Horrorfest January 2009: Friday
Tonight was the first night of Horrorfest. The Varsity was playing a Korean film called “Voices,” “The Butterfly Effect 3”, and a Brit movie called “The Broken.” They were also playing “Let The Right One In,” but not as part of Horrorfest.
I saw “Voices” first. It was a fine piece of K-horror. A little less subtle than some of the Korean movies I’ve seen (I had to watch “A Tale of Two Sisters” twice before I totally got it), but what the hey, it was aimed at teenagers. It had some very emotionally disturbing content-family members suddenly and murderously turning on each other and that sort of thing. Also some very nasty, heart-in-the-throat, jump-out-of-your-seat moments. A few were just cheap “gotchas,” but there were some really unexpected and creepy jolts as well. I figured out what was going on in the story before it ended, but hey, I see a lot of these things. One small gripe was, in fact, a scene tacked on at the end to make SURE you got it. And the funny thing was, as I was walking out of the theater for a pee-and-popcorn break, some dude sitting near the back said loudly “I don’t get it! What just happened?” I took a good look at his shaggy hair, comic-shop-lurker beard, and Supernatural t-shirt, and promptly explained it all with a brief Buffy reference. The guy lit up like Uncle Fester’s lightbulb! Damn I’m good. Anyway, worth seeing. 7 out of 10 shrunken heads.
I did not see “Butterfly Effect 3,” and I have no plans to do so. I thought the original was kinda lame, I didn’t bother to see the second, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to pay $9.50 to see the third one. I went upstairs and watched “Let The Right One In” instead. It was awesomeness covered with whipped awesome and topped with a rilly awesome cherry! Do everything in your power to see it in the theater. It’s not only an amazing character piece, it’s just a gorgeous film. I give it ten shrunken heads out of ten!
“The Broken” is slow-paced, but creepy as hell. I haven’t seen such a nasty buildup of slow creep since “Dead Birds,” as a matter of fact. The filmmakers manage to set an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere with seemingly innocent incidents, until you’re about ready to gnaw through the back of the movie seat in front of you. (Which would probably irritate the person sitting there.) When it finally gets nasty, it gets pretty DANG nasty. Not enough for strict gorehounds I’m sure, but because it’s held off for so long, the violence is truly shocking. I figured out what was going on in this one too, before the big twist at the end. But that’s not a criticism. Like I said, I watch such staggering amounts of horror that it’s really tough to catch me off guard. 8 shrunken heads!
Tomorrow I’m seeing “Autopsy,” “Slaughter,” and “Dying Breed.” I hope at least one of them is as good as any of the flicks I saw tonight. What a great way to start Horrorfest!