Fantasia – Day 16 (Friday, August 3)

An enormously enjoyable day highlighted by the presence of Sr. Juan Martinez Moreno, the man behind Game of Werewolves, who I’ve now met up with in three different countries. Not sure who’s following who around, but I’m always thankful to spend time with the guy. Not only is he a hoot and a half, he’s made a dandy little film and is always very gracious and grateful to those who enjoy it. He also happens to be a big sushi fan, which worked out just fine for what was on the agenda.

The first day I arrived in town, my roommate Jeff informed me that there was a pretty solid sushi restaurant located near Concordia Hall called Kanda that boasted an impressive $15 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Now, being that I’ve been pretty much living on the cheap since my arrival ($15 is probably how much I spend on a week’s worth of lunches), I decided that today would be a good day to splurge. Matt, my cinematic traveling companion from Entertainment Maven, and I had been talking about grabbing lunch; with Juan now in town, the time seemed perfect for chowing down. Factor in the excessive number of Asian films I’ve been watching – all of them filled with scenes of characters gathered around tables, stuffing their faces with noodles, soup, dumplings, sushi, etc. – my mouth has been watering for some soy sauce-drenched goodness for over two weeks.

GAME OF WEREWOLVES (2011) review

Game of Werewolves (aka Lobos de Arga) (2011) d. Moreno, Juan Martinez

If you don’t hear more about this hilarious Spanish lycanthrope flick before the end of the year, it won’t be because I wasn’t trying. Writer/director Moreno’s love letter to the Universal classics, Paul Naschy and '80s practical effects is first and foremost a situational, character-based comedy – not a spoof – dealing with ordinary characters trapped in extraordinary, supernatural circumstances. In this case, writer Gorka Otxoa returns to his home village coincidentally on the 100th anniversary of the gypsy curse laid upon it. Alongside his cowardly literary agent (Secun de la Rosa) and childhood friend (The Last Circus’ Carlos Areces), Tomas attempts to ward off the flurry of fangs and fur that descend by moonlight upon his hometown, as heads roll as fast and furious as the belly laughs. Things get hairy in a hurry, with nary a CGI wolf nor cuddly Twilight boy toy in sight. I've seen the film twice this year already,(once in Belgium at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, once Stateside at the Chicago Latino Film Festival) and am gearing up to watch it again this Friday at Fantasia in Montreal. Plus, Moreno is one of the coolest cats around – guy deserves all the success he can stand and all the support you can give. Drop a line to your favorite DVD distributor today and give the Arga Wolves the free rein they deserve. For more info, visit http://www.rtve.es/noticias/lobos-de-arga-pelicula/

BIFFF Day #6 (Wednesday, 4/11)

Okay, full disclosure: Some of the events that I’ll be chatting about in today’s entry actually occurred the day before, on Tuesday. As anyone who has walked this path before me can attest, it’s easy for everything to run together. “It’s the BIFFF!”

It’s easy to see why I was initially confused, however, since my interview with Father’s Day’s Jeremy Gillespie would have made sense to have occurred the morning after the midnight screening, right? Instead, for whatever programming and/or scheduling reasons, the interviews with Gillespie and Troma head Lloyd Kaufman took place the same day, before the film had actually screened. (In hindsight, this is less insane than it actually appears to be – it’s just that I was unaware of the upstairs press screening room computers when I made my appointments, and besides, I had already seen Father’s Day back in March courtesy of a DVD screener.) All this to justify why your sleep-deprived narrator got his days mixed up.