Adelaide post hardcore band Emecia have just released their debut album ‘Familiar Spirits’.
May 19th – The Workers Club, Geelong, VIC
May 25th – Whole Lotta Love, Melbourne, VIC
June 9th – Wellington Cycles, Port Pirie, SA
The band have also announced a run of Australian tour dates.
Check out their new video for single ‘Trauma’:
In a fitting complement to this most sinister season, Australia’s premier genre festival Monster Fest has unveiled its final wave of films for the 2016 festival, which is set to take place November 24-27 at the Lido Cinemas in Melbourne.
The team of features programmers – which includes festival director Kier-La Janisse, Monster Pictures co-founder Neil Foley, Boston Underground Film Festival Director of Programming Nicole McControversy and writer/programmer/punk legend Chris D. – vetted over 600 features in selecting the 2016 Monster Fest lineup, which includes new crime films Dog Eat Dog and The Hollow Point from Paul Schrader and Gonzalo López-Gallego respectively, gory slasher throwback The Windmill Massacre, the hometown premiere of epic period western The Legend Of Ben Hall with cast in person and acclaimed TIFF selections Prevenge and Interchange alongside Fantastic Fest faves such as the Aussie-made yuletide thriller Safe Neighbourhood and the devastating – and polarizing – Playground. Brief descriptions of all films in the final wave follow below.
Select panels for the Swinburne University Media and Communication Monster Academy – Monster Fest’s two-day industry component running Nov 23 + 24 – have also been announced, including a panel with director Geoffrey Wright and producer Daniel Scharf about the making of Aussie cult sensation Romper Stomper, a panel on the Golden Age of Ozploitation featuring producer Antony I. Ginnane (Patrick, Turkey Shoot) and cinematographer Vincent Monton (Road Games, Long Weekend), a case study panel on ‘The Westbury Faery’ as an example of international multi-platform storytelling, panels on festival strategy, the opportunities and obstacles facing women working in the genre space, and more to be added. The full lineup for Monster Academy will be announced in the coming weeks.
See the Final Wave of Monster Fest 2016 Films listed below:
A DARK SONG
Director: Liam Gavin | Ireland 2016 | 100 mins | Australian Premiere
Driven by an all-consuming desire to make contact with her murdered child, Sophia hires an occultist named Solomon (Steve Oram) to conduct a black magic ritual that would grant her wish. As they delve deeper into the tedious, trying ritual, Sophia and Solomon find their bond of trust and sense of sanity pushed to the very limit as a sinister presence makes itself known.
AUTOHEAD
Director: Rohit Mittal | India 2016 | 97 mins | Australian Premiere
This Man Bites Dog take on a Mumbai Taxi Driver follows a documentary crew as they shadow an auto-rickshaw driver named Narayan. The slice of life angle soon skews into dodgy voyeuristic complicity as the film crew documents the unraveling of a man’s humanity, culminating in a chilling, bloody climax.
DOG EAT DOG
Paul Schrader | USA 2016 | 93 mins | Australian Premiere
Based on a 1995 novel by acclaimed crime writer and ex-con Edward Bunker, the latest from the writer of Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder and director of Mishima, Hardcore, Cat People and so many other now-canonized films, is a pitch black, uncompromisingly brutal and at times highly theatrical crime thriller about three ex-cons (Nicholas Cage, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Matthew Cook) who team up for that fateful ‘one last job’ only to have everything go horribly – and hilariously – awry.
GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED
Director: René Cardona Jr. | Mexico 1979 | 90mins
When over 900 Americans were made to commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid in the middle of the steamy Guyana jungle, exploitation filmmakers couldn’t wait to cash-in on the tragedy, and Mexican filmmaker René Cardona Jr (Tintorera: Tiger Shark) was the first on the scene. Hypnotically sleazy and enjoyably lurid as only Cardona Jr. could make them. Co-presented by the Morbido Film Festival.
THE HOLLOW POINT
Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego | USA 2016 | 97 mins | Australian Premiere
Patrick Wilson stars as Wallace, the new sheriff of a small town in Gonzalo López-Gallego’s full blooded take on the western genre. Building on the best of B-movie westerns and not skimping out on the gore, Gallego crafts a tale of one man investigating the aftermath of a drug cartel deal gone wrong – cleverly filling all the roles with terrific actors including Ian McShane, John Leguziamo, Jim Belushi and more.
INTERCHANGE
Dain Said | Malaysia 2016 | 102 minutes | Australian Premiere
In this Malaysian ritual thriller and TIFF Midnight Madness selection, a forensics photographer is lured into a world of shamans and mystic creatures while helping his detective friend investigate a series of macabre murders.
THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL
Matthew Holmes | Australia 2016 | 134 mins | Victorian Premiere
In this epic period western based on the true story of one of Australia’s most famous outlaws, Ben Hall is drawn back into bushranging by the reappearance of his old friend John Gilbert. Reforming the gang, they soon become the most wanted men in Australian history.
MAXIE DIABLO AND THE FUNKY FUNKY SEX MURDERS: A LIVE RADIO PLAY BY MYSTERY RADIO THEATRE
From the makers of Man Bites God and the Theatre of the World podcast, Mystery Radio Theatre is a comedy/murder mystery performed in the style of old-timey radio theatre. There will be sound effects. There will be silly voices. There will be live ad-reads. There will be a special musical guest. And there will be blood.
MY FATHER DIE
Sean Brosnan | USA 2016 | 102 minutes | Australian Premiere
The debut feature from Sean Brosnan (son of Pierce) about the vengeful path of a man left mute since childhood following a family tragedy straddles the border of nihilistic revenge tale and brutalist Southern Gothic redemption with a poetic, even romantic sensibility, recalling at times sleeper hits Winter’s Bone and Cold In July.
PLAYGROUND
Bartosz M. Kowalski | Poland 2016 | 81 mins | Australian Premiere
Certain to be the most controversial film of the festival, acclaimed documentary director Bartosz Kowalski issues his first narrative feature, the stark tale of two pre-teen budding sociopaths and what they do on the last day of school. A devastating film in the vein of Nothing Bad Can Happen and The Tribe.
PREVENGE
Alice Lowe | UK 2016 | 88 mins. | Australian Premiere
This brilliant first feature from actress/director/writer Alice Lowe (Sightseers, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) channels Lowe’s comedy background to create a completely unique horror comedy about a woman who is seven months pregnant and full of homicidal fury.
PSYCHONAUTS, THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN
Director: Alberto Vázquez, Pedro Rivero | Spain 2015 | 80 mins | Victorian Premiere
Based on the graphic novel of the same name, Psychonauts is a gorgeous, haunting animated allegory that follows rebellious teen Dinky and the silent, drug-addicted outcast Birdboy as they attempt to escape life as they know it from an island ravaged by an industrial accident.
SAFE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Chris Peckover | Australia/USA 2016 | 85 mins | Australian Premiere
On a quiet suburban street tucked within a ‘safe neighborhood’, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from strangers breaking into the house, only to discover that this is far from a normal home invasion. A great new yuletide terror film from the director of Undocumented (2010).
THE WINDMILL MASSACRE
Nick Jongerius | Netherlands 2016 | 85 mins | Australian Premiere
Windmills, they’re those things you see in storybooks surrounded by daffodils right? Think again! The Windmill Massacre is a freakishly ferocious slasher reboot about unsuspecting tourists who awaken a mysterious evil in the Dutch countryside after their tour bus breaks down, stranding them at an abandoned barn beside a sinister windmill where a miller used to grind the bones of locals.
For a full list of films screening at the festival just go to www.monsterfest.com.au/2016
All-access Passes, Day Passes and tickets to Monster Fest 2016 are on sale now here: https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/Promotion/Monster-Fest-2016-At-Lido
All-access passes for Monster Academy are now on sale here: https://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=241013
Candidate Games is a 30 minute documentary looking at the 2015 mayoral race in Perth. It explores the cut and thrust of the political process. Candidate Games screens on ABC2 and iview next Wednesday Dec 7 at 9.20pm as part of the Opening Shot series. Greg spoke to Sam Bodhi Field, the director of Candidate Games.
You can listen to or download our Sam Bodhi Field interview right here.
Based on the experiences of comic and lead actor Osamah Sami, an Iraqi refugee who arrived in Australia as a boy after several years in Iran, it begins with the title card: “A true story. Unfortunately.” This really doesn’t prepare you for what follows.
A warm, sentimental comedy, cast almost entirely with Muslim Australians (1 Vietnamese guy and 1 Australian guy) this is a purely myopic look at one section of Australian society, where the rest of us don’t exist. And this is a good thing, because it provides a lovely look into misunderstood section of our population, whilst at the same time serving up a big chuck of middle class Australian values.
Ali is the son of a Muslim cleric (Don Hany), he hopes to become a doctor but after failing to get into medical school, he lies massively to his family and friends that he got a 94.4% pass and acceptance into Melbourne Uni.
He starts attending classes anyway, the lie grows and grows. Ali is trapped. But worse is to come. At Uni, he pursues a young woman from the mosque, but wait, this is not the same woman he’s been pressured into engaging. And as the sayi9ng goes “It all goes pear shaped.”
This is an ideal world and that makes it so entertaining. I loved the scenes in the3 Mosque with musicals performed by overenthusiastic worshipers. Women behind mirrored glass windows and complete with eccentric but loveable locals.
In reality many Australian comedies about migrants have been riddled with the tension between the migrant and Aussie culture. In Ali’s Wedding, Australia is a relatively simnple adopted country. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, maybe it’s a sign of our culture maturing but in Ali’s world, things seem OK here.
n fact, the film suggests that whatever trials and tribulations await recently arrived communities, none are as bad as back home, and many troubles are self-inflicted.
Australian racism? It barely registers. Where there is cultural tension, it’s within Ali’s community. Two religious leaders polls apart. His progressive father, who offers free counseling services from the back room of his modest brick and tile house and directs an annual satirical play about Saddam Hussein, faces a humourless rival. Ali, meanwhile, is at loggerheads with his mother,(a lively Frances Duca,) who disapproves of the girl he loves because she’s from the wrong part of the Middle East and, worse still, born in Australia.
This is a sign of loose morals, she says, and in one of the film’s more successful moments, Ali’s younger sister calls out her reverse snobbery with the bitter observation that she too was “born here”.
Where there is cultural tension, it’s within Ali’s community
This is a feel good view of Muslim society in Australia. Everything fits, good music, tight editing and strong acting from a group of relatively unknown support actors. It’s good movie. Go see it.
Australian filmmaker George Gittoes has travelled to many dangerous places to make his documentaries about war and its aftermath. Snow Monkey was filmed in Jalalabad in Afghanistan where Gittoes and his Yellow House Collective worked with a number of street kids to make a movie about their lives. It has travelled well on the festival circuit, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane. Greg spoke to Gittoes’ partner and music producer Hellen Rose about working with these young street wise kids and some of the challenges of shooting this confronting documentary in a city controlled by the Taliban.
You can listen to or download Greg’s Hellen Rose interview right here.
It feels unfair to review Justice League, a troubled production beset by personal tragedy with extensive re-shoots that were done so recently it would be difficult to get the effects just right. Too big to fail and too rushed to deliver the film still manages to…yes have its moments. The first may sum up both everything wrong and right with it; a tape by two kids interviewing Superman when he was alive opens the film. Henry Cavill is charming and perfect as Superman in this scene talking to the kids and emanating hope and inspiration. Long term fans of the character will love this scene because in it they will recognise the Superman they love but they will also wonder why it is Superman’s upper lip looks a bit weird and they may also reflect that Cavill’s Superman has rarely acted like this previously on screen. Therein lies the rub, this is a sequel in a way to a film that doesn’t exist. With the shift in tone they can acknowledge the past movies but not build upon them and there’s something inconsistent in how some of these characters changed behaviours that just come across as non-authentic. Batman vs. Superman also suffered from feeling like it was too many movies in one but at the least tone and the look of the world was consistent.
One way it is improved is in its relentless efficiency, some subplots are even dropped to make sure the film runs less than 2 hours. Almost all scenes are just to introduce characters to one another and move onto the next obligatory action scene, the bad guy is nothing more than a computer generated villain sprouting some lines about collecting boxes and taking over. Each of the new heroes is given one set-up scene, one scene where they introduced to Batman (Ben Affleck) and/or Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and then they all join together to fight…you know I kind of forget his name but don’t worry it doesn’t matter. They’re defeated so they then decide to spoiler but seriously you knew they were gonna get spoiler and spoiler so that spoiler by the end of the movie. In some ways it’s nice to not have an unnecessarily convoluted story but Cyborg (Ray Fisher) for example seems to have an interesting sub plot that does not really go anywhere. Most of the cast does well to sell you on the idea of them being in their own movie; Gal Gadot fared better under the direction of Zack Snyder and Patty Jenkins but is still great even if having the camera make her skirt seem shorter in this film. Aquaman (Jason Momoa) is hot and the Flash (Ezra Miller) is funny, there’s a nice scene where he and Cyborg share they’re the accidents. A nice idea toyed with is that Batman truly is the more vulnerable hero in the group without any superpowers and is needed more for his ideas and direction than muscle and he’s also feeling his age more in this one. Remember when his portrayal was met with so much acclaim 20 months ago and now they’re already talking about how he may retire from the role?! I have no idea why J.K. Simmons had to hit the gym like a beast to appear on a rooftop in a trench coat for two scenes as Commissioner Gordon but hey that’s Hollywood for you. Amy Adams and Diane Lane are both back too as Lois Lane and Martha Wayne, completely being wasted in a movie that does not deserve them as the human face of what was lost when Superman died.
Despite a second director coming through half way through production the tone and visuals are relatively consistent but the props, costumes and locations were originally intended for different lighting and as a result don’t look as good with the revised palette. With rushed re-shoots and CGI augmentation this movie which comes with a reported budget of $300 million looks remarkably cheap too. Most of the action is boring, nothing on par with that sequence involving Batman rescuing Marthaaaaa! in the last film. There are flourishes of humour throughout that are classic Joss Whedon and given his track record it would really be interesting to see what he would do with a Justice League 2 with time to write a proper script and shoot Henry Cavill without having to CGI out his moustache from a Mission: Impossible movie.
As a comic book fan there are moments in this movie that will make your heart soar and others that will make you so mad at wasted opportunities. This is a film caught between two moments, neither the Zack Snyder film originally envisioned nor a Joss Whedon film built from the ground up. Both probably would have been better films but this is the one we got and under the circumstances it could have been a lot worse. Yet it could have been a lot better too.
Directors: Zack Snyder
Screenwriter: Chris Terrio, Joss Whedon
Cast: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, J.K. Simmons and Henry Cavi
Jason Blum has been the man behind some of the most influential horror franchises of the modern era – films like The Purge, Sinister, Paranormal Activity and Insidious just to name a few. Dave G caught up with Jason to take a look back through his career and to chat about his brand new film Happy Death Day.
You can listen to or download our Jason Blum interview right here.
“Wonder Woman all our hopes depend on you and the magic that you do” or so the song goes. The Amazonian has not let us down even if her first solo big screen outing is not without flaws. The success of Wonder Woman paves the way for more big budget comic book films with a female protagonist, more blockbusters helmed by female directors and creates anticipation for more DC film adaptations and it does all of this by following one simple rule – make a good movie.
Kicking off in the mystical hidden away island of beautiful Themyscira we first meet Diana as a child growing up under the influence of her protective mother Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and her vigilant Aunt General Antiope (Robin Wright). One trains her to fight and the other to love and it’s no surprise that Diana will prove to be the best of both their natures. When fully grown and now Gal Gadot she begins to discover her powers when a man comes crashing into her life. Ain’t that always the way? Steve Trevor played by Chris Pine brings war to the island and Diana seeks to enter the world of man and stop this war. Based on the myths she was told as a child she is certain Ares the God of War is responsible for man’s current suffering and needs to be sought out and defeated. The world and men she will discover are far more complex and imperfect than that.
Director Patty Jenkins shows a delicate touch flitting between several tonal shifts with ease doing an origin story, a fish out of water comedy, an old school romance, a horrifying war drama, a team on a mission actioner and a fantastical super heroine adventure. Diana arrives in London 1917, raised on an island where no men live she is suitably ignorant of the patriarchal times and this is played for both social commentary as well as laughs. Captain Trevor is on a mission to relay information about a new form of poison gas being developed by General Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya). Assembling a team of his old compatriots (including Said Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner and Eugene Brave Rock) he as promised travels to the front so that Wonder Woman can search for Ares.
Unlike say World War II, it is unusual to have World War I depicted on screen with some of its horrors yes, but also involving a super-being that can provide some fantasy elements that rewrite the grimness and realities of trench warfare. Where millions of soldiers would not dare look out over a battlefield lest a sniper blow their head off in a second, Diana’s head rises proudly unprotected for the camera to drink her in during a pivotal moment. Where thousands were mowed down by machine gun in seconds Diana withstands withering fire with a shield covering half of her torso. This is not how we’ve seen World War I onscreen before and it certainly was not how it was experienced by the hundreds of thousands who are buried in those fields along the French/Belgian border. Yet as a superhero movie it is a classic moment rendered well, having entered the world of men Diana spends the next half hour being told what to wear, how to address people and to go against her instincts at every turn. In this moment she reveals her costume in full, follows her own voice and ends the slaughter of battle by taking action herself. As director Jenkins has provided a set-piece that feeds into the themes and character she has been nurturing for well over an hour and it arguably is the highpoint of the film.
The action scenes of the film are a mixed bag, the third act finale is too CGI heavy and noisy struggling to connect as easily as earlier action scenes did but a great use of sound editing does well to augment an emotional beat. Throughout some incredible fight choreography struggles at times to be seen on screen with poor editing and camera placement choices. Speed ramping up and slowing down of film is used often to show off dazzling poses from combatants mid-fight harkening back to classical art of mythological tales. With this Jenkins creates some powerful imagery whether it is Wonder Woman lifting a tank or snapping a rifle into smithereens while her buffed female arms flex.
There is a budding love story between Trevor and the Amazonian too that is wonderfully played by the two leads. Pine’s character has a modern sensibility to gender roles but is aware of the times he is living in. A lot of thought goes into how the military spy is protective of this Goddess but also more and more aware that she is much more powerful than him. Pine has grown a lot as an actor since his debut as Captain Kirk eight years ago and here he projects a wonderful relaxed decency and good comic sensibilities. Jenkins is most likely responsible for getting out of him his best performance in a while because she simultaneously reveals new talents of Gadot as an actress. Gadot of course is a stunning beauty and a great physical performer but here she is required to play many emotions and often underplay her scenes. In the London scenes for example a lot of her performance is silent reacting to the advice of others while subtlety creating some physical comedy. There is a naivety to Diana that does not come across as annoyingly ignorant but as innocently noble. As an audience we know that innocence will at some point be lost and we hope it will not compromise the goodness of her heart. The rest of the cast does well to make an impression with very little screen time but two standouts have to be Robin Wright who could easily have her own spin off and Etta Candy who earns some of the biggest laughs.
The creators of this film have created a strong likeable central character that Gadot embodies fully, more so than perhaps anybody since Christopher Reeve as Superman, Gadot does not play Wonder Woman – she is Wonder Woman. The rest of the cast are likable and affecting, the film is full of humour and heart with a strong message about the need to love and not make war. Yes the film is in search of a strong villain and the first half’s witty dialogue and neat character interactions give way to mindless spectacle in the second half but this is a strong debut for the Amazonian princess. There is no limit to what this Wonder Woman will become.
Directors: Patty Jenkins
Screenwriter: Allan Heinberg
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya, Lucy Davis, and Robin Wright.
Runtime: 141 mins
*** 3/4 Stars
With Aussie horror Tarnation about to screen at Monster Fest (23-26th November) in Melbourne Dave G caught up with the man behind the film Daniel Armstrong. Daniel tells us what audiences can expect from the film and how he went about creating a film that is destined to become a cult classic.
You can listen to or download our Tarnation interview right here.
With brand new Aussie horror film The Marshes premiering at the One Night Of Horror Film Festival in Sydney Dave G decided to sit down and have a chat with director Roger Scott. Roger chats to us about how the idea for The Marshes came into being and how difficult it was to film in marshland.
You can listen to or download our The Marshes interview right here.