And so begins a tale of booze, name-dropping, and freaky, freaky film:
Wednesday Oct 26/05
Traditionally, Cinemuerte kicks off with a Gala screening for volunteers & passholders. A great movie, free beer & kickin' tunes always make for a good time, and this year was no exception. Like most years, I had no idea what the opening film would be like & let me just say I was blown away. I'm usually rather leery of French films (don't get me wrong, some of my favourite films are French, but you know what I'm talking about) however, let me just say that Calvaire is a stunning piece of terror francaise. Kind of like a creepier French version of Deliverance, with a dash of Misery thrown in for good measure. The film is infused from the first frame by a claustrophobic sense of dread, and although the progression of events is fairly predictable (the English title is "The Ordeal"), the sadistic depths to which it dives are more than enough to keep you riveted. As close to hell as you are likely to get in a film this year. Apparently it won the Grand Prize at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, and if you can take it, I do recommend checking it out. In the meantime, you can check out the trailer
here. A little flashier than the film itself, but it does give you a taste. After the film was done, Beej & I had to get to work pouring that free beer & minglin' with the horror folk. The tone was a little subdued since most people were aware that this would be the last Cinemuerte, but on the other hand people seemed to be making more of an effort to socialize with different people, since we may not have the opportunity again for some time.
Thursday Oct 27/05
Although I wasn't on the schedule to volunteer, I spent some time selling tickets before the first film of the night, the Japanese nunsploitation epic: School of the Holy Beast. Although we had actually screened it as "Convent of the Sacred Beast" as part of the Den of Sin, the opportunity to see it on the big screen was almost enough to make this pinky-fan pee herself with delight (if you get the joke, you get it. If you don't, see the movie). Got into a bit of an argument with Robin (Bougie, creator of the fabulous trash film zine Cinema Sewer) before the film started over whether the hockey team at the beginning was in fact the UBC Thunderbirds. I swore that it was since we'd actually freeze framed it when we watched it at the Den, but he wasn't convinced. Now seeing it in 35mm, I think Robin owes me an apology. Once that was done with, we had to prepare for the highly anticipated (and totally sold out) Buffy Sing-Along. Goodie bags were assembled by the entrance to the theatre, and volunteers were stationed at both doors to deal with the seething mass of Buffy Fans gathered out in the cold Vancouver night. Despite some high tensions due to the fact that it was sold out, and the Globe & Mail apparently advertising it as a "free" event, everyone got into the theatre without a hitch. After all that, we volunteers decided to head to the Side Bar (unofficial bar of Cinemuerte) to deal with the stress & hang with Wiley Wiggins who was in town to judge the Bloodshots 48 Hour Filmmaking Contest. Got really excited when I spotted Tahmoh Penikett (Helo on Battlestar Galactica), because I am a big nerd. Sadly I had no one to share my nerdiness with until after he had left the pub.
Sometime around midnight, we started to wonder where Kier-la had gotten to, since the screening would have long since finished and she had yet to meet us. Robin & Danielle went back to the Cinematheque to check on her, and their news was not good: apparently some gooberheaded Buffy Fan had decided that it would be a good idea to polish off a bottle of wine with her companion, in the theatre. They then proceeded to get so unruly that the manager had to be called down multiple times & they were eventually ejected from the theatre (an act that resulted in cheers from the audience). However, on their way out of the theatre, gooberhead pulled a juice bottle from a trashcan and threw it at the Cinematheque, smashing one of the windows. Amusingly enough, gooberhead was a Bloodshots contestant & her information was forwarded to the police. Once that was mostly cleared up, we continued drinking for more hours than I care to recall before staggering up the street to flag a cab home.Friday Oct 28/05
Being that the only thing we were that interested in seeing was the 12:30AM screening of The Thing, we decided to take a little break from Cinemuerte & instead attend The Great Big Boo, a "Halloween Dance Spectacular" that a friend of a friend was dancing in. In an ill-advised attempt to deal with my hang-over from the previous night (actually, scratch that, I woke up drunk), I consumed the first of two energy drinks with my dinner before the show. Although not something I would recommend doing straight, we certainly "enjoyed" ourselves up in our Stadler & Waldorf balcony seats. I thought BJ was going to die when Snoopy came out on stage accompanied by "Who Let the Dogs Out". I was more amused by the tiny girl in the Snow White costume who ran in a circle for about 15 minutes in front of the stage. Once we had recovered sufficiently, Beej, Cole & I trundled downtown & set up shop at the Side Bar. This was my second mistake of the night. The rest of our volunteering pals much more sensibly did not join us for a drink & instead we met up with them for some poutine before the film. Killed some time hanging out in the lobby with everyone & consumed my second energy drink just before the movie started. Beej was feeling tired & oogy & had to work the next day, so he decided to skip the movie and go home to sleep. What can I say about The Thing? I love it (despite having only seen it for the first time recently, I know, I know...) & seeing it on the big screen was a real treat. The print was also in great condition (probably because it was a collector's print). Wilford Brimley is so creepy & I will always be impressed by Rob Bottin's special effects. Since no one else was in a mood to party, Alex & I split a cab & I spent the rest of the night/morning alternating between working and sleeping in one hour stretches.
Saturday Oct 29/05
Managed to get some work done, despite really feeling the effects of the last three days. My stomach had been transformed into a churching pit of acid & I'm pretty sure I shit out my stomach lining shortly after breakfast. Managed to haul my ass to the Crowne Plaza for a panel discussion Kier-la had organized on Canadian Horror: The Tax Shelter Years. For the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, it was pretty well attended, although that wasn't that surprising considering the speakers included Bob Clark (Black Christmas, Porky's) & Tom Drake (Terror Train, The Keeper) and was moderated by Caelum Vatnsdal, author of "They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema" which had served as the inspiration for the discussion. Got Bob Clark to sign my copy of the book & spent some time after the discussion chatting with Caeleum who encouraged me to write a book on Maple Syrup Porn after I confessed my interest in the Tax Shelter Years and my ill-fated grad school application. Also spent some time chatting with Tom Drake & his wife who are both very lovely & apparently live in our neighborhood. Later, caught up with Wiley and his friend Sharon for some sushi before scooting back to the Cinemaheque to begin my vounteering shift. Although I hadn't really planned on it, I ended up taking in most of Casuistry, a documentary about Jesse Power, Anthony Wennekers and Matthew Kraczorowski, the three men who filmed themselves killing a cat and called it "art". Although not that great a film in and of itself, it was nice see someone attempt a balanced examination of the events, & it was somehow comforting to hear Mr. Power admit that they had essentially failed in what they had attempted & that he accepted his punishment willingly. Also, watching the two Gallerinas who had jumped to Power's defense (despite not being asked) share a single Guiness (in those small glasses you get from Ikea no less) over the course of their interview was hillarious. Next on the schedule was Night of the Living Dorks, a horror comedy that comes off kind of like an odd German version of American Pie, but with zombies. A huge hit on the festival circuit (Cinemuerte included), I recomend it only if you're cool with really goofy humour as it was a little light on gore for my taste. However, I do have to admit that I laughed quite a bit, especially when the Goths talk about resurrecting Kurt Cobain so that he can be their own personal troubador. After that, it was time for the Exploitation All Nighter & my cue to jump back behind the ticket counter. Ended up skipping out on Class of 1984 so I could sell tickets, a move I kind of regret, but honestly, how many movies can a girl watch in 6 days? Snuck back in for Creep, a laughably sub-par (sorry Kier-la) slasher with an absolutely brain numbingly bad performance by Franka Potente. In fact, I was so underwhelmed that I slept through most of the film. Luckily my nap perked me up enough that I could get into Vice Squad, and although not as good as the trailer, it was again a treat to be see it on the big screen. Wings Hauser is amazing, and he did the themesong! After that, it was time for the all you can eat cereal breakfast, but after two bowls of sugary goodness, Beej & I decided to concede defeat and skip out on Don't be Afraid of the Dark so that we could go home & get some much needed sleep.
Sunday Oct 30/05
And a good thing that was too, since we had to get our place in shape for our "celebrity house guest". Since Beej had to volunteer, Wiley (who is awesome by the way) & I hung out and watched our newly acquired DVD of School of the Holy Beast, since he had missed it on Thursday. Sadly, this also meant that we missed the Canadian film Sigma, which I had been looking forward to. Oh well, hopefully there'll be a DVD release soon. Feeling some guilt over this, we headed down to the theatre just in time for The Birthday, a film I had originally intended on skipping. Boy am I glad I didn't. The singular vision of Spanish wonderkind, Eugenio Mira, any attempts to accurately describe the film will fail miserably. Let's just say that Corey Feldman gives the performance of his life (by channeling Jerry Lewis no less), it involves an apocalyptic conspiracy, and Eurotrash superstarJack Taylor is in it! We were even more impressed when we found out that Eugenio had composed the excellent score to the film himself!
Decided to skip Malefique so that we could hang out with Jack Taylor and Eugenio, although Beej described it as one of the best depictions of black magic on film. Met up with everybody at Two Parrots for more beer & fried food & then shuffled home so that we could make Wiley watch Dangerous Seductress, which although not as uniformly great as Lady Terminator, the first 20 minutes rival those of any film made before or since.Monday Oct 31/05
Started the day with breakfast at the Dutch Wooden Shoe with Wiley, Kier-la, Eugenio & Danielle, then went back to Danielle's place to hang out for a bit. While there, Eugenio insisted we all take part in crafting a new "masterpiece" with him, something that involved me smearing his face with BBQ sauce & starring with a confused look on my face. After that was done, went back to the house to have a nap, but I was informed at 6pm that I was supposed to volunteering. Whoops. Ditched my planned costume recycling & threw on a pair of cat ears before cabbing back to the Cinemateque. Managed to get in one more drink before Trouble, which could be described as even more disturbing French take on Dead Ringers with a twist as surprising as Haute Tension, only this time manages to work with the film & not just piss everyone off. Also, Benoit Magimel is super dreamy. A little slow moving, and very stereotypically "French" (much more so than Calvaire), the twist really does make the movie & it seemed an appropriate way to cap off a great year for the festival. Then, a caravan of cabs was arranged to take us to the karaoke after-party in Uranus (tee hee). It was an absolute blast. Wiley did a surprisingly competent rendition of "Don't You Forget About Me", Kier-la shocked everyone with a sweet & beautiful take on the Carpenters & Eugenio preformed his signature "Lady in Red". I managed to warble my way through a couple of duets with Kelly & what I believe to be a kick-ass version of "I Think We're Alone Now". Once they kicked us out of Uraus (snicker), we shuffled over to Kelly's for the after-after-party which Beej & I had to leave after 10 minutes as I had to attend a recording session the next day and had already been given a pep talk on being "competent".
A huge, huge thank you to all of our friends, old and new. I hope you had as much fun as we did and for God's sake, let's keep in touch! Although it's all a little bittersweet since this was the last year for Cinemuerte, you never know what's around the corner...
No comments:
Post a Comment