Shelter a.k.a. 6 Souls

Adam, a young psychiatric patient with multiple personality disorder, seems to be exhibiting personalities of those who actually lived - all murder victims.  As his doctor, Cara Harding, digs into his pasts, it starts to appear less psychiatric and more supernatural...

This film was made in 2008, released in Japan in 2010 as Shelter, then released in the U.S. in 2013 as 6 Souls.  Apparently it was considered so bad that a name change was warranted before release in its home country.  I agree.

Shelter a.k.a. 6 Souls
2010, 112 minutes, directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein

Child of God

Fantastic Fest's legendary secret screenings provide opportunity to screen horrible films I'd never voluntarily walk in to see.  This time, though, it's James Franco's latest experiment, a biopic tale of a very sad, shy & mentally impaired man in the 1930s, descending into madness as the rural society of Sevier County, Tennessee, rejects him.

It's a really, really good film.  It really is.  But its also sad, creepy, and depressing, and speaks to our nation's - or species' - atrocious history of treating mental illness.  Much of the glory of this masterpiece has to be placed at the feet of Scott Haze, whose portrayal of Lester Ballard is outstanding.

Child of God
2013, 104 minutes, directed by James Franco

Cheap Thrills

What series of increasingly disgusting and debasing things will two desperate people do for money?  And that's not the worst of it.  It's the concept of rich people doing this sort of thing for fun.  I really haven't been this angry with a film in a long time; what a way to ruin an otherwise good day.  This is why I don't join the Alamo Alliance; they buy bad films.

Cheap Thrills
2013, 85 minutes, directed by E.L. Katz

Escape from Tomorrow

At this point, Escape from Tomorrow is better known for its surreptitious production than its story.  Filmed in secret at Walt Disney World in Florida, the film is billed as a parody of the make-believe story Disney wants its customers to see.

But then, there's the film itself.  Despite being fired that morning, Jim wants to have one good final day at the parks with his family.  Instead, he and his wife bicker and argue, and they take turns with their son and daughter separately, trying to keep either of them happy.  But then there's the two Parisian girls that Jim follows.  I don't think this was supposed to be an existential journey, so I keep trying to piece the parts together to make an arcing plot.  Exactly how are the scientists under the Spaceship Earth related to the aging witch with her mesmerizing necklace?  Was Jim selected as a child for this ultimate fate, and has his son now been selected to share the fate as well?

Escape from Tomorrow
2013, 90 minutes, directed by Randy Moore

Upstream Color

Kris is kidnapped. Brainwashed. Wiped out. Left with nothing but emptiness, and a subtle link she can't explain. Jeff has the same emptiness, but he's found her. And then there's the sound. Quinoa. The connection. The hypnotic telepathic worms. Told with minimal dialog, this surreal film explores the involuntary bonds these people share with each other and their counterparts. More than that, I can't explain.

Upstream Color
2013, 96 minutes, directed by Shane Carruth

Come Out and Play

This disturbing remake of 1976's Who Can Kill a Child? is set in Mexico, not Spain, but features the same chilling path of desperation and tragedy until the lead characters face the choice to die or kill their assailants.

Come Out and Play
2012, 110 minutes, directed by Makinov

ABCs of Death

In what I think is the first Drafthouse Films-funded venture, Tim League and Ant Timpson enlist 26 genre film directors to each produce a short, each based on death and a letter of the alphabet.  As is usual, I don't review shorts except when they are produced together to form a feature film.  I'm not going to attempt to review every story; it's sufficient to say some were funny, some were bizarre, and some were downright disgusting.  I can't recommend it for anyone with a stomach or conscious.

ABCs of Death
2012, 123 minutes, directed by Angela Bettis, Hélène Cattet, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza, Jason Eisener, Bruno Forzani, Adrián García Bogliano, Xavier Gens, Noboru Iguchi, Thomas Cappelen Malling, Jorge Michel Grau, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Simon Rumley, Marcel Sarmiento, Jon Schnepp, Srdjan Spasojevic, Timo Tjahjanto, Andrew Traucki, Nacho Vigalondo, Jake West, Ti West, Ben Wheatley, Adam Wingard, Mikael Wulff, Yudai Yamaguchi, and Lee Hardcastle




The list of deaths below is for my own reference.  I don't recommend reading it, whether you plan to see the film or not.
Apocalypse
Bird
Cycle
Dogfight
Exhumed
Far
Gravity
Hydro-Electric Diffusion
Itchy
Jidai-Geki
Kapoo
Libido
Miscarriage
Nature
Orgasm
Parama Ribo (Pressure)
Quack
Rice
Speed
Toilet
Unsuspecting
Vagitist
XXL
Yeti
Zymosis

The Game

Michael Douglas stars as wealthy financier Nicholas Van Orton, given the ultimate birthday gift: a real-life mystery game starring him.  How far does the game go, or is it a game at all?

I kept trying to predict the ending, and kept getting it wrong.  But still I'm not sure I'm happy with how it turned out.

The Game
1997, 129 minutes, directed by David Fincher

Girls Against Boys

Abused and insulted, Shae and her new friend Lu go on a sadistic rampage against every man they meet.  Quite a performance by Nicole Laliberte, but it's senselessly brutal.

Girls Against Boys
2012, 87 minutes, directed by Austin Chick

Modus Anomoli

I really got angry with the protagonist of this outdoor survival horror. Carrying around a flashlight when being hunted outdoors falls in my stupidpeople category. There's a full moon. Do you have no night vision?

In the end, though, they explain everything, albeit in a way that leaves me baffled for an hour until it clicks. If you start to watch this definitely see it through.

Modus Anomoli
2012, 87 minutes, directed by Joko Anwar

Invasion of Alien Bikini

I'd say this Korean independent film gets weird, but that implies that it didn't start weird.  Filmed with a total budget of $5000, this "comedy" features an alien who must reproduce tonight, and a vow of chastity by the man she's chosen.  Light-hearted torture ensues.  Seriously.  And then it gets really weird.  Quite a head scratcher, this one.

Invasion of Alien Bikini
2011, 75 minutes, directed by Yound-doo Oh

A Film Unfinished

Found reels of a propaganda film from Nazi Germany show contrasting scenes of staged prosperity with real poverty in the Warsaw ghetto, May 1942, not long before it was destroyed and most of its inhabitants sent to their deaths.

But this isn't shown in isolation.  To complement, contrast, and counter the propaganda film, the documentary producers use the incredibly-detailed diaries of the Jewish superintendent of the ghetto, as he was ordered to take part in and witness filming.  They also include comments from survivors viewing the film (and recalling the filming), German reports and records, and even transcripts of testimony of one of the cameramen, the only one of the filmmakers ever uncovered.

With the film never finished, the purpose of the contrasting scenes may never be known, but the film nevertheless gives vision to the final days of a half million Jews starving in the three square miles of the Warsaw ghetto.

45 years later, an outtake reel was found, with repeated takes of "documentary" scenes until the Germans considered them realistic enough, along with images of the cameramen caught in each others' lenses.

You should see this.

A Film Unfinished
2010, 88 minutes, directed by Yael Hersonski

I Think We're Alone Now

This is a documentary about two people who have been obsessed with 80s pop star Tiffany since, well, the 80s. It's really kind of scary, especially the filmed interactions with Tiffany. I know some people feel broken and need to be made whole, but that can't be an excuse to bring that sort of fear into the life of someone else - especially someone they claim to care about.

I think this was officially the first film I've watched streamed on the internet. Appropriate, then, that it crashed 6 minutes in and took 30 minutes to get working again. (Hint: Firefox on Windows, unstable. IE on Windows, unstable. Firefox on OSX, wouldn't even start. Safari on OSX, flawless.)

I Think We're Alone Now
2008, 70 minutes, directed by Sean Donnelly

Eraserhead

What. The. Hell. did I just watch? I'm nearly speechless. The film is industrial, gritty, disgusting. There's little dialog; just enough to keep us from getting lost. This is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. Don't eat while watching this.

The other reviews I've just read say to think of this not as a film, but as a work of art. Perhaps, if you consider embalmed calves to be works of art...

Eraserhead
1977, 108 minutes (in the DVD version), directed by David Lynch

Offscreen

Never see this film.

Offscreen
2006, 93 minutes, directed by Christoffer Boe