’s all there: the yakuza setting, the gang war, the eccentric characters, the torture, the weird …
Dragon aka Wu Xia aka The Swordsmen Written by Oi Wah Lam Directed by Peter Chan 2011 Hong Kong/China Fantasia imdb In a strange way, Dragon is a perfect companion film for the Shaw Brothers classic The Fists of the White Lotus that Fantasia presented this year. (Expect Edgar Chaput to review that film as part of his Shaw Brothers Saturday series soon.) Both films are about the never-ending cycle …
Cold Blooded Directed by Jason Lapeyre Written by Jason Lapeyre Canada, 2012 When it comes to leading parts for female actors in cop and action films, the landscape is relatively barren. Even where such parts exist, rare as it is to begin with, all too often the roles are sexed up to the point where …
Fists of the White Lotus (aka: Clan of the White Lotus) Directed by Lo Lieh Written by Tien Huang Hong Kong, 1980 *This week’s film was recently viewed at the 2012 Fantasia International Film Festival on a 35mm print, hence its inclusion in both the Fantasia 2012 and Shaw Brothers Saturdays columns. The old, evil …
Monsters Club Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda Written by Toshiaki Toyoda Japan, 2011 How often is it said that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter? Maybe that is but a cliché which has emerged out of tired movie scripts. Be that as it may, most people in the world do claim entirely opinions on …
Errors of the Human Body Directed by Eron Sheean Written by Eron Sheean and Shane Danielson U.S.A./Germany, 2012 There is so much potential in films relating to scientific experiments gone awry that one wonders why there are not more which play at Fantasia. Part of the reason may have to do with the fact that …
The Sword Identity Directed by Haofeng Xu Written by Haofeng Xu China, 2011 Wu xia can be a fantastically exciting movie genre when done correctly. The costumes, the melodrama, the grand scale action set pieces, even the more intimate but no less impressive one-on-one combative contests. Directors frequently take the opportunity to present the thousands …
Wrong Directed by Quentin Dupieux Written by Quentin Dupieux U.S.A., 2012 Two years ago writer and director Quentin Dupieux brought Rubber to Fantasia and the world at large, which told the story of an evil tire which rolled around and killed people. On one side of the film fan community it was hailed as clever, …
Toad Road Directed by Jason Banker Written by Jason Banker U.S.A., 2012 ‘Go to hell.’ ‘My life is a living hell.’ ‘What the hell just happened?’ These are but some of the countless examples of how flippantly the term ‘hell’ is utilized in everyday idiom. The word offers a flexibility unparalleled with almost any other. …
Dead Sushi Directed by Noboru Iguchi Written by Noboru Iguchi and Jun Tsugita 2012, Japan Junk food is tasty food with little to no long term pertinent effects, other than some negative health concerns if one consumes to much. Its purpose is to stuff that hole in one’s stomach in moments of hunger and nothing …
Punch Directed by Han Lee Written by Dong-Woo Kim South Korea: 2011 Contrary to popular belief, the Fantasia International Film Festival is not some movie haven for those seeking pure thrills via genre pictures. True to its traditions, the event awards screen time to some the world’s more outlandish movies, from pure gore fests, ghost …
Hard Romanticker Directed by Su-yeon Gu Written by Su-yeon Gu Japan, 2011 There are not many nations whose film industries carry as much unabashed violence about them than Japan. Some other countries come close, and virtually all countries at least a few violent films, yet when it comes to the Japanese, well, they simply take …
Doomsday Book Directed by Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung Written by Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung South Korea, 2012 How often do anthology films fully come together, with each part perfectly complimenting one another? The answer, despite however many times filmmakers attempt to construct them, is rarely. In fairness, the degree of difficult involved is …