Back in April, I did a column call Straight for the Kill short film program that took place at the Philadelphia Film Festival. I promised a part three. Oops. I totally forgot until the other day, when cleaning up my computer. Here is the final part to my coverage of that short program. To get get caught up with this here are the links to part one and part two

Part One - "Side Effect", "Treevenge": http://www.filmarcade.net/2009/03/2009-philidelphia-film-festival-and.html

Part Two - "Rite","The Fairy Princess": http://www.filmarcade.net/2009/04/2009-philidelphia-film-festival-and.html

The Painter of Skies
AKA: O Pintor De Ceos
Year: 2008
Director: Jorge Morais Valle
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 25 Mins
Language: Spanish with English subtitles

“The Painter of Skies” (O Pintor De Ceos) is about a painter, who hides in the darkness of the lost cliffs. He and his assistant are trying to find out the solution to the perpetual storms that causing problems his darkly lit house. Soon the two find that the waves in the water are becoming powerful to the point that is destroying their home. The only things that can save them from this potential disaster are a magic boiler and tormented ghosts, if they will be able to see the light.

“The Painter of Skies” is a very visual animated film that adults will love. One of the film’s success is that the fact that all the animation is very visual, which makes it a very good film to watch for a visual stances. Director, Jorge Morais Valle, does a great job making the animation really stand out, as its just great to look at the images that on the screen. He also does a very good job making it look, very vivid. That’s done through the various magical effects that created, in the animation process. It really makes this a very good film to look at from art form standpoint and an animation standpoint.

The screenplay written by Morais and writer Silvia Pazos really goes into the painter character, during the course of this film, which the story come alive. The writers do a very good job of exploring the painter and the struggles that made life, so dark. It examines why the painter is tormented by his past. They explore in a way that you feel sorry for the character, as his life is consumed by the darkness outside and inside of his heart, which makes you feel some sympathy for the character and want him to break through the darkness that’s upon him. The writers also go a good job, going into the painter’s backstory, as it explains how the character became who he is at the beginning of the film. Another thing that I liked about the screenplay was that they added a sidekick for the painter. That character perfectly placed there, so film would have a little dark humor to it, as it helped the film not become too dreary and dull.

“The Painter of Skies” is a very vivid animated film that fans of the Bill Plympton and Mike Judge crowd will enjoy.


White Radishes
Year: 2009
Director: Christina Won
Stars: Jack Dimich, Fairly Tull, Alison Johnson
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 13 Mins

“White Radishes” is about a man, who is obsessive compulsive. He finds that his neighbor next door is hiding a young woman in the attic. The man finds her one day, covered in dirt and roots. He finds a horrifying discovery that she is also growing vegetables out of her own skin. When he tries to rescue her, he going to learn that some things is better left alone.

“White Radishes” is a very dark and twisted story. Director Christina Won does a good job making this film seem like a grim fairy tale. I liked how she directs some of film’s shots. Some of the scenes really brought a sense of intensity of dark atmosphere that is needed for a weird film like this to succeed. Won also does a good filming some the dialoug-less scenes, especially in the beginning, at it helped introduce the film’s characters, which made up for the lack of backstory to one of the film’s key characters. Another reason that this film being dark and fairy tale like, the way that Won directs her actors. She makes all the performance feel odd. It helped bring the oddness that a film like this has to have, in order for it to succeed.

Wou’s screenplay was for the most part good. She does a good job building up the suspense and tension. The moments helped build up everything that was going on in the film, as it kept me interested in the characters and the story. It makes for one interesting and twisted story. Another thing that helped make this film good, the way the film ends. It was one of those films, which I thought something was going to happen, but instead the direct opposite happens. It’s done effectively, so that it provides the twistedness of the story that you just witnessed. If there was one problem that I had with this film, it was the fact that it moves at a pace that you don’t get to know much about the neighbor living next door or the fact that we don’t know how the young woman got be this way. It would’ve been nice to have a backstory to explain how this happened, but I still enjoyed this film, nonetheless.

“White Radishes” is very twisted but entertaining fantasy film.

Review Rating: 3.5 Stars

I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
Year: 2009
Director: J.P. Chan
Studio: Medium 10-12
Stars: Jo Mei, Debargo Sanyal
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 15 Mins

“I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” is about a woman, who is driving on a deserted road, then is stopped when she hits something with one of her tires. Soon her fears come back to haunt her, as things begin to happen mysteriously. Now in order to her

“ I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” is a very imaginative and visually sound film. The visuals helps makes this a very entertaining short. Director J.P. Chan does a great job making all the images that you see, during the course of this film feel dreamlike. It helps make the film come off as dreamlike, with its visual effects. But what makes this film entertaining, the way Chan manages to get not one but two very good performances from Jo Mei, who plays the two main characters in the film. One of the things that I liked about the performances is the fact that they come off differently from one another. It easily helps distinguish the two characters in the film. You had one character, who was the straight one, while the other is pretty much in her own dreamlike world. Another thing that made it work was the fact that they weren’t recognizable, as I thought there were two actresses in the film, not one.

Chan’s screenplay is very imaginative. He does a great job creating a story that’s relies on things that you usually wouldn’t see visually. It makes the films very vivid and darkm while bringing a different tone that makes it interesting for the viewer. The imagery also helped create some of the suspense that this film has. The reason this works, there is a lot tension with the strange things that are happening, during the course of the film. It makes you get into the story and the situation the characters are in.

I Don’t Sleep, I Dream, is very vivid on imagery, while the performances help make this not another effects film.

Review Rating: Four Stars.

Plague Town
Year: 2009
Director: David Gregory
Studio: Dark Sky Films
Stars: Josslyn DeCrosta, Erica Rhodes, David Lombard
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 87 Mins
Official Website: http://www.plaguetown.com/




“Plague Town” is about a family, who travel to the Irish country land to discover their family roots. Their vacation was going very well, until missed the last bus to main parts of Ireland. Soon they are stranded in countryside, when they discover a village that houses a group of deformed children, who have a deadly secret. The family must now fight for their survival, as these children are bloodthirsty and don’t take too kind to visitors.

There are some films that have an interesting premise and a trailer that makes you think that you are going to have a fun time with a film, like this, but after seeing it, your left with a sour taste in your mouth. That’s the case with this film.

“Plague Town is a dull and very boring horror film that has a screenplay that has many things that didn’t make any sense and unanswered questions. left in the viewer’s mind. Director, David Gregory didn’t do a good job making this film either scary or fun, as this comes off, as a film that was confusing and boring. The dark tone, in his direction did not make me care about the film’s story, as it was too dreary and not enough action to make this fun to watch. If there were any positives that Gregory takes out of this film, it was the fact that the acting was good, as it really wasn’t the actors that ruined this film for me; it was the lousy screenplay that they had to work from.

Speaking of the screenplay, which was written by Gregory and John Cregen. It was one that had many flaws and unoriginal plot lines. To put it in better words, the screenplay was one of your typical story where a group of people get stranded in the middle of nowhere with the typical list of clichéd characters that are annoying. The sad thing about this is, this could have been a very interesting and scary film. One of the things that it isn’t that way, there was no attempt at trying to tell how these kids become this violent. There was a scene in the beginning of the film that goes into the pregnancy of one of these kids. I wished they would have spent the first ten minutes or so that explains how these kids became so murderous. It’s not explained very well and really makes you wonder, if the writers ever cared about the backstory, as it was rushed and not developed. That’s not how you make effective and monstrous horror villains. That’s how you make dumb and stupid killer kid films, which made me not happy with the end result. Another thing that made it flawed, I really didn’t care about the family, in the film, until the last half hour. Up to that point, I didn’t care about any of them. They never fully develop the relationship between each of them, especially with the two sisters. It was like, they just put a group of characters in the middle of nowhere and have them run in fear, even though this film wasn’t scary and was starting to go all over the place near the end, as I never understood about how these kids and their murderous ways.

I was very disappointed with this film, as the trailer looked well and the fact that it’s being distributed by Dark Sky Films with a DVD release set sometime in May. “Plague Town” can be filed as one of those films that should have been a good movie, but had a screenplay that really falls flat on its face.

Review Rating: 1 Star.

Welcome to the second part of the Straight for the Kill short film program that’s going on at the Philadelphia Film Festival. Just a quick announcement, not all of the film playing in this program will be reviewed, as there were a couple of films that weren’t on the screener that I was sent, but I will try to bring coverage to these films at a later date, as if everything goes according to plan, I will have a four part to this series, so stay tuned.


Rite
Year: 2009
Director: Alicia Conway
Studio: Dobleronfilm
Stars: Tabitha Morella, Kelly Holden-Bashar, David Bickford
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 9 Mins
Official Website: http://www.ritefilm.com/

“Rite" tells the story of a girl, who’s going through the passage into adulthood. The takes place at a social gathering, where a young girl is getting ready to take part in a ritual. Before the ritual, she begins to hear strange distorted voices. Soon, she partakes in something that represent a transition from childhood to adulthood. An interesting fact about “Rite”, the editor of the film is Ben Rock, who is also the husband of Alicia Conway, but genre fans know him very well, as the director of “Alien Raiders”, a very intense and entertaining alien invasion flick that’s in video stores, right now from Raw Feed Films.

I liked it, when directors try to do different things within the confines of this genre, because there are still original ideas left, but you never see that more often. “Rite” is one haunting visual films that works on all levels. Director, Alicia Conway does a great making this film different, in a sense that’s there’s no chaos happening. The reason for that was that she made a film that focuses on a message about a difficult time, in a child’s life, when that child is going through the passage into adulthood.

Now you’re wondering why, you should check this film, since this doesn’t sound like a horror film. The reason that this film is considered a horror film, the imagery that Conway uses is very dark and Gothic. Everything in this film comes off, like a first rate film, from the production to the film score. Everything looks professional. One of the reasons for this is the imagery. Conway uses this imagery, so that it makes the subject matter interesting and keeps you glued to the screen. She also manages to direct the performances in a way that you feel like you’re in this fantasy world that takes place in the film. Conway also manages to get a very haunting and Gothic score for the film. Not taking away from this very good film, but the best part of the film was it’s score, which was done by Kays Al-Atrakchi. The score added to the film’s dark tone, which also makes the story, haunting.

Besides the score, I really liked the fact that Conway sets out to write a different kind of horror film that focuses on a theme and not the over the top violence that most horror films are accustomed to. One of the things that makes this very different, the way the film’s story told from the main character’s eyes. You get to see things from her perspective, which makes this an interesting character study. It makes you get a look at the mind of a person, before through something life changing. What also made this screenplay different, the fact that Conway makes this film more of a visual piece than a conventional film with a lot of needless chattering and action. This visual piece works, because the images fit the surreal-ness and dark tone of the story.

“Rite” is a very dark and haunting surreal film that definitely worth your time.

Review Rating: Five Stars

The Fairy Princess
Year: 2009
Director: Stephen Lyman
Studio: Compound Pictures
Stars: Damian Buzzerio, Cara Marano
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 14Mins

"The Fairy Princess” is a dark short film that takes place on Halloween night, in a small community. One of the people in that community is spending the night passing candy to the various youngsters. Later in the night, he comes across a young girl, who is dressed like a fairy. He abducts her and locks her up in his basement. Little does he know that the tables are about to turns, as this is no ordinary little girl.

“The Fairy Princess” is a very dark but well acted film. Writer/Director, Stephen Lyman does a very good job creating a dark atmosphere that gives the film its uneasy tone, given the subject matter. It really makes you feel uneasy with the situation at hand. Another thing that made this film good was the way that Lyman directs the two main actors. He does a very good job making one so sweet and innocent, while making the villain, a total creep. It makes it very uneasy and haunting.

The screenplay written by Lyman and Wenoah Wilms was good in creating a dark Halloween story with the subject matter at hand. The subject matter that they chose made the film story and screenplay very dark and gives you this eerie vibe that present through out the rest of the film. The subject matter also gives you this sickening feeling that you feel, for most of the film, which also might make some people who watch this, just to feel a little frightened. Another thing the screenplay does well, the way the writers develop the action, as they did a good job setting up the situations and the characters, as the payoff is well worth sitting through.

“The Fairy Princess” is a dark fable that will make you feel frighten with the subject matter at hand.

Review Rating 3.5 Stars

This is the first of a three-part look at the short films that are playing in Danger After Dark's short film program, Straight for the Kill, a collection of some of the horrific shorts from around the world.


Treevenge
Year: 2008
Director: Jason Eisener
Studio: YerDead Productions
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 15 Mins
Official Website: http://www.treevenge.com/





(Please note, this review is a repost from 12/16/2008)

If you thought “Splatter Disco” was the only Christmas themed horror film that I could come with, this year, I was sadly mistaken. There is another film that has the holiday theme and fits into the Christmas season, very well. The film that I’m talking about is Treevenge. This film could also be called, “Attack of the Killer Christmas Trees”, as that’s what I thought at the end of this short. The film has won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival, New York City Horror Film Fest and Toronto After Dark Film Festival and will be playing at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January.

“Treevenge” is the latest creation from the guys who came out last year during around the time that “Grindhouse” came out with the notorious grindhouse faux trailer “Hobo With a Shotgun”, which won the SXSW Grindhouse Trailer Cut contest, last year, in conjunction with Quentin Taratino and Robert Rodriquez’s “Grindhouse”. The film is about, the experiences and lives of the Christmas trees. After being chopped down to be sold and shipped from their homes, they aren’t happy being used for display purposes. This Christmas will be definitely be different, as the trees will fight back and try to end civilization and the Chirstmas hoiliday, as we know it.

‘Treevenge” is a holiday filled gorefest that’s so demented you’ll be shocked. The direction of this film has the same grindhouse type feel that made “Hobo with a Shotgun"faux trailer very entertaining and earned cult like status on myspace. I liked how, director Jason Eisener goes for that vibe again, with this project. It help makes this film very odd, from most films that I usually see, especially when you have trees talking with subtitles. I’m not kidding. The pace of the action was good, as Eisener (who’s also the editor) does a good job editing; as the action doesn’t take away the film’s story. He also makes the violence very gory. The gory effects were very good, as there were a couple of very graphic images that were gruesome to watch, as he replicates the violence that was seen in his previous project.

Eisener and Rob Cotterill’s screenplay was good and original. The writers did a great job making the action very shocking. They did that, by making the death horrifying, as it added to the film’s shock level. There were moments that were very gruesome. Their development of the characters was solid. They do a good job developing the time between when the trees get cut in the beginning of the film to Christmas day, where this is not a Christmas to remember. They also did a good job getting the tree’s perspective oddly enough. They did that, by making their dialogue subtitled, which made more than just the typical boring B-movie monster. In that same time, the writers did a good job developing the soon to be victims. They did that to make sure that you are shocked, when the trees attack.

Treevenge will definitely make you think twice, before deciding to put up a tree, this Christmas.

Review Rating: 4 Stars



Side Effect
Year: 2009
Director: Liz Adams
Studio: AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women
Stars: Virginia Newcomb, Suzy Cote, Jonathan Nail
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 13 Mins
Official Website: http://www.sideeffectthemovie.net/






"Side Effect is about an attractive, over achieving student, who takes a job as a babysitter, for a wealthy couple. The couple trusts her with their kids, as they head out for a social gathering. While watching the kids, she begins to work on her schoolwork. Being frustrated with it, she takes a couple of pills to help focus on her schoolwork. Soon the pills take its effect and helps her balance everything that she needs to do, but these pills have a side effect that might end up with deadly consequences.

“Side Effect” is a very effective and shocking short film. Liz Adams’ direction was very good. She does great job looking at the dangers of abusing drugs while creating images that were shocking and downright horrifying. What made this effective was Adams’ ability to create an atmosphere that is very dark and creepy, by setting up the tension in the film’s beginning, so that you’re led in a different direction. She also directs some of the film’s action very well, as it really helped show off the character’s state of mind from the beginning of the film until it’s end, as some of this film reminded me of Darren Aronofsky’s second film “Requiem of a Dream”, which also tackles the same subject. But what makes this character study work was the way that Adams directs her leading lady, Virginia Newcomb, as her performance helps carry this film. She pulls off her role very well, as she shows different sides of her character. This helps her performance become believable and helps the film be a very shocking film.

Adams’ screenplay was also very good. One of the things that make this screenplay good, the fact the film has a constant message about the dangers of pill addiction. This message is present in the film’s story and action, which I hope some of you, who watches this get it, because it’s something that’s not explored enough in cinema. Another thing that makes the screenplay and story very good, the way Adams makes this film a character study instead of a film that focuses on shock value. There is shock value here, but that’s not the main focus of the story. She focuses on the story and the effects that the main character is having with these pills and the dangers that such an addiction poses. It makes the film very dark and makes you interested in the dangers, when you misuse pills just to keep yourself up all night.

Side Effect is a shocking and horrifying short that carries a powerful message regarding the dangers of misusing pills.

Review Rating: Five Stars

Upcoming Screenings for the Straight for the Kill Short Film Program presented by Danger After Dark.

Sunday March 29th, 9:15 PM International House Philadelphia, PA
Sunday April 5th, 4:30 PM International House Philadelphia, PA

I Sell the Dead
Year: 2009
Director: Glenn McQuaid
Studio: Glass Eye Pix
Stars: Dominic Monaghan, Larry Fessenden, Ron Perlman
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 85 Mins
Official Website: http://www.isellthedead.com/






With the Philadelphia Film Festival set to kick it into high gear tomorrow, Film Arcade.net and me is very happy to bring you readers a little sneak preview to a couple of high profile horror films along with some horrifying shorts that are playing in the Danger After Dark portion of the film festival. What better to start my coverage off, with possibly one of the most anticipated and award winning horror films that is generating alot of buzz.

“I Sell the Dead” high already won some high profile award, like Best Independent Feature at the 2008 Toronto After Dark Film Festival and it was also one of the big hits at this year Slamdance Film Festival, winning Best Cinematography (Richard Lopez) and Special Jury Mention for Best Performance, Larry Fessenden. Now it’s playing at the Philadelphia Film Festival, as part of Danger After Dark portion.

The film takes place in the 18th century where the law has finally caught up to two grave robbers, Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan) and Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden). While waiting to be executed, Blake is visited by a visiting clergyman Father Duffy (Ron Perlman). The two spark a conversation that recounting the fifteen years that Blake has been the grave robbing trade from stealing trinkets, as a little boy to the formation of a the partnership that Blake and Grimes have. It’s filled with adventure, horror and rivalries that threaten to put everyone involved right into their graves. The film also stars horror legend, Angus Scrimm from “Phantasm” fame.

I know that it's early in the year, but "I Sell the Dead" is truly one of the best films to come out. A lot of this film's success comes from first time feature film Writer/Director, Glenn McQuaid. This direction job has to be considered phenomenal. The reason I use this word, first, the film is an independent production. Second, it was shot in New York City. Third, it’s very visual. Finally, how he was able to make the film fit the 18th century look, with the budget at his disposable, which it's just amazing. He manages to convey it all on the screen. He also had some very good help from his cinematographer, Richard Lopez, whose cinematography work is one of the keys to why this film achieves the 18th century look. The camerawork was just great from the filming of the action to the look; it's no wonder why this film was great to watch from a visionary sense.

This is also one of those horror films, where the acting and screenplay make the horror fun to watch, instead of the blood and gore, which makes most of these films fun.

McQuaid does a great job with making the acting component of the film work. There are some very good performances here, especially from Larry Fessenden, who does a great job holding his own with Dominic Monaghan, as the two developed great chemistry with each other, which helped with some of the film's most humorous and scary moments. The film also has a very good supporting performance from Ron Perlman, who doesn't give the typical Ron Perlman performance, as he was great with those scenes, in which the main character is telling the whole story about the deeds that he had done and Perlman just plays the character straight. It makes the film very entertaining and not boring and dull.

McQuaid's screenplay was also as good, as his direction. This could have been easily a boring film to watch, with the time setting and the material. But what makes this fun, the fact that he makes the story come off like a "Tales from the Crypt" story. The detailing of the action and characters makes this story and screenplay work. The reason for doing this, it makes the movie not come off as a series of conversations, especially towards the second half of the film, where in any other film, the film would have slowed down. Not here. It helps move the story along without getting bored and waiting for something to happen. McQuaid does a great job with the dark humor that this film has, as it’s witty and provided the necessary laughs that gets you into the film. But the sole reason this film's works; the two main characters were very likable. The screenplay also does a good job developing the two main characters during of all those adventures that the two have through the scares and the twists that this story has. Provided with the comic book style approach, it made the film very fun and dementedly entertaining.

“I Sell the Dead” is a film that you will truly hear about in the coming months, as it finds distribution. This is one of those buddy horror films that put the fun back into horror.

Review Rating: Five Stars

Upcoming Screening

Ritz East 1, Philadelphia, PA, Friday March 27, 9:45 PM
Ritz East 1, Philadelphia, PA, Wednesday April 1, 4:45 PM
International House, Philadelphia, PA, Sunday April 5, 9:30 PM