By Roger Costa
After taking a break last year, Scary Movies, the contemporary Horror Film Festival held by Film Society of Lincoln Center is back with terrifying new productions showcasing the inventive talent of new filmmakers and screenwriters, as well as make-up and visual effects artists. Running July 14-20, the 10th edition of Scary Movies is sponsored by IFC Midnight and offers a varied range of gore, dark humor, post-apocalyptic adventures, killer clowns, possessed bodies and so on. Here are 7 titles you should look forward to:
TERRIFIER
A very efficient psychopathic thriller where a drunk madman wearing a clown mask and blood-stained sharp teeth, terrorizes some ordinary folks on Halloween night and eventually engages on a game of chasing and killing clueless girls trapped in a remotely inhabited building. Director Damien Leone’s film leaves obvious traces of its low-budget production, but the killings are extremely gory, scandalously explicit and shocking (some even unbearable to keep looking at, others certainly causes nausea), making it a smart horror flick that really knows how to provoke. The villain resembles Freddy Krueger, though much more sarcastic and irreverent, while the screenplay adds up weird characters (a janitor, a creepy homeless woman living at the building’s basement) in order to become prey, promoting a wildly bloody funny ride, a feast for Horror-fans, literally terrifying. (Opening Night, Friday July 14th Q&A with Director and cast, followed by a “Cake, Clowns & Corpses” costume party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Scary Movies.)
IT STAINS THE SANDS RED
Sexy blonde Brittany Allen is amazingly bold and hilarious in director Colin Minihan’s feature debut. Unaware of a devastating epidemic, she is cocaine-infused crossing the desert with her boyfriend when the car suddenly gets stuck. Guess who comes to their rescue? A horny and hungry zombie! After getting rid of the boyfriend, the creature from darkness tastes her tampon, and enamored, follows her as she wanders the desert trying to save her flesh. Eventually they become attached, but that won’t save her from suffering in various situations, including in the hands of two fugitives. Superbly shot, capturing heat and dust in brilliant takes, it is a well crafted, coherently funny and sinister production with a great sense of humor and amazing visual effects, confirmed with an exciting sandstorm sequence.
STILL/BORN
A young couple welcomes their first child in this macabre story influenced by The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby. Structured as a mysterious puzzle, Brandon Christensen’s film digs deep inside the confusing mind and behavior of the mother, going through a postpartum trauma, as she becomes possessed with the idea that evil forces are trying to take her baby away. Written by Colin Minahan, the film won a prestigious award at the recent Overlook Film Festival and brings a powerful and enigmatic performance by Christie Burke (“The Twilight Saga”) as the leading lady, Mary. As she becomes deeply obsessed with her visions, while her husband finds out the truth watching the surveillance camera’s footage, the film unfolds with unexpected results, working fine as a chilling, suffocating experience.
OFFENSIVE
A smart take on this generation’s inclines to violence and vandalism, as well as their dangerous efforts to become “viral” on social media, writer-cinematographer-director Jonathan Ford’s third feature is an over-the-top analysis on tolerance and endurance. A retired couple moves to a quiet country town in France and are inexplicably assaulted by a group of rebellious, violent teens. When the authorities turn against the victims, for the lack of evidence, the couple decides to make justice on their own. Oh boy, and the punishment won’t be easy! Going after each one of them, for their designated slashing moral lessons, the oldies are determined to teach them some definitive correction. Awesome!
THE NIGHT OF THE VIRGIN
In this Spanish witch-craft, mystical, and sexually-charged bizarre comedy, a young virgin is struggling to find some female companion at a New Year Eve’s party, when a mysterious, sensual woman invites the goofy boy to spend the night at her flat. What ensues is a verbally-sharp, exotic and shocking ritual of desire and unknown manifestations filled with extremely explicit depiction of sex (a real time masturbation), mutilations and gore- it probably delivers the nastiest scene ever filmed, where the protagonist suffers a diarrhea while serving as a “baby-holder”. Director Roberto San Sebastián demonstrates control of the material with inventive eschatological techniques and subversive humor.
CAUGHT
Mickey Sumner and Ruben Crow star as a couple of journalists intrigued by the presence of the army surrounding their British countryside farm. As soon as they get off the phone notifying a big publication about a hot story on it, they are surprised by two strangers knocking at their door claiming to have questions for the couple. The pair of bizarre, corpse in decomposition alien-like messengers maintain the family hostage waiting the arrival of “them”. Director Jamie Patterson builds a taut and suspenseful thriller, holding on tight to the mystery involving the characters, supported by amazingly disgusting make-up effects.
THE DARKNESS
Daniel Castro Zimbrón’s Mexico-set astonishing film centers on a father and his two children stranded at their house while the world is taken by a virus contamination. Hauntingly shot with shadows of a Gothic-thriller, and structured with metaphorical elements that resonate the link between dream and nightmare, the actors deliver stupendously panic-like performances, especially when tempted to walk outside in the forbidden darkness and when pushed to their limits as unexpected guests arrive looking for supplies.
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