Entertainment Maven

The Black Cat – Fright Nights at the Projection Booth in Toronto (Kirk Haviland)

Fright Nights at the Projection Booth in Toronto

Hosted by Fangoria Writer Kelly Stewart

Saturday February 11^th, 2012

Shorts:

Ethereal Chrysalis (2011)

Written, Directed and Starring Syl Disjonk

Inside (2010)

Starring Phillipe Buckland and Natalie Feheregyhazi

Written and Directed by Yaz Rabadi

Feature:

The Black Cat (1934)

Starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff

Written by Edgar G. Ulmer and Peter Ruric, inspired by a story by Edgar Allen Poe

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer

Hello All,

If you haven’t heard of the ‘Fright Nights’ series hosted by Kelly Stewart out at the east end’s Projection Booth cinema at Gerrard and Pape in Toronto, then let me indoctrinate you. The film series was created to highlight contemporary cinema; January showed local indie film Black Eve, but the new series has also been used to show classics of the genre, like the December showing of Roger Corman’s Bucket of Blood. Kelly always brings filmmakers out to the screenings, usually they are from the shorts involved, but he did get the filmmakers and cast out for a fun Q&A session after Black Eve, so feature film Q&As are not out of the question. February 11^th turned out to be a special edition of Fright Nights as the date also marked the birthday of the series’ host, and because of this he decided to bring out one of his personal favorites from the ‘Golden Age of Universal Horror’, The Black Cat. Kelly is one of the most informed people you could ever hope to meet concerning horror cinema, especially when it comes to the works of Lugosi, Karloff, and Vincent Price, so as you can imagine, he makes an excellent host for Fright Nights.

It was a dedicated crowd that made it out for the screenings during an extremely cold evening in Toronto. This included the directors of both short films to be screened, with the director of Ethereal Chrysalis, Syl Disjonk, coming in all the way from Montreal for the evening’s festivities. I had met Syl at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival back in October and it was great to catch up with him and hear that his film is doing very well on the festival circuit. As usual, when I walked in the door I received a very warm welcome from Jonathan Hlibka and Nadia Sandhu, two of the owners of the Projection Booth. After catching up with some of the theatre’s regulars and grabbing a beer (yes, Fright Nights is a licensed event), I took a seat with my friend Melanie, we were pleased to be joined by Syl. We prepared ourselves for the horrific cinematic offerings to come.

I had seen Ethereal Chyrsalis before at the aforementioned TADFF screening and so had the Maven (you can read his thoughts HERE), so I was fully aware of what I was about to see. That said, I may have been more impressed with the otherworldly visuals the second time around. The fact that this credit card funded project could rival a lot of Hollywood productions for effects is a real accomplishment. Disjonk is a filmmaker to keep an eye out for.

Next up was Inside, a psychological horror piece about a man who sees himself as a tortured mess, wasting away in his humdrum existence, but the twist here is he sees the scars that only exist in his mind manifested on his actual body. A tight script and solid performances back the story well. Yaz Rabadi, like Disjonk, is another exciting director with a definite style and vision of his own.

Now, on to the feature of the night.

I must admit when it comes to the leads, Karloff and Lugosi, I had not seen a lot of their work, and as a result I have a lot of homework to do. That said, I am the Movie Junkie so I am of course familiar with these men and the stories of their infamous feud in their latter years. While watching The Black Cat one thing became clear to me: the reason these men were so famous was due to the amazing charisma they had on-screen. Their charisma was made even more evident by the performances of the Universal contract players around them and their utter lack of it. You can’t help but be sucked into the performances in Black Cat despite it’s ridiculous story, which has been made even more so due to the passage of time. Highlights include Lugosi cowering like he was still Dracula as garlic was thrown at him when a Black Cat appeared. This prompted him to kill the cat by throwing something at it, or so we are told, only to have the cat appear with Karloff a couple minutes later quite alive. In another scene Lugosi asks another male character if he would mind if Lugosi kept the sliding door, which separated their rooms, open for the night. The man responds “please do, I’d sleep in a cold sweat if you didn’t” (this brought on the biggest laugh from the audience), all the while his wife is sleeping in a 3^rd room. And who could forget the infamous “skinning” sequence? At a brisk 65 minutes, The Black Cat is an easy recommendation simply based on how much fun it is.

Another highlight of the night was during the film when Jonathan walked through the cinema disbursing slices of birthday cake, which was a brilliant haunted house custom design complete with a Black Cat, Alfred Hitchcock’s infamous shadowy outline in the top window, and the graves of Lugosi and Karloff out front. The cake was supplied by Kelly’s sister who was unfortunately unable to attend and receive the kudos she deserved, so I shall praise her artistic merit here. As the night dwindled down and only the regulars remained everyone agreed on one thing, that cake was awesome.

Now, dear reader, this is the part of the article where I implore you to keep the date of Friday March 2^nd, 2012 marked on your calendar so that you may experience Fright Nights for yourself. And what better way to start than with an Ultra Rare screening of the Japanese Genre Classic, and one of my favorite movies of all time, Battle Royale on the Big Screen! This movie is brilliant and if you’ve never seen it I envy you because you’ll get to see it for the first time with a full theater, something that I never got to do myself. Also showing is the world premier of the short film Familiar from Fatal Production, based out of Toronto. Cast and Crew from Familiar will be in attendance for a Q&A session and there will be prizes from Suspect Video, Anchor Bay and the Shinsedai Film Festival to boot.

I’m not going to use this column to simply hype up every event like a paid pitchman. That is not my job and not what this is about. But I will do it for things I feel passionately about, and Battle Royale should not be missed.

Till Next Time, My friends

Kirk “Movie Junkie T.O.” Haviland

Follow me on Twitter @MovieJunkieTO

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Review

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

Writer and director – Dario Argento

Cast – Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, and Enrico Maria

I’ve been in Nice, France for the last two weeks, and in addition to a bad cold and a potentially broken foot, I have been battling the lack of new cinematic releases around the city. Before I travelled here, I checked out a website that listed a number of English language cinemas around the city, and things looked promising, but lately it just seems like the cinemas are full of what the end of 2011 had to offer. Films like Drive, Take Shelter, The Help, and The Descendants fill up the ‘Now Playing’ listings. So it looks like I may not be able to review new movies like I had expected. Luckily, I anticipated running into some difficulties and converted many of my DVDs into AVI files, which I will start digging into and reviewing as the months pass by. As many readers will know, my main interest lies in the realm of horror, and it’s for this reason that I kick-off my old school review section with Dario Argento’s first film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

Most cinephiles will be familiar with the work of Dario Argento, also referred to as the ‘Maestro of Italian horror’. He’s been responsible for a number of now classic horror films, such as Suspiria, Deep Red, and Inferno. If you’re like me then you probably have a great deal of respect for the Maestro, but at the same time can’t help but feel a little disappointed with his work over the last ten to fifteen years (see the awful trailer for his upcoming Dracula film, this is not a joke). Argento seems to have an innate ability to wow audiences visually with striking red blood, obscure camera angles, and creative pans between bedroom windows on a stormy night. There is no doubt that the man has a cinematic eye. However, his films are often burdened with inane character behaviour and dialogue, while his cookie-cutter plot which sees a killer stalk women has been used over and over again without apology. It’s hard not to be torn when it comes to Argento as the issues discussed above are some of the best and worst aspects of horror films in general. I’ve come to the opinion that watching an Argento film is akin to looking at a piece of abstract art: if you like what you see, then stay a while, try to dissect it, if you don’t like what you see, then move on quickly, because things are only going to get worse with any sort of logical analysis.

This was the first time I had ever seen The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and I was really looking forward to it. Would it feel like an Argento film? Would it feel amateurish, indicating that the Maestro needed time to grow? Oddly enough it felt like a typical Argento film, almost disappointingly so. Let me try to explain.

The film follows an American who attempts to come to the aid of a woman when she is attacked by a knife wielding man in black. As a result our hero becomes ensnared in a police investigation, his passport temporarily withheld from him as the police coax him into helping them catch a serial killer who they believe is the knife wielding man in black. The mystery slowly unravels while the man in black claims victim after victim. Sounds like typical Argento, right? In fact, it is Argento to a tee: the killer wears black gloves, first person camera angles are used during the attacks, the killer speaks in a menacing whisper, men are killed quickly while women are emotionally tortured before being killed, and the characters and dialogue are often incredibly stupid. In one instance an antique store owner utters ‘…some say she liked other girls, but don’t get me wrong, I’m no racist’ *face palm*. Therefore, it’s disappointing for me to see that Argento was in prime form on his very first film, potentially indicting that he has failed to grow as a story teller throughout his career and may have been getting by on pure visual talent alone. Argento has been using this black gloved, first person, knife or razor wielding villain for decades with success, but when he departs from this his films are somewhat forgettable.

Finally, I was shocked to discover as I watched the film that The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is heavily based on an excellent novel by Fredric Brown, called the Screaming Mimi (see my blog post about Brown). Maybe it was due to the times, but Brown and his novel are completely uncredited, which is an absolute travesty considering how heavily his novel was drawn on. Brown was a master story teller that could wrap a reader around his pinkie finger without them even knowing it. Plot however is not Argento’s forte, and as a result the delicately balanced narrative found in The Screaming Mimi is ill understood by Argento, or simply tossed aside in favour of more kills. In the end, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is worth a watch for Argento fans, but if you’re new to his work, you would be much better suited checking out Suspiria, Inferno, or Phenomena.

Chronicle Review – Kirk Haviland Guest Blogging

Chronicle – 2012

Starring – Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B Jordan

Written by Max Landis and Josh Trank

Directed by Josh Trank

Hello Folks,

While The Maven himself is frolicking in the south of France (tough gig right?), I, the Movie Junkie that I am, will be hopping around Toronto checking out films and reporting back to you guys (as much as my “day job” will allow that is). Thanks to Matt, the Maven himself, for the support and platform to bring my opinion to this many-opinionated ring that is film criticism. Now on to the film…

I did not know a whole hell of a lot about Chronicle before stepping into the theater, which was very refreshing, given this age in which Hollywood often gives away everything in the trailer before the film actually comes out. Chronicle has also been backed by a brilliant advertising campaign that did more to peak curiosity and raise questions, rather than the “here’s a stunt, doesn’t it look pretty” mentality. In many ways it was reminiscent of the brilliant PR work done for last year’s great Troll Hunter.

As for the plot, Chronicle opens on Andrew Detmer (DeHann) as he sets up his “new” camcorder, which he plans to use for recording all the events in his fractured family, all while his father pounds on his bedroom door, demanding to come in. And you thought this would be a flight of fancy. We are soon treated to a day in the life of Andrew, as his relationships with the people surrounding him come into focus. Among them are Matt Garetty (Russell), who we discover is actually Andrew’s cousin and knows all too well what is going on, and Steve Montgomery (Jordan) who is the “popular jock” character. Matt and Steve discover something intriguing and drag Andrew along to document the proceedings and outcome. While I won’t get into their discovery, if you’ve seen any of the advertisements for the film, then you’ll know that these three start showing abnormal abilities and chaos inevitably entails.

Chronicle is a “found footage” film that may have been better suited playing it straight, especially because it becomes something of a burden to continually explain the presence of the cameras throughout the film. I feel strongly that Chronicle did not need this gimmick, but at least the camera work is not the typical extremely shaky style that films like Devil Inside have used so poorly in the past. Regular people don’t move the camera around that much, so why would characters making a film? Chronicle could have been served better as a traditional 3^rd person narrative with 1^st person inserts. We understand that Andrew is using the camera to hide behind, and if we didn’t, then one of the characters spells it out for us. We don’t need the camera to be omnipresent to get the point. That said, the performances from a cast of mainly newer faces is solid and the story takes a dark turn I was only too happy to see. This is the darker side of TV shows like Misfits and Heroes.

Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed this film as much as I did, since it is being hailed by some as “the superhero movie as seen by the Facebook generation”. Don’t let this dissuade you. Chronicle is just a damn good film that deserves everyone’s attention.

Till next time

Kirk “Movie Junkie T.O.” Haviland

One Last Glance at 2011 – Kirk Haviland’s Top 15 of the Year

Editor’s note: I’ve been meaning to open up Entertainment Maven to other contributors and give readers a little more bang for their…click, and I couldn’t think of a better guest writer than Kirk Haviland to contribute the first piece. I met Kirk this past year at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and was stunned at how knowledgeable he was when it came to talking about movies, not to mention he’s a pretty decent guy as well.

As a film blogger, it’s my responsibility to be as knowledgable as I can be about the subject matter I’m writing about. If I knew half as much as Kirk, I think I would be in pretty good shape.

Matt Hodgson

When I first sat down to start this list I figured it was going to be easy. I mean 2011 wasn’t an amazing year for film, right? It was when I started going through the list of releases that I realized something, there may have been A LOT of movies I disliked this year, but there were also a lot I loved. I have changed this list about a dozen times in ranking and will probably do so again, but these sit as my top 15 (yeah that’s right 15, never said editing was my strong point). Also, I must add that I have not seen some of the films most critics have listed in their top films lists, such as Melancholia, Tree of Life, The Artist and Take Shelter, so they won’t be included here. That said, here we go.

15- Super 8

A loving homage to the films I grew up on like ET and The Goonies. The kids in the film are all very well cast and deliver strong performances to drive the film, especially the very talented Elle Fanning. So maybe the monster plot line doesn’t work, still ranks as one the most fun movies I saw all year.

14- The Innkeepers

Saw this at TADFF back in October and instantly loved it’s throwback style and belief that simply building tension and creepiness is just as effective at scaring people as gore and jump scares. Sara Paxton is excellent in what I consider a star making role. Miss Paxton you will never get me to watch your cinematic gems like “Sydney White” or “Superhero Movie” but you are now on my radar. And maybe now I’ll watch Shark Night 3D…maybe. Opens in theaters in February, seek it out.

13 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The concluding chapter to the most successful film series of all time did not disappoint. Grand in scale with strong performances from the three leads, the filmmakers proved they were right to split the last film into two parts, as condensing the two films into one would have left much wanting. Now whoever convinced the Twilight Filmmakers to do the same idea…(have not yet subjected myself to the torture that will be Breaking Dawn part 1, for full disclosure).

12- Martha Marcy May Marlene

The Exceptional performances from Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes drive this film about a cult devotee trying to re-conform to society after she escapes back to the real “real world”. Both shocking and subtle, the film unravels through flashbacks as we are told the story of her immersion into the cult, while we see her struggles after she leaves. Expect Olsen’s name to be a strong contender come awards season.

11- 50/50

This highly underrated/overlooked gem is an extremely effective look at coping with a serious issue like Cancer with humor, dignity, forgiveness and strength. Joseph Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen are pitch perfect here (this is a semi autobiographical film for Rogen as it’s based on the writer Wil Reiser’s own bout with cancer. Rogen, friends with Reiser, then encouraged him to turn it into a screenplay).

This film also encouraged my ever growing “infatuation” with the lovely and talented Anna Kendrick.

10- Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Into the top 10 and I’m leading of with Apes? Yes indeed, RotPotA (for short) was one of the biggest surprises and most effective films I saw all year. Andy Serkis’ Motion Capture performance as Caesar is fantastic and managed to make us feel more attached to the Apes than the humans in this picture. James Franco continues to make interesting choices in his career and this one works like Gangbusters. By Far the best of the “Summer Blockbusters” this year.

9- The Descendants

When I first finished watching this film I was impressed with its tone and the superb acting of the two daughters in the film. I mean Clooney was great, but he usually is strong for the most part, right? It wasn’t until days after and this film sticking with me that I realized that Clooney was perfectly cast in this and delivers one of his strongest and most complete performances of his career. Alexander Payne’s direction is solid once again, and a standout supporting cast, this IS the best thing Matthew Lillard has ever done, help round out the story. Will be a strong contender for the Oscar.

8- Attack The Block

Joe Cornish’s directorial debut about a juvenile street gang fighting aliens in London’s West End was the only film that left me visibly giddy as I left the theater. Where Super 8’s weakest point was the aliens, Attack the Block’s creatures are excellent and the reason why they are stalking the children throughout the movie unfolds as the movie progresses. The film also gets serious in the third act, showing that there are consequences to all actions and sometimes it’s the ones around you who pay the price.

7- Moneyball

A film about statistics, and it’s GOOD? That’s right, Moneyball delivers what is probably Jonah Hill’s finest performance and while Brad Pitt doesn’t completely disappear into the character of Billy Beane, his swagger does him well in the role. Moneyball is one of the most plain fun films of the year.

6- Hugo

Martin Scorsese’s film may be polarizing among critics, but I found it to be the best advertisement for 3D film making outside of Avatar. But where Avatar fails (script anyone?), Hugo does not. A perfectly crafted story of a orphan finding his way into the adventure of a lifetime. And getting to see George Melies’s “La voyage dans la Lune” in high def 3D doesn’t hurt either. A loving tribute to the earliest pioneers of film.

5- Tyrannosaur

Paddy Considine’s film contains my choice for best male performance of the year as well as best supporting female, with Peter Mullan’s brilliance on full display and Olivia Colman stealing scenes left and right. The film, which I saw at TIFF in September, is a character piece as Mullan’s Joseph is the titular Tyrannosaur, a widower who leads a solitary life and likes it that way, until Coleman’s Hannah comes crashing in. This film deserves more attention as it gets slowly released in limited theaters this January.

4 – Some Guy Who Kills People

My biggest surprise of TADFF 2011 was Some Guy Who Kills People. Going into the fest I knew my friend Christian Burgess, a programmer at TAD, had been hyping this for a long time. The trailer left me underwhelmed, but the movie was FAR from underwhelming. Filled with humor and a lot of heart, this black comedy is one the most refreshing tales I have seen in a while. This was my favorite film of TAD, which is saying something as it was a VERY strong line up. Seek this film out, do whatever you can to see it, it’s worth the effort.

3 – Shame

Shame is one of those films it’s hard to say “I Love that movie” about because of how damn harsh and unrelenting it is. Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan are superb as a brother/sister dealing with the issues surrounding the addiction(s) they both try to cope with everyday and how it leaves them incapable of truly being emotionally invested in anyone. Powerful movie, but I’m not in a rush to see it again.

2 – Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

When I first heard that they were going to do this remake I was dismayed. I had watched the original Swedish films and was in awe of Noomi Rapace’s performance as the enigmatic Lisbeth Salander. Then they announced David Fincher as the director. Fincher manages to create a film with great depth and with a sense of dread hanging over most scenes. Daniel Craig is excellent, much better in the Mikael Blomkvist role than his Swedish counterpart, and the supporting cast superb. Rooney Mara does an amiable job filling the role of Lisbeth. I certainly hope the studio will back the two follow-up films with all the major players intact, including Fincher, as I feel the two novels can produce better films than what the Swedish films delivered. I am almost always against remaking films just so the north american audiences don’t have to read subtitles, but in this case the film is an achievement on its own.

And finally at number 1

1- DRIVE

No other film this year has stayed with me longer and made me keep going back to it than Drive. Be it the stoic lead performance of Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan stealing scenes in yet another film this year, the phenomenal supporting cast with the likes of Albert Brooks, Ron Pearlman and Bryan Cranston, or the score which has been in regular rotation on my I-Pod since. Nicolas Winding Refn’s film delivers in so many ways. Is it violent? Yes. Does it earn the violence? Also a yes. By the time the infamous elevator sequence occurs you’re totally invested in Gosling’s character’s journey and quest for redemption. The Blu Ray, when released, will be a welcome addition to my shelf.

Rarely do you do these lists without leaving off other deserving films and this list is no exception. Honorable Mentions go to :

The Raid (TIFF 2011) – brilliant action film, Great ZomComs Juan of the Dead, and TAD’s Deadheads. Also from TAD the gripping Lonely Place to Die and brilliantly understated Midnight Son. Jason Eisner’s awesome Hobo with a Shotgun. Jason Reitman’s Young Adult and my favorite documentary this year Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest.

Kirk Haviland

My Ridiculously Late Best of 2011 List – Theatrical releases and festival fare

Most people around me are living in the future. Everything is 2012 this, 2012 that, but I’m still focusing on 2011. I entered the world of film reviewing in July 2011, and as a result I’ve been playing catchup for the entire year. December was brutal, and it is only now that I feel I have seen enough of what 2011 had to offer to actually make a ‘best films of the year’ list. Since many people have not had a chance to see the films offered at the festivals in 2011, I have taken the privilege of separating my top 20 into the top 10 theatrical releases and the top 10 festival films. I hope you enjoy my lists, and if you agree or disagree then let me know!

On with the show.

TOP 10 THEATRICAL RELEASES

10. Hanna