Film School Rejects » Screamfest LA

Screamfest LA Prepares to Terrorize Los Angeles

Robert Fure — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:39:13 +0000

For those of you in the Los Angeles are who love horror movies, there is no better festival for you than ScreamfestLA. I’ve been in attendance every year since moving to LA and have a great time every year. Stars show up, sometimes for engagements, sometimes randomly just to watch the coolest horror movies around. Last year, at a screening of The Tripper I almost head-butted Courtney Cox in the lobby when I turned around to see what all the commotion was behind me. Here is the official word from Screamfest for your reading pleasure:

Screamfest Horror Film Festival kicks off on October 10th at the Grauman’s Mann Chinese 6 with Michael Dougherty’s TRICK ‘r’ TREAT starring Anna Paquin, Leslie Bibb, Dylan Baker and Tahmoh Penikett. The festival runs Oct. 10th – 19th. Other great films include Toby Wilkins’ SPLINTER, international films such as the French films DANTE 01, MARTYRS, Spain’s EL REY DE LA MONTANA (KING OF THE HILL), Sweden’s LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, Australia’s ACOLYTES and THE GATES OF HELL and England’s THE DISAPPEARED and EDEN LAKE. Of course, don’t forget to check out the new independent US genre films screening such as KEEPSAKE, THE SEASON, THE COLLECTIVE, DANCE OF THE DEAD and many more. For more information visit www.screamfestla.com.

If all goes to plan, we’ll have reviews of at least six of those films listed above, and a few more just for good measure. So if you’re in the area, come out to Screamfest and hang with us Rejects, horror directors and stars, hot ladies, and all sorts of cool people who enjoy seeing blood splatter across the screen.

ScreamfestLA runs from October 10th til October 19th. The full schedule and online ticketing are available at the official site.

Official Site

Film Schedule

Screamfest LA 2007: Wrong Turn 2

Robert Fure — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:45:30 +0000

What do you get when you combine Henry Rollins, inbred mutants, and a guy named Texas Battle? Wrong Turn 2, a film at this years Screamfest and recent DVD I also happened to get my mitts on, that’s what! This movie is available now on DVD and has been getting some pretty positive reviews in the genre community. Does it live up to the hype? Read on!

Wrong Turn 2 finds us back in the woodlands of America where people mind their own business and pork their relatives like wild dogs and occasionally eat the human flesh of unfortunate passerbys. In this installment we get Henry Rollins as retired Marine Colonel Dale Murphy, host of a new reality show like Survivor, helmed by mega-douchebag Matthew Currie Holmes. Along for the ride are of course The Jock, The Goth, The Nerd, The Slut, The Lesbian, and The Comedian. They’ve got real names, but my stereotype handles are much funnier.

Almost immediately the show gets off to a rough start and before long everyone has realized something is very wrong here. But, me oh my, they’re too late in their realizations. One by one, or sometimes two by two, they’re picked off by a family of inbred mutants with a flair for violence and a taste for blood. There are some original kills, some standard kills, and some actual character development, get this, on the side of the mutants! Acting through prosthetics is tough, but the mutants actually get a lot of emotion across and have some of the more character based moments. Weird, I know.

So what works and what doesn’t? Well, on a story level it was very promising. I thought I knew where it was going and it was going to land somewhere fantastic. However it split off from my prediction and veered back towards a more predictable genre piece and I felt that made it a touch less interesting. But it was good in killing off a few people who you’d normally expect to go the distance. There is a lot of focus on the mutants, and if you’re not on board with that, you’re adrift in the ocean of Wrong Turn 2. I thought it was pretty funny. Sort of like Al Bundy and family if they were hideously disgusting and ate Marcy and Jefferson.

The absolute highlight of this film is, without a doubt, Henry Rollins. He fits the role perfectly and gets a little bit of room to kick all sorts of ass. While he gets a pretty decent role, I think he should have been the true star of the film. I want to see a horror movie just follow this guy laying down all sorts of hurt against mutants. Hell yeah! There is enough of him for the film though and he really is what makes it enjoyable for me.

So I don’t feel this film is necessarily good enough to generate some of the hype it’s getting, but it is enjoyable as a genre film, and as a genre film it gets a pretty high rating from me. It’s fun, has blood and boobs, Henry Rollins and violence. There was room for improvement but you’re not wasting your time with it. In an enjoyable experience. Recommended for fans of the genre and fans of Henry Rollins.

Grade: B-

Screamfest LA 2007: Planet Terror Extended and Unrated

Robert Fure — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 07:13:24 +0000

The good people at Screamfest LA this year saw fit to have us in for a screening of Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror which came out on DVD this week. Lucky for us my quick hands and the strong arm of a Screamfest presenter lead to me catching a copy of this half of Grindhouse. You may recall in my original review of the film I was pretty excited with it and disappointed with Death Proof. Well I haven’t revisited the Tarantino portion yet, but Planet Terror is still a great, gory romp.

The new cut of Planet Terror runs something like 15 minutes longer but I’ll be honest with you – I didn’t notice. It didn’t feel longer, which is good, but also I didn’t pick up on the things that had been added. Although thinking about it, this actually makes sense as RR isn’t the kind of guy who shoots a lot of what he doesn’t need. He’s a very effecient guy who knows what he wants, for better or worse it may seem, with the recent Barbarella troubles.

Planet Terror finds the world thrust into chaos as the result of a toxic nerve agent being released into the air with only a misfit gang of rebels out there to fight for what’s right. We the audience are thrust into the role of Grindhouse theater goers, complete with missing reels, scratched film, and uneven color development. I loved every second of it.

Freddy Rodriguez co-stars as El Wray and he really makes an impression as a possible action star of the future. The kid definitely has talent. New beau for RR Rose McGowan also stars as Cherry Darling, an unfunny Go-Go Dancer who likes to Cry-Cry until she is thrust into the role of heroine. Hilariously awesome action follows. Genre fans will appreciate Michael Biehn and Tom Savini, while Josh Brolin erupts out of nowhere delivering a fantastic appearance as the baddie Doc Block. Brilliant I say!

On the DVD we get feature commentary, an audience reaction track, and some trailers and a poster. RR went ahead and attached the trailer for Machete but the other Grindhouse trailers are lost, waiting for a double dip. Disc 2 features the always informative 10 Minute Film School which goes over some of the special effects used in PT, and there are a lot of them. We also get some featurettes on the actors, the stunts, and some other cool stuff. All in all, a pretty decent DVD release. If you’re a fan of the movie, pick this bad boy up! If you haven’t seen it, see it! If it looks appealing to you, I’m sure you’ll love it. It’s great campy fun with tons of gross outs and awesome shots. My absolute favorite scene is Tom Savini punching a zombie with his gun while simultaneously squeezing the trigger. AMAZING.

All in all this is a really fun film for genre fans and it is a great addition to any DVD collection.

The Upside: Fun flick, cool extras, great time.

The Downside: Quentin Tarantino chews the scenery and provides an absolutely horrible and gut wrenching performance that lasts only 3 minutes, but almost made me throw up in disgust at how much he loves himself and how horrible an actor he is.

On the Side: Robert Rodriguez left his wife and producing partner for Rose McGowan shortly after filming wrapped… Oops.

Grade: A

Screamfest LA 2007: 30 Days of Night

Robert Fure — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:51:44 +0000

The cornerstone of this year’s Screamfest film festival in lovely Los Angeles was the much anticipated 30 Days of Night from ever present comic scribe Steve Niles and brought to the screen by David Slade, who is riding his last film Hard Candy straight to the top.

I had the immense pleasure of being tucked away in the corner of Mann’s prestigious Chinese Theater for the red carpet premiere of the film with the likes of Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston and the always interesting Mark Boone Junior. I’m sure more were in attendance, but I wasn’t able to spy anyone else. On to the film!

The town of Barrow, Alaska, is the northernmost town in all of the United States that is about to plunge into 30 days of night. Much of the town heads South for a slightly warmer climate and a touch more light. Staying behind are Eben Oleson, his somewhat estranged wife Stella, and a random handful of oil workers, deputies, and hardmen. Forebodingly, the townspeople are robbed of all their cell phones and satellite phones, which are burnt as part of an apparent prank. But when an entire paddock of sled dogs is found murdered, its more than clear that something wrong is going on. Cue the Stranger.

Ben Foster stars in a fairly minor role that is on of the more memorable performances of the film. I won’t go ahead and spoil anything about him or his performance, but he has, once again, set in my mind as one of the finest upcoming actors of his generation. But despite Foster’s captivating performance, it still felt to me as it took a bit of time before the actual vampires show up. We get teased a few times as a few characters are picked off and Eben starts to realize something is, to say the least, amiss.

When we finally get to the carnage, these few minutes alone are worth it. The darkened figures moving over the white snow, blood showering, pouring, staining, it really is a beautiful sight. But our heroes are, relatively, smart and soon are held up and hiding from the vampires, trying to make it to sunlight. And that’s where I’ll let the synopsis end, of course.

Now, I hate to be the one to do this, but 30 Days of Night is being touted by a lot of people as visionary, groundbreaking, and all sorts of amazing superlatives. The film is far from perfect, in my opinion. It clocks in just shy of 2 hours and you can feel the time. There are a few “What?” moments revolving around character actions and the rules they’ve established for the vampires don’t exactly hold up at all times. UV light definitely hurts them and decapitation should kill them, but that seems to only work on occasion. Josh Hartnett’s performance is acceptable, though he’s never great, I figure he’s good enough. He definitely has his moments and after a slow start I liked his performance more towards the end.

The positives? The look of the film is really nice. I seem to recall hearing about a new film stock being used which allowed for them to capture more light at night, meaning more true night shooting. However, I can’t find my source at the moment, so maybe I’m fantasizing. Either way, the look was great. I liked the look of the vampires, very nice, however I didn’t enjoy their behavior as much. There was of course the fabulous Danny Huston who was frame perfect who actually made a cool, suave vampire monster. These are monsters, not suave dudes in tuxedos, but at times they came off more like a pack of dogs, which didn’t light my fire.

The blood, again, looked great, the violence was pretty harsh, there were a lot of great performances from the minor characters, and the cinematography was top notch. I’m just afraid of people going into this expecting instant orgasm and finding more foreplay. It’s a pretty good movie. It’s an R-Rated horror film and for that I thank it and I hope it does exceedingly well, but for me there were some inconsistencies that brought my overall opinion of it down.

The Upside: Looks Great, Foster and Huston shine.

On the Downside: New take on Vampires is 70% hit, 30% miss.

On the Side: Mick Garris of the Masters of Horror showed up, didn’t like his seat, and promptly left.

Grade: B-

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Screamfest ‘06)

Robert Fure — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:38:06 +0000

Release Date: TBD

Hey hey. This was the last movie I saw at Screamfest 06 and again had heard a lot of positive buzz about it. It was even featured in one of the premiere genre magazines, Rue Morgue. So I was excited. It had a cast of mostly unknowns, save for Robert Englund who played against type as a heroic figure.

This movie has an interesting premise in that we’re watching “tapes” from a documentary crew who are making a film on the newest up and comer serial killer, Leslie Vernon. Now, here is one part I loved. In this world, supernatural serial killers are the real deal. Jason Vorhees – Real. Freddy Krueger – Real. They reported on in the news and what’s more, have followings and what not. It’s a cool idea. Did they work it well? More on that soon.

So we get about 50 minutes or so of this documentary footage. We follow Leslie Vernon, played well by Nathan Baesel, a mid-twenties type who is preparing to become a new serial killer. He has a mentor, an old pro who teaches him tricks. He does lots of cardio because, as he puts it [paraphrased] “It’s hard work, always looking like I’m walking while these kids are running their asses off.”

So Leslie breaks down the scenario for our crew. He talks about planting evidence, assuming a new identity and back story, finding the proper location and securing it for the nights activities, planning, planning, planning, and the most important part – finding a virgin girl to be the hero. The killer is only as good as the hero. He needs to find the perfect girl who he can push to become something more.

Now, dealing with a serial killer can be tricky business and the crew get a nasty case of ethics and decide to intervene. And this actually saves the movie. This is the answer to did it work well. The movie now shifts for the last 30 minutes or so to an actual horror movie. Gone is the documentary look and grainy video. Now we have a more stylized piece and we get to watch as despite the crews knowledge and best efforts, the plan goes into effect almost perfectly. Almost.

Of course I won’t ruin any twists or endings, but be armed with your horror knowledge and you’ll know a lot of it. Still, it’s entertaining and well executed. The writer and director were on-hand and mentioned that the original script was all documentary. Now while it still would have been interesting, I think the pacing would have suffered and the movie would be boring. As it is now, this is a good healthy mix.

This is a good choice for anyone into mockumentary type deals and people who love horror movies. It’s fun to see the super serial killer broken down like this. Actually, people who hate slashers might get a laugh from it too, because it acknowledges all the ridiculous aspects of the genre and tries to show how it might be possible. This is a good flick and I’ll probably snag the DVD. I enjoyed it and you may too. No release date is set as of this writing, but they’re working on locking down a distributor last I heard.

Final Grade: B+

On the Upside: This is a clever film with a pretty high concept.

On the Downside: Mockumentaries are never all that interesting and the pacing is a bit slow during some of these parts. Not enough to bring the movie down, though.

On the Side: Robert Englund plays a “Dr. Loomis” (of Halloween) role, against character, and Kane Hodder who played Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th) has a guest appearance as a resident of Elm Street – the street from the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

Driftwood (Screamfest ‘06)

Robert Fure — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:29:39 +0000

Release Date: TBD (Straight-to-DVD probable)

Driftwood you tricky [censor]. I’m going to be honest with you right now. I wasn’t going to go see this movie. It didn’t seem too horribly scary and I was in the mood to get my pants frightened off – a tough thing to do. Although you’d be amazed at how often I end up pants-less anyways. But Driftwood, directed by Tim Sullivan (Hood of Horror, 2001 Maniacs) and with no real names attached other than Diamond Dallas Page, offered up something new. Something exclusive. Tickets to the after party. So I grabbed a few buddies and we decided to go to this movie mainly to get into the after party. Mostly to get into the after party… Ok, just to get into the after party.

So did the movie pleasantly surprise me? No, afraid not. The story follows David, a youth troubled by the suicide of his “rock-star” older brother who is sent off to Driftwood, a youth rehabilitation facility. Or as most people call it, a prison. There he’s haunted by images of a dead boy who turns out to have died mysteriously (duh) and just happened to be the nephew of DDP’s character, the delightfully nasty Captain Doug Kennedy. Weird stuff happens, secrets are revealed, justice is done.

What did work? Well DDP was awesome. He’s not the worlds greatest actor but he himself is a good character. The girl playing his daughter, Baelyn Neff, was hot. And seated next to me, as chance would have it. A lot of cast and crew showed up, including writer/director Tim Sullivan, DDP, and the vast majority of the cast. Side note – DDP’s daughters initially sat next me and my friends, though they were taken to better seats. Good thing too. I’d hate to make a guy like DDP mad by hitting on his daughters, which I probably would have. Hey, I’m just saying!

Anyways, the story has an interesting angle on the real purpose of the youth camps which is to use manual labor to clean up old abandoned prisons and sell them as prime real-estate. Also there is some subplot involving DDP and his daughter and I think maybe their characters had sex. Yeah, incest. But I’m not sure. If they did, haha, that’s gross. If they didn’t – well, I was very confused and very close to removing my pants.

What didn’t work? Well it was an extremely low budget. The print we saw wasn’t exactly pristine and the special effects were lackluster and simple. Ever use photo shop? Ever use the effect “posterize?” Whoever worked on Driftwood did too. The conclusion was kind of weak as was the reveal of how the mystery kid died and the rock-star brother didn’t really figure in too much.

Again, I don’t like to be overly negative in my reviews, but being a critic makes us do a few things. We have to be honest. We have to respect our audience and we have to have strong opinions on film. If you read my reviews, I’m rarely conflicted or mixed and I try to tell it to you straight. Tim Sullivan opened up by saying this film represents his heart, he really wanted to tell this story. It’s not a gore fest like 2001 Maniacs (which I really enjoyed) but a more heartfelt tale. But it just didn’t do it for me and odds are it won’t for you. So I can’t really recommend this to anyone. It’s mostly boring, low budget, not quite horror, not quite drama and like the characters of Driftwood it just has trouble fitting in and finding its own place.

In conclusion, I say pass on this film. Though one of my friends called it “watchable” and it indeed it wasn’t painful to experience, I wouldn’t watch it again without monetary compensation and I don’t recommend it.

Final Grade: D-

On the Upside: DDP is cool. Tim Sullivan seems like a genuinely nice guy. Some of the actors shine – most do not.

On the Downside: Low budget, relatively weak script, mostly poor acting. Listen people, it is what is, and that’s a low-budget quasi-horror film.

On the Side: Was shot in about 15 days.

UPDATE: Did some research. DDP’s character was sleeping with his daughter.

RUMOR MILL: A little something extra for you. While doing a little research I found out an interesting rumor. Appearantly Tim Sullivan, director/writer, created a false name and was giving the movie positive reviews, ratings, and message board comments on IMDB.com. A member found him out and his subsequent message board comments were deleted by an administrator but his review remains. Interesting.

Hatchet (Screamfest ‘06)

Robert Fure — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:52:58 +0000

Release Date: TBA (tentative March 2007)

Ahh Hatchet. You’re a tricky one. I’d heard much about it from it’s limited screenings thus far, so expectations were high. It had a promising tag line that really got to me. “It’s not a sequel, it’s not a remake, and it’s not based on a Japanese one. Old School American horror.” Plus, starring Kane Hodder (of Jason Vorhees fame), Joel Moore (Dodgeball) a bunch of hotties and favorites like Joel Murray (Dharma and Greg), Robert Englund, Tony Todd, and Richard Riele, we’re looking like a winner.

But did it deliver? Yeah. Not like OH HELL YEAH. But yeah. I liked it. It was a good throwback and I’m excited it’s getting rave reviews. I’ll buy the DVD. It’s not perfect, but it was good and it’s funny and well written, well directed and well acted. There are few parts that didn’t seem fully thought out, but overall it was sweet.

The story follows a group of people on a tour of a swamp in the Louisanna Bayou around Mardi Gras time. We see a lot of boobies. (Score!) Ben has just broken up with his long term girlfriend about a year ago. Yeah. He’s one of those guys. So his friend agrees to hang with him as they do the haunted swamp tour. He’s joined by some hotties filming a “Bayou Beavers” episode with the help of “director” Shapiro, a married couple, the boat driver, and a mysterious hottie looking for her dad and brother who are lost in the swamp.

Things quickly go downhill when the boat starts to sink in alligator infested waters and we learn the secret of the swamp. Victor Crowley – hatchet face. A young deformed boy accidentally killed by his own father during a fire. Some local boys were harassing Victor and throwing fireworks when the house went up. Daddy started hatching the door down but Victor was too close, his face was pressed against the door…

And now he’s out in the swamp killing teenagers, hoo-rah! Victor is the best part of this movie. He is our generations answer to Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, or Mike Myers. They are iconic. They are supernatural powerhouses. [Censor] Jigsaw from Saw or dead Japanese schoolkids and Ghostface from Scream. Victor Crowley is a supernatural powerhouse of a badhouse who means business and is here to crush skulls, cleave faces, and utterly demolish your chest cavity.

I loved every second of it and so did the audience. Cheers went up any time someone died and the deaths were ultra-sweet. One of what will be the more famous death scenes bothered me a little bit. I don’t want to ruin it or anything, but I just don’t get why a dirty, abandon run down shack must obviously have power outlets and a 120 foot extension cord. The aftermath is cool though.

In conclusion, if you’re a horror fan, especially a fan of 1980’s slashers, this is right up your alley. It’s a sweet deal with lots of blood and guts with some boobies tossed in on the side. Can’t go wrong with that, now can ya?

On the Up Side: A sweet throwback to 1980s slasher films that introduces us to Victor Crowley, bad ass.

On the Down Side: It’s pretty much perfect for what it is, although that isn’t saying its for everyone or Oscar consideration.

On the Side: To be released in 2007 with a proposed sequel sometime in or after 2008. Also, in the cemetery scene, note the name “Green” on one of the prominent mausoleums – it’s for writer/director Adam Green.

Final Grade: A-

Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes (Screamfest ‘06)

Robert Fure — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:44:59 +0000

Release Date: October 28, 2006 (television)

Hey all. Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes is a made for TV Sci-Fi original directed by Jake West. Screamfest was tossing around free tickets to this badboy so I went; I probably would have dodged it otherwise. But I found myself in a large theater with very few people around, although in attendance was director Jake West, a likeable guy and Lance Henrickson, genre superstar.

The film itself follows up on the story of Pumpkinhead, a demon that does your dirty work for you at the cost of your soul. The original is a decent flick that a lot of people hold dear, though the sequel was wildly regarded as trash. This version has a sort of evil Doctor who steals the organs of recently deceased townspeople and then tosses them into the woods instead of cremating them, and on occassion, killing a person or two. When the bodies are discovered, the townspeople are enraged, none more so than Lisa, who’s small child was found tossed into the swamp.

She remembers talk of an old legend and a crazed witch who can grant her the power to take vengance. She and several others do so, summoning Pumpkinhead, a tall, grotesque monster that goes about killing those responsible, and anyone who gets in the way. The evil Doctor is smart though and figures out how to stop Pumpkinhead. He has to kill those who summoned the demon to stop the demon. Now it’s on. Pumpkinhead is chasing down the Doc and his crew while they chase down Lisa and her friends.

When you dance with the devil, expect to get your toes steped on.

The flick is ok, maybe even good by Sci Fi standards, but I wasn’t overly impressed. I didn’t feel cheated by it, or like I wasted time. Glad I didn’t pay for it though. The practical effects are good, but the CGI is horrible. Jake West commented on that, knew it was bad, but said hey, it’s what they had the money for.

The acting is passable in most cases although overall it’s pretty Sci Fi standard. Lance Henrickson has little to do, but does it well. The story line seemed smart, although it really ends up falling a bit flat. Watch it on TV maybe, if you’re bored, but don’t chase it down unless you’re a diehard fan of Pumpkinhead, Lance Henrickson, or swamps.

On the Up Side: Lance Henrickson was there and he’s as cool and as bad ass as you think, if not more so.

On the Down Side: Low budget cripples the film and the CGI is laughable. The original Stan Winston Pumpkinhead was a masterpiece.

On the Side: Another sequel, Pumpkinhead: Blood Fued will be released on Sci Fi in 2007, this time helmed by Michael Hurst (House of the Dead 2).

Final Grade: C

The Tripper (Screamfest ‘06)

Robert Fure — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:40:09 +0000

Hey all. Long time no talk. I’m going to hip you up to Screamfest just in time for Halloween. Wait what? Just in time for Thanksgiving? Oh no, really? Just in time for the start of December? Well ok. My bad. I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately and haven’t been reviewing like I should, but hopefully we’re in the clear. So here comes Screamfest!

Opening night was awesome. It was without a doubt the most star-studded event I have ever attended, although what is that saying, really? The festival took place at Mann’s Chinese theater this year, in Auditorium 1 mostly, a nice big area, though not the main theater. The movie kicking off this joint was the world premiere of The Tripper, a horror-comedy written and directed by David Arquette. Yes, that Arquette. It stars Tom Jane, Jaime King, Jason Mewes, and a slew of other faces you’ll recognize, including Paul Reubens. David and Courtney Arquette both have sweet cameos.

The story follows a group of drug loving teenagers heading into the woods for a weekend long concert. What they don’t know is that years ago, a young boy was severly traumatized in these woods after an incident involving hippies, his dad, and a chainsaw. It’s sweet. Our protagonist is Jaime King playing “Samantha.” She’s just got out of a scary/abusive relationship with her boyfriend, who stalks her by phone and is played by Balthazar Getty.

Tom Jane plays the Sheriff who isn’t happy about the thousand hippies and druggies invading his woods but he aims to control the situation. Doesn’t quite manage it though, does he? Soon, hippies start dying at the hands of none other than RONALD REGAN. Ok, so it’s the crazy messed up kid who loves Ronald Regan (because he was anti-hippy) and now brandishes a large axe and a handful of attack dogs. Nice.

The struggle of the story involves, obviously, Jaime King trying to evade the killer who has already slashed her friends, dodge her suspect boyfriend who has found his way to the concert, all while Tom Jane tracks down the killer. There are a lot of political jokes, obviously, lots of nudity (male and female), drug use and violence. Towards the end it really turns into a chop fest and Ronnie-boy really knows how to swing that axe.

As the first film directed by Arquette, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s good. It manages to pull off “drug-induced” camera effects that normally I hate, but they work here. I loved seeing Regan chop up hippies and Courtney Cox’s cameo was righteous. The acting is all above normal for a film of this type and Tom Jane owns as always. It was really enjoyable, especially if you love old school horror. This really channelled the feel of the great 1980’s slashers.

This movie is getting a theatrical release sometime in 2007, I believe, but will be hitting a few festivals. See it if you get a chance. Maybe one day we’ll get The Tripper vs. Victor Crowley of Hatchet. See that review coming up.

On the Up Side: Great old school horror fun and competently directed by first timer Arquette.

On the Down Side: Strong political tones and specific genre means it isn’t for everyone, but I loved it.

On the Side: The premiere was attended by David, Patricia, and Courtney Arquette (and all the others I think), Tom Jane, Paul Reubens, Gary Shandling, Vincent Gallo, Rob Zombie, almost the entire cast (minus Jason Mewes), Paris Hilton, Fred Durst and so many more I’d be name dropping to continue. Uh…

Final Grade: A-

Film Festival: Screamfest LA 2006

Robert Fure — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:28:28 +0000

In the words of Screamfest themselves, here’s what they say:

Screamfest was formed in August 2001 by film producers Rachel Belofsky and Ross Martin in order to give filmmakers and writers in the horror/sci-fi genres a venue to have their work showcased to people in the industry. We are very proud that the majority of the films showcased now have distribution. (from Screamfestla.com)

Now more importantly, here’s what I say. Screamfest is a rocking sweet deal for horror fans. You may remember me covering Shriekfest awhile back and I liked it, but was underwhelmed with the quality of submissions. Well at Screamfest, they take this stuff seriously and we get some awesome movies that deal with decent budgets and name actors.

The festival ran from October 13th until the 22nd and even the lowest key movies had stars turn out. The festival featured movies directed by or starring many notables including David Arquette (The Tripper), Snoop Dogg (Hood of Horror), Tim Sullivan (Hood of Horror and Driftwood), Tom Jane (The Tripper) and crowd favorites Robert Englund (Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon) and Kane Hodder (Hatchet and cameo in Behind the Mask).

Ticket prices were about $13 bucks a pop, although Feast, Slither, and Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes were all shown for free, that’s damn right, for free. You can’t beat that.

All in all it was a great time. Good theater with mostly good movies. Check back to get a taste of everything I managed to see.

Yours in Gore,

Robert “hack-n-slash” Fure

Film School Rejects » Screamfest LA

Screamfest LA Prepares to Terrorize Los Angeles

Related Reading:

Screamfest LA 2007: Wrong Turn 2

Related Reading:

Screamfest LA 2007: Planet Terror Extended and Unrated

Related Reading:

Screamfest LA 2007: 30 Days of Night

Related Reading:

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Screamfest ‘06)

Related Reading:

Driftwood (Screamfest ‘06)

Related Reading:

Hatchet (Screamfest ‘06)

Related Reading:

Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes (Screamfest ‘06)

Related Reading:

The Tripper (Screamfest ‘06)

Related Reading:

Film Festival: Screamfest LA 2006

Related Reading: