Karohemd's World

Yesterday was great.
First up was the excellent Three Cases of Murder. All three segments were good but the first one fitted the bill best (painting coming to life). Highly recommended and reasonably easy to catch as it's now out on DVD.

Then there was Shadow, a easonably new film, somewhere between Jacob's Ladder, 70's slasher and Hostel. Rather violent and gory so if torture porn isn't your thing, it's not for you. I didn't have many problems with it, just the luscious, deep deciduous forest that was supposed to be in Iraq(!).

Next up, the seminal and by now traditional Horror Express with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and randomly, Telly Savalas as a Kosak captain (not a Hammer production but an Italian one). Good, cheesy fun and hearing innerbrat's reactions to the pseudo science was hilarious.

Staying with low-budget cheese, we watched The Giant Spider Invasion next and that was hilarious, too. Again, mucho pseudo science about black holes and gamma radiation. The giant spider monster was one of the best props ever and the acting was on par, too. Big kudos to them for using real spiders (tarantulas etc.) for the smaller ones, though. Very good fun and everybody loved it.

After that, I had a bit of a break and a drink and nice long chat with @Crawther, which was nice.
We sat in Centenniary Square chatting away and almost forgot the time but managed to get back for the screentalk with Michael Armstrong, director of Mark of the Devil, House of the long Shadows etc. It was really interesting and entertaining, Armstrong is a very charming and funny character. He talked about The Image, his first short film (also at the FFW), obv. a lot about Mark of the Devil as that was shown afterwards and other projects as well as one (prompted by an audience member) about a planned documentary with the Sex Pistols.

The above mentioned Mark of the Devil was next and rather disappointing. Obv. a low budget affair and far from being as shocking or visceral as he wanted us to believe during his talk. A bit rubbish really but not too bad (I think I had a higher opinion of it than miss_s_b).
I just had to giggle when during the opening credits Herbert Fux was mentioned who I and many Germans my age and older will associate with really bad (sex) comedies during the late 70s/early 80s so to see him in a rather serious role was odd. He's done serious stuff since but I think his main image is that of being in bad comedy flicks.

We had a gap before the midnight screamer so miss_s_b, innerbrat, matgb, someone I only know vaguely from last year and I went for a couple of drinks.

Back in time for midnight, we briefly met James Nguyen, director of Birdemic, who signed coathangers for us (this will become important later on).
Birdemic: Shock and Terror is a remarkable, hard to describe film. It's equally the worst and best film ever made. With a budget of $10,000, rubbish actors, guerilla camera action and the worst CGI in movie history, it's a specatcle that has to be seen to pass any judgment on. It already has a cult following in the US and is somewhat of a phenomenon.
The director stayed for a chat with Tony Earnshaw which was just as unbelievable as the film. A really nice and charming guy, though, and I am looking forward to the sequel.

( two photos of James Nguyen )

And now I'm off to see Psycho on the big screen for the first time.