It’s rare for Becca to get as upset about a movie as Plankton, but I’ve heard about this movie repeatedly since she watched it with me and with good reason. It’s the kind of movie so bad that it circles the sun like Christopher Reeve Superman and comes back twice as horrible as it was before.
In short, this is the kind of movie I get on here and write a thousand words about.
Alvaro Passeri made The Mummy Theme Park and for that he gets a lifetime pass to make movies this horrifically rough. The editing gets so frenetic at one point that I was waiting for Çetin İnanç to fly over from Turkey and tell him to settle down.
Also known as Creatures from the Abyss, this film has the absolute nadir of special effects within it, as radioactive fish mutate and then take over humans and you want everyone to die, particularly Bobby, who makes some of the worst jokes in the history of horrible jokes. In fact, this movie is pushing me to look up new synonyms for worst, awful, bad and poor.
And yet I love it.
But how can I hate a movie that has a cyclopean mermaid clock that talks to everyone and says cute things and comments on the film? Why is there an anthropomorphic clock in an aquatic slasher film? Why is there an endless vomit scene and an even more intense fish-stomping scene?
I nearly had a seizure several times in this movie from laughing and the strobing editing. And then some woman started growing crab claws out of her head that were basically crab claws tied to her head, perhaps via the magic of sweatband. And I nearly forgot that the shower has an artificial intelligence that just wants to see people have sex with each other or themselves while it watches.
I owe my wife an apology and you one as well, because as always, I’ve probably made this sound way better than it is. I’ll probably watch it at least ten more times and fall in love with it even more, because it is obviously made by someone who has no idea that it was approaching John Waters levels of upsetting moments when all he wanted to do was make a silly little horror movie.
That said, I’ve watched every movie that Passeri has made and he definitely has a style. It’s unlike any movies that I’ve seen anyone else make.
ake a trip to the dark side and indulge your taste for wild films, outrageous events, and shocking surprises all under one roof. World-famous genre festival Fantastic Fest is back for its eighteenth edition featuring 29 World Premieres, 24 North American Premieres, and 18 U.S. Premieres. The festival will once again possess Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX from September 21st – 28th. Badges are available now at FantasticFest.com.
The opening night film for Fantastic Fest 2023 is the world premiere of Legendary Pictures’ The Toxic Avenger, a hilarious and action-packed reimagining of the classic Troma film from director Macon Blair that features an all-star cast including Peter Dinklage who will pick up the infamous mop to become the toxic hero that no one knew they needed (or wanted) as well as Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige with Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon.
Fantastic Fest is also honored to present one of Angus Cloud’s final performances in the world premiere of the thriller Your Lucky Day. Cloud gives an incredible performance as a charismatic and opportunistic criminal in the tense debut feature from Dan Brown.
The closing night film will be the world premiere of Director Nahnatchka Khan’s slasher-comedy from Prime Video and Blumhouse Television, Totally Killer. Starring Kiernan Shipka as a time-traveling teen out to stop the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer,” Totally Killer is equal parts comedic charm and tense thrills. Shocking kills will keep the Fantastic Fest audience on their toes, and the outrageous 1980s setting will be a fitting lead-in to the closing night festivities.
Other major studio films include NEON’s noir thriller Eileen, director William Oldroyd’s pitch-perfect adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s acclaimed novel, starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway, 20th Century Studios’ sci-fi epic The Creator from FF alumnus Gareth Edwards, Paramount+’s Pet Semetary: Bloodlines, a prequel to the iconic Stephen King novel, and Bleeker Street’s stone age thriller The Origin.
Fantastic Fest is also proud to present the world premieres of two highly anticipated limited series: the second season of HBO’s 30 Coins from renowned Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia and Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher from genre maestro Mike Flanagan. Plus, there’s director JT Mollner’s Strange Darling, starring Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallnerm, which is shot on gorgeous 35mm film by Giovanni Ribisi in his feature debut as Cinematographer; Jackdow, an outrageously entertaining action film from Jamie Childs (The Sandman and His Dark Materials) and a brand new installment of the found footage horror anthology V/H/S with V/H/S/85 from Shudder.
And it’s not all new movies.
This year’s repertory sidebar is dedicated to creepy crawlies. Centered around the North American Premiere of the spider-infested horror film Vermin, Fantastic Fest programmers in partnership with the American Genre Film Archive are bringing you a trio of critters to haunt your nightmares, with The Nest, Bugged! and Centipede Horror.
AGFA are also bringing two newly restored 35mm prints to the fest: the artful nightmare Messiah of Evil and the Cult of AGFA Trailer Show.
Other notable restorations at the fest include the 2k restoration of Paul Vecchiali’s giallo thriller The Strangler, Bleeding Skull’s new preservation of the infamous underground queer crime movie Blonde Death and a gorgeous 4k restoration of Gregg Araki’s Nowhere from Strand Releasing.
Burnt Ends, the sidebar dedicated to micro-budget outlier cinema., will also return with esoteric world premieres like Kenichi Ugana’s splatterific Visitors (Complete Edition) and Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic Teh All Golden, this idiosyncratic sidebar also includes the Texas premiere of Vera Drew’s acclaimed and infamous The People’s Joker.
A variety of badges are available for purchase to attend the festival. CULT MEMBER badge purchasers will receive 3 free months of Alamo Season Pass, in addition to exclusive merchandise and events.
CULT MEMBER, FAN, and 2ND HALF Badges for Fantastic Fest 2023 are available for purchase here.
100 Yards: Shen An wages war on the streets of Tianjin after losing control of his martial arts academy in a humiliating duel with his father’s apprentice.
Acid: In a world messed up by climate change, a girl and her divorced parents must cross a devastated France under strange clouds pouring acid rain.
The All Golden: In veteran Fantastic Fest filmmaker Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic and labyrinthine deconstructionist satire, a laid-up polyamorous bicycle courier discovers that her older, scholarly boyfriend has been keeping a sinister secret in his closet.
The Altman Method: A struggling actress questions her husband’s account of a brutal act of heroism that has won him national recognition and saved his failing business.
The Animal Kingdom: Emile’s dad moves him to southern France, where his mom is held in a facility for patients afflicted with an illness that mutates them into animals.
Animalia: Separated from her husband during a state of emergency, pregnant Itto is stranded in a village, where she starts to experience mysterious phenomena.
Baby Assassins 2: The Baby Assassins have been suspended from the Assassin Guild and it’s hard to find a new job when you’ve got a fanboy assassin duo out to kill you.
Bark: A businessman tied to a tree deep in the woods struggles to convince an outdoorsman to cut him free after the hunter sets up camp to watch him die.
Blonde Death: Bleeding Skull presents a tale of death, drugs, and Disneyland in James Robert Baker’s essential chapter of queer cinema history.
Blood Diner: A brain in a jar orders his cannibal nephews to dismember call girls in their diner’s kitchen to patch together a perfect body for an ancient goddess.
The Book of Solutions: Michel Gondry returns with a tongue-in-cheek satire about an idiosyncratic filmmaker who will do anything to execute his vision.
Bugged!: Following a freak lab accident, a woman hires the Dead and Buried Exterminators to rid her house of some overgrown crickets but they all soon realize the bugs are radioactive beasties with a lust for blood!
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut: Art historian Thomas Negovan offers a new cut of one of the most decadent movies ever made, using outtakes to reconcile the film to its original script.
Centipede Horror (Presented by AGFA and Error 4444): After his sister dies under mysterious circumstances while on vacation, Wai Lun decides to take matters into his own hands. Soon enough, he discovers a family curse, battling wizards, and centipedes.
Cobweb: Director Kim Jee-woon’s ravishing and raucous tale of a director trying to finish his magnum opus in the censorship-prone 1970s Korean film industry.
The Coffee Table: Sometimes a gaudy coffee table is just a coffee table, and sometimes it’s the catalyst for a nightmarish descent into ruination.
Connan: Fantastic Fest favorite Bertrand Mandico is back with his uniquely beautiful and bizarre time-traveling spin on the myth of Conan the Barbarian.
Concrete Utopia: A magnetic Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon lead this dark, high-stakes disaster parable of Korea’s fevered obsession with real estate and class forms.
The Creator: From director/co-writer Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Godzilla) comes an epic sci-fi action thriller set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence.
Crumb Catcher: An anxiety-inducing chamber piece that will make you fondly remember the worst high-pressure sales pitch you’ve ever delivered (or endured).
The Cult of AGFA Trailer Show (Presented by AGFA): The world premiere 35mm screening of AGFA’s wildest mixtape yet.
The Deep Dark: A group of coal miners unintentionally free a bloodthirsty creature after accompanying a professor down to a hidden crypt discovered deep in the mine.
Divinity: A mad scientist’s serum grants perfect bodies and immortality, but at a cost: rampant infertility leads to an undying society based only on pleasure.
Door: A lonely housewife is held hostage in her own apartment by an increasingly deranged door-to-door salesman in this forgotten home invasion masterpiece.
Eileen: Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
Enter the Clones of Bruce: In the wake of Bruce Lee’s sudden death, film studios rushed to capitalize on the irreplaceable icon, and a new subgenre was born — Bruceploitation.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Episodes 1 & 2): Roderick Usher, CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, must face his past when brutal and mysterious incidents start affecting his family.
Falling Stars: Three brothers set out on the first night of Harvest to check out the desiccated remains of the witch that their friend has buried in the desert.
The Fantastic Golem Affairs: After his best friend falls to his death and shatters into pottery shards, Juan uncovers a secret world of living golems in this offbeat comedy.
Found Footage Festival Volume 10: Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher take you on a guided tour through their latest and greatest VHS finds.
Four’s A Crowd: Álex de la Iglesia’s new movie! Two unexpected passengers complicate an Uber driver’s plan to declare his feelings for one of his regular customers during a 300 km drive to Madrid.
A Guide to Becoming an Elm Tree: Padraig (James O Healy) is pulled into a dark world of Irish Mythology and magic as he struggles to deal with his past actions.
I’ll Crush Y’All: A retired boxing champion and his dog must defend his family’s country farm from wave after wave of gangsters in this bloody, bare-knuckle brawler.
In My Mother’s Skin: A Filipino girl living under Japanese occupation learns the tragic consequences of making deals when a fairy’s gifts extract pounds of flesh.
The Invisible Fight: After martial artists take out his Soviet post on the China border, a mechanic seeks kung fu mastery at a monastery in this wuxia-inspired comedy.
Jackdaw: Former motocross champion Jack Dawson embarks on a dark odyssey through his decaying Rust Belt town after being double-crossed by the local kingpin.
The Jar (Charon): Terror Vision presents a restoration of this insane movie! After hitting an old man with his car, Paul is left with a jar holding a demonic creature that opens a portal to strange worlds and psychotic visions.
Kennedy: Kennedy works as a contract killer for a corrupt police commissioner with the hope of exacting vengeance on the man who murdered his son.
Kill Dolly Kill: Dolly Deadly is out to win Serial Killer of the Year, and she’ll violate all sense of good taste to snatch the crown and look fabulous while doing it.
Killing Romance: A toxic masculinity-bashing karaoke musical phantasmagoria from the magical mind of LEE Won-suk, Killing Romance will stick in your head for months.
Kim’s Video: An aspiring filmmaker with fond memories of browsing the shelves of a defunct NY video store attempts to rescue its singular collection of VHS tapes.
The Last Stop In Yuma County: A traveling salesman and a waitress face down two murderous bank robbers while waiting for gas at the last pump before a hundred miles of desert.
The Last Video Store: Blaster Video’s only employee teams up with his best customer’s daughter to fight off an onslaught of B-movie baddies made real by a VHS necronomicon.
Letters to the Postman: A naive postman finds himself corresponding with a mysterious woman in Felix Dembinski’s auspicious and bewitching folk fable.
Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow: A hilarious, action-packed documentary chronicling the fascinating life of indie filmmaker Cliff Twemlow and the industry he built in Manchester, UK.
#Manhole: The premise is a simple one: After a night of hard drinking on the night before his wedding, a man falls into an open manhole. How will he escape?
Messiah of Evil (Presented by AGFA and Radiance Films): AGFA and Radiance Films present a brand new, restored 35mm print of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’ artful nightmare.
Mushrooms: An old lady stumbles upon a lost couple while picking mushrooms. They beg for help getting out of the forest, but she senses that something is off.
The Nest (Presented by AGFA and Shout! Factory):Roaches have never tasted flesh… Until now.
Nowhere: A bunch of LA teens realize they’re witnessing the apocalypse as they seek out a wild party in this 4K restoration of Gregg Araki’s cult classic.
One-Percenter: An aging stuntman caught in a brutal feud between yakuza gangs finally shoots the pure action thriller he’s been obsessing over his entire career.
The Origin: A group fights for survival against an unknown adversary in this stone age thriller.
The Other Laurens: When his niece shows up at his door looking for help, shaggy-dog P.I. Gabriel Laurens is unwittingly drawn into his twin’s shady criminal underworld.
The People’s Joker: The Joker finds new purpose in Gotham City after transitioning and opening an illegal comedy club in Vera Drew’s handcrafted superhero genre parody.
Pet Semetary: Bloodlines: In 1969, a young Jud Crandall and his childhood friends band together to confront an ancient evil that has gripped their hometown. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is a terrifying prequel based on chapters from Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary.
Project Silence: A car pileup on a foggy bridge pits survivors against a pack of vicious dogs in this satirical horror pitched between The Host and Train to Busan.
Property: A gang of disenfranchised farmhands traps a traumatized woman in her armored car in Daniel Bandeira’s Brazilian take on the home invasion.
Rage: The only child in a rundown gated community mourns his mother’s death as suspicious events lead him to suspect that his father may be a werewolf.
Restore Point: A detective investigates a double homicide in a near-future world where technology allows those who die violently to be rebooted from a data backup.
Riddle of Fire: Three children go on an epic quest to uncover the password for their TV, finding themselves in their own video game-like adventure in the real world.
River: Kikaku Theater Group, the team behind our 2021 Audience Award winner Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes returns with more two-minute time loop hijinks.
The Sacrifice Game: Disillusioned demon worshipers end a string of grisly murders by interrupting a boarding school’s quiet Christmas in this ‘70s-era Satanic Panic romp.
Salem: A former gang member begins to believe that his daughter will be their slum’s new messiah after a rival curses the neighborhood with his dying breath.
Scala!!!: The story behind London’s legendary Scala Cinema, which screened the most outrageous movies before it was sued and shuttered for showing A Clockwork Orange.
Sleep: Somnambulism takes on a frightful new meaning in this clever, claustrophobic Korean chiller from former Bong Joon-ho assistant director Jason Yu.
So Unreal: Amanda Kramer’s documentary collage looks back at the subgenre of films concerned with cyberspace, hackers, and the first days of the internet.
Spooktacular!: A new documentary tells the warts-and-all story behind America’s first horror theme park, Spooky World.
Sri Asih: The Warrior: An aspiring boxer discovers she’s a reincarnation of the goddess Asih in this Indonesian superhero movie focused on punching terrible men in the face.
Stopmotion: A stop-motion animator puts up with her overbearing, sick mother in Robert Morgan’s haunting debut.
Strange Darlingi: One day in the life of a serial killer.
The Strangler: A killer and a detective cross paths as they hunt for an answer to their respective feelings of loneliness in the world premiere of the restoration of this 1970 Giallo.
Suburban Tale: A young woman reluctantly returns home for her estranged sister’s wedding only to discover that her family is hiding a possessed boy in their home.
Suitable Flesh: Directed by Joe Lynch. A casual, intimate encounter with a patient leads a psychologist into the cosmic, kinky world of Lovecraftian horror headlined by Barbara Crampton and Heather Graham.
There’s Something In the Barn: After inheriting an old cabin in Norway, an American family moves there with the intention of turning the adjoining barn into a bed and breakfast. They end up disturbing a barn elf who will go to deadly lengths to drive the family away.
Tiger Stripes: A dreamy horror fairy tale about a teenage girl who notices strange, transformative changes in her body soon after getting her first period.
Totally Killer: When the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) accidentally travels back in time to 1987, determined to stop the killer before he can start.
The Toxic Avenger: A horrible toxic accident transforms downtrodden janitor Winston Gooze into a new evolution of hero: The Toxic Avenger!
Triggered: Procuring a job as a night watchman as a re-entry back into civilian life, ex-soldier Miguel finds himself caught in a gun battle between a drug cartel and a corrupt police unit.
UFO Sweden: A rebellious teenager seeks out the help of a disgraced meteorologist’s ufology society to locate her father years after he vanished into thin air.
The Uncle: A family prepares for their uncle’s Christmas visit, but the festivities are dampened by the fact that he’ll return in a few days to celebrate again.
V/H/S/85: The iconic found footage series returns with an array of explosive, bloody scares set in a decade obsessed with serial killers and the Satanic Panic.
Vermin: A critter collector’s purchase of a venomous spider turns his entire apartment building into a death trap after it escapes from its shoebox enclosure.
Visitors (Complete Edition): A rock ‘n’ roll band drop in unannounced on a friend and find themselves plummeting into a wackadoo reverie of monsters and mayhem.
The Wait: The gamekeeper of a wealthy man’s rural hunting grounds accepts a bribe from the local hunting guide, which spirals downward into dire consequences.
Wake Up: Gen Z activists are violently picked off by a deranged night watchman after sneaking into an environmentally destructive big-box furniture store.
We Are Zombies: Canadian filmmaker collective RKSS returns with a hilarious, violent take on a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are misunderstood, unalive citizens.
What You Wish For: A down-and-out sous-chef gets more than he bargained for when he steps into the life of an old culinary school pal, a private chef for the über-rich.
When Evil Lurks: Two brothers uncover a deadly secret festering in their village and are soon in a race to contain a demon threatening to extinguish their community.
Where the Devil Roams: After a fatal trespassing incident, Eve steals a terrifying artifact from a fellow carnival performer in the hope of bringing her parents back.
You’ll Never Find Me: A strange woman desperate for shelter from a harrowing storm picks the wrong trailer to seek refuge… or did she choose exactly right?
You’re Not Me: Aitana shows up at her estranged parents’ home for a surprise Christmas visit and discovers they’ve replaced her with a strange live-in caretaker.
Your Lucky Day: After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go — and how much blood they’re willing to spill — for a cut of the $156 million.
Director and co-writer Alice Maio Mackay is just eighteen years old, but across her last two films — So Vamand Bad Girl Boogey — she’s improved from an already solid start. Now, with T-Blockers, co-written with Benjamin Pahl Robinson, there’s another leap forward.
Sash VO (Joni Ayton-Kent Sash) is a young horror filmmaker with a cop dad that lives in a town that doesn’t seem too open to a trans girl. Yet Adam (Stanley Browning), who she goes out on a date with, does seem unfazed, even if whatever secret he tells her is so upsetting that she runs home and drinks, smokes and does coke with her roommates to the point of sickness. And Adam? Well, he’s taken into a cult of men who have been rejected and indoctrinated into their sinister ways.
The entire town is becoming contaminated by something evil in the water, something beyond just passing laws against trans kids, something supernatural. And Sophie has gained the ability to grow sick any time she’s around people who are under the influence of this darkness as they transform into zombies.
There’s also a movie within the movie, monologues by Australian drag performer Etcetera Etcetera and a budget of around $6,000, which blows my mind, because it’s all on the screen and then some. I loved how each side of the battle has their own unique color scheme and yeah, some people are going to be put off by how stereotypical so much of this movie is, but it’s a teenager making the movie she wants to make, telling it on her terms, so when you can say you’ve made three movies and a TV series by 18, then you can show how it’s done too.
T-Blockers is part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.
Directed and written by Nathan Blackwell, this film finds Marshall (Adam Rini) at the end of the world, deciding that he should bring together a group of friends and strangers — and his ex-wife Audrey (Megan Rini — to make the movie he never finished in high school.
How does everyone discover that the world will end? A voice in their head, giving them thirty days, as the simulation that is our reality is ending. That’s what makes Marshall look up his old friends Lance (Ryan Gaumont) and Arthur (Craig Curtis) to finally complete their science fiction movie in the face of a very science fiction reality.
This could be a dark film, yet it has so much heart — and joy in the power of movies — that I couldn’t help but love it. It seems like the making of this movie was the same labor of love as the film that Marshall puts together. A movie that finally gets him past his issues and has him grow up. Sure, it’s in time for the world to end, but I’d like to think everyone escapes because the movie ends before the world does.
The Last Movie Ever Made was watched at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.
Hoping to find a cure to the disease that is destroying him from within, The Professor follows Agatha on a strange and risky journey into a forgotten but not entirely deserted urban wasteland. Sure, that’s the logline, but this film makes getting there so different, so trippy and so intense.
Kelly Bigelow and Roland Becera did just about everything in this movie from directing, writing, editing, costumes, casting, effects and animation. It’s a truly singular work that presents an ever-evolving series of images that creates a dark mood while presenting what it calls “the disintegration of nature, institutions and people.”
It’s more a series of imagery and tone than an actual narrative film, so if that’s what you’re expecting, well…then this just isn’t going to work for you. If you’re feeling adventurous, however, this movie has a rewarding look and feel. It’s like exploring a series of dark paintings and nearly falling through them, unsure if what you’re seeing is either live action or animation or something in the middle.
Agatha was watched at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.
Les Hackel (James Marsters) is down on his luck. Maybe even worse when he wakes up to find that an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. Now, he must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind ordering him to keep killing.
Also: This is a puppet movie.
Director and writer Evan Marlowe said, “We resolved (for some insane reason) to use only realistic lifelike hand puppets in actual settings, just like any other movie. No CGI backgrounds or actors wearing prosthetic makeup. This sort of thing has never been done. The Dark Crystal comes close, though there, the designers weren’t bound by the confines of reality. We’ve had a few incredibly skilled people helping out. Jeff Farley has been our lead puppet fabricator. Again, this kind of work isn’t common, so some amount of trial and error has been needed to find the balance of aesthetic, durability and function. Meaning, the heads need to look great on camera, hold up well under shooting environments that are often hostile,and let the puppeteer emote without too much effort. When it comes to the actual shoot, our puppeteer Danny Montooth lip syncs with each line, played on loop on my magical iPad until all the aspects (lighting, camera movement, mouth motion, eye line) are just right. Once I’ve got the footage, I edit it up and then our visual effects guy John Sellings smooths out any problems. When a scene is done, it gets color-corrected and graded, and then the sound and score are added.”
It took six years to make this movie.
It also has an incredible voice cast, including Sid Haig, Robert Englund, Jordan Peele and Christopher McDonald.
There hasn’t been a movie ever before that looks or feels like this.
For those that can get past just how strange it looks to have human-sized puppets in every role, this movie is pretty awesome. Reality pretty much falls apart as Les has to place poison gas in workplaces, watches assassination TV shows and even is forced to slice the head off a baby, one which soon sprouts tentacles. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Can we even be sure after the end?
If you want to see a movie that goes all the way and beyond, Abruptio is for you.
Abruptio was watched at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. You can get a virtual pass to watch the festival from August 10 to 20. To learn more, visit the official site. To keep track of what movies I’ve watched from this Popcorn Frights, check out this Letterboxd list.
After finishing his latest movie, Jose Mojica Marins gives an interview. He’s asked, “Does Coffin Joe exist?” Surely the answer is no. But then a camera light explodes and we wonder, Well, perhaps…”
Mains stays with a friend to write his next movie, The Demon Exorcist.
Everything seems normal at Alvaro’s house. His father Mr. Julio is a nice old man planting flowers, Alvaro’s wife Lucia seems kind and his daughters Betinha, Luciana, and Vilma all seem quite normal. But at night, Mr. Julio tears off his shirt and screams that he has come to collect a debt. The Christmas tree is filled with snakes and spiders. And a mysterious woman keeps intruding into everyone’s thoughts. She just stands there, holding a cat, posed in front of a photo of Coffin Joe.
That’s when the secrets all come out. Lucia shares that Vilma is the daughter of a witch and has been promised to her other child Eugenio, whose father is Satan. Vilma wants to marry Carlo and this enrages the witch, who gave her the child to cover up Alvaro’s lack of being able to impregnate her.
Roosters get their heads bitten clean off, the fiancee nearly dies in car crashes and a naked Vilma knocks out Marins, who awakens to a Black Mass presided over by Coffin Joe, who exhorts “May the blood of those who don’t deserve to live burst out of their bodies! May lightning burn the scum!” Then Coffin Joe walks up a living staircase of naked women who jubilantly dance after he steps across their backs, joining Vilma and Eugenio in unholy matrimony as scenes of cannibalism, torture and dismemberment fill the screen. Up next, young Betinha is to be killed, but Marins finds a crucifix and screams, “I believe in God!”
The witch and her son die as Coffin Joe is exorcised from Marins. All is well, as everyone gathers for the Christmas feast. All except for Betinha. The camera zooms into her eye and there is Coffin Joe, laughing and as always, superior.
A Christmas movie, an Exorcistrip-off, a Coffin Joe sequel all in one movie. How magical is that?
Some consider this the fifth film in the Mr. Vampire series. It stars Lam Ching-ying as Uncle Feng. Seeing as how he’s the hero — he’s also in the second and third movies in the Mr. Vampire films, as well as Vampire vs, Vampire and Encounters of the Spooky Kind II — you can figure out why this movie is tied to those films.
Uncle Feng is a retired policeman leading a quiet and beautiful life in Tung Ping Chau who still occasionally reports to his boss, Chief Inspector Ma (Wu Ma). His next door neighbor asks Feng to make the trip to Hong Kong to bring back the body of her daughter. She was a stewardess who the cops shot after she was accused of smuggling drugs. That’s when he learns the truth: she was already dead when the cops shot her, the thrall of a Japanese sorceress (Michiko Nishiwaki, Passionate Killing in the Dream, In the Line of Duty 3) who is killing others and enslaving them as undead workers for her drug business.
Feng has to team with a young cop, Sargent Yam (Wilson Yam), and find the secret altar of the Sorceress and stop her with his Taoist magic. Director Stephen Tung combines comedy, wild magic fights and martial arts into one incredibly entertaining film.
That said — there is one moment of near-cat abuse, so when you see a black cat on screen and you are easily upset by animals in danger, look away. It’s not comfortable watching a cat get nearly hung, even though one hopes it was well taken care of when the scene was over.
The last twenty minutes of this movie are completely out of control and as a fan of both Lam Ching-ying and Michiko Nishiwaki, I couldn’t help but be in a great mood after this was over. Just total fun and a great mix of modern cop action and traditional magic and martial arts.
As always, 88 Films has the best looking releases both on your shelf and in your blu ray player. Extras include a limited edition slipcase and double sided poster, audio commentary by Frank Djeng and Marc Walkow, an alternative Taiwanese cut with a different score, an interview with Tung Wei, an image gallery and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.
Known in Holland as Gebroken Spiegels, Broken Mirrors is split between two stories. In one, Diane (Lineke Ripman) and Dora (Henriette Tol) are Amsterdam brothel workers at the Happy House Club who begin to tire of their lives. And in the other, a housewife named Bea (Edda Barends) is kidnapped by one of the johns and is slowly starved to death while her captor takes photographic evidence.
Directed and written by Marleen Gorris (A Question of Silence), this film sets forth the belief that all women are captives of men, whether that means that the patriarchy that they’ve created or quite literally the situation in the second story.
Dora explains to Diane that these men rent their bodies, not who they are, so they don’t need to give them anything more than seconds of fumbling sex. They’re supported by the lady of the house, Ellen (Coby Stunnenberg), who allows them to turn down customers and gives them a line to call for help.
Bea is in a strikingly similar situation and knows that she’s going to die. But if she does, she will only give the killer brief moments and none of the emotion that he craves. He only has her body as well, not who she is.
It’s also worth noting that we see the women’s faces, learn their emotions and become sympathetic to them, but never really see many of the men, even the killer. They are near-silent and almost always anonymous.
The Cult Epics blu ray release of this movie has a new 4K HD transfer from the original 35mm negative, commentary by film scholar Peter Verstraten and an interview with American sex worker Margo St. James. You can get it from MVD.
On Raymond Castile’s website, he posted some photos dressed up like Coffin Joe. They looked incredible.
In April of 2006, he learned that the real Coffin Joe — Jose Mojica Marins — had visited this page and loved it. Even better, in October of that year, Mojica and Dennison Ramalho, assistant director of the upcoming Encarnacao do Demonio asked Castile to be in the movie, playing the younger Ze do Caixao in a scene that would connect the final film in the trilogy with This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse.
Check out Diary do Demonio, his diary about traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil to play Coffin Joe.
After this, he made The Blind Date of Coffin Joe in which Coffin Joe moves to America and starts his own reality dating show. If you’ve never seen a Coffin Joe movie, you probably won’t get the jokes. If you have, it’s absolutely hilarious with Castile looking, sounding and acting exactly like Ze do Caixao as he faces modern dating, all in the hopes of finding a superior woman to give birth to his child.
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