Fantastic Fest Daily Dispatch #5: Scrappy Tim League vs Uwe Boll
What did I do yesterday? Well, I got nearly 6 hours of sleep, which made it easier to stay up late. Yet I managed to make it to four and a half films, and catch a glimpse of Scrappy Tim League take on Uwe Boll in a boxing match and walk away to tell the tale.
The first I can't tell you about. I'm sworn to secrecy until opening day. But many festgoers will likely be filling a theater for it later today. I also caught Bronson, House of the Devil, Terribly Happy, a special press screening of Trick r Treat and part of [REC]2.
Bronson stars Tom Hardy as the titular character, emphasis on later word, inspired by the most famous and expensive prisoner in the British penal system, who legally changed his name to Charles Bronson. Hardy is amazing in it, and really needs to be better known by American audiences. The film handles the character and the story well, but it really made me want to watch Chopper again. I had to miss Mandrill to see Bronson, and that made me sad, as it's one of the big-buzz films this year. I hope it gets U.S. release.
House of the Devil is an homage to early 80s horror. It didn't quite deliver the punch I was hoping for, but it deserves a lot of credit for stressing tension over bloodbaths. And it made me miss Skybars. Trick r Treat, which has a DVD street date of a week from today, had a special press screening today; it was not Let the Right One In, but the very tight anthology really should be gettng a theatrical release for Halloween, not a DVD drop.
Terribly Happy was twisty enough, but ultimately I wasn't terribly impressed, because it kept feeling like it was about to end and didn't. Of course, I'm tired, and therefore much more critical, too. The same can be said for ; I just wasn't feeling it, and ended up catching a window-view of the Fantastic Debates. This isn't your high school version, this involves a round or two of boxing as well. the final debate was between Uwe Boll and Tim League over the future of independent film. We couldn't hear from outside but those inside said it was a draw. Tim and Uwe dawned the gloves and duked it out for two rounds in the South Austin Gym ring as well, but consensus is Uwe could have wiped the floor with Tim at any time, even though Tim was clearly a scrappy fighter in his stars and stripes unitard.
I also missed the Fantastic Fest Awards, although I heard through the grape and Twitter vines that Down Terrace won the Next Wave best film award, as well as for screenplay. The directors are in town until Wednesday, when they have to go back to the UK for the UK opening. Nice guys; if you see them, congratulate them. I don't know the other winners yet, but it's almost 4 am, and I need sleep. We'll post the winners tomorrow.
Fantastic Fest runs through Thursday, October 1 at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and the Paramount. Follow @fantasticfest and @slackerwood on Twitter for updates.