WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? Review - Jonesy's Take

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL?

Directed by: Shion Sono

Written by: Shion Sono

Starring: Hiroki Hasegawa, Gen Hoshino, Akihiro Kitamura, and Jun Kunimura

Synopsis: A young film crew gets entangled between two warring Japanese mobs. 

Fantastic Fest 2014 Review: V/H/S VIRAL- Jonesy's Take

V/H/S VIRAL

Directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Marcel Sarmiento, Gregg Bishop, Justin Benson, and Todd Lincoln 

Synopsis: The third installment of the found footage series.

When the first V/H/S was released, it did something that no other mainstream horror film had done in recent memory. Instead of one cohesive plot line, it was a anthology of a few shorts strewn together with an interlude of a fourth story. It gave the chance for smaller, indie directors to showcase their stuff and gave the audience a new kind of horror movie for the Halloween season. The first installment had mixed reviews, while the second improved on the flaws of the first and was much more entertaining. Now, we have the third installment, aptly named V/H/S VIRAL, and unfortunately, the series has completely derailed.

There are still three shorts in VIRAL, each with its own themes. However, instead of having a storyline where characters discovery these other stories, like the first two films did, the "wrap around story" is just another short, completely independent of the others, and needlessly chopped up. The filmmakers could have made this the closing short instead of trying to use it to tie all the others together. Also, it seems that the filmmakers completely negated the found footage aspect. A couple of the shorts started off as found footage, but then halfway through, seem to drop it all together and just went with the shakey cam action instead. There was no commitment, either stick with the found footage aspect or do something completely different.

The shorts themselves were either a hit or miss. The first deals with a crazy magician with a demon possessed cloak. It was silly, boring, and the two leads looked as if they were told this was a melodrama and came off as severe overacting. The second short was made by Fantastic Fest darling, Nacho Vigalondo. This was the quirkiest of the three. A man opens up a portal into a parallel dimension. The other world, including his counterpart, look almost identical, and he decides to switch with his counterpart for 15 minutes to, of course, disastrous results. Initally, the atmosphere and mystery were great, but then the plot takes a turn into the absurd and never quite recovers. The third short was the strongest of the set, and it follows some high school boys as they go down to Mexico to party and film themselves skateboarding only to run into a cult-like, demon worshipping group. The film is almost entirely shot on Go-Pro cameras, but the editing keeps the tension high and the action moving. It was clearly the strongest of the set.

What really makes this film the worst in the series is how in cohesive it feels. The others had at least a story which tied the shorts together. The filmmakers could have easily taken the idea of teenagers wanting to make or find a video to become the next internet sensation. Just a simple story like that could have easily fixed the unevenness in the film. However, this feels like a couple of segments stuck together with no real purpose or follow through. This series has clearly worn out its welcome and should have stopped with the second film.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Wrap Up: Javi's Top Films

Finishing our Fantastic Fest coverage, Jonesy wrote about her favorite films here, and now its my turn.Piggy backing off what Jonesy said in her top movies of the festival, this was a hard festival to pick from. In the last few years, there have been some major standouts and this year really didn't have any, but not due to any fault of the programmers, it's actually because everything was that great.

So check out them picks after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: JODOROWSKY'S DUNE - Jonesy's Take

JORDOROWSKY'S DUNE

Directed by Frank Pavich

Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, and H. R. Giger.

Synopsis: A look the unmade Dune film that ended up influencing modern science fiction films. 

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: THE UNKNOWN KNOWN

THE UNKNOWN KNOWN

Directed by: Errol Morris

Starring: Donald Rumsfeld, Kenn Medeiros, and Errol Morris

Synopsis: Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld narrates his life with special focus on his early political career and the Iraq War.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: THE CONGRESS - Javis' Take

THE CONGRESS

Directed by: Ari Folman

Written by: Ari Folman, based on Stanislaw Lem's novel, THE FUTUROLOGIST CONGRESS

Starring: Robin Wright, Kodi-Smith McFee, Harvey Kietel, Jon Hamm, and Paul Giamatti

Synopsis: After actress Robin Wright agrees to be "scanned" by a movie studio, said technology evolves into a dangerous extreme.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Wrap Up: Jonesy's Top Films

This year's Fantastic Fest came with much anticipation. The festival was moved to a different location, The Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, because the Lamar location was still under renovation. However, as always, the team of individuals that put together this festival did no disappoint this year. In fact, this may have been the most solid set of programming I've seen in the three years I've gone. Out of all the films, only two were disappointments. It was tough to pick just five favorites, but I finally narrowed it down. But seriously, almost all the films I saw I would recommend.

Now onto my picks!

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: GATCHAMAN - Javi's Take

GATCHAMAN

Directed by: Toya Sato

Written by: Yusuke Watanabe, with characters by Tasudo Yoshida

Starring: Tori Matsuzaka, Ryohei Suziki, Go Ayano, Ayane Goriki, and Tatsuomi Hanada

Synopsis:  When Earth is invaded by the evil Galactors, it's up to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman to stop them. 

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN - Jonesy's Take

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN

Directed by Katrin Gebbe

Written by Katrin Gebbe

Starring: Julius Feldmeier, Sascha Gersak, Annika Kuhl, and Swantje Kohlhof

Synopsis: A young man's faith is tested when he gets caught up with a seemingly normal family.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: THE GREEN INFERNO - Javi and Jonesy's Take

THE GREEN INFERNO

Directed by: Eli Roth

Written by: Eli Roth, Guillermo Amodeo

Starring: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Morgan, Sky Ferreira, and Magda Apanowicz

Synopsis: When a bunch of privileged white people want to pretend to care about an indigenous tribe and try to save their rainforest home from being cut down, but their quest for activism ends up quickly backfiring.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: MIRAGE MEN - Jonesy's Take

MIRAGE MEN

Directed by: John Lundberg, Roland Denning, and Kypros Kyprianou

Synopsis: A documentary focusing around Area 51 and the cover-ups the government put in place to protect secret military operations. 

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: BLUE RUIN - Jonesy's Take

BLUE RUIN

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier

Written by Jeremy Saulnier

Starring: Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves, Kevin Kolack, and Devin Ratray.

Synopsis: An outsider's life is turned upside down when the man responsible for his parents' death is set free from prison. 

Fantastic Fest 2013: WITCHING AND BITCHING - Javi's Take

WITCHING AND BITCHING

Directed by: Alex De La Iglesia,

Written by: Alex De La Iglesia, Jorge Gerricaechechevarria

Starring: Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, Carmen Maura, Carolina Bang, and Carlos Areces

Synopsis: When a robbery goes awry, a man with his son and a group of companions try to make it to France to escape the police but have to pass through Zugarramurdi, the place where witchcraft was born.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: A FIELD IN ENGLAND - Javi and Jonesy's Take

A FIELD IN ENGLAND

Directed by: Ben Wheatley

Written by: Amy Jump, and Ben Wheatley

Starring: Michael Smiley, Ryan Pope, Richard Glover, Reece Shearsmith and Peter Ferdinando

Synopsis: Five deserters from the English Civil War find themselves in a field to find hidden treasure.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: SHORT FUSE Block - Javi's Take

This is the final installment of the shorts block reviews. Once again, here are my five favorite movies of SHORT FUSE, which is geared towards the more extreme and violent short films of the festival.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: FANTASTIC SHORTS Live Action Block - Javi's Take

Continuing my shorts review series for the three Fantastic Fest shorts blocks, here are my five favorite movies from the FANTASTIC SHORTS. These were the live action shorts that were a lot less surreal and trippy and more down to earth stories.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: DRAWN AND QUARTERED Animated Shorts - Javi's Take

As always, it is my pleasure to highlight the short films of Fantastic Fest, which never ceases to amaze with the wide and varied selection and sheer talent behind these shorts. As always, I like to talk about my five favorite shorts of the block. Not to say that any are bad, but these are just personal favorites.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW - Javi's Take.

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW

Directed by: Randy Moore

Written by: Randy Moore

Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez, and Jack Dalton

Synopsis: After losing his job during his last day of vacation, a man's trip through a theme park starts to unravel something more sinister.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: THE SACRAMENT - Javi's Take

THE SACRAMENT

Directed by: Ti West

Written by: Ti West

Starring: A.J. Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Joe Swanberg, Kentucker Audley, and Gene Jones

Synopsis: Two journalists travel with their friend abroad to find his sister who is now part of a "clean living" commune.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Announces Awards!

Though the festival is always too short lived for us (real world jobs needing us back at work), we will continue to bring you content throughout this week. Last night, Fantastic Fest announced its award winners. If a film is up for an award, the audience gets a chance to vote when they leave. So add these films to the your list to keep a look out for!

Onto the awards.