STRIGOI (2009) review

Strigoi (2009) (1st viewing) d. Jackson, Faye

Bizarre little UK vampire film set in Romania (the performers speak their lines in English through oft-impenetrably thick accents, an odd choice to be sure) that conjures memories of The Wicker Man in its intensely collusive community and wry, unblinking dark humor. However, the rules of these bloodsuckers are a little sketchier, and while this may have been by writer/director Jackson’s design (leaving the audience as off-kilter in dealing with supernatural elements as the onscreen characters), the result is troubling in that I found myself asking, “What just happened?” when I probably should have been asking, “What’s going to happen next?” That the living characters are just as quirky and unpredictable as their undead counterparts doesn’t help matters, though it definitely lends a foreign, otherworldly quality to the proceedings. Not wholly satisfying, but still somehow strangely worthwhile.

Fool's Views (7/2 – 7/15)

Greetings, boils and ghouls, lycans and geraniums,

This entry covers a frantic two-week period that not only included the 23 flickers examined below (5 of which being last-minute submissions for Elvira’s Horror Hunt), but also the closing of a certain critically acclaimed / commercially successful theatrical endeavor plus three days spent among the kaiju faithful at G-Fest XIX. The pell-mell pace continues into the recording of said Views, as I am poised on the brink of yet another plunge into the cinematic abyss in the form of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada.

Those of you who follow these blithe and blithering ramblings with any regularity at all observed an incredibly fertile Foolish period last April whilst I was in attendance at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival . Over the course of 13 days, I viddied 53 films, interviewed a slew of filmmakers of various international stripe, and I gotta admit, I thought I was pretty hot stuff. But a glance at the Fantasia schedule indicates that a much higher and more dangerous wave awaits any and all would-be Great Kahunas of the Moving Image.

With over 150 features on the docket (and nearly as many shorts) over a 22-day period, this will be an endurance test unlike any other. The good/bad news is that it may prove impossible to actually see every item on the menu, since many screen only once and there are at least two, sometimes three cinemas operating at all times. The press room screening laptops will allow me to keep a higher pace than the average festivalgoer, but there are only so many hours in the day and only so many synapses available for burning. Choices will have to be made. Stay tuned, as it’s about to get keeee-razzzzzy up in here.

However, before that, we’ve got some ground to cover, so sit back and strap in.

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

Enjoy!