Frightfest 2012 – The Arrival Of Wang Review

Written and directed by the Manetti Bros., The Arrival of Wang follows Chinese-language interpreter Gaia who is called out of the blue by a former client with an offer from a mysterious person or persons who will pay Gaia handsomely is she would she carry out an extremely urgent and confidential translation assignment? Intrigued by the urgency and the money on offer Gaia accepts the job only to find herself whisked away to a secret location in Rome where she meets is ushered into a pitch-black room where she is asked to interpret the harsh interrogation of the eponymous “Mr Wang”. Disturbed by the way the interrogation is going and intrigued to find out more about Mr. Wang, Gaia demands that the lights are switched on, lest she continue with her translations. However when the lights come on Gaia realises why the job has come with so much mystery and subterfuge. And that she may be in way over her head…

The Arrival of Wang is that rare beast in modern genre cinema – a film which works on multiple levels and is more than just the sum of its parts. On the surface the film is a science fiction fantasy about the discovery of alien life on earth. However scratch beneath that surface and you have a superbly made psychological drama that speaks to the war on terror, the use of torture in times of war, the role of government in protecting its citizens and most of all prejudice.

The success of The Arrival of Wang comes down to three key things: a cracking script from Antonio Manetti and Marco Manetti, a fantastic cast – especially legendary Italian actor Ennio Fantastichini as the stern government agent in charge of the interrogation, and superb direction from Antonio Manetti and Marco Manetti, who imbue the film with a real sense of urgency and claustrophobia that only heightens the tension of the interrogation scenes and the film as a whole.

Feeling very much like a modern interpretation of Rod Serling’s classic The Twilight Zone, The Arrival of Wang twists and turns it’s way through the story, never revealing who is right or who is wrong or what the real story is behind the motivations of both the government agents AND the mysterious Mr. Wang. Plus, unlike a lot of Hollywood’s jingoistic sci-fi output, the Manetti Bros. don’t spoon-feed the audience with massive amounts of exposition that tells you how and what you should feel, instead the film asks a lot of questions of the audience – how they feel about the use of torture in times of “war”, the treatment of prisoners etc. It’s powerful stuff.

I had the distinct honour and pleasure of chatting with the Manetti Bros. the day before the screening of The Arrival of Wang at the Glasgow Frightfest back in February and it was great to find that the duo are fellow film geeks who are working towards keeping the Italian genre movie flag flying. And judging by this, their latest genre effort, Italian cinema couldn’t be in more safer and worthy hands. In fact between the brothers Manetti and singer-come-director Federico Zampaglioni, Italian cinema could finally see the resurgence that fans have been clamouring for.

If you like your fantasy and sci-fi to come with a social and political edge then The Arrival of Wang (aka L’Arrivo di Wang) is essential viewing.

This was a Review By Phil At Blogomatic3000

Rating: 18
UK Release Date: 25th August 2012 (Frightfest) 8th October 2012 (UK DVD  Release)
Directed By: Antonio Manetti, Marco Manetti
Cast: Ennio Fantastichini, Francesca Cuttica , Juliet Esey Joseph 

Frightfest 2012-Eurocrime! Review

Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s, to give the film it’s full title, is a welcome and affectionate look at the Italian poliziotteschi films of the 1970s, films such as High Crime, Milano Calibro 9, Street Law and Napoli Violenta which, whilst heavily influenced by 70s US cop and gangster films like Dirty Harry and The Godfather, also touched upon real Italian issues – the Sicilian Mafia and the Red Brigade – and amped up the sex and violence to often ridiculous levels.

Those film fans familiar with Italian genre cinema will know that Italian cinema has a reputation of hitching itself to the nearest bandwagon and bleeding it dry. If Italian filmmakers could find a fad that people liked they’d stick with it. From the Ben Hur inspired Peplum (sword and sandal) flicks of the late 50s/early 60s, to what many consider to be Italy’s greatest cinematic contribution – the Spaghetti Western. A genre that became synonymous with Italy, the spaghetti western ruled the Italian cinema from the 60s through to the early 70s, with many films often ripping-off plots and characters (and often featuring the same actors!) from both American and Italian-produced genre films. However by the 70s the western was dying a death – too many films with not enough good scripts to go around. A new cinematic fad was needed. The early 70s, and Hollywood began producing a wave of crime thrillers that included The French Connection (1971), Dirty Harry (1971) and The Godfather (1972), and that was all it took for poliziotteschi cinema to be born…
Featuring talking heads with some of the most iconic names in Italian cinema, such as Enzo G. Casterllari, Claudio Fragasso, Franco Nero and Antonio Sabato, along with many of the American actors who appeared in poliziotteschi films – Henry Silva, John Saxon and Fred Williamson included – Eurocrime! is a fascinating insight into the poliziotteschi genre and is obviously a labour of love for writer/director Mike Malloy.

Poliziotteschi cinema was, and still is, one of the more niche aspects of Italy’s cinematic output. Whereas spaghetti westerns were often exported around the world, only a small number of poliziotteschi films produced were ever “hits” overseas, so to create a documentary around such a niche subject was, for all intents and purposes, a gamble. Thankfully Eurocrime! is filled with fascinating stories and anecdotes fro those involved – from the involvement of the Italian mafia to the ridiculous shooting schedules and the guerilla nature of poliziotteschi filmmaking – which hold your attention and offer some of the greatest insights into behind the scenes of the Italian filmmaking process.

A welcome addition to the genre, Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s transcends the niche genre it represents and is an essential watch, offering something for film fans everywhere, no matter their knowledge of poliziotteschi films.

This was a Review by Phil at Blogomatic 3000

Rating: N/C
UK Release Date: 24th August 2012 (Frightfest)
Directed by: Mike Malloy
Cast: Salvatore Borghese, Mario Caiano , Enzo G. Castellari 

Frightfest 2012: The Inside Review

Opening with a man pawning a ring for 75 euros and a camcorder, all accompanied by the voiceover of a radio DJ talking about three girls going missing of the streets of Dublin, The Inside soon transforms into yet another found-footage film as the man discovers the camcorder still has a tape in it and plays it back. However what he sees isn’t merely footage of a group of girls on a night out, but footage of the girls descent into madness and the very depths of hell. I absolutely hated (and I really mean hated) The Inside for the first 35 minutes of its running time. Shot in a first person perspective, the film started out with a group of obnoxious girls on a night out. It then descended into a series of jump-cut scenes of three psychos attacking and raping the girls in an abandoned warehouse (a stupid place for the girls to party in the first place). Between the ridiculous shaky-cam footage and the annoying screams of the girls I was ready to call it a day on the film. But then something happened. Mid-rape one of the three psychos is suddenly torn off the girl he is molesting, followed swiftly by the girl disappearing too! From then on the film takes a turn for the bizarre as it turns out the girls and the psychos are (possibly) not alone… To be brutally honest The Inside is not my type of genre film. By now, given the fact I mention it every time I’m lumbered with reviewing one, you all know I hate found-footage films. Nine times out of ten the filmmakers behind them get it wrong – both in terms of what makes a successful found-footage flick, but also what makes a really bad one. More often than not the choices behind making such a film err on the side of bad. The Inside however sits somewhere in the mid-ground. Yes, the film makes a lot of stylistic errors, none more so than too much shaky-cam, too much incessant screaming and not enough plot. But it does – at times – feature some particularly creepy imagery, akin to that of Perry Teo’s Necromentia or John Michael Elfers’ Finale (which also screened at Frightfest back in 2010) and to some extent Guillermo Del Toro’s Pans Labyrinth. And whilst it can’t compare to those films, what The Inside does do is offer up some interesting questions about what is worse: man or monster? And where do you draw the line? For that the film has to be commended. It’s just a shame that such a fantastic idea had to be wrapped up in such an annoying movie. If the main crux of the film had been as good as the films central theme, and its creepy final moments, then perhaps writer/director Eoin Macken (who also stars in the movie as the man in the pawn shop who obtains the tape) would have been on to a winner with The Inside. As it is now he gets an “A for effort” and a commendation for trying to bring a more philosophical question to a much-maligned genre. Was a review by Phil From Blogomatic3000 Rating: 18 Release Date: 26th August 2012 (world premier, Frightfest), 2013 (UK DVD) Directed By:Eoin Macken Cast:Karl Argue, Kellie Blaise, Siobhan Cullen, Brian Fortune,

Frightfest 2012: Chained Review

L’enfant terrible Jennifer Lynch, whose previous flick Hissss is yet to see the light of day in many territories (at least legally), is back with Chained, a serial-killer flick that looks like something that has stepped off 70s US television, yet plays like the the more sleazier side of the decade as seen in the grindhouse cinema of 42nd Street and movies such as Taxi Driver – with shades of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer thrown in for good measure! Chained tells the story of Tim, a young boy who following an outing to the cinema with his mother, is abducted by Bob, an unlicensed taxi driver whose cab they hail. Driven out to the wilds of Saskatchewan and to the isolated home in which Bob lives, Tim’s mother (played by a cameo-ing Julia Ormond who also starred in Lynch’s Surveillance) is brutally murdered in front of Tim by the unflinching Bob. Taking Tim under his wing, Bob teaches Tim how to be the obedient slave come son-he-never-had, making him cook and clean and wait on his new “father”, not only that but also clean up after his kills and bury the bodies in the basement. Starting with Tim’s mother. Years pass and Tim, now re-christened “Rabbit” by Bob, remains in non-indentured servitude. However Bob is soon eager to teach the grown Tim the ways of the human body and have him experience a woman – in more ways than one. In short Bob’s looking for an heir to his serial-killing empire, and Rabbit is it. If you’ve seen Lynch’s Surveillance you may remember her fantastic use of stark, almost empty locales, which gave that film a weird ethereal nature. Well with Chained she does it again, shooting the film in the wilds of Saskatchewan which, whilst contrary to the typical claustrophobic nature of the genre, still manages to make proceedings feel closed-in and isolated despite the vast open landscapes on which the film takes place. The sparse setting is also translated inside Bob’s home, with only enough furniture to make the place liveable whilst remaining a functional “lair” for his serial-killing exploits. But Chained is not about the landscapes or the locales, it’s all about the characters of Bob and Rabbit; and it’s here where Lynch has once again pulled off somewhat of a coup in her casting choices. With character actor turned TV star Vincent D’onofrio (whose performance as Agent Goren in NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent is one of the television greats) in the lead role as Bob, Lynch has an actor that once again brings his chameleon-like quality to this role. The antithesis of Agent Goren, Bob is a lumbering brute of a man who has a no-nonsense approach to life and to death; and D’onofrio plays the role with an air of pathos, which works to humanise the man even if his deeds are reprehensibly monstrous. However the real revelation is Eamon Farren. Last seen in the less-than-stellar wannabe exploitation flick X: Night of Vengeance, Farren brings a quite, often disarming, calm to his portrayal of Rabbit – this is a teenager teetering on the edge of sanity and he balances fragility and strength (both mental and physical) to perfection. And come the films final act you’re never really sure whether Rabbit has given in to Bob’s indoctrination. It’s credit to Farren that his performance is never lost alongside powerhouse D’onofrio. Director Jennifer Lynch isn’t afraid to go to some pretty dark places in Chained, there’s an incredible streak of black comedy running throughout – nowhere more so than when Bob and Rabbit play “Go Fish” with the driving licenses of Bob’s dead victims. She also mounts an assault on the ears as well as the eyes, often cutting away from Bob’s actions and leaving the audio to tell the tale; and come the films final denouement it’s sound that continues the story… A tense, bleak drama about a serial killer and his charge, Chained is for the most part a barn-storming success. It’s just a shame that Lynch chose to throw in a final twist that dampens the effect of all that has proceeded it. This was a review by Phil at Blogomatic3000 Rating:15 Release Date: 26th August 2012 (Frightfest) Directed by: Jennifer Chambers Lynch Cast: Vincent D'Onofrio, Eamon Farren, Julia Ormond, Gina Philips, Jake Weber, Conor Leslie, Evan Bird

Frightfest 2012:Maniac Review

After helming remakes of The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha, the gang behind the “trapped in a parking lot with a psycho” film P2 reunite for yet another remake of a 70s horror movie, this time the notorious video nasty starring Joe Spinell and directed by William Lustig - Maniac. Only this time it’s Frodo’s turn to go on a homicidal trip! Yes, everyone’s favourite hobbit Elijah Wood steps into the shoes of Joe Spinell as the deranged Frank, owner of a quasi-abandoned mannequin store and all-round creepy dude who, to the outside world, seems like a typical loner. However Frank has issues, lots of them – migraines, hallucinations, strange OCD-like compulsions – this is a man who is for all intents and purposes completely deranged. Stepping into Franks world is Anna (Arnezeder) a French photographer who wants to use Frank’s restored mannequins as part of her fine arts exhibit… As sleazy as the film that inspired it, this iteration of Maniac takes the story and key set pieces from the original (minus the stunning shotgun death) and re-locates the action to Los Angeles, with the cities seedy back alleys and unkept streets as a backdrop for Frank’s exploits. And whilst the core idea of Frank scalping his victims remains the same and is just as graphic as William Lustig film, director Franck Khalfoun adds a first person perspective to the action which is not only a bold choice and a superb technical achievement, but it’s also one that makes this version of Maniac much much troubling than the original. Whereas 1980′s Maniac had a chubby, pot-marked, sleazeball as a lead, this version has Elijah Wood who makes for a much more convincing “love interest” for Anna. However the real star of the film is the audience. By shooting the film from Frank’s POV and only showing the character in reflections, Khalfoun makes the audience identify with Frank and make them complicit in his crimes. Which is bound to disturb some, and (wrongly) excite others; and unlike many modern horrors, the film lingers on the violence a la Fulci’s The New York Ripper – hence the rumoured four minutes of cuts to the film for the official UK release. However despite the technical innovation and the stylish Drive-like soundtrack, Maniac still feels very much like it’s treading the same water as the original, offering nothing new beyond the POV format and in the end left me feeling nothing but ambivalence towards it… This was a review by Phil From Blogomatic 3000 Rating:18 Release Date: 26th August 2012 (Frightfest) Directed by:Franck Khalfoun Cast:Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, Liane Balaban, America Olivo

Frightfest 2012 - Tulpa 3D

Tul-pa (from the Tibetan): meaning a magically produced illusion or creation. The concept of a being or object which is created through sheer discipline alone. It is a materialized thought that has taken physical form.
Italian rock star turned director Federico Zampaglione made a splash in 2009 when his first film Shadow played to a packed audience at London’s Frightfest. Returning some three years later and after teasing the film at Frightfest Glasgow earlier this year, Zampaglione unleashed Tulpa on an eager and willing audience. Word of mouth had built the film up to be one of the must-see films of Saturday, and I for one wasn’t disappointed.

The film tells the story of businesswoman Lisa Boeri: she has a good job, she’s well respected and at the top of her career but she keeps a secret. By night she goes to a seedy club named Tulpa, owned by a guru who teaches her his bizarre esoteric philosophy on finding spiritual and psychological freedom by having anonymous sex with complete strangers. However Lisa finds out her sex club partners are all being murdered in horrible ways one-by-one by a black-gloved killer who seems out to destroy her life. But Lisa can’t talk to the police for fear of revealing her secret and ruining her career, so she has to unmask the anonymous assassin herself…

Taking the tropes of 70s giallo and updating them for a modern audience, Tulpa is an odd, yet fun, mix of the familiar and the new. Adding copious amounts of sex (much more than many of the giallo of the Italian cinema heyday) and not holding back on the violence, Zampaglione throws in a little supernatural edge in the form of Tibetan mysticism to create a neo-giallo that would make even Dario Argento jealous.

Packed with some of the countries biggest stars, including Claudia Gerini in the lead role, Tulpa marks the return of the giallo to the forefront of the Italy’s cinematic output. And from the gloved maniac’s first kill to the final reveal Tulpa is both a nostalgic look back at a now much-maligned genre and a bold statement on its future. All writ large on the screen by a director who has an obvious love for the genre and the talent to see it through.

This was a review by Phil at Blogomatic3000

Rating: 18
UK Release date: 26th August 2012 (Frightfest)
Directed by: Federico Zampaglione
Cast:: Nuot Arquint, Laurence Belgrave, Michela Cescon, Michele Placido

Jamie Bell & Connie Nielson To Star in The Nymphomaniac?

Lars Von Trier and Hollywood may have a fairly healthy relationship but with Judges of world famous film festivals like Cannes, some press is a completely different ball game. As usual we always wait to see how the Danish auteur will shock us with his next project and we know it's going to be The Nymphomaniac a sex based film which you would assume would scare off some of the talent, then you would be wrong to think that. With Charlotte Gainsbourg , Stellan Skarsgaard (Daddy again for 8th time at 61!) possibly joined by  Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe rumoured to sign on they've been joined by Shia LaBeouf (yes Sam Whitwicky) and looks like Tintin & Rushmore's Mrs Calloway have signed on too.

THR are reporting Jamie Bell, Connie Nielson who are joined by a number of Von Trier film regulars Nicolas Bro (War Horse), Jesper Christensen (Mr. White in Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale) and Jens Albinus (Idiots), Shanti Roney and Severin von Hoensbroech have all signed on. Who'll they'll play we don't know but all we know Von Trier's erotic flick is 2 parts which will have softcore and explicit hardcore scenes and last week Shia Labeouf attempting to rid of his Transformers past going arthouse revealed that info on those particular scenes arrived with the disclaimer. When he broke the news that he was going to 'get it on' he seem to react like adolescent teen boy doing it for the first time, but despite Von Trier's love of creating things that are 'raw' his production team have said body doubles and visual effects will be used.

Here's a reminder of the synopsis:

NYMPHOMANIAC is the light and poetic story of a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-‐diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe. On a cold winter’s evening Seligman, an old bachelor, finds Joe semi‐unconscious and beaten up in an alleyway. After bringing her to his flat he sees to her wounds while trying to understand how things could have gone so wrong for her. He listens intently as she over the next 8 chapters recounts the lushly branched-‐out and multi faceted story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents.

All we know at this stage is the film is going to be released in 2013 producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen is hoping to have the film ready to première at Cannes 2013 which we know might be a little hard with Lars Von Trier been Persona Non Grata. The director however did announce he won't be doing press or interviews which could make this one film Cannes may give into temptation.

source:THR

Rumble Fish Blu-Ray Review

★★★★★

Rumble Fish was one of many films Francis Ford Coppola did post-One from the Heart to try to recoup the costs of that film. It was made right after Coppola’s previous adaptation of S.E. Hilton novel The Outsiders. It is easily his most artistically satisfying and best since his magnum opus Apocalypse Now. It is also a one of Coppola’s personal 5 favourites of his own work.

It tells the story of Rusty James (played by a very young Matt Dillon, who has starred in 3 of 4 S.E. Hilton adaptations) who is a young but not book-smart but very street-smart teenager who is a member of a rag-tag gang of youths. The film starts with him taking up an offer for a fight with a rival gang leader Biff Wilcox. Matt Dillon’s older brother the legendary Motorcycle Boy (played by a pre-plastic surgery Mickey Rourke) had made a truce between the gangs to stop the rumbles before he left for California. Rusty decides to go ahead with the fight despite this. The Motorcycle Boy mysterious comes back the end of the fight and wins it for his young brother. The Motorcycle Boy like his alcoholic father (Dennis Hopper) is intellectual and has no time for gang fights despite he can knock anyone out easily. The rest of the film plays out like a Greek tragedy and is also about time running out for Motorcycle Boy.

The film’s influences are from Greek Mythology with references to the story of Cassandra but also it’s a film that is very referential to film. The film is very of referential stylistic decisions inspired by German expressionism, surrealism and film noir. The film is almost dreamlike in tone, it’s set in Tulsa, Oklahoma like all of Hilton’s stories but unlike his previous The Outsiders, which is much more like a old fashioned style almost Douglas Sirk esq. in it’s use of colour and obviously constructed sets, not that different from One From the Heart.

It’s shot in high contrast black & white cinematography, which is not that different from the better works of Orson Welles, some shots are reminiscent of his version of The Trial. The film also has very crooked angles, smoke and fog which reminiscent of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It also has very extreme close-ups at time that are really innovative. The film also has early usage of time-lapse photography inspired by Koyaanisqatsi which Coppola’s Zoetrope distributed. The film also is completely in black and white except 2 scenes near the end which obviously a reference to the Motorcycle Boy’s colour blindness.

The film has a wonderful cast with a wonderful performance by Mickey Rourke at the height of his power in the 80s. Matt Dillon is great as Rusty James and also great supporting roles from Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne (who Coppola discovered in Apocalypse Now), Coppola’s nephew Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn and the always wonderful Tom Waits. Mickey Rourke approached his performance as "an actor who no longer finds his work interesting" which perfectly sums it up. Coppola also gave him books by French absurdist/existentialist writer Albert Camus and based his look partly on a famous photo of him.

The film includes a wonderful score by Stewart Copeland of The Police. It uses streets sounds, strange rhythms, sounds of clocks so in short a very interesting and innovative like the film it’s in. It also features a wonderful commissioned song for the film by Stan Ridgway of Wall of Voodoo, which is probably my favourite song written specifically for a film.

Rumble Fish is hands down Coppola’s most underrated and misunderstood film, which has a lot more depth than it was given credit during it’s first run. It has been luckily re-evaluated over the subsequent years. I consider it his 2nd best film behind Apocalypse Now and yes that includes Godfather 1 and 2. It’s a strange stylistic film that is unlike any other film with some great performances. It has been recently added to Masters of Cinema range by Eureka Entertainment and rightly so.

Ian Schultz

Rating:18
UK BD (Re) Release: 27th August 2012
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Nicolas Cage

Frightfest 2012 - Hidden In The Woods Review

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Frightfest 2012 - Elevator Review

Nine people trapped in a lift facing death? Is this M. Knight Shyamalan’s Devil? Nope this is Elevator. A low-budget genre flick that does more with its limited resources than Devil ever did. A slow-burning, tense thriller that both knows, and plays with, genre conventions, the film sees nine people – Henry Barton (whose cocktail party they are all attending), his precocious granddaughter, two office executives, a glamorous TV news presenter, a pregnant woman, a nervous pensioner, the evening’s comic entertainer and a bodyguard – trapped in a lift after Barton’s granddaughter presses the emergency stop button as a practical joke on the claustrophobic, and obnoxious, comedian. Only one of the nine has a grudge against the Barton and his investment company and has come to the party armed with a bomb…

OK, so the premise may not be that original, but what raises Elevator above others of its ilk is that it is fully aware of the genre in which it belongs – even referencing Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, the granddaddy of the sub-genre, at one point. The film also makes a great statement on modern news, with glamorous reporter Maureen (Sunny) shooting the incident on her phone to be broadcast live on the nightly news – with shades of “found-footage” flicks as we see the unfolding situation from the perspective of the phone’s cameras lens.
Director Stig Svendsen, making his US directorial debut (and what a debut), balances the claustrophobic in-elevator action with effective scenes of just how isolated the group are, their voices echoing out of the elevator into the darkened lift shaft. Svendsen and writer Marc Rosenberg also have a tremendously dark sense of humour, visible not only in the gleeful way Joey Slotnick’s comedian George and Barton’s granddaughter Madeline (played by twins Amanda and Rachel Pace) torment each other, but also in the more macabre aspects of the films final third act – which I’m not going to spoil for you here.

Much more than just Devil with a bomb, Elevator is a great example of the best of horror – taking a horrific premise and using it as a jumping off point to explore much bigger themes and ideas. In this case not only the characters and their psyches but also racism and racial stereotyping in America post 9/11, and the role of financial corporations and the impact their decisions have on the everyman (shades of the global financial crisis?).

A tense, taut, thriller which blends an oft-told story with great performances, a wry dark sense of humour and some gruesome, yet not overtly graphic, set pieces, Elevator is easily one of the best examples of the (sub) genre yet.

This was a review By Phil At Blogomatic3000 

Rating:15
UK Release Date: 24th & 27th August 2012 (Frightfest)
Director: Stig Svendsen
Cast: Christopher Backus, Anita Briem , John Getz