Fantasia ’14: The Fives

Life is cheap, organs are expense. That is the principle driving a woman with a rare blood type and her quest for payback. She is willing to pay quite dearly to avenge her husband and daughter, offering her organs as a reward in Jeong Yeon-shik’s The Fives (trailer here), which screened during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Go Eun-a was once a strict mother and somewhat scoldish wife. Tragically, her life turned upside-down when her pre-teen daughter Ga-yeong recognized an older fellow music student with her so-called “Uncle,” serial killer Oh Jae-uk. After dispensing with his intended victim, Oh tracks down the family, brutally murdering Ga-yeong and her father. However, the mother survives, destined to spend the rest of her days confined to a wheelchair.

Knowing her doctor coveted her heart for his ailing daughter, she strikes a dire bargain: find four other patients or family members with specialized skills to help her track, capture, and execute her family’s murderer in exchange for what they need. It will be deeply-indebted police technician Park Jeong-ha’s job to ferret him out online, engineer-thief Nam-cheol to shadow and verify, former gangster Jang Dae-ho to be the muscle, and the shifty doc will perform their promised transplants. Of course, their undertaking gets considerably more complicated when Oh starts hunting his hunters.

The Fives represents a bit of Korean cinema history as the first film adaptation of a web comic directed by its original creator. Nevertheless, the dark tale of revenge and moral angst follows in a long tradition of Korean thrillers, including recently Lee Jung-ho’s Broken and Kim Kwang-sik’s Tabloid Truth. While The Five is not as emotionally resonant as Broken, it is tough to match its pitch black heart.

Yet, in its way, Fives is more sympathetic in its treatment of Evangelicals, particularly Hye-jin the volunteer trying to minister to Go, than most recent Korean imports. Oh, the metrosexual hipster artist, is also the sort of serial killer you are not likely to see in a Hollywood thriller anytime soon. It is sort of like watching the evil twin of quirky indie comedy—exceptionally evil.

Kim Sun-a is all kinds of intense as Go, while Park Hyo-joo is truly heartbreaking as Hye-jin. Ma Dong-seok, Shin Jung-keun, Lee Chung-ah nicely flesh out Jang, Na-cheol, and Park, giving them an identity beyond their plot function. However, Jung In-gi’s craven sawbones is a bit cringy. Oddly, On Joo-wan is so spectral-like as Oh, it is hard to render a full judgment on his work.

Even though Go has a highly cinematic talent for lethal Rube Goldberg constructions, The Fives is pretty down to earth by the standards of the genre. Jeong clearly prefers to keep the action up-close-and-personal rather than mount extravagant spectacles. He keeps viewers looked in, even though its bleak portrayal of human nature is exhausting. Recommended for fans of vigilante and serial killer movies, The Fives is likely to develop legs following its Canadian premiere at this year’s Fantasia, which wraps up today (8/7) with screenings of the ridiculously entertaining Zombeavers and the devastating Han Gong-ju.

Fantasia ’14: Bold & Brash

Simon Boisvert might be the world’s most misunderstood unknown filmmaker. Through sheer gumption, he produced six independent features, but he is keenly aware of their various flaws. Viewers might be unfamiliar with his films, but they will come to fully understand them all when the Quebecois filmmaker turns the camera on himself in Bold & Brash: Filmmaking Boisvert Style, which screened during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Boisvert may have been tragically influenced by Neil LaBute’s In the Company of Men. For some reason the Aaron Eckhart character struck such a chord, he inspired the protagonist of Boisvert’s debut, Stephanie, Nathalie, Caroline & Vincent. To save money, Boisvert played Vincent himself, but he readily acknowledges the limitations of his acting chops. Nonetheless, the film garnered a bit of notice, even though it released on VHS on September 11, 2001.

For at least one commentator, Boisvert is a French Canadian Ed Wood, but the comparison is rather unfair. He sort of has his critical champions, who can find worthiness in some, if not all of his films. Arguably, his talky, relationship-driven films are not so very different aesthetically from the work of Henry Jaglom (is that a heresy to suggest?). However, Boisvert has had more than his share of bad luck, including uncooperative crews and sound mixing disasters.

While Boisvert’s candidness is often surprising, his tenacity is equally impressive. Despite his frustrations, he has gotten his films distributed in some form, except for Barmaids, which he was forced to shelve for purely technical reasons. Aspiring filmmakers should draw some real business lessons from his experiences.

Ironically, Bold & Brash looks considerably more polished than many of the films it surveys. Were it not for the raggedness of many of the illustrating film clips, it could pass for a more conventional documentary on indie filmmaking. At times, Boisvert argues sometimes budget constraints really are too severe, as when he produced the concert scenes in the rock & roll melodrama Venus de Milo with less than twenty extras. Still, his resiliency is impressive.

Oddly enough, Bold & Brash might find his widest audience yet. Consistently entertaining and rather insightful, it ought to be programmed somewhere like Anthology as part of a full Boisvert retrospective. It was one of the pleasant surprises at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’14: House at the End of Time

Like many Venezuelans, Dulce has spent long years in prison for crimes she did not commit. However, she is not a political prisoner. She was simply blamed for the supernatural tragedy that unfolded in her house. Considered the first Venezuelan horror movie, Alejandro Hidalgo’s The House at the End of Time (trailer here) had fans sit up and take notice during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The audience will get numerous added perspectives on what exactly happened that night, but one thing is certain. Dulce’s husband Juan José was stabbed to death. There were not a lot of other suspects to be found, especially not their eldest son Leopoldo, who seemingly vanished without a trace. Convicted of both their presumptive murders, Dulce eventually is granted a supposedly humanitarian release. However, the terms of her parole require her confinement in the very house where she endured those horrors.

As Hidalgo flashes back in time, we witness an earlier night of terror that thoroughly destabilizes Dulce’s family. Clearly, some strange agency is at work, but Juan José and the cops are quick to dismiss Dulce. Frankly, the only person who ever believes her is the sympathetic parish priest, who tries to counsel the older Dulce her during her house arrest. Researching the evil looking domicile, he discovers it was specially constructed by a mysterious English Mason. Over time, the state took possession of the house, offering it to low income families, but never revealing its macabre history.

House starts out as a decidedly atmospheric horror movie, but it evolves into a genre-defying, reality-bender. It is a far more complex narrative than viewers will initially suspect, but Hidalgo marshals the assorted strands quite adroitly. It is also rather refreshing to see an uplifting portrayal of a Catholic priest, with the ultra-subtle implication of government bureaucratic disregard for public welfare being a nice added bonus.

Former Miss Venezuela Ruddy Rodríguez glams down rather boldly to play Dulce. Far from a heroic mother figure, it is a full-fledged, emotionally complicated performance. Guillermo García also raises the good Father above a mere symbol of decency. However, the younger cast-members can be a bit awkward on-camera.

Of course, one of the biggest stars is that creepy old house, which art director Evadne Mullings decks out in lovingly dark detail. There must be more keys in House than any other film playing at Fantasia (all those locked doors seem like a fire hazard, but they well serve Hidalgo’s tense narrative). Cinematographer Cezry Jawkorski’s gives it all a moody, morose look that heightens the foreboding. It all works surprising well, raising the stakes for the old dark house movie. Recommended for genre fans, The House at the End of Time was one of the pleasant surprises at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’14: Flesh Computer (short)

Even if singularity is not yet nigh, our understanding of consciousness is significantly evolving. The demarcation between humanity and computers will likely become increasingly porous. In fact, a handyman has apparently created a breakthrough AI utilizing organic matter. Unfortunately, he happens to be the super of a building right smack in the middle of the worst urban pathologies imaginable in Ethan Shaftel’s short film Flesh Computer (trailer here), which screened during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Like Mike Cahill’s Another Earth, Flesh directly uses the words of an expert commentator to explain its underlying concepts. On paper, this sounds rather dry (or perhaps something of a cheat), but in practice it works surprisingly well. After all, the power of ideas is always compelling. In the case of Flesh, it is NYU’s David Chalmers who is heard via a neighbor’s television explaining our evolving conception of consciousness.

Frankly, Chalmers is the best part of Flesh (although production designer Nathalie Ruiz and art director Alec Joler earn credit for the giving the film a highly distinctive look). It is very cool how Shaftel’s screenplay addresses such heady concepts, but the narrative follows a pretty standard arc. You also really have to wonder why the Handyman would build such an advanced construct in such a beleaguered environment. There are also suggestions of greater integration between the human and the machine that frustratingly remain unexplained.

In many ways, Flesh feels like a proof of concept short. It would definitely be rewarding to see Shaftel (and Chalmers) expand on these themes of sentiency and intelligence in a longer film. Considering Flesh leaves viewers wanting more, it can probably therefore be deemed a success. Flesh Computer should likely have considerable festival life ahead of it, following its recent Fantasia and Dances with Films screenings.

Fantasia ’14: Wolfcop

Usually, it is the police who expect the crazies to come out during a full moon. Now it is the criminals turn to worry. Lou Garou was never much of a cop, but he has been changing lately. He still drinks like a fish, but he lays down a lot of law during the night shift. However, there might be more nefarious reasons for his lycanthropic state in Lowell Dean’s Wolfcop (trailer here), which screened during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Garou is a drunk, who apparently only holds his job on a small Saskatchewan town’s police force out of respect for his late father. The captain hates his guts and his hard-charging colleague Tina thinks he is a loser, but Jessica, the hot barkeep, values him as a regular customer. After responding to a report of teenagers engaging in some sort ritual in the woods, Garou wakes up in bed with a pentagram carved into his chest. He also just cannot shave his persistent stumble anymore.

Yes, he is a werewolf, but he exercises a fair degree of control. He actually starts busting the meth gang that needed busting. Of course, he still swills whiskey and binges on donuts. He ought to be more concerned about the forces that caused his metamorphosis, but anticipating the long-term is not his forte.

How can you dislike a town that is home to the Liquor Donuts store and holds an annual “Drink & Shoot?” It all sounds very over the top, but Wolfcop is actually more of a movie-movie than the collection of gags it might look like. This sounds ridiculous, but Garou the Wolfcop has a fairly satisfying character development arc and it nicely brings a lot of the town’s history full circle.

Most importantly for werewolf fans raised on Rick Baker’s American Werewolf in London, Emerson Ziffle’s Wolfcop makeup is terrific. His transformations are satisfyingly gross, but the full wolf still has all kinds of personality to latch onto. It is not hard to see a franchise developing around him.

A game lead, Leo Fafard absolutely feasts on Garou’s degeneracy and revels in the Wolfcop’s fierceness. Clearly, he was also a good sport enduring Z’s make-up. Sarah Lind vamps it up quite entertainingly as Jessica, while Amy Matysio brings unexpected verve and attitude to the straight-laced Tina. Considering all the madness going on, the whole ensemble plays it rather impressively straight, scrupulously refraining from winking at the camera.

Never fear, there is still plenty of outrageous gore, plus the sex scene Universal never gave Lon Chaney Jr. Wolfcop is a tough titular concept to live up to, but Dean pulls it off. Good, gruesome, goofy fun, Wolfcop is likely to take on considerable legs following its screening at this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’14: The Drownsman

It is not just a horror film, it is also a PSA for water conservation. When Sebastian Donner was a mortal serial killer, drowning was his M.O. Once he moved into the supernatural realm, he now stalks his victims through water. That leaky faucet is not just wasteful. It could be downright deadly in Chad Archibald’s The Drownsman (trailer here), which screened during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Madison always lived for her time with her three close girl friends, until her freak near drowning accident. Since then, she has been plagued by visions of a shadowy figure dispatching victims in his custom made aquariums. To make matters worse, he seems to be equally aware of Madison. The fear has become so debilitating Madison cannot even fulfill her maid of honor duties during her best friend Hannah’s wedding. Exasperated by her behavior, the three women stage an intervention, at which point Cathryn the psychic is supposed to make a show of exorcising the spirit tormenting her. Of course, Cathryn quickly realizes something very real and scary is afoot, but the other women do not want to hear it.

Right, the bogus exorcism is always a super plan. Considering all this bother was kicked up by Madison’s absence at Hannah’s wedding, you also might think her husband would factor in the story somehow, but he is nowhere to be found. Still, Drownsman is strangely effective in a throwback kind of way—sort of like Wes Craven’s Shocker, but with water instead of electricity. There are some genuinely scary scenes and Archibald nicely maintains an atmosphere of escalating dread. However, the lack of a strong personality for the Drownsman is a real drawback. He is no Freddy Kruger, or even a Horace Pinker (the Shocker stalker played by a pre-X-Files Mitch Pileggi).

Michelle Mylett is pretty good as the distraught and disturbed Madison, while Caroline Korycki is memorably type-A as Hannah. However, the rest of the doomed women do not make much of an impression. Likewise, Ry Barrett never gets the face time to create any sort of hooky characteristics or catch phrases that so help in establishing horror franchises.

Drownsman often feels very late 1980s-early 1990s, which is not a bad thing. It delivers enough for horror fans looking for a fix, but it unlikely to breakout to wider audiences. Recommended for loyal local audiences with modest expectations, The Drownsman represented Fantasia’s continuing commitment to Canadian filmmakers when it screened during the festival.

Fantasia ’14: The Search for Weng Weng

It might be hard to imagine Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos rolling out the red carpet for a two foot-nine inch martial arts film star, but it makes sense when you consider how much money Weng Weng’s films made. In the early 1980s he was the Philippines’ top cinematic export—and there really wasn’t a number two behind him. Cult film connoisseur Andrew Leavold set out to discover the unvarnished truth about the ironic icon, while grappling with the obvious issues of exploitation as best he could in The Search for Weng Weng (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The man born Ernesto de la Cruz will always be best known as Agent 00 in For Y’ur Height Only. As seen in Mark Hartley’s Machete Maidens Unleashed, it has become a word of mouth favorite amongst midnight movie patrons. While investigating Weng Weng’s whereabouts, Leavold confirmed a number of earlier featured appearances by his subject, including a film starring future president Joseph Estrada.

Many of the Philippines’ established film scholars and critics are uncomfortable talking about Weng Weng, because they consider his films the cinematic equivalent of a carnival sideshow. However, Leavold found some people who were happy to talk about the Guinness record holding actor, such as his former co-stars and director, as well as fans Imelda Marcos and her daughter, Governor Imee Marcos.

Of course, Search is all about weird cinema, but Leavold’s considerable time spent with Imelda reveals much about the current state of Filipino society and politics. Clearly, she still considers herself the nation’s First Lady-in-spirit, but you cannot call her delusional because there seem to be an awful lot of people who agree with her. It is a heavy thing to say, but Leavold’s footage of her might just be stranger than the Weng Weng movies that brought him to the Philippines in the first place. Yet, nobody can say she is not a gracious hostess.

On the other hand, there is one person conspicuously missing from Search: Cora Caballes, who produced Weng Weng’s films with her late husband. It is his relationship with the Caballeses that most directly raises questions of exploitation, including issues of fair compensation, or lack thereof.

Through interviews with old school movie business veterans, Leavold conveys a vivid sense of the Philippines heyday as an unregulated haven for low movie production. He also achieves closure in his quest to determine whatever became of Weng Weng, but his fate holds few real surprises. It will sound like a bit of cliché, but the journey is what is important in Search, rather than the ultimate destination.

Along the way, Leavold tantalizes viewers with truly bizarre film clips, while treating his subject with scrupulous sensitivity. It is a tricky balance to maintain, but he pulls it off. The result is a big, entertaining valentine to B- movies that opens a strangely insightful window into the contemporary Philippines. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates the ragged glory of offbeat cinema, The Search for Weng Weng screens again on Monday (8/4), as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’14: Time Lapse

It is too bad the late, great James Garner never got to take this Polaroid camera out for a spin. It has been specially modified. The big bulky mainframe spits out a picture of whatever is in its field of vision, twenty-four hours into the future. Unfortunately, its inventor no longer has a future, which allows his underachieving neighbors to put it to dubious employment in Bradley King’s Time Lapse (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Finn fancies himself a painter, but he is really the super of a suburban condo complex. He is the guy who has to check up on the eccentric Mr. Bezzeredes when the retiree’s papers start piling up. His girlfriend Callie is a writer who works as a waitress and their housemate Jasper is basically a degenerate gambler.

It turns out the former scientist was compulsively snapping photos through their front window before he met with death through some mysterious form of misadventure. From Bezzeredes’ journal and the evidence of the photos, the trio quickly deduces the nature of his breakthrough and concludes he was burned (literally) because he tried to pull a fast one on time. Therefore they resolve they must always conform to whatever future comes spitting out of the machine. Of course, it always seems to provide Jasper the daily winners at the racetrack. It also shows Finn the paintings he had been struggling to produce.

We do not need a crystal ball to predict Jasper’s bookie will get suspicious when he keeps picking race after race. However, that is just the start of the complications for the trio. For one thing, they essentially lose all free will once they commit to conforming to the nightly 8:00 photo. It becomes a compelling dramatic constraint King and co-writer B.P. Cooper wriggle in and out of quite cleverly.

In fact, Time Lapse represents a continuation of the renaissance for low budget, high concept indie science fiction, successfully following the example of James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence, Hugh Sullivan’s Infinite Man (a fellow Fantasia selection), and Darren Paul Fisher’s Frequencies. Like those films, Time Lapse is not about special effects. Instead, they start with a fantastical Macguffin and trace its effects on realistic, everyday people. Arguably, Time Lapse is the most character-driven of the lot, presenting the dark side of a Three’s Company-like situation.

Danielle Panabaker is terrific as Callie, pulling off some nifty pivots that really make the film. George Finn also relishes Jasper’s increasingly erratic behavior, chewing scenery like a genre pro. Matt O’Leary sort of draws the short straw as the painfully reserved Finn (the painter character), but he holds up his end, keeping the action moving forward.

One of the cool things about Time Lapse is it is the sort of science fiction film you could adapt as a stage production without it suffering from a lack of SFX mumbo jumbo. Tightly executed by King, it is a worthy addition to the growing time travel canon. Recommended with a good deal of enthusiasm, Time Lapse screens again tomorrow (8/2) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’14: The Desert

If zombies have not completely jumped the shark for you after the spectacle of the unruly San Diego zombie walk, than this might be the right film to regroup with. Yes, the zombie apocalypse has fallen, but three survivors largely tune out the shuffling hordes for long stretches of time in Christoph Behl’s The Desert (trailer here), which screens during the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Axel, Ana, and Jonathan have banded together, sharing a strangely intimate post-zombie rising in a reinforced ranch-style house. Axel yearns for Ana, but she has romantically paired-off with the better looking but far less sensitive Jonathan. To serve as an emotional outlet, Ana set up a confession cam in their backroom, where she often records her innermost thoughts. That is not really Jonathan’s scene, but Axel often visits to secretly view the videos Ana deposits in the supposedly sealed trunk. As Axel’s jealousy mounts, Ana increasingly misinterprets his moodiness as hostility, deliberately antagonizing him in turn.

Into this awkward mix, Jonathan brings Pythagoras, a feral zombie he chains up in the workroom to help facilitate some unfinished business from an extremely uncomfortable game of Truth or Dare. Even during Armageddon, three is a crowd. However, four is particularly unstable when the fourth is a zombie.

Without question, Sabu’s Miss Zombie is the new modern zombie classic of the last ten years or so. Desert never reaches its heights of pathos, but there is something distinctly unsettling about its fatalistic portrayal of humanity. If ever there was a time to rise up personal resentments, this would be it. Yet, the stress of the apparently world-shattering crisis only amplifies their angst and recriminations. Behl never shows us the anarchy unfolding outside their house-that-is-not-a-home, but the confusing sounds are often more alarming than the half-baked visual effects of z-grade zombie grind-em-outs.

As the compulsively tattooed Axel, Lautaro Delgado puts on an acting clinic. It is eerie how eloquently his body language reflects his inner emotional turmoil. In contrast, Ana’s erratic character is much harder to get a handle on, but Victoria Almeida valiantly labors to sell each shift of her psyche. However, William Prociuk bears watching as Jonathan, the ostensibly boorish engineer.

At times, The Desert is too existential for its own good. Nevertheless, Behl successfully reinvents the zombie film as a four character-one set (for all intents and purposes) relationship drama, which is a neat trick. An ambitiously subtle zombie outing that works rather well on balance, The Desert is recommended for adventurous genre fans when it screens again next Tuesday (8/5) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

Fantasia ’14: Uzumasa Limelight

Westerns were once a staple of American television, but now the genre has practically disappeared. Presumably, this was bad news for stunt horse-back riders. Though not quite to the same extent, production of Chanbara swordplay films has also steeply declined in Japan, greatly reducing work for kirare-yaku, the extras specially trained to be “cut-up.” It is the end of an era for Seiichi Kamiyama, but he always stays true to his art in Ken Ochiai’s Uzumasa Limelight (trailer here), which screened during this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

Much to his surprise, Seizô Fukumoto has become the world’s most famous extra. Already the focus of several media reports on the kirare-yaku, he now appears in his first leading role, playing a character not so very different from himself. The Uzumasa establishment long recognized the beauty of Kamiyama’s death scenes. In fact, he was once given a carved rehearsal sword from the hero of a perennially popular samurai TV show (perhaps inspired by the long-running Mito Kōmon). Like a Japanese Gunsmoke, it continued for forty-years, providing Kamiyama regular employment, even when the star’s son took over for his late father. Unfortunately, it has just been canceled by the younger generation of executives.

Suddenly, Kamiyama and his colleagues are scuffling for work, making do appearing as corpses in yakuza dramas and performing in the suburban Kyoto studio’s live action show for tourists. Even though his stock is falling, young extra Satsuki Iga comes to Kamiyama for mentoring in his traditional skills. Thanks to his training and conditioning, she lands a stunt role on a new hipster Chanbara series, where she catches the eye of the obnoxious leading man. Suddenly, she is a star in her own right, but the Uzumasa old guard just keep getting older.

Yes, Uzumasa Limelight is a lot like A Star is Born crossed with Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight, with jidaigeki costuming and the occasional nods to Ozu, but it is profoundly moving and highly satisfying for genre fans. Fukumoto might be one of the great kirare-yaku (he was recruited for the Tom Cruise vehicle The Last Samurai), but his touching performance as Kamiyama suggests he could easily move into more conventionally dramatic roles. With unusual economy, his deeply lined face and subtly communicative body language eloquent express his pride in his craft and his pupil, as well as the weight of all his life disappointments. He proves the film’s axiom—if you can act convincingly during a sword fight than you are a good actor.

While Fukumoto has been practicing his art for fifty years or so, Limelight represents the straight up film debut of 2012 World Junior Wushu champ Chihiro Yamamoto, portraying Iga with a maturity beyond her years. Their teacher-protégé chemistry feels very real, but complex in a true-to-life way. Frankly, Fukumoto seems to bring out the best in everyone, because Limelight is stuffed with additional lovely little supporting turns.

The production design team headed by Takashi Yoshida creates a vivid sense of the old Kyoto studio world through their richly detailed work. However, one of the most important contributions comes from swordplay choreographer Mitsuhiko Seike, whose big film-within-the-film action-spectacle delivers the goods with style to spare. 

Although Limelight shares a certain nostalgic kinship with Ochiai’s previous film, The Tiger Mask, it is more closely akin to his very personal docu-essay short Frog in the Well. It is an absolutely super film that should be a breakout vehicle for Fukumoto, Yamamoto, and Ochiai. With a future American theatrical release to come, it was one of the high points of this year’s Fantasia, which continues through August 6^th. Those in Montreal should definitely also check out the honest and touching anime historical epic Giovanni’sIsland and consider the highly entertaining but slightly ragged around the edges White Storm and Seventh Code, as well as the generally amusing Premature.

Fantasia ’14: Gun Woman

If revenge is a dish best served cold, this is a blood Popsicle. It is one blisteringly chilly, gory film. If the work of uni-named actress Asami means anything to you, then you already expect something extreme. The star of Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead and The Machine Girl (as well as scores of crazier sounding titles) will become a weapon of vengeance in Kurando Mitsutake’s Gun Woman (not safe for anywhere trailer here), which had its Canadian premiere at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

Fair warning, if you are squeamish or have an average sensitivity to violence, Gun Woman is not for you. Frankly, the first half hour is almost prohibitively brutal, but it will have you down with the mastermind’s general desire for payback. His target is the sadist heir to a multinational conglomerate fortune. “Hamazaki’s Son,” as he is known, uses his wealth to fund a life incredibly foul sex crimes. One of his victims was the wife of the “Mastermind,” a brilliant surgeon, who is not without means either.

It is impossible to out-gun the bodyguards retained by Hamazaki’s Son, but there is one place where he is relatively unprotected: an exclusive necrophilia club. He has a plan to place Mayumi there, with a gun and thirteen bullets. She is a meth addict he flat out bought expressly for the job. He trains her to become a killing machine, but for reasons that will be only too clear, she will only have twenty-two minutes to complete the hit.

Again, it is important to emphasize this could be one of the roughest films at Fantasia, or anywhere not regularly screening A Serbian Film. However, Asami earns all kinds of credit for her bold, frequently naked and blood-splattered performance. Although she has virtually no dialogue, she vividly portrays Mayumi’s evolution from drugged out zombie to freaked out victim on the way to becoming a lethal killing machine.

It all looks and sounds very Drafthousy, thanks to Mitsutake’s conscious efforts to evoke a 1980s straight to-VHS vibe. This too requires a specialized taste. However, his narrative structure serves the material surprisingly well. He also elicits the perfect performances from his cast. Asami and Kairi Narita are both totally hardcore as Mayumi and the Mastermind. Noriaki R. Kamata is off-the-charts clammy and maniacal as Hamazaki’s Son, while Matthew Miller is appropriately detached as the American assassin narrator.

Action does not get any sleazier than Gun Woman. One could easily object to it on multiple moral and aesthetic grounds, but it stays true to Mitsutake’s vision. If you have any doubts whether it is for you, then it most certainly is not. Not advised for civilian consumption, it is best saved for fans of Asami and the comparable work of Indonesian exploitation auteur Arizal. There are probably intense debates still raging in Montreal following its Fantasia premiere, but given the cult reputation of those involved, Gun Woman is likely to have legs, so consider yourself warned.

Fantasia ’14: Goal of the Dead

During a zombie apocalypse, population density is considered a bad thing. That makes a sports stadium a very bad place to be, even in a simple country village like Caplongue. Everyone in town will be there for the grudge match with the Parisian professionals, including a zombie. One infection logically leads to another in Benjamin Rocher & Thierry Poiraud’s two-part zombie soccer epic Goal of the Dead (trailer here), which screened in its entirety at the 2014 Fantasia International Film Festival.

The last time the Olympique de Paris squad played Caplongue, they hired away the highly ranked amateur team’s star player. Seventeen years later, Sam Lorit is at the end of his career. Expecting to be received like a returning hero, the over-the-hill center is quite taken aback by Caplongue’s hostility. It seems they never forgave him for abandoning the team and the town. In fact, the local doctor is so set on revenge he has his son, Lorit’s former teammate Jeannot, on an aggressive doping regimen. Unfortunately, the latest batch has some nasty zombie side effects.

Forget about zombie bites. Jeannot spreads the contagion through projectile vomiting to the face. Most of the two teams are quickly dispatched on the field, but Lorit is ironically saved by a meritless red card. Suddenly, he finds himself fighting to survive with Cléo, the daughter he never knew he had.

Finally, someone has combined soccer with zombie vomit. That is basically the kind of film or films the Goal duology is. Released as two separate installments in France, Rocher’s first half has far more exposition and scene-setting than your average zombie film. You will practically know Lorit’s career stats by heart when it is done. At least in the process, he very considerately sets up the pins for Poiraud to knock down in his rock ‘em sock ‘em second period, bringing more laughs with his elevated mayhem.

Rather unexpectedly, Alban Lenoir decides to do some acting as Lorit, taking him through a full range of emotions as best he can, given the carnage. Tiphanie Daviot’s Cléo also brings more energy and attitude than the typical horror movie teenager, but her fellow townsfolk are largely standard issue provincials.

Goal is a lot of gory, messy fun, but it never stands the zombie genre on its ear like Tommy Wirkola way-better-than-the-original Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, which also screens at this year’s Fantasia. Still, Rocher, Poiraud, and their battery of screenwriters do not let a good concept go to waste. Delivering the promised madness, Goal of the Dead is recommended for zombie fans, fresh from its screening at this year’s Fantasia.