HOME INVASION (2023) Fantasia 2023

Experimental look at doors, doorbells, visitors, home invasion and home security.

This is not going to be for everyone. One part documentary, one part essay it’s wrapped up in a porthole view point that puts everything into the fisheye lens of a door bell camera. It’s a very deliberate film that raises a lot of questions about our homes and the people who lurk outside.

Frankly I have no idea how to describe what exactly this film is. It’s a wild ride through history. It’s also a deeply disturbing film  that frequently gets under your skin to make this film scarier than any horror movie you’ve seen this year. Part of it is the presentation which is carefully designed to provoke a reaction, but mostly it’s a deeply troubling thing that raises a lot of questions you probably don’t want to think about.

I was bothered by it on a gut level.

If you want to have reality kick you in the knees HOME INVASION is a must

Safe Space (2022) Fantaspoa 2023

A group of friends go away for a weekend and some time at a one of a kind escape room experience.

This is a hard film to discuss. While the film is very much an exploration of life, love and sex among long time friends, there is a point where things begin to shift and slide. It's not giving anything away to say that things end up going completely differently then you expect (no really).  Because where you start is now where you end up it's nigh impossible to discuss the  film since things changes as we go. I can't talk about what happens without wrecking it all, so I'm not going to try.

I'm going to be honest and say I'm not sure what I think about this film. There are sections of this film I love and sections of the film that I am not certain of. I suspect that my refusal to completely commit to an opinion is the result of my still pondering how it all hangs together. This is a film where you can't know what you think until the end because the geography keeps changing. There is also enough here that I don't want to dismiss anything out of hand. I also want to compare it to a couple of other recent and not recent films but I'm not sure if that's fair.

Apologies for not being forth coming  but I think only people who are going to dismiss the film will discuss the twists and turns because they won't care f it ruins anyone's experience with the film.

If you want a twisty turny, uneven film that may not work, but which is going to give you a true unique cinematic experience (in other words a typical Unseen Films reader) then give SAFE PLACE a try.

Minore (2023) FANTSPOA 2023

 

In a small Greek village some of the towns folk, tourists and musicians must fight off some evil eye creatures from the sea.

Wonderful mix of horror and comedy is an absolute delight. Taking the time to create real characters and situations this film gives us a group of people we like and with whom we want to fight the monsters. More importantly, while occasionally having its tongue in its cheek it never lets things spin wildly out of control. The jokes come from the people and situations and not just the need for a cheap laugh. The film creates a splendid sense of good will that carries us from start to finish.

One of the things I love about the film is the monsters. While on one hand they are kind of funny, on the other they are creepy as all hell. We want to see them die because despite looking kind of silly, they are also incredibly unnerving. In a weird way they are some of the best designed monsters I've seen in years.

I loved this film and I would love to see it again at a festival where I could see it with a theater full of people all on the same page, or in a drive in movie where it's wonderful 1970's or 1980's Euro Horror vibe would be right at home.

One of the best films at this year's Fantaspoa, MINORE is a must see for horror fans.

Logger (2023) Fantaspoa 2023

 

Logger is a cinematic horror tinged tone poem. It’s a film where form over comes substance making it a cinematic work of ghoulish art.

The film follows what happens when a logger finds a dead body in the woods and death shows up to help him sort things out. It’s nowhere near as silly as that sounds.

This is a film best seen in a theater or in a darkened room with no distractions. You need to fully give yourself over to the film and let it work it’s magic. I say this because the construction of the film is very deliberate. It take awhile before anything happens. It’s not that it’s draggy or anything, rather it’s operating on its own time table. It’s doing so not to build scares but create an uneasy uncomfortable mood that is going to haunt you.

Logger is all about that mood. It’s not a film of jump scare but something darker. Logger is one of those small scale films that crawl under your skin and root around with you. There are things I the film that just aren’t right, more so when they are attached to all of the other things rattling around in the film. I wasn’t scared by the film, rather I was bothered by it for the seven or eight hours that passed from when I saw it until I went to bed. I also suspect that some of the images were the reason I didn’t get a good sleep that night.

While Logger leans a bit toward the more artistic end of the horror spectrum, I still recommend the film for any horror fan because I suspect there is something inside it that is going to stick with you.

Once Upon A Time in the Future: 2121 (2022) Fantaspoa 2023

In a future where mankind has been driven underground due to war and environmental destruction the young control society. As new children are brought into the world old folks are eliminated. When a family unit is expecting a new baby things begin to change.

Polemical science fiction film seems more like a selection of dystopian greatest hits than anything that has is its own thing. Its a film where the world it is creating doesn't feel real but more something that was cobbled together in order to get it's point across. (Adam and Eve, Logan's Run, THX1138)

I'm personally trying to figure out what that point is. 

On some level this would have played better on a stage than as a film. On stage we would have been willing to forgive more of the bumps because we fall into the events that are happening right before us. In a film we need some sort of reality created for the film to work since it's not right there before us. We never get a real world here.

While not bad, it's just never compelling, and my feeling is if this had to be a film , it would have been better as a short since it could have moved faster and not given us time to think.

Coffee Table (2022) Fanataspoa 2023

Blacker than you can imagine black comedy/tragedy about a a couple of new parents who buy a coffee table  that they are told will "change their lives."

I'm not going to give you details because this is a film where all of the tension comes from the worm turning as events transpire that may result in them being found out. Think of the Hitchcock films were a bomb is hidden and we are waiting for it to go off. It's not a bomb, but we are curled up in a ball waiting for the true horror to be revealed.

This is a very very uncomfortable comedy until it isn't (it's horrifying), and even when it's funny again it's catch in your throat, "I think I'm going to be sick" sort of funny until it just stops being funny altogether.

I can completely understand people walking out of the theater because they don't want to go there.

And I completely understand if my saying that makes it seem not as bad when you sit down and see this, and I'm sorry for that, but some of you need to be warned.

If you want to go to a really dark place THE COFFEE TABLE is highly recommended. Me I don't know if I want to go there again.

ANA’s FAREWELL (2022) Fantaspoa

Fantasy and dream collide with reality in the tale of a young girl who has to reclaim her mother’s fantasy world in order to move on.

Small scale gem of film might sound like few other films, but that's kind of saying that all houses are the same, some are buildings and some are homes and ANA's FAREWELL is a home. 

Mixing live action with different types of animation the film sucks us in and pulls us along. While we may think we know where it's going we can't really know what the trip will do to us, in this case it will take is to some place wondrous.

I truly love this film. Its a lovely trip to an unexpected place.

Recommended.

Hideout (2023)Fantaspoa 2023

 

Hideout just misses.

The story of a get rich quick scheme involving a briefcase full of cocaine that goes horribly wrong the film is never really compelling.

The problem with the film never wholly feels real. The characters feel like someone’s idea of what characters would be in a crime drama instead of actual people. That might have worked if there was a real sense of urgency to the proceedings but we never feel that. This feels like just a bunch of people interacting over criminal matters instead of people doing illegal things that will result in a bunch of them dying. While I appreciate the film trying to simply make events seem like they are just part of life, the fact that there is no real effort to be a crime drama works against this film. The film looks like a family drama is going to break out at any moment instead of an act of violence so we never feel the need to lean in.

While I think the script works, I’m not sure the directorial choices do.

A rare Fantaspoa miss

Orphea in Love (2023) Fantaspoa 2023

One of a kind musical dance romance drama is for anyone who doesn’t want your typical Hollywood style film.

A retelling of the story of Orpheus gender flipped and set in the modern day the film focuses on a dancer and a singer who fall passionately in love.

This film let’s you know early on when Orphea is working at her job in a call center and her  boss comes over and shifts from yelling at her in sentences to pure jibberish. Soon after that people are bursting into song and others are dancing. Everything has a heightened sense of reality that you only get in theater. Its an effect that causes us to lean in and go along with the story because we get the feeling that anything is possible  and we want to see what that entails.

This is pure cinematic magic, and while there are some missteps, most of this is just glorious and delight.

Recommended

WORLD WAR 3 (2022) Fantaspoa 2023

Iran’s entry for last years Oscar is kick in the pants. I completely understand why the film was chosen for a run at the Oscars and I’m  completely at a loss as to why the film hasn’t had more buzz surrounding it. Then again the film comes from Iran and it deals with difficult subjects.

The film concerns a day laborer who is in a relationship with a deaf woman. When one of his jobs puts him on a movie set he finds his fortunes are changing. However his bringing his girlfriend to the set and his getting a role in the film, which is about the Holocaust, spins things out of control.

This is a difficult film, partly because the subject matter is heavy but the whole layer of Holocaust deepens the feelings of a world out of balance. While you might think that the mixture might be showboating, the truth is the  mixture works and it forces us to really consider what we are seeing.  When the film ended my first thought was I had to see the film again, which was followed by my thought that I would wait for the film to get off the festival circuit because I need to get some distance.

You will forgive me if I don’t do a lot of discussing of the film, my thoughts have yet to transfer from the pure emotional reaction I had to the film into words I can express.

What I can say is that it’s nice to see a film that was picked to be in the Oscar mix that belonged there. I also love that this film completely blindsided me and left me staring at the screen trying desperately to get the words to full engage with it.

While not for everyone, I think this is easily one of the best films I saw at Fantaspoa.

Highly recommended. 

Yoshihiro Nishimura's Onimanji (2023) Fantaspoa 2023

Yoshihiro Nishimura (Mutant Girls Squad, Tokyo Gore Police, Meatball Machine Kodoku) returns with a sequel to his earlier The Great War of Torakage. Its more bloodshed and weirdness as our hero takes on various bad guys and bad demons

Nishimura’s films are hit or miss. Narrative is not always a priority. He prefers to go for effect, blood and fun. They tend to be lean mean fun machines that are best viewed in theaters full of like minded audiences. When he hits they are a blast and a half, when they don’t they can be a bit draggy.

Despite having some awesome sequences, Onimanji is largely a miss. Blame the unwieldy  run time (it’s just under two hours hour) that allows the narrative to be looser than it should be. Nishimura’s film are better around 90 minutes. As a result there are some overly rambling bits that wear us down.  The film also suffers from being a sequel. Despite this being about a secondary character from the earlier film I kept thinking I was missing something.

While never bad Onimanji is not up to some of the director’s earlier classics, however fans of his work will still find a lot to delight in.

Meltdown: A Nuclear Family's Ascension into Madness (2023) Fantaspoa 2023

In the 1950’s a typical family puts on a brave face as the father begins a run for Mayor. However things take a turn for the weird when the meal is spiked with LSD

Carefully crafted thriller is predicated on the notion of showing us that the perfect American families are not so perfect on the inside. While Meltdown doesn’t really cover any new ground the film scores thanks to its icy visual sense, as well as a sure hand by director an Coiton VanTil who keeps things moving along at a good pace.

Worth a look.

Abruptio (2023) Panic Fest 2023 Fantaspoa 2023

 

I completely missed ABRUPTIO until Liz Whittemore DM’d me to say she was being really bothered by the film. I instantly went and tracked it down and now I kind of never want to see it again.

This is the story of a down on his luck guy who ends up with a small bomb placed in his neck. If he doesn’t do the tasks given him, the mysterious people following him will cause the bomb to explode.  The tasks are a series of horrible acts that leave a trail of bodies in his wake, and result in our hero being richly rewarded.

This is as bleak and black a film as they come. It’s a film that posits a world of ugliness and cruelty where we are not in control and the only way to get ahead is to do the most horrible things.  It is deeply disturbing.

The disturbing nature of the film is enhanced by the fact the whole film is told via life size puppets. It may sound like a weird thing to do, but the truth of the matter is there is a very good reason beyond the obvious notion that it shows we are not in control. The payoff is in the final minutes and it’s a  genuine “whoa” moment.

Watching the film is like being strapped into a chair and watching a slow motion car crash. You want to get up and walk away but you can’t. You can’t look away as the turn of events keeps getting worse and worse. It is a dark and nightmarish place that I didn’t like to be in. (that’s a rave)

Absolutely not for anyone looking for a safe Hollywood film, this is a one of a kind film that will leave you battered and bothered.