Fantastic Fest 2009–Crazy Racer (2009)/Dread (2009)
“I want your soul to open up for me.”
Dammit. I only got to two movies tonight. Stupid non-VIP badge. I got out of work, went to one movie, didn’t get into the secret screening after that and had seen the other two movies playing, went to a coffee shop to write this (and dick with my computer because THE STUPID INTERNET DIDN’T WORK AT THE COFFEE SHOP!!!) and then went back for another movie.
I’m quite the little trooper, huh?
So, let’s get to those movies, eh?
CURIOSA CONQUISTA DEL AMPERE
Directed by: Ramon Orozco
Written by: Ramon Orozco
A Mexican short about a man who is killed by his job. He works for an electric plant and gets electrocuted. But he keeps on going. The plant cuts off the power to his neighborhood, but he just might have a way to get the power to the people.
It’s a pretty funny short that very well could be taken as a political statement. The funniest bit is actually at the beginning when he’s at the doctor’s office, but the whole thing is quietly funny.
Directed by: Hao Ning
Written by: Hao Ning/Yao Wang
I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t get Hong Kong comedy. There are very few that I really get. I LOVE Hong Kong cinema, but their comedies just don’t grab me at all. Steven Chow flies RIGHT over my head…or under it, maybe. Kung Fu Hustle was alright, but Shoalin Soccer sucked.
So, why did I got see Crazy Racer? ‘Cause I’m an idiot, apparently.
A brief (maybe) run-down of the plot.
A famous bicyclist is black-listed because he tests positive for drugs, but it was really the energy drink that he was shilling for. The owner of the company disappeared, though, before he could prove the cyclist’s innocence.
Cut to a few years later. The cyclist is a broke truck driver looking for ways to make more money. His beloved coach dies and he now has to figure out how to bury him. Somehow (I didn’t quite catch how), he manages to dupe a condo owner (?), who has a funeral policy (??), into thinking that he’s loaded.
Enter a couple of the dumbest hitmen to ever be on screen. They’re “professionals.” (It’s a running gag. See it running away from you?) They’re hired by the guy who set up the cyclist to kill his wife. When that runs away from them, she hires them to kill him. Of course, all four meet and hell ensues. The husband accidentally kills the wife and frames the cyclist.
I haven’t even mentioned the gangsters. They’re about as dumb as the hitmen, who have nothing to do with the gangsters, by the way. And the cops are no smarter. The cyclist is framed not only for the death of the wife, but for the death of one of the gangsters.
Basically, everyone in this movie is pretty dumb and the coincidences fly fast and furious. I’m usually ok with movies like this where four or five groups of people keep happening upon each other and chaos ensues. But I think there was just too damn much chaos in this one. I had no clue what the fuck was going on most of the time.
I think I was just about the only person who didn’t like this movie. Everyone else thought it was this brilliantly fun ride. Personally, I thought it was a boring mess. There were a few good spots. The explosion was pretty funny (watch out for flaming turtles) and there were a few funny lines thrown in for good measure. Overall, though, it didn’t add up to much more than a bunch of people running around trying to make us laugh because of their “crazy” predicaments…and utter stupidity.
Directed by: Anthony DiBlasi
Written by: Anthony DiBlasi
Based on short story by: Clive Barker
What is fear? Not the fear of someone jumping out at you with a knife or a cat screeching as it jumps out of an empty closet. No, not THAT kind of fear. I mean real…fucking…dread. The dread you feel just before that knife plunges into your stomach. The feeling you get as a loved one is lying on their death bed taking their last breaths. That kind of overpowering, all-encompassing fear.
That’s what three college students want to find out in this new adaptation of the Clive Barker short story. Well, actually only one of them wants to find out. The other two are just kind of along for the ride to get a grade.
Stephen (Jackson Rathbone from <shudder> Twilight) is just a normal college kid. Yeah, he might be a little more uptight than some others, but he comes by it honestly. He leads a pretty boring life. That is, until he meets Quaid (Shaun Evans who looks like an even crazier Christian Slater), a guy with LOTS of issues. Quaid’s parents were brutally murdered right in front of him when he was six years old and that baggage will never go away. He’s on medication but, at some point towards the beginning of the film, he throws it all away. Why? I still don’t have a clue. There’s absolutely no explanation for it. Cheryl (Hanne Steen) is Stephen’s friend and a girl that he would like to get to know far better than he does. They’re both film students in a philosophy class just for a credit.
The three of them interview lots of subjects, but none of them are good enough for Quaid. He has to keep pushing buttons and envelopes so that they can “face the beast.”
How far can he push Stephen and Cheryl before they finally crack?
This is Anthony DiBlasi’s first film, but not the first thing that he’s adapted. In fact, he’s been working with Barker for about 7 years and has two more Barker projects in the pipeline. Personally, I can’t wait to see those. His directorial debut was pretty damn impressive. I’ve never read the story, but there were plenty of people there who had and all of them said that he caught the mood pretty much perfectly.
The film is dark, gory, disturbing and a little bit sick. But we expect nothing less from Clive Barker’s work. And, now, I expect nothing less from DiBlasi. If you’re up for facing your fears, check this one out. It’s not perfect, but it’s damn good enough.
