Fantastic Fest 2010 Day Eight: Out With a Bang

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LeprechaunRammbock

I may have only seen one film at Fantastic Fest 2010 on Wednesday after hitting the wall for a second time, but I managed to get a third wind for a full last day on Thursday. What a day it was -- I had to spend this morning recuperating from lack of sleep and too much rich food and tequila from the closing-night party. For all the Fantastic Fest veterans that were disgruntled with open invites for parties in previous years, this year's festivities were the redemption with an amazing event for all badgeholders as well as the hardworking Alamo Drafthouse staff and Fantastic Fest volunteers. For more details, read Jenn's recap of the closing-night party.

I started out my last day at Fantastic Fest at the 10 am press screening of Troll Hunter, which had been the secret screening the night before, with director Andre Ovreda in attendance. On Thursday night, I'd chosen Fatso over gambling on another secret screening; the only secret screening I attended in 2010 turned out to be Hell Driver, which I walked out of after 15 minutes.

I was extremely impressed by Troll Hunter. I've jokingly said that it was the best wildlife documentary I've ever seen, but in truth it's really the best "found footage" film. Forget what you know from fairy tales -- the writers took great care in developing complex life history for trolls that would impress my old ecology and evolutionary biology professors at The University of Texas at Austin. "Shaky cam" cinematography annoys me, especially when used to depict "realistic" action. However in Troll Hunter, the cinematographer uses this style in the most appropriate manner, when the fictional cameraman is out of his element. The characters are all believable, especially the title character. I really hope that Troll Hunter makes its way back to Austin soon.

My second film of the day was 14 Blades, an epic tale of treachery in the Imperial Court and Qing Long (Donnie Yen), a member of the Jin Yi Wei who has been betrayed and is a wanted man. There's plenty in this film for martial-arts fans, with massive amounts of wirework and swordfighting -- although the use of chicken drumsticks as weapons was quite amusing. With a length of 114 minutes, I felt this film could've stood a little trimming.  However, the movie has merit in that there are two strong female characters, including Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui), the most elegant lethal assassin I've seen, and Qiao Hua (Wei Zhao of Shaolin Soccer) who is the Justice Escorts' boss' daughter and love interest for Qing Long. I have to admit a crush on Donnie Yen, after seeing him in two of his three films at Fantastic Fest 2010 -- Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen and 14 Blades. Unfortunately I missed Ip Man 2, which I was told was a great film by other critics (including Slackerwood contributor Rod Paddock's review) and festival attendees.

Next up was Julia's Eyes, which only had one screening during the fest. Although I'd gotten the impression that had a supernatural theme, it's really a suspense thriller. I reacted on cue to "boo scares," and there's a climactic scene reminiscent of Rear Window that was nicely done. However, the coda at the end detracted from the adrenalin rush I was feeling from the climax and was too much sentimentality in a film where it'd not been a focus. As a fellow viewer stated, it seemed about 10 years too late, already done with Ashley Judd in the lead role.

As producer of Julia's Eyes, Guillermo del Toro had been scheduled to appear in support of the film. However, he was unable to attend due to a book-signing engagement in Seattle. True to his good nature, he apologized via video prior to the screening. Afterwards, over 150 attendees received autographed copies of either The Strain or The Fall, books co-authored by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I was quite happy to receive a hardcover copy of The Fall, the second book in their pulp horror trilogy, as I'd just completed The Strain last month.

For my final viewing of the fest, I decided to check out the live performance of the one-man play Nevermore. Reanimator director Stuart Gordon and star Jeffrey Combs created this masterpiece from the letters and essays of Edgar Allen Poe. The evening is based on reviews and reports of Poe's actual appearances.  As a Poe fan, my one regret was seeing it after countless hours of sitting in the darkened theaters with little sleep. I highly recommend seeing Nevermore as it plays at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar on Friday and Saturday evening. Be forewarned -- to preserve the atmosphere of the performance, no drink or food service is provided, and you must be seated prior to start time. Eat dinner beforehand, and buy some drinks in the lobby and take them into the theater.

TeslaCage

I skipped the last film slot to attend the closing party at the Ghost Town. It was a great way to end Fantastic Fest with old and new friends -- wandering through the maze, eating incredible food including the humita -- a tasty corn pudding -- and drinking free Dos Equis along my new favorite tequila, locally bottled Ambhar. The Tesla coil show and cage was amusing, with Nacho Vigalondo and Elijah Wood even climbing in for an electrical experience (pictured above). Rammbock director Marvin Krenn corralled my fiance and I along with several others as we repeatedly toasted our Fantastic Fest 2010 experience. The night ended as it only could, with my favorite celebratory decadence of fireworks in the night sky. 

[Photo credits: "'The Leprechaun' Accordionist and Marvin Krenn of Rammbock," "Nacho Vigalondo and Elijah Wood in the Tesla Cage," by Debbie Cerda on Flickr]