Living in New York has its perks outside of the great museums and high-class hookers. And writing for Arrow in the Head is fun for more than the occasional free DVD and… high-class hooker. Combine the two, and you’ve got me visiting the NYC Horror Film Festival.
Run by the very cool Michael Hein and Anthony Pepe, both of whom made sure I was drowning in booze during the opening night party, the fest is mostly a forum for directors from around the globe to display their horror features and short films to an enthusiastic, film-geeky New York crowd. Names like Eli Roth and H.G. Lewis show up (the latter for a “Lifetime Achievement Award” that he genuinely appreciated), and young filmmakers get to show off their talent to people who otherwise wouldn’t get to witness it.
For our purposes though, I’m just going to cover the four films I felt were priority: HOSTEL: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT, Uwe Boll’s latest: SEED, the Taiwanese shocker ALONE, and finally the classic 2000 MANIACS. I’ll also hit you with samples from the Q+A’s held with Eli Roth and Herschell Gordon Lewis. Let’s get to it!
HOSTEL: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT
Written and Directed by Eli Roth
I had never seen HOSTEL in the theater, so seeing the “Director’s Cut” with a crowd was an opportunity to look upon the film with new eyes. Indeed, you probably don’t need me to rehash the entire plot of the film – as the only true difference with this cut is the last 5 minutes.
The rest of HOSTEL remains a well-done shocker that never reaches the heights – aesthetically or emotionally – of a classic. The first act still feels too long on the buffoonery (despite Eli Roth’s repeated assertions that he wanted it to be “The Last American Virgin”), and the characters are too shallow to give much of a toss about. That said, it’s not merely torture porn (although I actually do think the second installment fits that bill), and the last half hour is effective horror movie stuff. C’mon, how can you not love the over-the-top-and-through-the-woods eyeball-cut?
On to the conclusion – and I’ll give you a WARNING not to read any further if you plan on seeing the alternate ending one day, or if you’re unfamiliar with the movie… Okay, so Paxton (Jay Hernandez, quite good) has escaped the Elite Hunting, his Asian friend has thrown herself in front of a train, and he’s swiftly on the next one out, bound for… anywhere else. Once aboard, he hears the gently dreadful voice of the Dutch Businessman – the man responsible for his friend’s murder – and follows him off the train with revenge on his mind. The only difference here, the Dutchman is met by his small daughter on the platform, a darling little angel of a girl. Paxton glowers as he tracks the two to their respective bathrooms… The Dutchman finishes up, sees an ominously displayed scalpel on the sink (the scalpel used to slit his throat, in a parallel universe), goes outside and waits for his child. And waits, and waits, until he enters the ladies’ room and quickly comes to realize the girl is gone. After he frantically searches for her, we glimpse Paxton on another outbound train, desperately holding the struggling young girl. As the train departs, The Dutchman screams in anguish. Cut to black.
Of course, this isn’t a real “audience-pleaser,” as Roth later acknowledged in a Q+A. It doesn’t provide the satisfying cathartic punch the physical violence in the theatrical ending did, and it’s unrealistic: The Paxton we got to know wouldn’t be likely to do something so cold-blooded toward a harmless innocent – add to that it’s even more unlikely that he’d expect to get away with such an obvious kidnapping, especially on a crowded train. Still, it’s an interesting idea, and an unconventional way to conclude the movie. But weighing the two, the theatrical version is better. 7/10
Here’s a few excerpts from the ELI ROTH Q+A afterward:
About the very first ending: “In the original script, Paxton slits the little girl’s throat and throws her body in the dumpster. And as we were getting close to shooting that scene, this little girl was so cute and really sweet, and I was just like ‘I just do not believe that under any circumstances, Jay would kill this little girl.’ It just didn’t feel right. So we thought, ‘what if he takes her just to fuck with the guy?’ And at the very first screening, there’s some dude who’s like: ‘Yeah, uh, he should’ve slit that bitch’s throat!’ So you can’t win.”
About the decision to scrap the “kidnapping” ending: “The head of Screen Gems said ‘You know what you did, you’ve cock-teased the audience for an amazing payoff that you’re not giving them.’ I didn’t realize it while shooting it, but he was right. He said, ‘You want to see him get out of there, he shoots that guy in the head, he runs those bitches over – and now the one guy you want to see get it the most, the guy that killed his friend, the one you’re telling the audience Something’s Coming! And then you take this girl who’s crying and clawing and screaming and the guy’s just confused, it’s not enough.'”
I asked Roth if it was ever a consideration NOT to have the opening credits (where one of the bloodied torture rooms is cleaned) make it obvious to unwitting viewers that they were about to watch a horror movie, since the following 30 minutes make it seem like it’s another dumb teen comedy: “I always planned it that the opening credits – with the guy cleaning up the mess – would be like ‘This is where we’re going, you will be in this chair at some point, we’ll be back, stay tuned.’ And then cut to Amsterdam… I really wanted to start in this really bright, colorful place, there’s lots of three shots. I wanted to lull the audience into a place of safety, I wanted everyone to basically forget they’re watching a horror film, and just keep hitting them with one scene after another with the guys having fun. And so we see them, and it’s very colorful, and Oli’s orange jacket kind’ve symbolizes that, safe happy colors. We feel like we’re in this sex comedy, with three guys in Europe romping around. And then it all switches, and Oli disappears, and it starts getting darker… Once Josh is killed, the second half I really wanted to mirror the first half – with Josh walking up and down the brothel – and then Paxton getting dragged down the hallway, because effectively, the torture house is the brothel. That’s why I very deliberately have them making fun of the hookers in Amsterdam, because they then become the hookers.
A funny (if somewhat difficult to swallow) revelation about CABIN FEVER: “Honestly, I didn’t set out to make a funny movie, I’m like ‘Oh this is gonna be really scary.’ I remember watching it with Jordan Ladd at the first screening – and looking back now, I don’t know why I thought this would be a serious line: ‘That guy asked for us for our help and we set him on fire!’ And the audience is like ‘AHAHAHA!!’ And Jordan and I looked at each other, we’re like ‘They’re making a mockery of our work!’ I just thought that was a normal line!”
ALONE
Written and Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom
Taiwanese directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom and huge in their native country, having already blown the residents away with their debut SHUTTER. I have not seen SHUTTER, yet, but I have seen their follow-up, ALONE, which is a more-then-servicable entry into the exhausted J-Horror genre.
The set-up: At her birthday party, Pim (Masha Wattanapanich – very good in her debut) is told by a fortune-telling friend that “something she’s lost will return to her.” Sounds like good news, although this isn’t some material item we’re talking about here, it’s her sister, who just happens to be dead. See, Pim and “Ploy” were born as conjoined twins, and though they were extremely close growing up (pun intended), Pim eventually grew tired of the jealous, possessive Ploy and asked for seperation-surgery. Ploy didn’t survive the operation, and Pim has carried the guilt of her sister’s death ever since… The timing of the fortune-teller’s prediction is fairly dead-on, as Pim’s mother suffers a stroke, and Pim – along with boyfriend Vee – is forced to go back to her childhood home while she waits for a positive prognosis… Well, guess who’s still hanging around and holding a grudge? (again, pun intended.)
If you think I’ve given away too much, think again. ALONE benefits from a bare minimum of exposition – all of the above is laid out within the first 10 minutes. This movie gets moving right off the bat, and we’re thrown immediately into the familiar world of J-Horror. You know the formula: A scene begins ominously, with our heroine searching around in the dark; a jump scare involving a ghostly figure – accompanied by an enormous jolt of sound – makes the audience flip out momentarily; a scene of relaxation, followed by a small, quiet revelation advancing the plot; repeat. The jumps here clock in roughly every 6-8 minutes, some more effective than others (heads-up for the one in the bathroom – got me good!) I have a question though – why do all the ghosts in these movies act the same way? Is there an Asian-ghost seminar to be attended, where you learn how to crawl around malevolently, hang back in the shadows waiting for your moment to let out an ear-piercing squeal, and contort your face into strange grimaces previously not associated with you at all? Just wondering – cuz “Ploy” has attended that seminar too.
If ALONE follows the rules of J-Horror adequately enough all the way to its third act – where there’s the inevitable “twist” that makes us rethink everything we’ve just seen. What makes ALONE special is that it’s after the twist that we’re thrown into a different movie altogether. I must say – it’s jarring. But it’s also too unexpected and fun to be disliked (although I don’t see everyone loving the direction this film ultimately goes in).
The directors are certainly talented at creating an eerie mood, and pretty much hit all the right notes throughout. It’s just that for the most part, an extreme case of deja vu hangs over the movie, no matter how technically well crafted it it. Thankfully, the goofy bit of business in the finale shakes off the cobwebs of this genre and smacks some life into it. 7/10
Check back soon for Part 2!
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