PAURA 3D (2012) movie review

Paura 3D (2012) d. Manetti, Antonio / Manetti, Marco (Italy)

Three juvenile pals (Claudio Di Biagio, Domenico Diele, Lorenzo Pedrotti) learn that local rich muckity muck Peppe Servillo is going to be out of town for the weekend, leaving his palatial country home unsupervised. Seeing a perfect party locale opportunity, the trio head to the hills and through the locked gates to splash about in the fat cat’s pool, guzzle his champagne, ogle his prized vintage guitar collection and use the massive flat screen telly to jam out on Rock Band. (Wait, what? Rock Band???) Things take a predictably turn for the nasty when Pedrotti’s sensitive lad discovers fair damsel Francesca Cuttica chained up in the basement in undressed distress…just around the time Mr. Monopoly Man’s plans fall through and he returns home to discover the interlopers.

THE ARRIVAL OF WANG (2011) review

Arrival of Wang, The (2011) (1st viewing) d. Manetti, Antonio/Manetti, Marco (Italy)

A young interpreter is brought to a top secret underground bunker to interview a political prisoner…only said prisoner turns out to be even more alien than she initially imagined. A really intriguing concept, but one that runs out of new ideas about halfway through, feverishly treading some pretty redundant and/or ridiculous water until it gets back on track for the final reveal. Would have benefitted from a smarter second act, but the two central performances by Ennio Fantastichini and Francesca Cuttica are very well realized and the end is a wingding. With a firm grip on the fast forward button, life should work out fine.

EDIT: Looks like folks in the UK will be seeing a DVD release soon, so hopefully it won't be much longer for us over here on the other side of the pond. Thanks to Chris Churchill for the update! http://subtitlemeplease.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-arrival-of-wang-dvd-release-italian.html

BIFFF Day #10 (Sunday, 4/15)

Another late night leads to another sleep-deprived day, and I feel the exhaustion level inexorably rising. Of course, I also recognize it in my colleagues as well – everyone has been on this ride for a long time, and it’s taking its toll for those who are riding it morning till night. Apparently, it was also taking the toll on Gert’s aged two-wheeler that I had been using for transport between home base and the BIFFF, because Sunday morning, en route to my interview with Iron Sky director Timo Vuorensola, the back tire just crapped out on me almost exactly halfway there. I was left with a dilemma: do I continue forward to the BIFFF and then be forced to walk the sucker home at 2:30am, or do I head back, cancel the interview and deal with the bike situation during the daylight hours? I opted for the latter, since even though I dug Iron Sky for the amusing, ambitious diversion that it was, it’s not really HorrorHound material – with no splatter or alien monsters to nudge it between the covers. Therefore, I don’t feel all the broken up about it, although Timo certainly seems like heck of a big personality from what I’ve seen in his previous night’s introduction, so it probably would have been fun. But needed to formulate a plan and get the dead ducks off the road, so there you go.