Fool's Views 8/9 – 8/20

Howdy, kids! Yep, it’s been nearly two whooooooole weeks since the 21-day flurry of Fantasia, and how best to celebrate the reprieve from the madness? Why, watching a boatload of flicks, of course! The difference being that I was able to resume my regular role of program director, actually choosing the features to watch on any given day. Considering I’d been sitting on a pile of flicks both borrowed and queued (including a Nicholas Winding Refn triple feature), it wasn’t hard to fill the slots and the time.

No surprise, Kitley’s Krypt dictated a few of my choices, fulfilling my Kryptic Army assignment for July (giant monsters) as well as joining my fellow blood brothers and sisters in celebrating the great man’s birthday, breaking in Jon’s new backyard DVD projector and movie screen with a gooey double feature complete with sing-a-long cards and trivia prizes. Such a wonderful gathering of food, friends and fun, one that came hard upon the awesomeness that was Flashback Weekend/Wizard World Comic-Con. I love this town. (Blessings to Jason Coffman as well, for his generosity in lending out an array of recent fright fare.)

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

THE LOVED ONES (2009) review

Loved Ones, The (2009) (1st viewing) d. Byrne, Sean (Australia)

Long-haired metalhead Xavier Samuel, traumatized by the violent death of his father, spends his final high school days in a haze of reefer smoke and tender embraces of trying-to-be-patient girlfriend Victoria Thaine. Little does he guess that his affections are the crown which malevolent wallflower Robin McLeavy aspires to wear…by any means necessary. Superb gore effects – some explicit, some implied – accent a wealth of fine performances, with McLeavy and perverted pater John Brumpton taking top marks while the quaintly comic mispairing of loveable loser Richard Wilson and goth hottie Jessica McNamee perfectly offsets the madness. Since its triumphant debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009, this wickedly twisted “John Hughes meets torture porn” treat from Down Under has been laboring to find its way Stateside. After a semi-successful TUGG release this summer, whereby fans lobbied to have the film screened in their communities, U.S. horror geeks will finally be able to check out the candy colored carnage for themselves. (Paramount has announced a BR/DVD release date of Sept 11.) Highly recommended.