Another Hole In The Head: Preview!

I was fortunate to attend the preview of SFIndie's
"Another Hole in the Head" festival, June 8 - 15! It was introduced as being 'a film festival, but with only the midnight movies,' which as some of you know is JUST MY CUP OF TEA!! I. Can't. Wait! The schedule looks awesome! Programmer Bruce Fletcher has put together a seemingly cool group of "chop 'em ups" along with some creepy and disturbing work. The producers screened two flicks for us today.

"The Hamiltons" (dirs. The Butcher Brothers (aka Michael Altieri and Phil Flores), US, 2006, 87 mins.) was a ghoulishly pleasant enough time. The cast is an altogether handsome group, including three guys as brothers (with fabulously floppy hair!), featuring Joseph McKelheer as the hunkiest and most psychotic (of course) of the bunch. Swoon... Mackenzie Firgens plays the goth-like sister, which (almost) fills the family. As per my usual, I would never want to give TOO much away, but I'll just say that this isn't exactly "The Addams Family." The cast is great to look at, the plot is fairly creepy and the dialogue is a hoot! ("They're gonna kill me to feed that thing called 'Lenny'?!") I'll see this one, again!

"Ghost of Mae Nak" (dir. Mark Dufield, Thailand, 2005, 105 mins.) is, literally, THE signature 'hole in the head' flick for the year! It's an odd flick, as it was written in English (Mark Dufield is from Britain), translated into Thai and then subtitled back into English. The dialogue does seem to have been through the blender. It incorporates standard Asian horror flair combined with some Hitchcock-ian touches and some real American GORE! The violence is so surprising and over the top, it had our little group laughing out of shock, than out of horror. But I say that as a GOOD thing! There is a middle section explaining the mythology of 'Mae Nak' which threatens to completely bog this down, but when it gets rolling, it threatens to never stop! (In other words, enough with the nightmare sequences, already!) The performances seem rather uneven, though that might be because of the loss in translation. Our heroic couple are appealing enough, but the old psychic woman in the 3rd act (Jaran Ngamdee), nearly steals the film! Overall, the GORE makes this more than worth a see, if you are into that kind of thing.

By the end of the morning, I was DROOLING for more! I. Can't. WAIT! for June 8!!!