Hole In The Head 2007 - Day 1 (Preview)

SFIndieFest's 2007 [Another] Hole In The Head opens this Friday night. I've been fortunate enough this year to have access to previews of nearly the entire festival (since I'm in Atlanta, now), and I'll be posting 'previews' two days in advance of each day's screenings. Woo hoo!

So. Opening night. Well. Both films for the evening have parties as a setting. However, I think I would have flipped the program, as "Stagknight" is annoying and "Murder Party" is GREAT!!

"Stagknight" (dir. Simon Cathcart, UK, 2007, 90 mins.) is filled with characters that I couldn't wait to see die. I don't mean that in a gleeful way either, but in a 'get that guy off the screen' way. The scenario is a gathering of a bunch of guys, who in the real world would probably never be in the same room together, much less on paintball teams and spending a stag night/birthday party in the woods. Unfortunately for them, but intended for the general glee of the audience, a medieval knight has been resurrected and is on a murder spree. The owner of the lodge where the guys are staying, and her (incredibly hunky though nearly mute) son are on the side of the knight, for reasons that I seemed to have missed as I stopped caring within the first half hour, frankly. The script pushes the performances beyond satire and caricature (re Monty Python, et al), and into just plain idiocy. The thing is just annoying.

However, "Murder Party" (dir. Jeremy Saulnier, USA, 2007, 79 mins.) is a near brilliant mix of genres! It would have been a PERFECT opening night event! It's even got 'party' in the title! I saw this at the Atlanta Film Festival this spring, and I loved it! [I'm just going to quote/repost myself here.] This genre bending little flick is actually a hoot and could very well be a new 'midnight classic'. In mixing art criticism, murder, horror and an outrageous rooftop chase scene, the flick nearly guarantees a non-stop intellectual and visceral joy! Chris Sharp (also producer) plays the hapless victim of accidentally attending a 'murder party' on Halloween that is all too literal. The murder is being staged by performance artists, which is how and why the screenplay allows itself to wander into intellectual terrorities usually unexplored in a horror genre. It is a hoot! FULLY recommended!

Maxxxxx says
re "StagKnight": "oh god..."
re "Murder Party": "Sweet, sweet eye juice!"