Monty - caryc and I were talking on Sunday morning, and a discussion arose about you not having an overtly visceral negative reaction to any particular film. We were wondering, which Fest film did you hate more, Twixt or Tideland?

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I'm going to wait until you're sitting next to Ericubus and then I'll ask how you're feeling. - caryc

Thanks for not coming, now I get 2 of these...






Thank you, CaryC, you are forever awesome. One went straight into the fridge, the other will be 'cellared'.

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

That's a tough one...both are spectacularly bad films from directors I generally admire, which is why they stung so bad. I guess Twixt, because I was slightly more "awake" for that, and thus had less defense against the WTF?ery. My reaction to Girly was Bag Of Dicks-level negative, but I was just so tired and the movie gave me so little to work with in terms of riffing that it didn't quite reach rage-inducing levels (plus, skirts so mini they were practically not there didn't hurt).

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Wiggle your big toe.
Wiggle your big toe.
Wiggle your big toe.

Vanessa Howard went a LONG way toward making Girly worth sitting through for any length of time -- what a gorgeous woman! But that was the ONLY thing distracting me from how awful that one was.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

No thanks. Not even if given the choice between viewing and death.

It was great seeing everyone again and thanks again to Kimfair for letting me crash there and for he and tigerpal for putting the whole thing on. It truly is one of my favorite highlights of any year.

Here's what I thought.

1. The Incredible Melting Man

I've seen this three times now. Normally I'd give it two holes but seeing it with a crowd gave it a boost.

2. Housebound -

Right away, I was saying this was my favorite of Fest 23. Since then, another has crept up to tie it, but I'll be rewatching Housebound at least a few times.

3. Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead -

In my opinion, this was better than the original and I REALLY liked the original.

4. Tere Bin Laden -

I loved the premise of this, but it kind of fell flat for me.

5. The Apple -

It's awful but God is it worth seeing.

6. R100 -

This is one of the best films ever shown at Fest. I know Monty said it's not as good as Symbol, but I'd argue it's just as good as Symbol. It's just a different film. Loved it!

7. The Visitor -

Fun to watch with the group but damn is this bad.

8. The Pit -

This was a surprise for me. I expected to like it much less than I did. Thanks to Cru for recommending it to Kimfair. I'm looking forward to showing this to friends.

9. Promocion Fantasma -

This is tied for my favorite of Fest. Just an all around great comedy that literally brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. Can't wait to watch this again.

10. Antiviral -

I really liked this film a lot. I was lucky enough to be on a major 5 Hour Energy/Caffeine high by the time this started and the pacing didn't bother me. I will be seeing this again.

11. Girly -

I'd been waiting a while to see this. Really glad I watched it with the Fest crowd. Unlike Ericubus, I wasn't necessarily praying it would end, but I was glad it ended where it did. The possibilities are endless for how it will turn out.

12. Big Ass Spider - - Another one that I almost watched prior to it's announcement at Fest. A good homage to big bug movies and another I'll be revisiting.

Unlike Monty, I told Kimfair yesterday that even thought it's only my fifth Fest, I felt this year and last year were two of the best lineups I'd seen. Even better than the 20 year anniversary lineup.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

Thought everyone might like to know that I fixed the toilet on Sunday (needed a new flush handle mechanism), and our kitchen lights were fixed today, so next year, people will be able to see in the kitchen!

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I'm going to wait until you're sitting next to Ericubus and then I'll ask how you're feeling. - caryc

There was something a bit odd about that whole situation, with the toilet. How do Americans get into their 50's and still not know how a toilet works? Not you, Mr. Fair, I know you knew what was what, but there were some people there that had no idea how the flushing lever works. What up with that?

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

P.S. Here are some lovely avatars, please feel free to replace your current one...

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

The Saturday Night movie lineup as chosen by my wife is now a double feature of Housebound and either R100 or Dead Snow 2. Either way, I win.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

Trying to think if I'd rather have sex after watching R100 or Dead Snow 2.


Dead Snow 2, definitely, Dead Snow 2

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

While Total Eclipse Of The Heart is playing.

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I'm going to wait until you're sitting next to Ericubus and then I'll ask how you're feeling. - caryc

We need The Pixies to cover Total Eclipse Of The Heart, that would bring everything full circle.


P.S. I grabbed the video for Total Eclipse Of The Heart, just so I could have it playing in the bedroom.



P.P.S. http://www.avclub.com/article/total-ecl ... mus-216081

P.P.P.S.

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

I think we should kidnap JFelix and bring him to this...

The Donkey Show

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

JFelix would fucking love The Donkey Show. It was 2 hours of fingernails on chalkboard for me, though. It's less of a play, than a disco, with some sort of unfollowable story happening in it.

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I'm going to wait until you're sitting next to Ericubus and then I'll ask how you're feeling. - caryc

So it's a sequel to The Apple?

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

The Apple II: The Book of Mormon

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

Watched R100 and Housebound on Saturday night. Housebound was the clear favorite.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

My wife loved it as well.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Cool. Yeah, mine really dug the Eugene character a lot.

For R100, she became obsessed with the CEO (Lindsay Hayward) and was googling her to figure out what her story was. The woman was 6'9" tall before she was in high school!

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

I don't know who all sees Downhuman's posts on Facebook but he recommended a couple of horror movies on Netflix. One of them is Honeymoon and I saw it last night. I loved it and second his recommendation. I'm not sure it's a Fest film, but anyone who likes Fest will like this film. Unnerving how it stayed with me. I'm still thinking about it today.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

Thanks. I'd been meaning to post about this over here but the last week has been really crazy (I'm unexpectedly faced with the task of finding a new car after some idiot totaled my wife's car last week).

Great flick. I love how it manages to be incredibly atmospheric in spots without resorting to camera trickery and filtering and such. When he's walking through that house trying to find the other couple, I was really struck by the use of low level light -- nothing flashy but incredibly effective nonetheless.

And Rose Leslie, of course -- I simply couldn't take my eyes off of her. I should mention her counterpart, too. Their early scenes together are almost too much -- they seem a bit forced in a way. But it ends up being a brilliant setup for what comes later. It broke my heart the same way Anti-Christ did. And it stayed with me in much the same way, too.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Two more flicks I'll recommend:

The House at the End of Time -- Great mind-bending, atmospheric horror from Venezuela. It's subtitled (of course) but totally worth your time. I wouldn't necessarily label it a great Fest film, though -- it's quirk factor isn't very high. Good enough, though, that Hollywood is apparently already trying to rip it off.

The Taking of Deborah Logan -- A very mild recommendation. Found footage horror where the found footage aspect nearly ruins the whole thing. It's saved by an absolutely amazing performance from Jill Larson in the title role. And it features one of the biggest "What the fuck!!!" moments I've ever seen in a horror film towards the end. If they had dropped the whole documentary thing, this could have been an excellent addition to the demonic possession genre.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

And not to beat a dead horse but this is an excellent example of how to make a great horror film on a tight budget. I haven't looked up the budget, but it can't be much. Everything about it hangs on mood, a tight script and good acting. You don't need to throw a million dollars at the screen and doing so won't help if those three things aren't there.

Also - Rose Leslie kind of looks like my wife so that made the film even more unsettling.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

Have you 2 seen The Babadook yet? As parents I think it would be especially worth your time.

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

I've been meaning to. It's definitely on my list. I'm trying to cobble together a list of horror movies for my October horror marathon -- I might wait until then to watch this for the first time.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

I too have been looking forward to seeing The Babadook.

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I'm going to wait until you're sitting next to Ericubus and then I'll ask how you're feeling. - caryc

Not yet, but like Downhuman it's on my short list. I probably would have checked it out this weekend but reading Downhuman's post made me switch things up last minute.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

It's very good, I'll hold all other comments until after you guys watch it.

Honeymoon is on my short list to watch, but lately I've been binge watching Top Gear and Comedians Riding in Cars Getting Coffee. Haven't been in the horror flick mood lately.

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

After Fest I wanted to rewatch the flicks I thought my wife would like but then we started catching up on Last Week Tonight and It's Always Sunny. We still have to see Dead Snow 2. Definitely want to see The Babadook and The House at the End of Time also.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack

Watch Top Gear while you can, you may not see it again for a while (longtime host Jeremy Clarkson might be done for good).

For Comedians, I'll say this -- the Carl Reiner episode is one of the greatest comedy things I've EVER seen.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Double-feature of The Breakfast Club and Ghost Graduation last night.

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Wiggle your big toe.
Wiggle your big toe.
Wiggle your big toe.

I skipped that one because it had a lower rating. I'll watch it now.

I loved the Michael Richards one.

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-These are the demands and sayings of Ericubus.

In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten. - George Lucas 1988

Just to clarify -- it's not a screamingly funny episode or anything (although it is plenty funny). It's a must-see to comedy fans just to see an endearing inside look at one of the most enduring friendships in all of comedy.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Not a Fest film but a contender that fell short - we watched Willow Creek on Saturday night. I liked it well enough and the final act is fun, but it's definitely not Goldwaith's best. There's something missing and it's hard to put my finger on exactly what. Still, it would have been fun to show if only to hear Monty complain about motion-sickness from the erratic camera movements.

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"Watch my stuff." - Monterey Jack