AFFF log

So, after nearly 2 weeks, the figures you have finally been waiting for. Please note that the figures does not contain the 2 EFS movies and Symposium.

The figures are derived from the scores given by each one for each movie and put in a spreadsheet.












That's it! We've done it! Watching around 50 movies each, a marathon every day. We RULE! :-)

Thanks all,

This is Geoffrey signing off.

Take care

Good night

Don't watch too many movies! It's not good for your health.

As always I tremendously enjoyed the festival. Yes, there were changes, no, not all of them for the better. But between the list containing this year's positive points and those of AFFF's gone by there would be enough overlap to confidently state; again, it was a wonderful festival.

So, what were the differences? Visiting the festival with the four of us, though not necessarily all watching the same film at the same time, was a fun experience. Particularly the discussions afterwards and sometimes wildly differing reviews added some wonderful spice. As a footnote, the way we set up the blog this year appealed to me. Previous years' static items started to become a bit of a nuisance; one had to remember a quote, one had to count the bodies and remember the most creative weapons... Fun as it was at the time, I enjoyed the freestyle writing this blog allowed.

The lack of anime. Yada yada. I hope this AFFF will be remembered as the AFFF which failed in the anime department, for that assumes they will have learned their lesson next year... Particularly the last two years I have become an avid anime watcher. Mostly series and OVA's, truth be told, but they all guided me to an even better appreciation of the art of not just storytelling and its visual shape in film, but the sometimes deceptively simple animation that can be so extremely effective. Shinshi, reconsider...

A shorter NoT, but a more evenly spread programme allowing almost every film to be seen. The shorts, always a big favourite, were less impressive this year, but did contain some tiny diamonds in the rough.

Freestyle this may be, some order has to exist. A mini-roundup of my most memorable films. I'll keep it short, this isn't the place to extend my review. My opinion is just one of many: follow links for comparison with the other 3 opinions.

Martyrs: judging from the last week this might probably be the most memorable film for me. Haunting thoughts and images.

From Inside. Highly poetic, somewhere deep down inside it struck a sensitive note. I wonder what I'll think of it when I watch it again.

Let the right one in: everything clicked. "I don't like to see blood on a young girl's face" a friend wrote me. Isn't that what good films are about? Seeming contradictions, triggering impressions, conflicting emotions...

The clone returns home: meta-physical questions in slow-motion.

Stingray Sam: wonderful; black-and-white, space cowboy. A little gem.

It's been a week since the 25th Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival / imagine 2009 came to an end. I have seen a record breaking 51 feature films in ten days time. For posterity and/or convenience all my posts can be found on this blog under the label "joost". But which ones stand out? The following films belong to the best I've seen:

1. The clone returns home
   A slow-paced visually strong philosophical contemplation on cloning, the soul, and what makes us human.
   
   
2. Martyrs
   A very violent and gruesome film about physical abuse and how to create victims. A study into the strength and the fathomless depths of the human spirit. Difficult to watch, but hard not to recommend. "Handle with care".
   
   
3. Stingray Sam
   With a sweet spot for The American Astronaut (screened during the 20th AFFF in 2005), it should come as no surprise that I severely enjoyed Stingray Sam. Cory McAbee transports us to a black and white retro sci-fi world with musical interludes.
   
   
4. Let the right one in
   It can be hard to live up to expectation with all the prior buzz and awards. Luckily the film is as good as people say. Great mix of the "coming of teenage" and vampire genres. One of those films where things click - story, cast, cinematography, music.
   
   
5. Fear me not
   Another Scandinavian gem, a psychological portrait of a man in his forties who decides to reassess his life and "change some things". A new untested kind of drug is the catalyst, but not all it what it seems. The "normalness" of the protagonist and how he changes is creepier than other monster and gore films we've seen during this festival.
   
   
6. Not quite Hollywood
   What a pleasant surprise to see a whole documentary on how the Australians added a significant chapter to the exploitation genre. Key players reflect upon their adventures and plenty of clips make the whole industry and their achievements come to live. A must-see for lovers of cult films!
   
   
7. I sell the dead
   A fluent life story of two grave robbers and their encounters with the dead - and undead. In a way not very special, but the acting and ridiculous situations made this film a guilty pleasure to me.
   

A handful of films deserve an honorable mention:

• Edison and Leo - Canada's first stop-motion film, ever, and what a dark treat.
• 11 minutes ago - Ingenious concept to shoot an entire film in just one day, with an interesting mix of the sci-fi and romantic genre.
• Eden Lake - Social horror like only the Brits can pull off.
• Sleep dealer - Imaginative story with realistic glimpses and critical remarks on a near future.
  
• From inside - Bleak but wonderfully animated post-apocalyptic film.
  
• Tamami: The Baby's Curse - A really bad film, but I have the sneaky suspicion this will be one of those films that we will refer to in years to come.
  

All and all a reasonably fine edition of the festival. Less glitzy this year due to budget cuts, no big opening film, no big honorary guest (and no career achievement award), no real Night of Terror. And: the festival of no smooth online pre-sale, no passe-partout (€350 worth of tickets, *ouch*), no decent in-house coffee and no pest control (mice!). Also a bit of a let-down: only one real theme ("Anarchy in the UK"), the other one showing sci-fi ("Brave New Worlds") was good but is basically an integral and annual part of the festival anyway.

On the plus side:
10 out of 10 days bright and sunny weather,
9 short nights causing a nice festival blur,
8 cans of red bull to mix with the vodka to keep our Eyes Wide Open,
7 deadly sins seen in plenty of the films,
6 (,04) average score for a film,
5 films a day,
4 festival freaks who were crazy enough to see practically all films,
3 doors down the street a fantastic coffee place,
2 talk-of-the-day selfmade T-shirts, and
1 magnum size air bed in a spacious apartment.

On that note I'd like to thank my hosts for letting me crash at their new humble abode!

AFFF25 / imagine 2009 - FADE OUT.

The AFFF is over :-(.

I haven't been updating the blog for some days and I am away that I have to do some work.

As for the last day, I have seen the best and the worst movie of the Imagine festival. The first one was Fear Me Not. That is indeed the best of the festival for me. I only wished that there wasn't abnother movie so quickly. The worst is indeed the Butcher. The movie concerns about torturing in a slaughterhouse and that's what the story is about.

Overal, the AFFF 25 was a good one. I have taken a holiday for the first time. Though it was definately worth it, I don't know if I will do it again next year. We will have to see ;-)

So today, one day after AFFF , what have I done? Well, very little :-). Some loundry and that's it.

I'm going to make the statistics as requested and start with that tomorrow :-).

It was very fun to be with Hans, Joost and Herman, that definately increased the fun factor, so thank you all!

Bye!

Time flew by today, compared to other days we actually had to hurry to get from one film to another or to quickly grab some food. We also managed to be late for the first time during this festival, on the very last film that was shown! And with no less than almost thirty minutes!
I had devised a genius plan to make sure that we would see the closing film and ceremony in the same room as where we would see our last film of the festival. This masterplan failed due to the minor detail that The Butcher turned out to be shown on a different screen after all instead of the same... :-)
Luck would have it that this film was already known for having the lowest score voted by the audiences so far, so we really didn't miss anything at all - the remaining fifty minutes were as much torture for us as it was for the people on screen.

51 films, 21 shorts, 10 days. Within a couple of days I intend to publish a post on this affflog looking back at the festival, and I will highlight the films that stand out for one reason or the other. But first plenty of hours of sleep and dreams/nightmares to rehash and digest the broad range of films that have bombarded my eyes and ears.

Shortly after the first cup of cappuccino I actually used the words "meta-dystopic" and had a clear idea of what I meant. Obviously I was on to something.

I'll keep it short. Last day, and time flew by. Got some (ever positive) remarks on our shirts again, one of the best originating from a volunteer who compared the official shirts to garbage-bags with the well-chosen words: "Ze hadden ons net zo goed Koma aan kunnen trekken" (can't be really translated).

Good films today, entertaining ones. Weather was awesome, again.

The three of us had some wine after the very last film, discussing the film- and music industry and around 2am we had figured out that a) Joost is basically screwed and b) we all keep happily downloading. Of course, there were detailed pro and cons, there were intricate arguments, there were impressive studies showing equally impressive numbers and does anyone want another glass?

There will be an overal impression of the whole festival. Soon. In a blog near you.

torture-gore-ploitation
Links: AFFF / imdb

Nothing to say about this film. Hated it. Fuck the AFFF-description about a "message", this is torture exploitation and I couldn't care less.

Perhaps perhaps perhaps if I had seen this film at another moment in the festival, I would have provided you with something worth reading about, but as the very last film, it was a Big Failure.

Rating: 1

(we accidently missed the first 20 minutes because we mixed up cinema numbers. Wished we hadn't found out)

description: Husband and wife, porkface, camera's, chainsaw, the big escape, choices.

(Geoffrey): (rating 1)
Is it art, or is it tortureporn? Does the movie have a deeper meaning or was it money thrown away by the producers? You decide! You see everything from a camera put on someones head, most of the time of the vicitims, caught by some butcher wannabe's in a slaughterhause, trying to use all kind of original torture ideas to keep on going on the 2 victims. Would you sacrifice your wife if you cannot take the torturing anymore and have a change of escape?

The last movie of the afff festival was also the worst. I was convinced the move Nobody was the worst I saw, until this one. Useless, pointeless, gross, a big f_ck off to this movie.

S'nuff said
Links: AFFF / imdb

Hack & slash. Four victims (actually two victims by the time we entered the screening, almost twenty five minutes late because the closing ceremony ran over), three killers, a farm and a series of tools. Over an hour of all kinds of torture, saddism and gore. I guess this one won't win the "Feel good movie of the year" award... Complete and utter rubbish this film, avoid like the bubonic plague.

Rating: 1

What if bad luck happens to slackers, are they able to raise their game?
Links: AFFF / imdb

Wacky dark Irish comedy, think Very Bad Things. The series of unfortunate accidents and bodycount increases faster than their ability to cope with the situation, spiraling out of control in no time. Still, true character shows in difficult times, which is exactly what Dylan Moran (Black Books) and Mark Doherty do.

Rating: 8

description: Losers, movie in the making, brother in wheelchair, rented house, bad condition of house, accidents, death, faking death

(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
How big is the chance that in an hour, your dog dies because it is killed by a hanging closet, your brother by a lamp, your landlord by a screwdrier, your wife by a pin, a police cop by the window? That al in your house. Is it supernatural? No, what about accidents? Definately! How big is that chance? And if that happens, what would you do? Call 911, call the cops? How would they react to the story?

This movie is a very black comedy and very well done. Definately one of the better ones.

What not to do when accidently four people and a dog get killed at your home
Links; AFFF / imdb

It always works well if a wonderfully entertaining director provides you with quotes like "kings of inertia!", "princes of paralysis" and "their problems are always solved in the pub" beforehand to describe the main characters, adding they are basically Irish archetypes. Or says about one of his actors that you're wondering whether he is "either brilliant or doesn't know his lines"

But even without those comments, this would have been a highly entertaining film with pitchblack humor about two Losers who have to deal with a dead brother, dead ex-girlfriend, dead landlord and dead cop inside their home. Shallow Grave-ish, and add some Adaptationesque self-references (one of these days lightning will strike me down for this seemingly endless stream of description-through-reference) and you have a wonderful film with wonderful actors providing wonderful dialogues in a wonderful way. Did I mention the fact that I found it highly entertaining?

Rating: 8

description: Traumatised nightmare detective, girl patrenized, 3 girls, 2 death.

(Geoffrey): (rating 3,5)
Let's pretend you can go into people's dreams/nightmares and solve their nightmares. Sounds like a good story? It could have been a good story, but worked out quite dramatically. Specially when the editing is quite bad, like scenes were missing. Also the music was not very well done, more annoying than creating the sphere.
There is a story traumatised girl caused by another girl who feels like she is a victim as well. Then we have a traumatized nightmare detective. Every one seems traumatized or victimized. Too much for me, specially when it is worked out so badly.

Reining in the mare in nightmare
Links: AFFF / imdb

The first film was entertaining enough, this one seemed a bit darker. It cranked up the amount of SILDGWLBHWSRRWs on the festival which is always a good thing, storyline etc has been worked out well enough, but unfortunately it is drawn out too long in the end. Waking up... after waking up... after waking up... after. Yes. we get it.

But, besides all these remarks, a film that isn't ashamed to adher to the good traditions of Asian thriller film. With a beauty of a Freudian Cave by the way.

Rating: 7

Nightmares come back to haunt and kill
Links: AFFF / imdb

Nightmare sequences in films have been done time and time again. This film (just like its predecessor) still manages to not only offer several scary nightmares, but they also adhere to the typicial dream/nightmare logic when it comes to extravagant visuals and (dis)connecting space and time.

Also noteworthy: the first (and last) appearance of the genre defining Japanese girl ghost!

Rating: 7

All demons need is love, actually.
Links: AFFF / imdb
quote: (one demon to another) "act like a man and leave!"

Besides the "Day of the Tentacle"-is music now and then, an Asian spectacle of fighting, roof-jumping and demons. Lots of warm glows, indirect lighting and soft shadows in the beginning, buckets of flawless pale skin with nearly unblinking eyes with the darkest colour of the night in their almond shapes... Hoohah.

Not exactly impressive, but entertaining. Slightly curious effect, sorry, storyline, sorry, character arch, sorry... well, a curious effect, as I was saying, that even the demons were head over heels in love. It was all about love, about dying for each other, till the end and beyond, take me, don't kill him, love love love...

ah. Well.

Rating: 7

description: Chinese lovestory, demons, love, swordfighter, gone for 2 years, demon hunter, demon love.

(Geoffrey): (rating 7)
How deep is your love? Will you love her, even when she is a demon? And what if a demon loves you and wants to take you from your lover? Can you stand the seduction? The Asiatic movie sketses the story of true love. A little bit of melodramatic, but it turns out quite ok. The movie has a love story, sword fighting, demons and more. Not a classic, but nicely done.

First fighting to stay alive, then fighting to sacrifice oneself in the name of love
Links: AFFF / imdb

My Manderin is not up to standard, so having decent English subtitles is a prerequisite to understand the film. A shame then that the quality of these subtitles was not too good at times. I am not referring to the occasional typo, but to abbreviated sentences and losing meaning that was present on-screen.

Funny to see that they seem to love story-within-a-story constructs, as for the use of flashbacks and memories.

It's a bit of a letdown that a lot of the scenes are comical to us Westerners instead of genuinely dramatic, with heavy dialogue and actions that I associate more with Greek tragedies than your run of the mill wire-fu films.

Rating: 6

description: twin white trash girls, autistic, siamese look alike lowerclass neighborhood, black boyfriend, killings, writing a book, behave, one love, old detective, smelly garden

(Geoffrey): (rating 6)
I'm the only child and in the early days I often wished I had a brother. Wouldn't it be great it I had a twin brother? I often fantasised about it. After seeing this movie, I could perhaps ease the idea of having a twin brother. What if I would end up like those twin girls? The way the story is told, it is not very likely that I ever would, even it I still would live in the same neighborhood in Rotterdam. These wicked girls were partly raised in a mental institution, where they only communicated by letters. It's not that the couldn't, they just refused and pretended they were insane. At some point they were fired from the institution, though still acting the same. They even sneaked out earlier and did some killing.

Now, they want to make a good life, by writing a book and selling milions of copies. In the mean time, one of the girls falls in love with a black guy, who mostly cares little except being laid by either one of the girls. When acting like a stereotype black guy from the hood again, things go down the drain and the movie does not get better anymore.
Though the natural behaviour in this movie is very unlikely, the two girls acting/walking the same, there are quite some rediculous, but funny scenes (redneck/white trash looking girls and black guys living near eachother and liking as well), so I gave it a 6.

Twins handle rejection badly
Links: AFFF / imdb

Strange girls at times offers some interesting characterizations of the twins and their unity/duality. Unfortunately the acting was not convincing (with a terrible supporting cast) and so-so camera work. Several scenes were intended to be suspenseful but weren't scary at all - clearly a sign this film was missing the mark.

Rating: 4

double trouble
Links: AFFF / imdb

Near-autistic identical twins take matter of life and death into their own hands. Wait, no. It's about the internal struggle of freeing oneself from an impressive twin-bonding and...

Okayish, mostly boring. Bad acting, not in a cult-way. Silly film.

Rating: 4

description: Father, mother, daughter, rowing, placebo pills, midlife crisis, life is getting a drag, depressed, wanting a change, action in life wanted, cost of family life, do you accept your current life as it is?

(Geoffrey): (rating 9,5)
This movie came quite close to how I feel sometimes. It does not really matter much how old you are, but you probably thought of it sometimes, less or more often. You have or had dreams of what you wanted to reach in life. At some point you reach a more steady part of your life. That might be if you have a family, but also if you are still single. If you really reached that point, be honest, be very honest and think of whether you are happy with what you have reached and where you currently are. For quite some people that could lead to depressing thoughts and you might want to use prozac or some other anti-depression medicine. The effect might be that you are feeling active again, and pretending you are working your way up again. Making new goals you want to reach, perhaps making your family life more interesting again, more alife.

The point is, at what cost? How will your environment react to it? Are they ready for it, will they accept it?

That is a little bit of the idea in this movie. It is not a fast movie, but one with lots of dialogs and food for filosophy and psychology. The movie is from the same team who wrote Adam's Apples and it truly the best movie I have seen for the reason I mentioned in the beginning. It comes quite close how I feel (no, I'm not on prozac or anything like that :-)) sometimes. I reached most of my dreams, I have a good job and a reasonable life, though still single. Still I feel it's becoming a drag.
As for seeing this movie, I rather have it as last, or more space before the other movie started. You cannot just see it and see another one, pretending it's an average movie on the festival, because it wasn't.

Lost & found direction in life
Links: AFFF / imdb

Psychological portrait of a man's midlife crisis. Slowly but steadily it gets under your skin. Once again a fantastic film from Denmark, with a lot of familiar faces involved; written by Anders Thomas Jensen, acted by Ulrich Thomsen and Paprika Steen, produced by Lars von Trier's / Thomas Vinterberg's Zentropa.

Rating: 9

while trying to get a grip on his life, a man actually loses it
Links: AFFF / imdb

The writer of "Adam's Apples" is at it again. A film which is wonderful in its simplicity of setting, its impressive story and good acting. We are presented with a likeable enough character who gets a chance to "put things right" by partaking in a anti-depressive drug test. There isn't a whole lot wrong with his life, it's merely the fact that not he but his wife seems to have everything in control. Slowly though, his choices become more questionable, yet they never copmletely derail. It's a story that gets under your skin by the dark edges of its seemingly simple development.

One of the things I scribbled down was "double reversal of taking matters into one's own hand". He wants more control. Starts taking drugs. Feels better. Then it turns out he was in the placebo-group. Which requires him to re-evaluate and take matters "more" into his hands.. .again. The drugs seem to play a complex role: they allow him to finally _act_ in his life yet by their very nature he becomes dependable on them. When he realises he goes too far in his independent lifestyle, he throws them away, yet soon after he misses the seeming independence they provided him with.

Rating: 8

Film-wise, today went beyond the ordinary with evil stolas, living vampire babies that should've been deadborn and the ever-enjoyable juicy details from dirty Ozzie-minds.

Champagne in the park, vodka-redbull in the cinema. Many a ristretto inbetween and funny reactions from the audience, ranging from laughter to the aforementioned gore to two girls seriously telling each other that "Seventh Moon" really "had its scary moments y'know!" Does that mean we are pregressively hard-to-please? You do keep re-evaluating films in the light of recently viewed ones, but even that can not explain the difference in appreciation. Ah taste, the only thing worth arguing about...

Overheard the following remark: "Can't they do 'imagine in the park' next year?" - so true! We started our festival in the park today: breakfast, sunshine and champagne. Life is good!



Idea for next year: watch all the films with a heart rate monitor attached, and log minimum, average and maximum heartbeats per minute as an indication how engaged / scared / excited you were while watching a particular film! It would be a cool addition to our statsattack. Geoffrey has promised to enlighten us with some wicked statistics at the end of the festival in an attempt to "objectively" make sense of our reviews and experiences during this 25th AFFF / imagine festival. Can't wait!

Clocking in at 45 films as of tonight, tomorrow the last batch which will bring me to a grand total of 51 feature films. Argh.

Also pushed the limits today when it comes to a continuous influx of caffeine, alternating between coffees (cappuccinos and espressos) and red bull - topped up with donuts, Belgian wafles, noodles, biscuits, sausage. A medical check-up after the festival would probably be a bad bad idea...

description: post apocalyptic, prison camp/re-program center, forcing morality, hunting, free thinking, shooting, prison boss, woods, death, island.

(Geoffrey): (rating 7)
You are not free, you cannot be allowed to have other ideas than the government. If you do, you need to be re-educated. Behave and do well for the society. You have those nice camp bosses to make sure you 'grow' into the right direction. This could mean you getting raped or humiliated in some sort of way, but you must remember it is all for the greater good! Now....you have an opportunity to be free. Survive a hunting party of the rich and bored in the woods and you are ready to get back to society. Remember, there are guns, crossbows and other neat things involved, so you must be carefull not to get shot....

prisoners escape a sadistic re-education camp
Links: AFFF / imdb

A follow-up on the Ozploitation documentary "Not quite Hollywood" so expect sex, sadism, agression together with B-actors in a B-setting reading B-lines from a B-script.

With all that in mind, definitely amusing. And the score was not done by Brian May but Bwian May matey!

Rating: 7

The Shawshank Target Man
Links: AFFF / imdb

Ozploitation! Part of the double bill with Not quite Hollywood. Trashy indeed, but good fun because of the cheesy characters. The wolfman was by far the most camp :-)

Rating: 7

description: Alvin Purple, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, Dead-End Drive In, Long Weekend, Mad Max, The Man from Hong Kong, Patrick, Razorback, Roadgames, Stork, Turkey Shoot and more

(Geoffrey): (rating 8,5)
One fantastic documentary about 70's and 80's Australian movies, inspiring for Director Tarantino and the guys from Saw. There are a lot of cult classics from that area. My desire is to see all the ones discussed in this documentary. Check IMDB for some titles mentioned in the description.

Documentary about Ozploitation: sex, horror and agression from the land down under
Links: AFFF / imdb

B-movies, sex, sadism, puke, horror, sex sex sex. The seventies and eighties were beautiful, mate. A very amusing documentary brimming with saucy anecdotes about actors getting drunk at 10am, dangerous stunts (including people dying), real car-chases, live-ammo being fired at/near actors (we all feel like that sometimes), all in all a crazy time.

Descriptions, quotes and memoires from producers, actors, directors and a Famous Fan are spiced up with countless fragments and visuals resulting in a rollercoaster through Ozgore.

Rating: 8

Documentary on the B-movie wizards of Oz
Links: AFFF / imdb

Fascinating insight into a world of innovating filmmakers, opening up and (re)defining mainstream and cult Australian cinema. Watching this documentary feels like a treasure trove.
Fast paced, highly entertaining, guest starring Quentin Tarantino as a fanboy explaining what makes particular films stand out. Thanks to this documentary I've seen bits and pieces of several films that I definitely want to see in their full glory!

Rating: 8

description: Son, mother, grandchildren, escaping child murderer, city chaos, news, cement factory, paranoia, end of the world.

(Geoffrey): (rating 8,5)
So your life is miserable, you have a shitty job, you still live with your mother and you have 78 hours yet to live before all life on earth with parrish due to a huge meteorite crashing. You have the chance do to some good with your life before the world ends, by helping your mother and stopping an escaped child murderer from attacking her family again (killing her grandchildren/your small nephews/nieces). Will you help? What's the use anyway if the world ends so soon.

That's what this story is all about and it did a wonderfull job. Enjoyable from beginning till the very end. The struggle between looking at things rationally and with your heart makes this movies very exiting. Definately one of the better movies of this festival. I expect a pointless American remake of this Spanish movie. Better watch this one though.

Three days until the end of the world - not a good time for starting to trust other people and their intentions.
Links: AFFF / imdb

One of those "what if..." films. This film is more a "normal" thriller about a man trying to protect his family than a sci-fi film about the end of the world, but it utilizes that concept in its advantage.

Rating: 8

the dead pass on their stories carved in flesh to our world
Links: AFFF / imdb
quote: "voodoo and blowjobs. ah, they grow up so fast these days"

Based on books written by Clive "Hellraiser" Barker and the hand of the master is eminent both in storyline and the overal classic style of the film. From the very first moment I had a strong deja-vu concerning story, style, visuals and even actors. Yet after watching it I can't say I've seen it before. Might've read the books?

The story takes place in a house which is a crossroad between our world and the highways of the dead. A student first tricks a professor into thinking the dead are rather violently communicating with him, but finally ends up as the "book of blood": his skin is continuously being carved through with the stories of the dead. A film well-executed in every way, prominently showing that good horror is not created by the goriest or most impressive CGI scenes. If only more of Hollywood would take notice.

Rating: 8

description: husband & wife, restaurant, possessed by marten, truffle sniffer, strengle, beat to death, crawling like worms

(Geoffrey): (rating 7)
And then the demons came...or are they aliens....or genetic enhanced mutated marten ready to take over man kind's place in the world? Who knows? That does not become clear in this movie. What does is that they want to rule the world by destroying all competition on black truffle dealers. In the near future truffles are just as important as gold or oil. When a guy with a excellent nose for finding the truffles becomes known the by evil organisation, he is persuaded to join them.
People with an economic background or feeling will like the way they push this story with the economic 'downfall' since there is quite a price drop and it will leave some speculation if the story in this movie has some 'truth'.
For the people not , you can enjoy the movie by it's original story/concept and funny looking/crawling marten in black and white, though the movie is a little bit slow here and there.

Trouble with truffles due to stola-monster galore
Links: AFFF / imdb

Go Canada! This gritty black-and-white film derails wonderfully from its very first minute. Truffles are suddenly found by the dozen - big positive side of global warming you see - and humanoid robots controlled by teethy aliens in the shape of stolas try to take everything over. Still with me?

Wonderful settings, great music, and stola-animatronics who by their eighties-feeling add to the overal quirkyness. Again, thank God, not a film which tries to hold up a mirror; merely one which presents you with likable main characters and a crazy story.

Rating: 8

Total truffe domination!
Links: AFFF / imdb

Weird anti capitalistic film about one man fighting the system / big corporation. Great intro into the film with the music of "I put a spell on you". It lost its pace halfway through the film, which also had to do with the shift in perspective from Charles the truffe finder to his wife.

The black & white photography really works for this film, set design, costumes and lighting were all nicely in tune with each other creating a believable otherworldly atmosphere.

Rating: 7

Motherlove
Links: AFFF / imdb

A moody and suspenseful piece, echoing Rosemary's Baby.

All dialogue was ADR-ed, resulting in a soundtrack that was too clean and that lacked ambient sounds as well. This became more apparent because there was very little music as well.

Best quote in the audience during the sex scene of the elderly people: "Now THAT is what I call horror!".

Rating: 5

mother slowly realizes her baby isn't normal: can't stand daylight, prefers blood...
Links: AFFF / imdb

A small gem, not many karats but nice enough, that is more of a mood-piece than a story with developing characters with whom I'm always supposed to connect and care about on so many levels and that give me *yaawn* a deeper understanding of mankind and its struggles.

The link with "Rosemary's Baby" quickly enters ones mind, but I am not under the impression that this film actually tries to copy (or surpass) that classic. They share the slowly increasing discomfort the viewer (a bit earlier than the mother) experiences when more and more things go wrong.

No rush in the storytelling while it's kept interesting enough with little details, some more subtle than others; for example, the baby starts to slowly foam around the mouth when mum is playing churchmusic for her. The word "vampire" is never uttered, fortunately.

Too bad the final 2 minutes kinda screwed it up. A bit too illogical.

Rating: 7

description: Camping 2 couples, one good, splinter, monster, gas station, body temperature, police cop, splinterbodies merging, happy end, guy with arm chopped off, better with cutting off arms than with cars.

(Geoffrey): (rating 4,5)
Remember Eden Lake with the couple going on a trip? Well, this movie starts a little bit similar. Somewhere on the road in the f_ckin' woods, they meet another couple who are running from the authorities. They end up together (no, no orgie) at a gasstation where they are attacked by a mutilated body, infected by intelligent splinters. Little bit the same as with zombie infections, once you get stinged, your body dies and changes in a undead corpse with splinters.

This was the worst short night of terror movie. Slow building up, small environment, only few people to be killed and the most horrable thing was that the movie had a seemingly happy end. Booooooooooo

Pretty tense movie about a strange creature trying to eat people in a gas station. I think that the camera work and montage are a bit to quick. Montage I can imagine, so that the monster isn't shown immediately, but the camera movements are too fast (to my eye's). Nice monster effects.

Rating : 8

description: American woman, chinese husband, china, moon demons, sacrefice, cave, path lights, village

(Geoffrey): (rating 4,5)
Say hello to the Moon Demons from Hell (or wherever they're from). Every 7th moon they come out of their hiding place and they need killing to feed, to add new demon members. If your village is near their hide-out, you, the inhabitants need to make some sacrificing. So, you and your village are tired to make the sacrifices? Well, then it means you need to make sure you get people outside the village for sacrificing. "Ooh look, there is a nice just married couple. Let's make them food for the demons".

The story had a few nice moments with chasing and all, but even that was not always good. I like the idea, but it could have been worked out better. The demons are reasonable done. Less CGI, more suits and old school make-up. Unfortunately the movie lost quite some points with some extremely bad acting and script.

Villagers sell tourists to the Ghosts of Dead that seemingly appear every 7th full moon
Links: AFFF / imdb

Factual errors, continuous shaky handycams - including a shot of the moon that just didn't want to be static - silly ghosts, a non-interesting story. Didn't mind closing my eyes every now and then.

The website proudly advertises this film to be from the creator of "the Blair Witch Project". The amateurish camera-work wasn't of any use here. Completely illogic steps in storyline: mysterious ghosts can suddenly be found by following a landingsstrip (UFO's here please) of candles?

Rating: 2

Kabuki moon demons leave a candle lit path
Links: AFFF / imdb

Herman was spot on when he warned us for a severe shakycam and a surprisingly long credit roll compared to the simple low budget feel of the film. There was no rationale behind this particular use of the camera, it was annoying and distracting, with the unsteady shot of the moon as the epitome.

Nothing more to say about this film really, the plot was really straightforward and the characters were not engaging. Next.

Rating: 3

Wow, this is some scary stuff. A bunch of hoodlums terrorize a couple. It's not all black and white. But the leader of the hoodlums, Brett, is definitely evil and the rest are followers who, without Brett, wouldn't do the things they do in the movie.

There is a moral in the story. Bad parents give bad kids.

Rating : 8

Five horror films today, and it was a bit of a struggle for me. The festival is slowly wearing me out, it becomes more difficult to surprise and entertain me, and the quality of the films we watched today didn't exactly help either. It almost felt like work, eeeek! Luckily Deadgirl was a highlight at the end of the day.

Again someone from the AFFF / imagine crew asking where we got our festival shirts, because they don't like the one that much they got from the festival organization ;-) We should print some more copies next year and earn the money spent on our tickets back heheheh.

"House of the rising sun" is currently looping in my head, thanks to Autopsy and Mum & Dad using that song in the film.

Favorite festival food, snacks and drinks:

• Big pasta salad from Albert Heijn
• Coffee
• Red bull clone from Lidl
• Belgian sugar wafles
• Oat bars
  
• Pringles clone from Lidl

Sitting in the park lushly flooded by the sun. Twice. Ain't this hard work or what.

After 5 horror films my mental eye kept its gore-filter active for a little while longer. Cat on the street? How many legs?! Gory pigeons? How can they fly with decomposing wings?! Bleak guy sitting in my house completely disconnected from reality? Oh, that'd be Joost pointing at his Apple-weather-ma-thingy showing a shiny sun instead of looking out through the 3m2 window right in front of him, which is showing the very real existence of grey clouds.

Why we care about the weather, you say? First of all, the Land of Moonlanguage and Sabots should thank us humbly since our voluntary hiding into the caves of Tuschinski Arthouse always brings out the best of weather. This is a fact supported by history. Second, we're supposed to meet early tomorrow-morning for champagne and vodka. Don't ask why, this is life, not a darn plot from a freckly filmschool student.

Received a sad acknowledging"why-why-why" nodding from someone of the AFFF-organisation when entering the cinema this afternoon.

Cheap red wine, cheaper cheese. Soup-outta-tinnie, various munchies. All set.

A girl is haunted by nightmares and to get rid of them she visits the Nightmare Detective. The movie has a dreamy atmosphere, the few special effects used are good and effective. The movie actually tells two stories, that of the girl with nightmares and the story of the Nightmare Detective (ND) himself. The stories have a connection which has to do with being scared.

Rating : 8

What a day, what a day. Today was horror day. In stead of Day of Horror, I prefer to call it Day of Mental Terror. Today I saw quite some good and also some very bad horror movies. At the 4th movie I had to take a beer, I couldn't take it anymore, specially not after having seen Chemical Wedding and before that Tamami, the cursed baby (they better had called it Teenage Mutant Ninja Baby)

I think today was the heaviest day of the AFFF. I am beat. It could also be because I woke up relateively early today and I couldn't sleep anymore.

Anyway, though I had some difficult moments, the day went by like a madman. I even gave a short interview, right after I saw Mum & Dad. I had to go to the toilet because of the beer, but a camera guy asked me if I wanted to give some comments, so I did. I just had to do it, perhaps this will be my minute of fame ;-)

description: male teenagers, abandoned mental institution, basement, dog, (un)dead girl, rape, fuck, shoot at body, pus, dick biting

(Geoffrey): (rating 6,5)
When you have some male teenagers, finding a supposed dead girl in a basement which comes to live. What do you do? Call 911? Nah, she looks beautiful, so just keep her tied up and start fucking her and fucking and fucking. Get some more friends and continue fucking. One of the teenagers does not agree, but is not able to escape the tirade. Both are actually a little bit of loosers, but gain more respect when a few other classmates find out they have a girl they can fuck for free.

The movie is quite disturbing, since it does not become quite clear that you are dealing with a zombie, unless you've seen tons of zombie movies already. The movie could be a little bit shorter, but otherwise it is done quite ok.

Feminist view on a male fantasy
Links: AFFF / imdb

This is one twisted perverted f#cked up film. I loved it :-) On the surface level this film seems to portray the male (adolescent) fantasy of exploiting a gorgeous woman as a mindless sex slave, but the film in reality offers a commentary on how men perceive women and how they "deal" with that gender relation.

Although the subject matter is larger than life and quite explicit, it never (visually) exceeds certain "taste" boundaries. I think that is largely the reason why the majority of the audience was chuckling or laughing out loud during the film. It never got uncomfortable. You could criticize the makers for latter, but it didn't bother me because that was not the way they chose to tell this story.

Apart from the wicked content, I felt that the film on a technical level was excellent. It was shot on Thomson Viper digital cameras in 1:2.35 aspect ratio, and it just looked gorgeous. The cinematography and framing was superb, the sound design really added to the story and apart from one song the use of music was really well timed and suitable.

Also noteworthy: the hair and make-up of the deadgirl. Especially the eyes and the teeth were far more convincing than anything I've seen this week. Strangely enough a lot of productions seem to ignore those aspects, whereas in this film the teeth were really worn and dirty, and the eyes did not just have basic contact lenses - the white part of the eye balls had a red outline near the socket and some other texture as well.

Rating: 8

A naked girl. Teenage boys brimming with hormones... Exactly. The fact that she's dead doesn't really change anything, does it?
Links: AFFF / imdb

Film of the "take a crazy premise and see where it gets you" variety. Entertaining enough how a sort-of naked zombie-girl, chained down in an abandoned mental hospital (you didn't see that one coming did you), "amuses" some loser-teenagers ("she wanted it herself, really!"). Reactions from the audience added to the fun.

What amused me was the vivid catlike face ms Deadgirl had. Visually she wasn't a zombie in the usual way and bloody and gory her face was though, they were able to pull off some "emotions" (ranging from hunger to rage with a moment of tranquil sleep here and there) with little more than slightly changing features.

Rating: 7

description: Girl, 'daughter', 'son', real daughter, mom, dad, torture, happy family, be a family,

(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
Suppose you have a daught with both mental and physical disabilities and can only act as a plant in a wheelchair. That's very hard for the mother and father. If you got a mentally disturbed father who wants to have a normal family, what do you do? Well, you 'kidnap' children en start to mentally and physically torture them, until they act as your own adorable children.
That's a little bit what this movie is all about. Though the story isn't very great, I find acting of some of the family people good. This could mean overacting, or 'natural'. Quite a low budget movie from the UK, but it could be worse.

Taking family values to the next level
Links: AFFF / imdb

One of the first Microwave feature films funded by Film London and the UK Film Council. Possibly something that I could be doing a couple of years down the line! :-)

Definitely English. Good character building and fine casting to go with this. That is the main appeal of the film, the plot is not that fascinating and/or original.

Rating: 6

torture, mutilation: it's all in the family, really
Links: AFFF / imdb

It's clear what the writers had in mind: take common family values like "respect your parents", "do your chores" etc, and take this to the extreme. So Dad has a slaughterroom in which he likes to chop you up if you don't listen to him, mum loves carving skin ("beautiful, like spiderwebs"), they randomly kill people or merely mutilate them horribly. When you would read the dialogues without (description of) the images, it could be any bit-oldfashioned family.

The idea is well-executed, the story and film are amusing enough to keep you watching, but I don't consider it a gem. No big flaws, but no truly impressive aspects either.

Rating: 7

A fresh movie. It reminded me of Re-Animator by Stuart Gordon, the subjects are different, but the same energy flows through "I sell the dead". There is lots of humor in it, the gore is also well done. The story is about a grave robber, played by Dominic Monaghan. A monk, played by Ron Perlman visits Dominic in his cell before he is executed because of the grave robbery and supposed murder. There he tells the story of the movie.
There is also a role by Angus Scrimm, of Phantasm fame, the man with the balls :)

Rating : 9

description: wizard, the beast, re-incarnation, Satan's bible, space suite, virtual time/space traveling, alternative worlds, Schrodinger's cat, time ticking, stottering professor, posession, red haired student, orgy

(Geoffrey): (rating 3,5)
Don't get me wrong, I love movies about the occult, satanism, etc, but this movie is ridiculous. There is an old wizard who dies and reincarnates in a new body saying he is the beast and that the reincarnation will be complete in 4 days. I didn't know what happens, but I had difficulty following the story and to make sense of it all. There are so many gaps in the story, I don't know where to begin. At the end of the story, the reincarnation cannot be completed and the beast is somehow send to another universe via a virtual time/space machine and Al Gore became president in this universe. And they lived happily ever after.

Finnish bath house at the end of the world cleans more than just the pores.
Links: AFFF / imdb

There's always something raw in these Northern European horror films. Usually a bleak setting in nature, a story set against the backdrop of man and the elements. And usually it's "men" and the elements, women are hardly ever the protagonists somehow.

The filth / cleansing theme in this film gave it a unity that I appreciated. It also had a kind of M. Night Shyamalan vibe to it, but then without the disappointing twist in the end that he always comes up with.

Rating: 6

There are places where man's sins can not be cleansed
Links: AFFF / imdb

Joost remarked correctly; many Scandinavian horrormovies seem to share the same gray, grim, moody atmosphere. Man vs nature. This was no exception. From the background via the story to the characters, there was a consistency in darkness and roughness. A plus.

I didn't "get" the entire story. Judging from the questioning remarks I heard around me during the creditroll, I was not the only one. That in itself is not a bad thing, but this particular story left me dangling too much; but... eh... what?? why? Does it want to lead my thoughts or ideas in a certain direction? If so which, or, well, perhaps not at all? And too much dangling, besides ripped flesh, results in the impression that the film simply failed to deliver the goods.

A shame, for I liked many aspects of it.

Rating: 6

Gore galore. They didn't save on the blood budget in this movie. A simple story but creative gore effects. This is a typical s/not movie.

Rating : 8

Yoda the demon baby wreaks havoc on its family members
Links: AFFF / imdb

Searching for your biological family only leads to suffering and pain, that much becomes clear while watching this film. Quite an achievement since the film tries to tell a serious emotional story about a daughter trying to reconnect with her father and mother she never knew, but goes overboard with the mutilated baby Tamami. This baby is a hybrid between the fighting Yoda from episode II and one of the Gremlins - and incidentally has a hand the size of her own head.

What annoyed me most about this film were the signs that the film makers were genuinely trying to convey more than a monster story. Cue overly emotional scenes and music, shots of angelic statues, the nursery rhyme that keeps on coming back, etcetera. This clearly did not work for me, there was hardly any character development or otherwise interesting moments.

Rating: 3

description: Teenage mutant ninja baby, sweet 15 year old girl, mom, dad, grandma, guy from orphanage, dolls, museum, tower

(Geoffrey): (rating 5)
Here we have a sweet girl of 15 years from an orphanage who finally is found by her father and is brought home. At home she finds a mother who refuses to remember her, since she only has one child, Tamami. Then we have a grandmother (or whatever she is), telling the sweet girl continuously that she is not welcome. We have a father how loves her and we have her twin sister, the evil mutant demon baby from hell.

The movie has some of a ghost horror vibe, ending like a bad Chucky spin-off. For instance, Tamami tries to catch her sister. The problem is that she has no legs and one big arm/hand. She uses that to jump after her. I felt like singing "Jump around" from House of Pain. When nearing the end of the movie, I knew that Tamami had to be a ninja, the way she moved through the trees. Tamami is the ninja baby, her sister is a do-good food soldier. One of the best scene is where Tamami takes a leap and you see here in the center of the big moon. It was like ET vs Chucky acting like Tarzan.

Actually the movie is quite bad, but since it had some rediculous comedy here and there I give it a 5 anyway. The best acting is the sweet child, she really is a sweet child....:-)

demonic yoda wuppie chucky baby does not take the arrival of sister lightly
Links: AFFF / imdb

How serious does this film take itself? Everything I have to say about it depends on this answer. Am afraid though, that it'd be "very".

Many "There's a light, over at the Frankenstein place" moments. Cheesy effects. The gruesome baby - really, kids _are_ ugly y'know - is shown in full detail relatively early in the film. "Wonderful! Scary!" the makers must've thought, and decided to repeat it again and again.

The innocent, big-eyed beautiful sister could have been cruelly mutilated and killed for all I cared. All she did was screaming. Why suddenly return after 15 years and burden your family with your presence? What's wrong with a nice orphanage? Just let her die. We could've been sipping espresso lungos in the sun.

Rating: 4

This was a scary movie. Innocent children who become not so innocent children. Probably caused by a virus, in the movie you hear a part of a news bulletin where they mention it and the fact that children are more susceptible to infections.

The tension during the movie is high. Only some grown ups scream (out of fear) a little too much to my liking, but hey, what would I do if my (hypothetical) kids would start acting so violent. The gore was nice.

Rating : 8

Cut.
Links: AFFF / imdb

Instead of a road trip gone wrong ending up in the blasted forrest, this time they end up in a deserted hospital where the main surgeon has an agenda of his own in a twisted attempt to rescue his sick wife.

A fun B-type film, with some semi A-list actors in the lead roles: Robert "T2 / X-files" Patrick, and Michael "I'm Buck and I like to fuck" (Kill Bill) Bowen. The acting in general is pretty lousy, not just because of a crappy screenplay but also the performances by themselves.
The one thing that stood out was the cinematography, creative use of colour and adding depth to virtually all the shots, nice.

Rating: 5

description: Special hospital, teenagers, experiments, body parts, almost dead wife, guts hanging out of body, needles, drugs, doctor, polishing body parts

(Geoffrey): (rating 7)
This was one of the alternative SNOT movies and it becomes clear why. The movie starts with rock music and teenagers who end up in a private hospital after having a carcrash in which they drove over a man.

I wished I saw this movie during a normal NOT, I would probably had enjoyed it much better with alcohol and screaming and yelling like the rest of the people at NOT. The movie is quite ok for a splatter horror. There is a mad doctor who wants to safe his wife by some kind of surgery where he would get her some new parts she needs. The teenagers are just the write match. Then we have one nurse/office manager and 2 guys (one with enormous tatoes) helping the doctor. What you get is a so called abandoned hospital some teenagers getting caught, put on drugs, put on surgery and some female teenager who seems to be able to escape and take revenge.

Eat your heart out!

Truffe is a Canadian SF film shot in Montreal, Quebec. I have a bond with Quebec, so it was nice to hear the Quebecois French dialect again.

Because of the Earth warming up, there are growing truffles in Montreal, a place where they normally not grow. A man has a very good sense of smell and is successful at finding truffles. A company discovers this and offers him a job. It's a weird company with strange acting employees, but the man needs money to pay the rent. And what are those furry snakes with led's in their head doing there ?

The movie is shot in black and white and is no hightech SF, but the story is nice and told in a relaxing way.

Rating : 7

In this hospital, you might feel a little prick... and remember; deep down inside, everybody is empty
Links: AFFF / imdb

One of the three films that were screened as the second-half of the NoT. A sunny thursday afternoon at 2pm has a slightly different atmosphere than 2am on a saturdaynight, but there was no doubt about it; this is true NoT material.

Nice gore, a T-1000 moment, slashy oneliners, it had it all. Amusing.

Rating: 7

A full week of fantastic films, and the end is not in sight yet. The level of caffeine a day is steadily increasing every day, I'm running about 1:1 now, one strong coffee or red bull before every film starts.

Another "safe bet" in the schedule delivered today. I had heard that Martyrs was definitely worth checking out although it supposedly was a touch cookie to swallow. Indeed it is. "Handle with care". I remember hearing a similar thing about Irreversible years ago. Back then I made a mental note that I wanted to see it one day, but passed on the opportunity on several occasions just because I didn't feel ready. Eventually one Monday evening the film was going to be screened in the Milky Way. I felt curious and centered enough to go and watch it (by myself) and so I did. An experience not easily forgotten, but I am still happy to have seen it that one time.
My advice to you: go and see Martyrs, when the time is right, and when you feel you can experience the film with an open mind.

The "I can do a better job than this" optimism struck today as well. Someone's knocking at the door was flawed on so many levels that I felt confident enough to think that I could do something more remarkable than this! Time to scribble down some notes on possible features and to gather people and equipment, just in time for the 26th AFFF ;-)

Just 3 more days and then we are done. How fast time flies again.

Today was a good day, despite Lake Mungo which did not appeal to me at all (sorry for that). The best movie I saw was Stingray Sam, though Martyrs comes close behind.

I saw Coen today again for a short time. I met him yesterday during Grace. Talkable guy from Eindhoven (I believe), who studies at the movie and art academy (if I remember it correct ;-)) and does teaching at a MBO as well. Quite amazing that he comes all the way to Amsterdam again, though he has to leave after the 4th movie, to be in time back with public transport. How do I know him? Actually I don't, but people seem to know me. It happens sometimes :-). Anyway, we had some small, but good chats about movies. He was quite impressed with Lake Mungo, so I guess we do not agree on all types of movies hehe. He'll be in on Friday again.

No redbull clones for me today, though I drank quite some coffee again. I did not drink one before Stingray Sam and I feld it. Though the movie was excellent, my eyes were sometimes getting sleepy. I guess i'm getting more immume for coffee and I need more to feel the effect (Daddy, am I addicted now?).

My eyes seem to be getting better too. Yesterday I went to bed quite early, since my eyes were getting sore again. It was even worse in the weekend. Right now I still feel ok, so I guess my eyes are getting better again (I think I had/have a small infection).

Fighting demons to discover God
Links: AFFF / imdb

It's usually a good indication when I leave the cinema silently and not wanting to talk about the film that I have just seen with other people who have seen the same film. It is almost like me and the film need some time for ourselves, to reflect, question, argue and fight over the merits and flaws.

Martyrs is many things. For starters, it consists of two distinct parts. The first part is a scary revenge horror film where fighting your inner demons is taken literally. There is a lot of drive and impulse in this part, with unapologetic violence. The second part is a sick study into the process of creating a martyr (in more than one sense) and lessons to be learned.

The topic seems to be surfacing often, but the question arises here as well: is this torture porn and nothing more, or is that just the outer shell of a more intricate story being told? I think the way the film is structured and given the climax (which I won't give away here) this is not yet another mindless violent film. In a way Martyrs throws us back to a time before the Stone Age, it questions how our behaviour is susceptible to the interaction with our environment, and how it can create a monster or a god.

I still feel some reservations preventing me to call this a masterpiece. The twist in the final act gives everything that happened before a broader context and reason which is excellent. But at the same time it feels a bit like the writer/director cheated by trying to link Big Ideas (the meaning of life etc) to a nihilistic concept like Evil.
Rather than exploring the notion that some people derive a sickening satisfaction from being in complete control of someone else - evil as a noumenon, a thing-in-itself (see also Meta-ethics) - he almost suggests to understand altruistic motives (and he judges them as well).

But perhaps I shouldn't confuse my own world view and that of others with the game of chess the director has offered in the form of this film. I can analyze the moves, express my opinion on the path that was followed, offer alternatives and marvel or rebuke its outcome. The fact alone that the film still leaves me wondering and rethinking what I have seen on the screen makes this film stand out.

Rating: 9

description: Quite bad for a romantic comedy ;-) -> girls, torture, 15 years later, revenge, family killed, torture basement, group of torturers (martyrs) over decades, ghosts, skin, afterlife.

(Geoffrey): (rating 8)
How do you review a movie like this? It is not a movie for the weak stomache people. How can you give a movie like this a high rating? Some sick stuff happens in the movie and for what? That's a little bit the idea. For a horror/torture movie, the story is quite strong. It is not a horror movie like "look what we can do with bodies/women". Women are mostly the victims as far as I can judge horror movies and men far less. Why actually? I guess it is not very convincing is a man is tortured. Women can look/act more dramatically. They say women can endure more pain, is that really the case? I don't know, but hardly male torturing in this movie.

Anyway, getting back to this movie, I don't go into much details, since I don't need to. Like my other descriptions, when reading the words, you probably get the idea what the movie is all about.

The torturing in the movie is well set in motion. You see some bad stuff, but it is not overdone with blood and gore, unless needed. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of blood and gore but it was done at the right moment, at the right place. As for the story, there is also a good reason why it all happens. Of course it is no excuse, but the reason makes the story very good and therefore I give it an 8. I wouldn't mind never seeing this movie again though.

An original vampire story. A baby is born dead, but suddenly he lives. The mother is happy of course, but the baby isn't eating what babies suppose to eat so the mother has to find ways to feed her son.

The effects where nice, subtle. Maybe they should have explained why the baby got his infection. Also the husband of the women is gone after the birth of the baby. Wonder where he went. The movie ends in some sort of camper. Could the Near Dark troupe have begun here ? :)

Rating : 8

Man's fear and search for existential questions knows no limit
Links: AFFF / imdb

(here be spoilers)

I am not sure whether the phrase "existential horror" has been coined before. This is it. What starts as a raw "torture victim hunts her agressors" story slowly changes into a portrayal of man's fear of death; a group of people intentionally try create martyrs by chaining them in dark cellars and submitting them to the most gruesome of pain and torture. The state of a martyr is such that she doesn't fear anything in this world. Her body is beyond pain, her very being beyond this world. There is no limit to the horror mankind is capable of inflicting onto his fellow man to find answers to existential questions of what lies beyond this life. The fact that these are without exception answered sooner or later for everybody adds an even more gruesome aspect; Impatience can be the sole reason for inflicting these most horrendous kinds of pain. Impatience, and fear.

The film keeps an impressively fast pace throughout and though many horrible scenes are showed in gory detail they never indulgenced. I am deeply impressed and was merely doubting between an 8 and 9 because the latter has an air of "recommend it to everybody!". Which is certainly not the case here. I am not even sure I'd like to watch it myself again any time soon.

Rating: 9

Again a ghost story, set in Spain. I don't know what to write about it. The movie begins interesting, but halfway through a priest explains all, so the last part is just watching the things the priest said.

Rating : 6

Added to the standard fantastic film inventory: traumatized Spanish woman in a haunted mansion
Links: AFFF / imdb

What's up with these Spanish films with a religious setting, moody anamorphic dark scenes in a haunted convent / nursery, dead children and ultra slow tracking shots? The one distinctive element in The Beckoning is the usage of the authentic historic newsreels (sort of like the Dutch "Polygoon journaal"), for the rest it delivers the obvious series of events and conclusion.

Rating: 6

Mum goes crazy in old landhouse because daughter died and... oh please, make it STOP
Links: AFFF / imdb

Run of the mill. Very, very run of the mill. But the mill is old. You've seen a thousand mills like this, and every single one of them was in better shape. Grinded the corn better. Threw a more beautiful silhouette against the darkening summersky.

Again: ghosts shown Too Soon, people! And then they appear again and again and again and again... now this might work in a lyric or two but it becomes sooooo tiiiireeessooommmeeeee. Yes, cue squeaking floor. Sigh. How -dare- they say it holds up to "The Orphanage"

Rating: 5

description: Ghosts, family with 1-2 children, 3 young girls, martyr, house haunted, whore to be a saint, bishop, secrets, no-do documentaires, woman sleeping 60 years, 3 forms of miracle busting.

(Geoffrey): (rating 6)
Well, this is another ghost movie....again in a f_cked up house with a f_cked up history. Seeing so many of these types of movies in a short notice, they become a drag. Here we have a big house, used for praying in the past. Some miracles happened in this house, but not with a good ending, thanks to the bisshop. The miracles are put on film and people involved were killed, except one woman who is in a coma/sleep for 50-60 years. Now a family with a 4 month old baby are going to live in that house. Mother sees ghosts, father thinks mother is going nuts (how original).

The old woman who slept for such a long time wakes all of a sudden and can stand immediately. No problems with muscles not used for 50-60 years, no issues with her brain. Not really convincing. But ok, she plays her part as she and her husband made documentaires, with a special camera who actually could record miracles (ghostly beings etc) at that time. Now her husband is gone and it is the bisshops fold. There is some kind of priest (martyr) getting involved, showing the dark secrets the house holds with the no-do documentaires made so long ago.

Actually I wanted to give this movie a lower score, since I had it with ghost haunted house movies, but I gave it a 6 anyway, since the acting was not that bad and I like movies with some criticism to people in charge of religion. Cults/dark religion or religion not pictures as pure as they want to gives it a plus. Hopefully no American remake will be made of this movie.

description: Space cowboy, lounge singer, partner, paying off to society, mission, girl, episodes, comedy, spaceship, planets, male pregnancy, gay, small robot as a body host

(Geoffrey): (rating 9)
This movie blew my head off of originality and fun. There are quite some gay-friendly movies during this festival and I guess this is one of them. Though you don't see man-man, the story makes it quite clear. Also, that's not the point of the movie.

The movie is about Stingray Sam, a space cowboy who is a lounge singer. A former (jail) partner visits him who wants him to help him being a free man by doing a mission, which involves rescueing a young girl. The movie is in black-white and the main characters are funny as hell. The movie is splitted up in short series episodes, which makes it very original. The visuals in the movie look quite simple, but the idea is absolutely briljant, same for the music/singing in the movie. The storie/lyrics of each song makes you laugh.

To me the movie is such a out-of-the-box concept and I enjoyed every second of it. Therefor I give it a 9

drugs kill, kids. As do 14-inch cocks
Links: AFFF / imdb

Well I hate to typecaste (no you don't moron, you love it) but my "aaah... Troma!" thought during the Q&A did "explain" this film to me.

Not that there is actually much to explain. There's curious lighting, curious angles. Curious sudden cutoffs of music. You think arty, think again.

Rating: 6

(hell yes I realise I don't even describe the story or film itself. Haven't you realised it yet?? Every time there are 3 other beautiful reviews to give you insight in film, story, style and mood)

*knock knock* Who's there? - It's Joost, I'd like to have 80 minutes of my life back!
Links: AFFF / imdb

A direct-to-DVD release would be a compliment to this film. The imagine festival organization praised the makers for upping their game when it comes to the visual look compared to earlier work. Lighting wise I could perhaps see their point, but the camera work was shoddy, screen direction was all over the place and frame sizes were not matching where it should have.

Okay, this film was shot on a very low budget in only 11 days, and even though I tend like B-movies, this one just didn't cut it for me. I guess a 15 inch monstercock and doped up characters alone aren't entertaining enough after all...

Rating: 2

description: 3 women teenagers (British), 4 male teenagers, sunny place, a boat, drugs, sex, accidental murder, murder, panic, escaping

(Geoffrey): (rating 5,5)
What do you get when you have 3 young British women and 4 British male on a boat? You shouldn't be suprised that sex will come next, specially when drugs and licquor are involved. If one of the boys donkey punch one of the girls, things make a drastic turn.

Nice popcorn movie, but not really special. Perhaps I would have been more impressed if I was 20 years younger. There is a real life soap about young British teenagers in a house which I saw on t.v. The movie is quite similar, but then without the killing....at least non-verbally.

Natalie Holloway. On a nicer boat.
Links: AFFF / imdb
memorable quote: "I'm the most dependable guy you know, I'm a fucking Volvo, mate"

13-a-dozen
teenage-sex-gone-wrong
oh-dear-better-to-hide-the-body
fuck-I-fucked-you-but-now-I-don't-trust-you-anymore
oh-well-then-I-better-kill-you-with-a-lifeboat-engine
film

(yes, I'm the best Haiku writer you've got among your Facebook pals, pal)

Rating: 5

A remake of a movie with the same name but by Wes Craven. Gruesome rape revenge movie.
A girl is raped and shot by a group of criminals. After their deeds they go to a lake house where the parent's of the girl live. The criminals don't know that the parents live there and the parents don't know what the criminals did. After a while the parents do get to know who their guests are because the girl didn't die when she was shot, she crawls to the lake house and all hell breaks loose.

Good special effects (gore).

Rating : 8

Sex, drugs, punch & pain
Links: AFFF / imdb

This film reminds me of the track/video E-talking by Soulwax - a great promo for doing drugs... But unlike Soulwax, this film has an important Moral to the Story: sex - great, drugs - fine, punching someone just before climaxing during sex - not recommended, trying to cover up an accidental death - definitely not recommended. Write down that lesson, so that you may safely skip this mediocre film.

Rating: 4

description: girl drowned, family telling the story, other people involved, ghosts, fake, death in future

(Geoffrey): (rating 3)
This is a docu movie about a girl who drowned and the family, friends, relatives telling more about the girl, who she really was and what happened. The idea is ok, but I found the acting not so good and the story got from worse to worse. Perhaps if they shortened it in a 45 minute docu-movie it would have been better. There are too many dumb (fake ghost pictures), boring (family acting not convincing at all) and annoying parts (ooh goodie, there is another hidden person in the pictures, is there something true after all? who knows -> WHO FUCKING CARES!!!) in the docu that made it very hard for me to watch.

- I see dead pixels.
- No you don't.
- Yes I do.
Links: AFFF / imdb

The first 45 minutes of this film are a wonderful fake documentary about a family trying to cope with a drowned teenage daughter (okay, rather her absence...), only to see her appear in photos and films after her death. It turns out the son was the culprit, faking evidence of her "ghost". So far so good. What impressed me was the very believable documentary-mood of everything. The interviews, the dialogues, monologues and editing all made sense.

Rating So Far: 7

Then, alas, the writers / director derail by suggesting that besides the fake evidence she actually _does_ appear. Shock shock, horror horror. Not. It's a shame that these last 20 minutes turn the film into a farce. We had some discussions among ourselves about what this film could've been, but I myself find this tricky since it is too easy to project your own "perfect" type of film unto it. There is definitely something nice in there, if only they knew where and when to stop.

Final Rating: 5

Mockumentary about a ghost of a drowned girl who shows up on video's and photo's made by family members. The idea of the movie is original and well done until the first half of the movie. After that it looses it's believability (in the setting of the movie). The brother of the girl admits that he faked the ghost pictures, he even tells how its done. After that they have new photo's of the ghost girl and now they are really "real" according to the brother. sure.

Rating : 7