Another Opening, Another Hole in the Head

It was the official opening day of Another Hole in the Head, presented by SFIndie Fest. It's their annual horror fest, which I got to preview a couple of weeks ago. Last night was the launch party, which I did not attend. Today featured four programs and an opening night party. I made it to the first three, attempted the party, but couldn't really find that and came home. Anyway, enough babbling...

"Evil" ("To Kako") (dir. Yorgos Noussias, 2005, Greece, 83 mins.) was a fun way to start a horror fest! "Evil" is a zombie flick. Pure and simple. What makes it stand out is the delirious cinematic glee that Noussias apparently had in making it. He throws all sorts of tricks at us: split screens that number up to seven frames at one point; 'hip-hop' edits; some CGI; and one of the most breathtaking, witty and creepy final shots ever made for this genre! There is also so much blood splattering that it actually hits the camera lens a couple of times! That ROCKS!

"The Last Eve" (dir. Young Man Kang, 2005, South Korea/USA, 88 mins.) did NOT rock my world. Kang reinvents the story of Adam and Eve in three different settings: post apocalypse, kung fu film and Los Angeles soap opera. I ALMOST walked out during the second part (as a certain SFIFF programmer did, who will remain anonymous). However as the third part began, I found Freddie Milligan as the Snake pretty enough to look, so I stayed. (I just wish he had Christian Bale's voice, then he would be perfect!) The first part (post apocalypse) LOOKED interesting enough and was odd enough to hold my attention. Part two, which focused mostly on the fight between Cain and Able, staged as a kung fu deathmatch in a cage, REALLY grew tiresome! Part three, which tossed Eve into the harem that the Snake had gathered (including Mary Magdalene, Salome, etc.) was really pushing it, as the cast wasn't up to the metaphorical challenge. During the Q&A (Kang was present), the director admitted that the third part was added to give the project a feature length. Hmmm. Tsk, tsk to that, I say!

But the "Official Opening Night" selection was ART! "Rampo Noir" (Rampo Jigoku) (dirs. Suguru Takeuchi, Akio Jissoji, Hisayasu Sato & Atsushi Kaneko, 2005, Japan, 134 mins.) is a gorgeous, creepy, kinky to the extreme as well as beautifully conceived and well crafted compendium of four stories by Japanese author Edogawa Rampo (a transliteration of Edgar Allan Poe and the nom de plume of Taro Hirai): "Mars Canal", "Mirror Hell", "The Caterpillar" and "Crawling Bugs". "Mars Canal" bookends the program and launches us into the three other nightmares. "Mirror Hell" was fun and simply GORGEOUS to look at! "The Caterpillar" (which is the pet name a woman has given her husband for horridly KINKY reasons!) totally CREEPED me out! "Crawling Bugs" was dizzyingly lovely to look at, though quite unnerving as the lead character's 'dilemma' was eerily reminiscent of one of my best friends! It has been released on DVD (region 3) in Japan and I. Must. Have. IT!!

(Tomorrow I'm popping over to see a matinee of "X-Men 3" and then Leslie Jordan's show, so I'll be back at "Another Hole in the Head" on Sunday.)