H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival 2005
From The Lurkers
HPLFF 2005 Redux
Introduction
by Aaron Vanek
I always say that this year's festival was the best festival ever, so here it is again: this year was the best so far (and many others agree with me this time). I have only two regrets about this year. First, that I didn't have anything showing, not even a short "bumper". The only time my name came up on screen were in the end credits for Call of Cthulhu and Read Me a Story. More on those later.
My second regret was that I arrived late Friday night, so I missed two of the feature films that played: Marebito and Forbidden Quest, both of which, I am told, are available from specialty video rental houses (I heard NetFlix has them). I also skipped Cast a Deadly Spell, the HBO special from some years back, but I have already seen that, at least. So this is one of the rare years that I didn't see everything that played. Apparently, it was impossible to see everything this time around; there are too many good films out there to screen.
The attendance for the three nights, from what I gather, is that Friday very nearly sold out, Saturday easily sold out (with people turned away at the door), and Sunday was about average (about 60% full). Ticket prices were a bit higher this year, but still extremely cheap compared to normal movies. The weekend pass was a steal.
The Features
The Dead Inside
First, I saw the feature Dead Inside, written directed, edited and produced by Brian Clement of Canada. Plot centers on a girl-guy supernatural detective team (she casts spells, he shoots bullets) investigating a haunted house, all circa 1940's. The costumes, set, and props were exemplary, even during the flashback scenes to the Great War (although the paint balls whizzing close to camera were a little much). However, script, acting, and directing were slow, slow, slow. I don't know if it's a Canadian thing, but the characters barely reacted to what was happening, even if it was life-threatening. There was a monotone through most of the film. Also, the characters talked too much, reciting exposition instead of performing actions(films should SHOW the audience, not TELL the audience--this isn't spoken word, it’s motion PICTURES). There was also some killer freaky clowns in a few good scenes, prompting me to ask Pagan Publishing chief Scott Glancy not to go into the theater armed (don't need holes in the screen). The movie plays like a Call of Cthulhu RPG: lots of talking, interspersed with brief, exciting moments of action, and little reaction to what was going on.
Marebito
(Didn't watch but heard was good.)
Cast a Deadly Spell
(Seen this one many times on HBO.)
H.P. Lovecraft The Terror Within (The Road to L)
HP Lovecraft: The Terror Within, is a Blair Witch Project rip off, concerning a supposed "lost letter" of Lovecraft that he wrote while visiting some remote villages in Italy. A modern film crew retraces Lovecraft's steps, discovering the true source for "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".
Italy is gorgeous, and I wanted to step into every frame that flickered by…but I also wanted to strangle the people in the way of the beautiful history and architecture, because they were obnoxious and useless. My wife had to leave this screening before barfing from all the hand held camera work. I managed to hold my bile down (although closing my eyes for minutes at a time certainly helped) and get through this. It's not a bad idea, and I can see what the filmmakers were going for, but I'd rather watch an episode of "Backpack Explorer" instead.
Forbidden Quest
(Didn't watch but may rent one day.)
Strange Aeons (The Thing on the Doorstep)
After the dinner break on Saturday, I watched Strange Aeons: The Thing on the Doorstep, by two filmmakers whose names are not in the program (and I'm too lazy to look it up. You look it up and prove how smart you are to everyone).
Anyway, this feature had a number of things going for it; first, they updated the original story well, going exactly in the direction you should go with a tale of an evil power hungry sorceress who is possessed by her distant male ancestor, and that's into SEX. There are some great moments including intriguing notions of "feeling you inside me" screw scenes and a little nudity of an attractive woman to boot!
Second, the lead actor who played Prof. Upton was good. The very last scene of the movie is pretty powerful, mostly due to his performance.
Third, the script and direction were at least competent.
However, there were some minor problems: the camera was often not placed in the best location, nor did it move much in the shot. Visual repetition begins to wear on the viewer (at least this one), and despite the good story, the clunky editing from static shot to static shot began to wear on me, and my eyelids grew heavy. I wish the filmmakers would have paid more attention to production design, for some of the locations looked a little too real…that is, boring.
Nevertheless, I'd be interested to see what's next in the Strange Aeons series (they plan on starting a franchise, similar to the Tales From the Crypt HBO series of movies), and, given some more experience (and money, maybe), they might be able to put out a pretty tight adaptation.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
This reminds me of another indie feature that screened a few years ago, The Attic Expeditions. This film is based on Lovecraft's story of an asylum inmate who talks to Elder Gods, and the doctors who want to do the same. This flick makes Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator look tame (well, except for the severed-head cunnilingus, that's not tame). This film, in production for years, has acting that is so over the top, the characters come out their own asses. There's no one likeable in the picture, except maybe the orderly that stands around until it's necessary to smash the evil resonator-like machine. After a certain point, instead of walking out, I started laughing, because it was so bad, it was enjoyable.
Good money was spent on this, and they do have the acting talents of Tom Savini (in one scene) and William Sanderson (who plays the possessed psycho in touch with the Great Old Ones).
If big gulp scene chewing, one great location, good props, a few buckets of gore, a mix of black and white and color footage, and the trend of fast cutting, "jitter-cam" and "shaky stop motion head" style of horror films is your thing, then stop watching scrambled porn on cable, leave the roadkill where it is, pick up a six of Coors light, fire up the last of your pipeweed, and enjoy. Otherwise, forget it.
Dreams in the Witch House
Finally, I watched the last flick on my list, Stuart Gordon's Dreams in the Witch House, part of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series. I skipped the simultaneous Secret Screening to catch Stuart's show. Plus, there are only so many bad movies I can stand in a weekend, and since there weren't that many this time around, I didn’t want to ruin a good batting average by watching Elwood again--although I miss him now. Andrew also showed something else at the Secret Screening that should not be seen by human eyes (or worse, heard by human ears--that accursed MIDI song created by a tone-deaf shoggoth won't get out of my head!) that is best left unmentioned.
Anyway, Stuart's piece was surprisingly slow, but a faithful, albeit modern, adaptation of the story. It stars Ezra Godden of Dagon, playing roughly the same type of character in the previous feature. Now he rents a room in a haunted house where a witch tries to get him to kill a baby. Brown Jenkin, the witch's rat-like familiar, is, unfortunately, funnier than scary (although it's better than a ferret). The effects aren't bad, and the climax works, but it takes a long time to get there (although not as long as that OTHER version). It'll play on Showtime in November, and the whole series will be released on DVD next spring, I believe. I almost find myself wishing Stuart would go back to the gross-out comedy, because his serious adaptations seem to fall just short of the goal line. Still, his devotion to Lovecraft, at least for one filmmaker working in Hollywood, warrants acknowledgement, and his winning of the Brown Jenkin Award (new this year, and amazing looking), is perfectly appropriate and well-deserved.
The Shorts
After a dinner break at a wonderful tapas restaurant, I caught shorts block one in the main theater (big screen). This was something I was looking forward to as the highlight of the weekend. I went for all the shorts on one night. This second block had some great stuff in it as well as the first.
There were also many question and answer opportunities with the filmmakers after the films, but I didn't stay for many of them; I either needed to reload on sugar and caffeine or empty out the bladder to make room for more. But, for those interested, many of the filmmakers were on hand to talk about their labors to the audience.
13 de Mars 1941
March the 13th, 1941: Directed by Robert Olsson, this Swedish piece is one of the Carter adaptations. I don't remember much about it (not great, not terrible).
The Antiques Roadshow - Arkham
Antiques Roadshow: Arkham, Mass.: You're probably laughing right now, considering how obvious it would be to spoof the great PBS series about people dragging their skeletons out of the closet for appraisers to mock or applaud on television. The no-budget nature of this short would normally be off-putting, however, the jokes were geeky enough to get some well-deserved laughs from the audience. This was made by Jon Cazares and Brian Wood, the same duo behind last year's Cthulhu for President video. Worth seeing.
Arcane
(I missed "Arcane", sorry, talking to people too much)
Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu: By Andrew Leman and Sean Branney, of the HP Lovecraft Historical Society (www.cthulhulives.org). You've probably already heard the buzz on this film, because there's been a lot and it has been loud. You must also know that I had a teeny tiny part in the making of the film (although I got a lot of "exposure"), plus I consider Leman and Branney friends, so there's a big bias in this review.
That being said, this is the GREATEST LOVECRAFT ADAPTATION TO DATE. Yes, it is. After watching (and making ) Lovecraft movies for more than ten years, including independent shorts and big budget extravaganzas, I aver that if you are a fan of HP Lovecraft, you MUST see this movie.
Some people will still hate it: it's 45 minutes, black and white, and made as a SILENT film. That's right, there are title cards you have to read. Nevertheless, this is the story on screen, nearly verbatim. The attention to detail, every detail, that Leman and Branney and the whole cast and crew put into this is, frankly, pathological. However, what they made was not only true to the story, true to the spirit of Lovecraft, true to the time period, it's also a damn entertaining flick. I confess, there's always at least one film that I'll start nodding off in during the fest…long nights of boozing take their toll. If I had to watch any actual silent film, I'd be out like a light. Yet the filmmakers managed to make a film as engrossing as any I've ever seen of any age, simply with their great music (I bought the soundtrack), and, sagely, their "modern" style of editing (quick cuts and constant information revelation). The cast is amazing, the transitions between scenes genius, the effects outstanding, and if I said there was anything wrong with this film, it would have to be solely because I can't admit that someone else made a perfect film.
The hubris in making a black and white silent picture (shot on video) in the 21st century is galling; the fact that it still turned out so well only adds to the legendary genius (madness?) of Leman and Branney. I will even go so far to say that their Call of Cthulhu is a film that all future Lovecraft adaptations will be compared to. This is the watermark, people.
So my biggest complaint: How is the HPLHS going to top this? Watch carefully, this could be their breakthrough film into the world of bigger budget features.
Courtesy Nudge
The Courtesy Nudge: Directed y Jacob Hair. A hilarious short based on someone who spends too much time huffing paint fumes. Bad things happen. Very gross, very gory, very funny.
Experiment 17
Experiment 17: The latest from director Christian Matzke (Nyarlathotep, An Imperfect Solution), this is a great short about Nazis stealing the Necronomicon from the Biblioteque Nationale (when they took Paris) and trying out some of the passages. Christian's attention to period detail was amazing, including the use of actual documentary footage of Hitler meeting with a Sheik. Very convincing. Lensed by Tony Penta (The Hound, The Hapless Antiquarian), the best part (the climax) is a little lost in camera motions, but watch carefully, because it's really creepy. I think this is Christian's best film to date.
The Gibbering Horror of Howard Ghormley
The Gibbering Horror of Howard Ghomley (directed y Steve Daniels): This is a very creepy black and white film with no dialogue about a bicyclist who finds a key to a strange old house in the woods. As you know he shouldn't, he tries to get inside, leading to a very dreamlike, weird tales conclusion.
Herbert West-Reanimator
Herbert West: Re-Animator (Anthony Dickson, dir): A fair but faithful adaptation of the first chapter of the West series. Problems in this were: modern college kids playing the parts, too much voice over, and shaky camera work.
It's the Great Cthulhu Chuck and Dexter
It's the Great Cthulhu: Another short by Jon Cazares and Brian Wood (who did Antiques Roadshow), these two are defining themselves as the ultimate Cthulhu comedians. This one is a take off of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" cartoon, but with a gigantic sea monster. Sex on the beach included, these filmmakers show us what I imagine most Lovecraft fans are like (based on my limited experience).
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow (Emiliano Guarneri): A great short from Italy featuring elements of Chambers, including his infamous play. There's some great acting, cinematography, editing and music in here. Everything goes right, although the story is a cliché …yet inspired by one of the original tropes of the cliché, so it is forgivable. Nice to see someone else take a swing at Chambers' work.
Late Bloomer
This is the film adaptation of Clay McLeod's Broadway performance, directed by Craig Macnell. Simply put: seventh grade sex ed class as seen through the eyes of a young Lovecraft. Have you ever REALLY looked at the diagram of the female reproductive organ and compared it to a Mythos monster?
Le Facteur Pouple (The Night of the Octopus)
Night of the Octopus: (directed by Matthew Rankin): A hilarious short from Quebec, it's not quite Mythos, but it is about a man losing his mind (due to a bad breakup), and being stalked by an octopus. Big laughs at the end.
Let Sleeping Gods Lie
Short teaser for an upcoming film.
The Lovecraft Syndrome
The Lovecraft Syndrome (directed by David Schmidt): A woman who experienced something terrible loses her grip on reality. More rape therapy than cosmic horror, however, has a great scene where the main character "wigs out" while talking about the correlation of Lovecraft' s writing to everything else in the world.
Read Me a Story
Read Me a Story (directed by Craig Mullins and Bret Mix): I had a hand in the making of this one (as did many other Lurkers), so I am biased. It's Craig's (of unfilmmable.com, one place where you are probably reading this right now) first attempt at making the movies he loves so much. As a first effort, it travels pretty high. A mother reads a bedtime story from the Necronomicon to her little urchin…which is perfect for "it". Craig kept the film short and tight, with just enough information to keep the viewer in suspense. The lead actress of the film got a shout out from Patti Smith for her wonderfully droll performance as the mother. A great, simple ending leaves chills. Nitpicking would mention the blue light (I personally don't like blue light to represent moonlight), and a remix for the soundtrack. But there are more strengths than flaws, and Craig's devotion is plain to see. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!
ReCreation
ReCreation: Another by Ed Martin, starring Jason Custer and the Mad Martian, this little set-at-home piece is about loss, quantum mechanics, dreams, and reality. No production value (takes place between two guys in an apartment), but still, short enough and original enough to sit through.
I also have to say that Ed Martin, the most prolific Lovecraft filmmaker, knows how and when to end his films. They may not look like much, but he leaves you with a bang, and that's a great talent to have.
Ryleh
R'lyeh: The only animated short this year (an anomaly), this French flick directed by Mikael Genachte-Bail and Gaetan Boutel (great names) was pretty good, despite a little CG clunkiness. However, there's a brilliant scene where the main character's reality slips away. Worth seeing again.
The Statement of Randolph Carter
It's very interesting to see, but every year, there's one Lovecraft story that appears again and again. I can look to the year of Pickman's Model, Cool Air, From Beyond, The Outsider, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth adaptations. This year, it was The Statement of Randolph Carter, with three films containing elements of the story. This one was by Edward Martin III, who IS the most prolific Lovecraft filmmaker. This version was fairly straightforward, no surprises, with a little bit of comedy thrown in.
The Vessel
The Vessel, directed by Jason Voss and Robert Rundle, is, unfortunately, at least twice as long as it needs to be at 25 minutes. A Goth girl steals a spellbook, casts a spell, summons ancient evil. Jason's great artwork gets a lot of screen time (too much screen time?), and the girl doesn't show off her goodies, so this is best watched in fast forward.
The Guests
The guests this year were phenomenal.
Joseph Dougherty (screenwriter)
screenwriter Joseph Dougherty (Cast a Deadly Spell)
Stuart Gordon (director)
Director Stuart Gordon, showed his film Dreams in the Witch House BEFORE it will air on Showtime next month as part of the "Masters of Horror" series.
Christopher Heyerdahl (actor)
Actor Christopher Heyerdahl, who plays a dead-ringer for HP Lovecraft in the great Canadian film Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft, for which this year he won the Howie award
Scot Connors (author)
Author (CA Smith & HP Lovecraft) expert, Scott Connors help do a panel and dedicate a seat to Clark Ashton Smith.
Patti Smith (musician)
and finally, legendary singer Patti Smith flew here from Europe to be a part of the festival. For the first time in a long while, I considered the possibility that the Lovecraft Fest is reaching the capacity of the wonderful non-Euclidean three-screen Hollywood Theater, it's home for the last four years.
The Special Events
Late Bloomer Live
Clay came out to the fest and performed his one-man routine a few times over the weekend, and it's absolutely hilarious. The film is a little more unnerving, simply because of the young kids involved. Nevertheless, it's not exploitative, and the lead actor (Sam Borenzweig) is pretty good. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the parents of any of the kids (a full classroom's worth). Well shot, very funny. See the performance if you can.
Clay Chapman was terrific. His performance really blew me away and it was one of the major highlights of the festival for me this year. Fantastic stuff! I read his book Rest Area a couple years ago and recommend it. -- John Tynes
The Awards
I missed the Howie award ceremony this year, given to actor Christopher Heyerdahl for his uncanny portrayal of HP Lovecraft in Out of Mind. It was great to hang out with Christopher, who, despite his long hair and beard, still exhibits tics and traits I now think Lovecraft had
Patti Smith Concert
Saturday night, Patti Smith performed for us. She read some of Lovecraft's poems, some of her own, and sang a few songs with a borrowed acoustic guitar. She was very quiet during the shmoozing, but on stage, her presence and personality won over the SRO crowd. Her love of Lovecraft (one of her imaginary boyfriends, she calls him) was easily apparent, and hearing his words read through her mouth added a huge dimension to an author that I normally think of as nihilistic, uncaring, hateful. But it's obvious he was far from a pure curmudgeon, and it was amazing to see Lovecraft's passion for history, for art, for astronomy come alive through such a legendary personality. It's one thing for fan boys such as myself to be inspired by Lovecraft, it's another for major artists to be as well.
Heyerdahl Reading
Theatre Chair Dedication
Pohnpei Slideshow and Discussion
Editorial Opinion
The usual drinking and shmoozing with forgotten pals was, of course, one of my favorite memories of the weekend. It's not just seeing the Lurkers again, but witnessing how far some of them have progressed in terms of talent and skill. Ed Martin, Craig Mullins, Christian Matzke are becoming strong directors, and Andrew Leman and Sean Branney premiered something very special. More on that later.
The Festival program, poster, shirts, and merchandise were all of exceptional quality this year (the program looks like a 1920's newspaper again, very well done by Migliore). Lee Moyer's poster art was great (I think this year's poster is sold out, or nearly so), and some new vendors created a mob scene every time the films finished and people shopped in the upstairs lobby. You're going to see a lot of new cool Cthulhu merchandise around, so start making your Spot Hiddens. Personally, my fave item was SighCo's new "Miskatonic Drinking Club" bowling shirt, which I am going to show off as soon as I can.
As for the films themselves? I found that the shorts blocks (two of them), were the best part this year, and almost all the selections had something going for them; even the flawed ones weren't icepick-to-the-eyes-bad. The longer features were worth seeing, although they could stand some improvement.
I have to qualify all this now: all of the below is just my opinion. Agree or disagree with it as you like. If you're a filmmaker, you did better than I did for at least having something in the festival this year. I still recall making a drunken bet Saturday night that I'd have five films in the fest next year.
Kudos to Andrew Migliore for his persistence in getting her to the festival, and great thanks to Patti for giving us a little of her time and talent..
The Brunch
Sunday brought the annual brunch at Andrew's, another great tradition. This time, I wisely waited until the homemade French toast (with homemade maple syrup laden with sliced walnuts, almonds, and dried cranberries) arrived before I dug into my food (there's a caterer that brings other goodies, but the French toast is a special treat, this year whipped up by Linda and her new sous chef, Kirsten).
This year, we were treated to a new teller of the "Dog Head Story", from the first-hand perspective to John Tynes. One of the most revealing parts of the story is that Tynes may be the Messiah.
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Photos Oh, and if you want to see pictures, go here PrintRoom password HPLFF0 |
Fully loaded with brunch, we tromped back to the theater for the last day of films. It was going to be a long day, as I scheduled myself to see only the features, yet skipping Marebito and Forbidden Quest, which I may rent on video someday. Or not. I did, however, manage to catch:
later that night, as I carried some HPLHS merchandise back to Andrew's house, Christopher opened the door for me, bowing very low (he's taller than I am), and saying, in a sonorous voice, "Yeeessss?" I had to stop and savor the moment (although I missed him and Bryan Moore re-enacting the scene where Lovecraft and Carter meet in the movie). I hope Chris can make it to more of the festivals.
Voodoo Donuts
It was late by the time we had everything packed up and moved out of the theater on Sunday, and I had the mad idea to go to Voodoo donuts, originally suggested by Kirsten. This amazing donut place has weird hours (10pm-10am, or something else arcane), which would be perfect for a delirious horde of Lovecraft fans, however, they closed at 1am on Sunday.
Thanks to Bridget (sp?) who heard our suggestion, she managed to call ahead and Fast Talk her way into getting the bakery to open up just for us. We samples about two dozen donuts, from the Cock N Bull (donut shaped like male genitalia, with cream filling) to one with a Fruit Loop cereal topping. We didn’t get the bacon donut or their signature piece, a donut shaped like a gingerbread man, filled with raspberry cream and plastered with a look of horror on his chocolate-glazed face. I hope VooDoo donuts becomes a tradition at the festival, because I want to eat a shoggoth donut.
That night, while the remaining Lurkers and friends enjoyed late night donuts and the comfort of Andrew's living room, we started trading stories again. It was so late, though, that I thought Andrew was going to fall asleep in mid-sentence of his Zombie Dairy Queen story. So we left the stories for another night, and we headed off to bed (or, in my case, the floor; which brought back memories of my first year in Chicago).
The sad thing is that we never have enough time to sit around and chat with each other; there's either too many people, too little time, or my ego is too big to listen, so I come away knowing scant more about people than I did going in. Rarely do I meet the new filmmakers (sorry!), so I'm not keeping up with current trends. But I realize how good the Festival must be if my biggest gripe is that I don't have more time.
Time to go
Monday was the requisite too-short trip to Powell's Bookstore, and then a ride to the airport for Byran and Heather (who were, as always, extremely well-dressed), a few beers in the bar while watching the Yankees-Angels playoff game, a flight back home, and here I am.
Five films for next year, that's what I have to do.
