Fantastic Fest 2011, Day Four: From 'Corridor' to Coscarelli

I'm one of the "Sleep is the enemy" festival attendees that Jette mentioned in her Fantastic Fest 2011, Day 3 dispatch, although this year I paced my first couple of days by leaving before midnight movies. After a day away from Fantastic Fest on Saturday for the Texas Craft Brewers Festival, I was ready to kick it into high gear.

Unlike Rod's report in Fantastic Fest, Day 2, I'm still working out the kinks of using the online reservation system and almost missed getting into the screenings on my wish list. Thankfully the Fantastic Fest staff work wonders in meeting attendees' needs by remaining courteous and flexible -- note the new line for Super Fans to pick up their boarding passes, and the added screenings.

At the fest's halfway mark, Sunday was fueled by tasty coffee and an overstuffed breakfast burrito at a brunch screening of The Corridor. Filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, this film was a good fit for Fantastic Fest as it balances a psychological thriller with survival horror and science fiction sprinkled on for good measure. The film's strengths -- character development, art and sound design, and casting -- outweighed the final scene that left some viewers disappointed. The filmmakers treated the sensitive subject matter of mental illness very well while bringing humor and suspense into the mix. Not vilifying the mentally ill protagonist while demonstrating the bonds and unmanning of the lead characters was a refreshing change.

Next in my Sunday lineup was Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In, the first secret screening of Fantastic Fest 2011. I'll save my review for later, but suffice to say that this movie was perfect for Fantastic Fest programming. Known for empowering women and bringing out superb performances from his actors, Almodovar takes on the challenge of directing Antonio Banderas as a brilliant plastic surgeon obsessed with ghosts and transgenesis ... but how far will he go outside medical ethics?

Take Shelter , from Austin filmmaker Jeff Nichols, started 45 minutes late with no explanation, but my "go with the flow and enjoy" mantra this year kicked in. I welcomed the down time and relaxed in a quiet corner, chatting with George Hickman of Scene Stealers and catching up on the @fantasticfest Twitter feed. The wait was well worth it for the simmer of suspense as well as superb performances by Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Jessica Chastain (Jolene). Shannon's understated performance was reminiscent of his paranoiac role in Bug, which had its American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2006. Chastain holds her own as the devoted wife who won't let her husband drive them into debt and madness. 

After the intensity of Take Shelter, I intended to turn in my boarding pass to Penumbra and participate in the Chaos Reigns karaoke party until the midnight screening of Julia X. However, at the last minute it was announced that special footage and guests would be featured before the movie. Luckily I still got a seat.

Attendees at the Penumbra screening were treated to footage from the upcoming movie John Dies at the End, humorously presented by director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep) and actor Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan's Labryinth) as seen above. As an added perk, we got t-shirts after the screening. As far as Penumbra itself, I did not find the lead character Marga as annoying as I've heard other viewers state -- I just imagined her as the Spanish version of most Sarah Silverman characters. Overall I wasn't impressed with the film due to a final act that didn't pay off.

My final movie of the night was the 3-D dark comedy, Julia X. This disturbing film features Kevin Sorbo (Andromeda, Hercules) of television fame in a role I'd never imagine him, as a psychotic serial killer who gets a taste of his own medicine. Sorbo's delivery of the dark humor hit the mark well. A plot twist stopped me writhing my chair from the excessive brutality against women in the first act, but the gratuitous violence continued nonstop throughout the bitter end. If you check out the final screening later this week, don't say that I didn't warn you.

Finally, a special kudos to all those festival-goers practicing good festiquette, carrying deodorant and chewing gum with them. I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh clean scent wafting from my seatmates at Take Shelter, who also supplied me with gum as well. Was that a hint?

[Photo credit: Doug Jones and Don Coscarelli at Fantastic Fest 2011, by Debbie Cerda. Available for use with attribution.]