Inside

AKA: A l' Interieur

Rarely does a movie terrify the audience, and it is even more rare when a film terrifies and disgusts you. Thank god for the dynamic duo of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Lately, they have become a target of rage from fanboys everywhere due to their remake of Hellraiser coming soon. After seeing this debut film, of all places coming from France, home of the worse new-wave film trend as of late, i graciously accept their warm gift of Hellraiser presented in a beautiful bloody digital package.

The film follows a plot so simple, that it would be pointless to explain the film. Whereas you go and purchase it on March 4th, you can view this cinematic tour de force. This film's emotions will lay you down so quick with the sheer amount of travesty presented in this film. In order to explain the feelings i encountered during this film, you must know that this is a drive through hell and back.

Not only are the performances impeccable but the intensity of the acting down to their habits when frustrated, angered, or traumatized, are down right a masterful art. Not since underrated film of the century Fear X has a film made me feel shivers so deep and honest, yet cry not caring who sees you. Thanks to directors such as Alexander Aja and these two new ones, my faith in French horror, cinema even, has been restored to full power.


Béatrice Dalle is downright one of the most sensitive lunatics to ever grace film. The subtlety of her moods and her frustration causing her to go ballistic was all apart of her plan. I am sure that with out the collaborative minds of actresses and directors alike, this film would have been another gore-soaked disaster. So the plot in layman's terms, a woman who is pregnant gets in a car crash. Leaving no survivors including her boyfriend. Somehow her baby made it out of the mess. Thankfully it is almost due four months later but someone shows up outside her house. Let the bloodbath ensue.

The film uses similar bloodshed and gore to the short film Cutting Moments. The editing is terrifying, mixed in with the sound effects that make your brain go crazy, and you yourself begin to feel the insanity leaking into your own brain. The drones in this film are similar to the ones Aja used in his The Hills Have Eyes remake. Granted these ones are more effective. So when Inside is released on March 4th, i expect you to purchase this film from Dimension Extreme at all costs. This might be the most narcissistic, violent film i have seen in a long while.

-Maq

The Pig Fucking Movie

AKA One Man and his Pig
AKA Wedding Trough
AKA Vase de noces

Many have heard the boasting of the great enigma film-maker David Lynch and his talks of how Eraserhead is 100% original and uninspired, but I see flaws in that statement. It seems our very underrated obscure film "The Pig Fucking Movie" has some very... familiar scenes in it, to say the least. This is a Belgian Art-House film that is only existent through a VHS tape being reprinted onto a DVD which is in the trader's circle.


The plot is derived from what we, the viewers, take in visually. We meet a lonesome man who lives on a rural farm. He has no lover, no children, and no real responsibility as it seems. He spends all day performing surreal acts of the twisted sort and tending to his ill-natured perversions, such as morbidly putting baby doll heads on pigeons and organizing jars of weird relics similar to the Sawyer's residence in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In case you didn't know, this film is known by many names. This is one reason that attests as to why this film is so hard to get a hold of. One title aptly being The Pig Fucking Movie. So as you can guess, he falls in love with his sow in glorious black & white.

While this degree of zoophilia might turn people off from viewing this film, It really would be a shame for you to miss this experience. While it does hold itself a little bit pretentious by calling it art, most people don't examine the outer scenes. If you spend the majority of the runtime scoffing aloud and not paying attention to every grainy detail in this film, I could imagine getting pissed off too. Thierry Zéno lead an arcane film career. Not much is known, but it seems he has been blacklisted for creating this film.


When you take the context of the film, you are given a horrifying love story and a film of the utmost tragedy. When I was not basking in this film's horrible, wretched noises or grainy quality, I was paying attention to the soil. Every step along the way, Zéno has a way of visually capturing your attention on the most trivial of things. While you are supposed to be watching this weird, macabre love story, you find yourself staring off into the background items.


The Pig Fucking Movie is more or less, about a man that makes love to a pig and produces hybrid spawn. Hence my relation to Eraserhead. Mind you, I have more than one reason to suit my claim while The Pig Fucking Movie is not exempt from my cynical wrath. I can clearly derive a bit of Un chien andalou from some of the scenes. This film is a wonder to behold and will not leave your head for a while. Watch for a gratuitous amount of feathers being collected in jars for a symbolic good time. If for nothing else - a tragic love story that bleeds familiarity to another classic, Fando y Lis.

-mAQ

The Fourth Man

The Fourth Man is a very odd film from Paul Verhoeven. It is by far his darkest and most artistic. The Fourth Man would also be Verhoeven’s last Dutch film(until the recent Black Book). After viewing all of Verhoeven’s earlier films, it is easy to see his progression as a director. Although I am a huge fan of Robocop I wonder where his directing career would have went if he had stayed in his own country.

In the beginning of the film(after a montage of a spider taking the life of a fly on a crucifix), we meet the films protagonist who forget to wear his pants. He is a gay alcoholic writer with a distaste for most things. For some reason he ends up sleeping with a Dutch Femme Fatale and freeloads off of her for a while. In one odd scene, the writer covers his lovers breasts and pretends she's a little boy. The writer eventually becomes obsessed with the women’s German boyfriend(in which he has only seen pictures of). This is truly a bizarre love triangle.


I have never thought of Paul Verhoeven as someone that had an interest in surrealism. Inspired by the films catholic themes, the writer is often hallucinates death and other scenes of misery. The Fourth Man even features a scene in which he dreams his penis gets cut off with scissors. These constant visions add a whole other element to the film(and to the writer’s religious schizophrenia).

The Fourth Man also succeeds in capturing the loneliness and depressive isolation of man. The writer doesn’t seem like he can do anything. Constantly hallucinating, committing acts of sin, and conspiring. At the very least he has fallen out of the loop of life. Paul Verhoeven always gives off the vibe of a very jolly fellow. I suspect he may be acting. Verhoeven has stated the violence in the film was inspired by the German and American occupation of Holland during World War 2. I doubt he had a happy childhood.


I hate the genre and genre title “psychological thriller.” It is a title that was invented to make certain Hollywood films sound legit is regards to intellectual merit. The Fourth Man is actually deserving of the title “psychological thriller.” The film offers the viewer something to think about at the end. It isn’t wrapped up in a neat little package at the end like Joel Schumacher’s The Number 23 or plagiarist M. Night Shayamalan’s The Sixth Sense.

Basic Instinct is a very LOOSE remake of The Fourth Man. It is amazing how a director can take a European art film and turn it into American sleaze(Basic Instinct is still a decent flick). Americans couldn’t handle the gay element of The Fourth Man so Basic Instinct had to replace it with lipsticks lesbians. Michael Douglas shouldn’t be filmed in any sexual situation.

-Ty E

Juno

Now with the theatrical release of Juno, self proclaimed "Indie" film of the year, this style of film-making often brings up questions in my head. Why do these "independent" (Note the quotations) films have million dollar marketing campaigns, big name actors, and the licensed songs to every popular over-rated acoustic band in such a vagrant editing style?

The plot is simple but cute. Juno MacGuff is a social misfit. Nothing about her is normal. Not her love for Iggy Pop nor her hamburger phone. Along with these horrible scenes that try to make her seem oh so different, she misquotes a popular nostalgic phrase. Nearing the end, she exclaims aloud "THUNDERCATS ARE GO". Now, me being a true child of all nostalgic era's, I immediately noticed it should read "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO". Director Jason Reitman should fire his script supervisor.

The film is packed to the metaphorical brim with odd scenes to try and emphasize the couple's quirkiness. The couple being Michael Cera (Of Superbad Fame) and Ellen Page (Of Hard Candy Fame). Whether it be balling up her coveted panties and thinking aloud of her or getting "super psyched" for the rerun of The Blair Witch Project. Now just because i have so much to say on the negative side doesn't mean i didn't enjoy it. In fact, i found it to be adorable, but since the outbreak of "Indie" filmmakers, such as R. Linklater, W. Anderson, and N. Baumbach, i have been disgusted by this contest to see who can shove the most Velvet Underground or Cat Power songs into the extensive soundtrack.


The acting of course was exceptional, but the real star is Cera, whose goofy stance and perfect running outfit had most of us feeling adorably awkward. The film is too dumb for it's own good though. Whether it be the same editing that has been seen in every film lately, Quick action cuts paying attention to the very everyday detail of the common life. That tends to get boring. The only film to bring justice to this procedure was Shaun Of The Dead. Also noted that J.K. "J. Jonah Fucking Jameson" Simmons has a role that produces many laughs.

Expect the first ten minutes of dialogue to consist of stupid hipster speak, throwing around "fer shizzle's" galore and city talk. This only makes me wish it had subtitles. This film is a great film to own for its cute mannerisms but is not worthy of an Academy Award. See also; Little Miss Sunshine for another "Indie" film with a budget of several million. These movies with the label of such, are funded by producers from big studios; swine of the worst degree. Greedy money hungry thieves who enjoy getting the masses in an uproar over a film that makes you feel original to love.

While the film has it's very own pretentious aspects, it also introduces mainstream audiences with Suspiria and Herschell Gordon Lewis, which only infuriates me further. Overall, i enjoyed it but to be honest, it is a dumb film. Packing a film with charisma and chemistry doesn't ensure success, the key to that is obviously putting Velvet Underground on the soundtrack.

EDIT// I am a horrible, jaded cynic

-Maq

Interview with Mark Colegrove

Mark Colegrove is a low budget filmmaker who has found himself a niche. Obviously a film junkie, Colegrove has taken Italian horror influences of the late 1970’s and early 1980s and made them into hilarious parodies. It is rare to find a low budget filmmaker who is actually doing something interesting. Any filmmaker that brings cannibal castration back can’t be bad.

SS: Isle of the Damned is your upcoming film. Is it a sequel of sorts to Pleasures of the Damned?

MC: Yeah, it's a direct sequel featuring the further adventures of private investigator Jack Steele from "Pleasures." Although this time do to scheduling conflicts, he's played by a different actor (Larry Gamber in this film). I figure if Batman can be played by a different actor in each film, surely we can get away with it in our cheap garbage movie!

We've changed the setting this time around, and dropped Jack off on a cannibal island, so "Isle" is designed to be a parody of the Italian cannibal films of the late 70s, early 80s. Mark Leake, who wrote the script, is looking to spoof a niche genre within Italian horror with each of the "Damned" films. If we get around to doing a 3rd one, it'll be more of a mid-eighties thing along the lines of "Demons."

SS: Your films seem to be heavily influenced and inspired by Italian exploitations of the late 1970's and early 1980s. What made you to decide to do this?

MC: It's a time period where filmmakers were able to get away with a lot more in terms of sleaze. Also, since the majority of films from that time period (with a few notable exceptions) are generally pretty bad and cheesy, it's ripe for parody. Also, I think those types of films hold a special place in the hearts of everyone involved with the flick.

SS: Being a low budget filmmaker, you don't have access to as much time and money as say Michael Bay. What is your creative process? Do you film when you're able to secure funds?

MC: We generally go from paycheck to paycheck to fund these things. All the money was put up by myself and Mark Leake, with no outside funding. That's something that we'd like to change down the road, because actually having a real budget to pay our cast and crew would enable us to shoot for a month solid, rather than just on the weekends over a year and a half. What we've done on Isle probably could have been done in a month if scheduling wasn't such a nightmare.

SS: What filmmakers have inspired you as a director?

MC: I'm a huge Peter Jackson fan... particularly to see his humble beginnings making "Bad Taste," which was shot over a period of 4 years on his own money, on the weekends, with his friends. That's what we're doing (although I might hang myself if it got streched out over 4 years), but that's pretty inspiring. It's the same thing with Eraserhead, or the first Evil Dead film.

I also grew up watching the Star Wars films, John Woo (his Hong Kong stuff). I volunteered with Troma for a few gigs, and was able to learn a lot from Lloyd Kaufman, by seeing first hand how they operate. I'm also just really inspired by my friends who are getting out there and making stuff on micro-budgets, like Doug Sakmann (Punk Rock Holocaust), Alvin Ecarma (Lethal Force), Ryan Graham (Livelihood), and other local guys like Dave Kratz (who is shooting Isle with us), Armando Valle, Sillicon, and Better Hollywood Productions.

SS: Pleasures of the Damned featured many American taboos. Do you consider yourself a fighter of political correctness?

MC: Well the films we're spoofing are sleazy, so it was done more out of parody... we're not out looking to offend anyone, and hopefully the goofy execution of the script for Pleasures and Isle shows that everything is done as a goof. Obviously the films are not for everyone, but the folks that enjoy that little niche of Grindhouse style stuff usually enjoy it.

SS: Are your films meant to be watched while intoxicated?

MC: It probably helps... Pleasures was designed to be a film where the audience can provide their own running commentary along the lines of MST3K.

SS: What advice do you have for aspiring independent filmmakers?

MC: Get out there and make something! You'll learn way more by "doing" than you will from a textbook. Also, I always hear people talking about waiting for investors so they can do their dream project, and then it never gets made... it's all talk. Just do it... figure out a way around your budget limitations. Keep your locations easy to access and your actors down to just a few. It only takes one dude to call up and cancel, and then you have to call 10 other folks to tell them the shoot's off. Also, just watch a lot of movies... not just the "good" ones. See what works and what doesn't. Go to film fests, and watch other micro-budget stuff. Network with other filmmakers in your area. Don't set out to make a "Hollywood" movie because if someone's given the option between watching "The Omen" or your cheesy $1000 knock off, they're gonna pick "The Omen." You should revel in the fact that you have the opportunity to do something different, since you're in total control.

SS: When can we expect Isle of the Damned to be finished?

MC: We should be finished shooting in September, and then we've got a lot of editing and sound design work to do (also low budget filmmakers should remember that sound is half of your picture, it's not just about the visual), so hopefully end of '07 or early '08. I'll keep you posted, so long as I don't hang myself first!

Dire Wit Films Website

Isle of the Damned Trailer

Psy-Show

Psy-Show is a near perfect short film from Marina de Van, the director of the recently reviewed ALIAS and IN MY SKIN. Psy-Show might be a perfect short. It is just the right length at 19 minutes, has a tremendous tone to it, features impeccable performance, and features an amazing song by Tom Waits at the end credits.

This short follows a very different style of filming. You know only certain details about the characters. One is a depressed male who's age is semi-apparent due to his balding scalp and the other is the psychoanalyst who's intentions are mysterious and he has a lunatic feel. A similar character is the Marquis off of Svankmajer's Lunacy.


So what indeed happens, is that this fragile man becomes a pawn in this analyst's everyday routine. He has equipped his chair with a motor and a joystick hidden in the arm of his chair that allows him to move his chair around without the victim viewing, in order to create true hysteria. Seems a bit barbaric to me. His methods may be uncivil but could be determined as effective to say the lease.

Throughout this short, the man becomes unnerved and irritable. Getting more hollow as the time goes by. The analyst just smiles this devilish look and tells him it is all in his head. For being such a almost hopeless short, it is quite humorous and has an immense amount of French charm. Highly recommended with it's divine lighting and mood, In My Skin is a DVD you must get. Three great films for the price of one.

-Maq

Alias

Alias is a short directed by Marina de Van and is on the present DVD of her magnum opus, In My Skin. This short clocks in at about 12 minutes long and is a relatively slow moving short. In order to fully understand what happens in this film, you need a layout of the story.

"On the day of her birthday, Juliette feels particularly unhappy. However, in her despair she doesn't notice the eerie behavior of her cleaner who is copying everything she does and mimicking her dress sense..."

We begin the short with a crying female named Juliette. Post-feminism has never been so bold as to maintain a beautiful shot of an aging woman smoking naked on her bed crying. It is apparent that it her her esteemed birthday party, complete with memories tacked onto a slide show projector. She is in a form of depression and judging by her appearance, it might even be mid-life crisis related.


Through-out the party, she is binging herself on wine and eventually throws up. When the cleaner comes up, it is a very horrifying shot, with intense music and creepy-ass vibes coming off of her. Her mascara is applied with no direction towards beauty and her earrings are inspired by Juliette's.


A film that definitely requires multiple viewings. It wont be hard to dedicate another 12 minutes of your time to this short. The film might be a piece on Identity crisis (as the late film LOST HIGHWAY did) or could be a dark tale of obsession. No one really pays attention to the people you are used to having around. People such as the cleaner who might, for all we know, could be the eventual demise of Juliette's family. Oh how she appears to dislike her mother. This film made me want to pay attention to detail at all costs.

-Maq