The Abbreviated Horror Marathon
Now Playing: Another failed effort, alas...
Having failed to make it all the way through the previous three horror marathons I've attended, I was sure I could handle it this year. After all, the others were a full 24 hours, whereas this was closer to 15 or 16. However, I didn't take into account the fact that I had to work earlier that day, and so by the scheduled 10 PM I was already a bit fatigued. Still, hosts Bruce Bartoo and Joe Neff, joining forces for the first time, put together a good show.

Given Bruce's extensive collection of vintage trailers, the pre-movie entertainment was pretty diverse and memorable. Local band 16 Bitch Pile-Up provided ear-piercingly loud but effective accompaniment for a well-put-together montage of recent stuff. Many of his other trailer choices worked, with music videos of Hammer's theme from THE ADDAMS FAMILY and Ray Parker Jr's GHOSTBUSTERS theme serving as somewhat uncomfortable time capsules. I was also somewhat saddened by the presence of great, dead-before-their-time performers in the trailers: Leslie Cheung (the ultimate male ingenue) in A CHINESE GHOST STORY, the inimitable John Candy making a cameo in the GHOSTBUSTERS video, and most of all the underappreciated and ever-dashing Raul Julia in THE ADDAMS FAMILY.

As for the movies, they began with a whimper as the local premiere of SAW (2004) led off the marathon. While this film, with its gore and sadism, was a perfect fit for an event like this, I was highly unimpressed. Director James Wan and writer-star Leigh Wannell have clearly watched SEVEN time and time agan, and it shows. David Fincher's memorable use of palely harsh fluorescent lighting is cribbed wholesale, and no opportunity to wallow in unpleasant gory details is passed up (early on, a protagonist gratuitously sticks his hand into a filthy toilet bowl, and the movie doesn't look back). But while Fincher's film was about the battle between a rigid and unforgiving punishment for moral transgression and a more pragmatic worldview, this one uses its moralistic killer strictly as a plot device. SEVEN, great as it was, unleashed a glut of serial killer thrillers that were too clever by half, and this is the nadir, with the omniscient psychopath toying ruthlessly with his prey, prepared for every eventuality, three or four steps ahead of everyone else. If the film was commenting on the audience's twisted enjoyment of onscreen sadism (e.g. FUNNY GAMES) it would be one thing, but this is clearly meant as entertainment, and as such it's pretty reprehensible. Bad acting too, with Cary Elwes providing the worst performance I've seen in many a month. Rating: 0 stars.

The best of the four films I saw, and oddly enough the one the felt least like a horror movie, was Takashi Miike's GOZU (2003). This being a Miike film, there are naturally a number of pretty classic bits, and the two highlights here are the uproariously funny opening scene and the unspeakably strange climax. In between, the film tells the story of a low-level gangster assigned to drive his mentor to Nagoya and kill him, but once the body disappears all bets are off. AUDITION aside, Miike is less interested in cohesiveness than in bizarre moments, and I'd rather not spoil them for those who haven't seen the film. But I will say this- once you've seen GOZU, you'll never look at a soup ladle the same way again. Rating: **1/2.

I started feeling drowsy during Brad Anderson's THE MACHINIST (2004), an atmospheric but fairly middling thriller. An emaciated Christian Bale stars as Trevor Reznik, an insomniac factory worker whose year-long sleep deprivation has caused him to hallucinate. Trevor seems more intelligent than those around him, leading us to believe that he's hiding something even before he starts finding cryptic Post-It Notes on the door to his refrigerator. The film maintains a certain degree of interest both through its desaturated-color images (a shot involving an oncoming storm is a highlight) and the mystery surrounding Trevor, but the film's third act is disappointing, as much of what has been established as the film's reality is revealed as hallucinations. Frankly, I felt dicked-around. Still, Bale's performance transcends his incredible weight loss. Rating: **.

My last film before leaving was Dario Argento's DEEP RED (1975). The film is more conventional than his subsequent classic SUSPIRIA, with this film focusing on a series of macabre killings. Part of my problem with this film was simply that I had trouble staying awake, and the subpar print condition (much of the film was pink, as tends to happen with old acetate film) didn't help matters. What I saw didn't particularly impress me, particularly the jarring transitions between scenes. I did, however, like the eerie (yet rockin') Goblin score a lot. I don't feel comfortable rating this one, but if I did it would be somewhere around **.