Hey folks, Harry here with another pair of reviews from Selena and FANTASTIC FEST!
Hey guys, Selena here writing in to tell you all about two of the movies that I caught during day three of the amazingly fun Fantastic Fest. The first was called LIE STILL by Sean Hogan. Even though Sean was there to introduce the movie and hold a Q&A after, there was light attendance at this screening most likely because Harry’s “special secret screening” (aka Mel Gibson’s APOCALYPTO) started just half an hour before. My plan was to skip the “big” movie in an effort to expand my horizons and support the “little guy,” however I think maybe I should have picked a different “little guy”. It’s not that I didn’t like LIE STILL, it was just not original at all to me. The plot centers on a guy with a questionable past, played by the somewhat famous Robert Blythe, who rents a room at a very creepy old house. After repeated warnings from the creepy old lady down the hall, the only other “live” tenant that he ever sees, the guy figures out that there is something seriously wrong with this house. Unfortunately by this point it’s too late and the house won’t let him leave. I won’t tell you the end but I bet you could guess it pretty easily. The film packs some genuine scares. In an effort not to spoil it, I’ll only list a few examples of what I am talking about. Lots of creepy things happen outside of the guy’s door in the middle of the night (even though he never opens it to see who is there). Also there is a very creepy picture on the guy’s wall that changes from time to time and won’t go away even when he takes it down and smashes it. My problem with the film is that there is nothing new in it. It seems to be a compilation of scary moments from other haunted house movies like THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, DARK WATER, THE SHINING ect. And all of these movies were being original (at least on some level) with their scary material. I seriously can’t think of one scary aspect of this movie that isn’t very similar or exactly the same as scary parts of other, mainstream, movies. Now don’t get mad and yell me about how hard it is to make an indie. movie. I understand that this film had no money and therefore basically no special effects (aside from “souls” showing up on a fuzzy TV screen, WHITE NOISE anyone?). I also understand that this film shot on three locations and the house was the most important one. That is fine, I am a firm believer that not showing things is often scarier than showing them but you still have to be original. Especially in the case of the “haunted house” genre of horror flicks, there is just not that much you can do with a creepy old house that hasn’t been done before so you either have to be so god damn scary that I claw my eyes out and throw my badge at the screen, or you have to do something new and/or different. Unfortunately LIE STILL did neither. The second movie that I am going to write up for you guys was ABOMINABLE by newbie director Ryan Schifrin. The short that played before the film was wonderfully wrong. It was called THE BULLY SOLUTION, by Kryshan Randel, and it wittily focuses on a boy who learns the secrets of dealing with his bullies. Basically some weird guy ties this boy’s little female bully to a chair and teaches the boy how to creatively torture and kill her, hahahahaha. I think I had the same reaction as Kryshan who was giggling like a little school child throughout the whole thing. Anyway, back to ABOMINABLE. I am going to keep this short because ABOMINABLE has already been discussed on AICN. I had heard both great and not so great opinions of this film so I decided to see it and find out for myself. Not such a good idea….it was really bad. Not even funny bad. It was un-entertaining bad. However, I don’t really understand why. The film had everything it needed to be a great movie. The production value was fine. The main actor Matt McCoy has a long list of credentials and did a great job. The score was awesome (maybe because Ryan Schifrin is Lalo Schifrin’s son?). The monster bites people’s faces off. I should have loved this movie. I think the place where it fell short is pretty much the same as LIE STILL. The story is your basic “monster terrorizes group of people in the woods” deal. I’ll take that, it’s a classic story line and it works for a lot of movies but like I said before, if that is all you have then you should do something super-scary and/or new and exciting with other aspects of the film. For this reason I think ABOMINABLE is boring and completely devoid of anything that would allow it to gain infamous immortality in the ranks of cult cinema (a place where cheesy monster movies often find their most adoring audience). Thanks for reading guys, I’m off to day four, I’ll let you know how it goes! Selena
