Thursday, September 14, 2006

Who needs sleep?

The schedule's up, I made my choices, now all I have to do is wait. Here's where I'll be and what will be keeping me up at night.

Thursday
Haze
Dir. Shinya Tsukamoto- Japan- 49 minutes
Saw meets Cube as a man wakes up in a small, cramped space and a stomach wound that is killing him slowly.
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Dir. Stuart Samuels- 88 minutes
The directors, critics, and theatre owners that created, panned, and proudly showed "Midnight Movies" like, Night of the Living Dead, Pink Flamingos, Eraserhead, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and many others talk about these "cult" films and their journey into the wide, wacky world.
Last Supper
Dir. Osamu Fukutani- Japan/Hong Kong- 92 minutes
Based on the book by Kei Ohishi, and produced as a multi-country project, some said this could never be done. Never say never, so here is a gore-fest of a brilliant plastic surgeon with a taste for human flesh and the murderous impulses to fulfil it.
Parasite 3D (Link goes to a trailer)
Dir. Charles Band- 85 minutes
The first starring role for Demi Moore! Yup, it's that Parasite movie presented in 3D, with corporate assassins, a mad scientist, hoods, and... parasites. Charles Band is in town to present it and do a talk-back.

Friday
Inside (Link goes to a trailer)
Dir. Jeff Miller- 100 minutes
"...voyeurism gone very, very wrong." Really, do we need to know more than that? Jeff Miller's in town for the Q&A after the film.
The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell
Dir. Jonny Gillette and Kevin Wheatley- 97 minutes
Post-Apocalpyse, year 2096, The Vice-King of New America- Tex Kennedy (heir to the Kennedy clan), android bodyguards, and the great-great-great grandson of Fidel Castro. Oh! And there's Benny, the rightful King, too! Yea, ya got me, too, but it looks like it will be fun!
Zhest (Junk)
Dir. Denis Neimand- Russia- 127 minutes
An investigative reporter follows the trail of a pedophile and rapist into B.F.E. Russia. It's fringe vs. mainstream as the reoprter devles into the often surreal Russian landscape where the denizens hunt the city-folk for fun.
Unrest
Dir. Jason Todd Ipson- 85 minutes
Stuck without a home until her student loans come through, first year med student Alison is living in the hospital where she takes her gross anatomy class. Curious, she looks into the history of her cadaver, and the murders begin. The director (a former teacher and surgeon himself), had the cast filming in a real morgue, with real bodies. Fun.

Saturday
Tideland (Link to homepage.)
Dir. Terry Gilliam- 122 minutes
You want more than just a title and a director? OK, Jeliza-Rose has lost her mother to a heroin OD and her Dad's taken her out to a rural setting to recover. She talks to Barbie-doll heads. There's a woman who's always in a bee-keeper's helmet. It's "odd" and "taboo." What can I say, it's Gilliam.
Nightmare
Dir. Dylan Bank- 111 minutes
What would you do if you woke up with a strange woman and a video camera that shows you committing a violent murder in a room that's now completely clean? You'd make a movie of it, of course. The line between film and fact blurs as the director struggles to find who's filming the murders he can't remember, as he's filming the murders he's not convinced he's not commiting. Confused yet?
The Hamster Cage
Dir. Larry Kent- Canada- 92 minutes
Ahh, holidays. Inappropriate gifts, family you love to hate, and a "hell of Oedipal scenerios." It's dark comedy at its freakish best!
Lie Still (Link goes to the trailer.)
Dir. Sean Hogan- UK- 80 minutes
It's a haunted house movie. A VERY haunted house movie.
Blood Trails (Link goes to the trailer.)
Dir. Robert Krause- USA/Germany- 90 minutes
A chance encounter leads to a night of violent sex that cyclist Anne would rather forget. Escaping to the mountains with her boyfriend, a hellish encounter with her one-night-stand leads to a hellish race downhill. Lion's Gate has snatched it up as the next Haute Tension or Wolf Creek, so look for a wide release next year.

And this is just the first three days! More to come, gore to come.
(Sorry, I just couldn't help it....)