Philip K. Dick ’16: Counter Clockwise

There is a long and reasonably successful tradition of self-experimentation in medical research, but not so much when it comes to the development of teleportation. Have you seen Jeff Goldblum in The Fly? Apparently, Ethan Walker has not. Despite knowing his prospective system is still a little buggie, Walker jumps on a node anyway and beams himself into a future where he is wanted for the murder of his wife and sister. Things will get even more complicated when Walker returns to the past he skipped over in George Moïse’s Counter Clockwise (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

Schlubby Walker and his decidedly not schlubby partner Ceil left Rakubian Industries to invent their teleportation device. Unfortunately, their guinea pig, a rather trusting one-eyed dog does not re-materialize as they hoped. This is obviously very depressing, especially for Charlie the pooch. However, when Fido finally reappears, the relieved Walker decides to take it for test drive himself. Right, that is just a really tough decision to buy.

After jumping into the future, Walker figures out a few fused circuits turned the teleporter into a time machine. Recovering from the initial shock of seeing him again, Ceil explains to Walker how badly he has been framed. Being a fugitive in the present that used to be the future, Walker goes back to when everything went south. Of course, he will have to avoid himself and all his subsequent selves that might be sharing the time-frame.

Counter has a grungy, seriously DIY vibe that actually serves it quite well. Moïse also choreographs the resulting near-misses and crossed paths rather nicely. However, the stakes have been raised dramatically for time travel films. Compared to the complex traffic direction of Hugh Sullivan’s The Infinite Man and Jacob Gentry’s forthcoming Synchronicity, Counter is clearly much smaller in scope and considerably less ambitious conceptually. There is also some really disgusting business in the climax nobody will want to see.

Co-writer-co-producer Michael Kopelow is pretty solid as the Job-like Walker, but many of the supporting players simply are not professional grade. Unlike Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes or Bradley King’s Time Lapse, the Moïses and Kopelow never seem particularly keen to explore the paradoxes of time travel. Instead, they are more interested in the conventional subplots involving Rakubian Industries.

Counter Clockwise is not a bad film (aside from that really problematic bit), but it just can’t compete with its recent time-traveling cousins. For dedicated subgenre fans, it screens this Sunday (1/17) at the Cinema Village, during this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.

Philip K. Dick ’16: ReStart (short)

How does a shadowy corporation turn a profit from endlessly sending an abducted woman back in time to witness her own kidnapping? Apparently, they make it up on volume. However, the unwilling Andrea will try to break her pernicious time loop in Olga Osorio’s short film ReStart (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

Andrea has deduced the unremarkable and unattached nature of her life is what made her a perfect time travel guinea pig. Nobody will/has/is miss/ed/ing her. She might have started out as a mousy Bridget Jones, but she has transformed herself into an Ellen Ripley. Never knowing when she might be thrown back again, she trains constantly. She also thoroughly reads the volume on psychics and time travel theory her captors so thoughtfully provided. She intends to break the cycle, but that will probably mean more scuffling with her abductors back at that fateful moment.

There have been a lot of cool time travel films relatively recently (Timecrimes, 11 A.M., The Infinite Man, I’ll Follow You Down, the forthcoming Synchronicity), so the stakes have really been raised for several selections at this year’s PKD Fest. Osorio’s approach to Andrea’s time loop is pretty well thought out, but the villainous research company makes no sense at all.

Even evil corporations have evil shareholders. At some point, the evil CEO will have to explain to them they have been conducting highly unethical experiments that are super mean and massively expensive that have so far yielded no return and are unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. That will make for a really awkward annual meeting.

Still, the small but significant ways Andrea rebels against her captors are quite clever. In fact, Marta Larralde is really impressive as the not exactly empowered, but proactive protagonist. Osorio and cinematographer Suso Bello give it all an icily severe look and vibe that is rather distinctive. The hat-tip to Asimov is also good karma. Frankly, the whole film would have made more sense if it had been a government lab spending tax money and abusing tax payers, because that is what bureaucrats do. Not the best time travel film of the year, but not without some merits, ReStart screens as part of a short film block tomorrow (1/15) at the Cinema Village, as part of this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.

Philip K. Dick ’16: Chatter

We might have our misgivings, but the NSA and Department of Homeland Security will assure us their data collection is strictly for our protection. Therefore, a contractor is put in a rather tough spot when he uncovers a threat that is not national security related. Its apparent supernatural nature makes it even more awkward. That poor specialist is in for an eyeful in Matthew Solomon’s Chatter (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

Is it possible malevolent spirits can travel through skype? Just watch the opening prologue featuring old school Battlestar Galactica’s Richard Hatch. He will not be returning, nor will his on-screen daughter. David and Laura Cole be the next to learn this lesson. He has returned to Los Angeles to restart his film composing career, in the hopes she can soon join him from London. Being apart, they share a little “sexy time” via webcam, thereby attracting Martin Takagi’s clandestine interest. However, he periodically sees strange shapes and the like behind the musician that trouble him.

Plagued by eerie sobbing noises and a general sense of unease, David Cole gets little sleep and his disposition suffers. Soon his email files start to go astray and his skype connects at odd hours of the night. Belatedly, he learns his apartment has had a revolving door for tenants and a reputation for being haunted by a young girl’s spirit. As first, Laura Cole fears he is losing it, but she eventually starts to experience the same ghostly phenomenon. Then the entity really starts to get nasty, which greatly alarms Takagi. However, the director clearly implies he should keep a lid on it.

There have already been a number of skype-surveillance found footage horror films, like Ratter and Joe Swanberg’s installment of the original V/H/S, but Solomon develops a fresh take on the sub-sub-genre. Chatter is certainly informed by the NSA’s controversial data recording and collection programs (the agency and DHS are ironically thanked in the acknowledgements), but the film is not stridently political. In terms of tone, it is more in the tradition of Blumhouse’s supernatural horror than contemporary cyberpunk, but that is not a bad thing.

If you did not already know it is Hatch in the opening sequence, you would probably not recognize him. Regardless, he and Alison Haislip hook us in pretty much from the start. Sarena Khan’s presence really commands the [split] screen as Laura Cole. Conversely, Brady Smith’s whiny demeanor gets tiresome, but the role reversal of victimized husband and doubting wife further distinguishes Chatter from the genre field.

Chatter was obviously shot on a shoestring, even by found footage standards, but Solomon largely overcomes his severe budget constraints. He throws the audience a few twists that are adequately established but not glaringly obvious and keeps the tension nicely amped up. Viewers should also be advised there is a stinger that holds narrative significance. Altogether, it is really scary in multiple ways. Recommended for Blumhouse and Rand Paul fans, Chatter screens this Saturday (1/16) at the Cinema Village, as part of this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.

Philip K. Dick ’16: Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon (short)

Genghis Khan conquered more territory than Alexander the Great and often topped “Man of the Millennium” polls. If you doubt his lasting influence on today’s world, go ask a Mongolian about it. It turns out, he was even the first man to set foot on the moon, but he has some rather magical-mystical help in Kerry Yang’s short film Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

In the twilight of his life, the great Khan had little left to conquer (just little pieces of China, here and there that would be left to his grandson, Kublai). Yet, he hears reports of a defiant alchemist, so he makes haste to assert his authority. Although outwardly subservient, the alchemist does not seem to be kowtowing on the inside. In fact, he knows what the great Khan needs and where he can find. That would either be a new world ripe for conquest or tranquility, a whole sea of it, in fact.

How cool is it to see veteran Asian American actors Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and James Hong as co-leads in a film? Granted, neither is Mongolian, but so be it. Tagawa has all the right grit for the great Khan and Hong is as slyly charismatic as ever as the cerebral alchemist. Frankly, the film is far more spiritual and symbolic than typical genre films, which makes it pleasantly ambitious.

However, the warmongering depiction of the Millennial Man is not entirely fair. After all, he abolished torture, established religious freedom and cut taxes on doctors, teachers, and clergy in the lands that fell under his control (at least according to the Rubin Museum and they ought to know).

Regardless, Yang and cinematographers Noah Kistler and Guan Xi compose some absolutely arresting images. Somehow they take us past the fantastical into the realm of the hyper-real. It is lovely to look at and quite a strange (in a welcome way) addition to the growing Genghis Khan film canon. (Keep in mind, Tagawa has now joined John Wayne in the elite company of actors who have played Temujin.) Recommended for those who appreciate science fiction with a mystical flavor, Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon screens as part of a short film block this Friday (1/15) at the Cinema Village, during this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.

Philip K. Dick ’16: The Incident

That copy of Philip K. Dick’s Time Out of Joint could come in handy for Carlos. While his situation is somewhat different, it could help him think about reality in more outside-the-box terms (it also made his film a perfect selection for this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival). At the very least, it will help pass the time. Rather than a box or a Potemkin world, Carlos is stuck in an infinite staircase. He is not the only one facing such a predicament in Isaac Ezban’s The Incident (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

The corrupt cop was leading Carlos and his brother Oliver out through his building’s staircase when they heard the bang. At that point, the stairs became endless Escher loop. They walk down nine flights and find themselves right back at the ninth floor landing. Needless to say, the doors are sealed, but the vending machine mysteriously keeps replenishing itself. The situation would be dire enough, but the copper, acting on a perverse impulse, shot Oliver in the leg right before the happening. Soon the festering wound becomes life-threatening.

Meanwhile or something, Daniel is on a road trip with his mother, her trying too hard boyfriend, and his little sister, but that highway never seems to end—because it won’t. There is an empty service station that never runs out of supplies, but they do not carry asthma inhalers. Unfortunately, Daniel’s sister will be needing one after hers is damaged. These two cosmically closed loops do not appear to be related, except for the occasional hint suggesting they really are.

There are no significant visual effects to speak of in The Incident, but it is a wildly ambitious, decade-spanning, mind-reeling genre film. It starts out merely unsettling in a Sartre kind of way, but it turns into a deeper, metaphysical horror show. Reportedly, some fans of the show Lost find various hat-tips throughout the film. Whether they are intentional or not, The Incident is certainly in keeping with the show’s spirit (whereas it is wholly dissimilar from M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening).

Considering the circumstances, The Incident boasts a surprisingly large cast. Nobody really stands out per se, because the entire ensemble is convincingly freaked out and then bitterly resigned to their fate. Essentially, they look like real people in some kind of Hell (but it isn’t really, or is it?).

Ezban tries to connect too many dots in the third act, but that is a rather valiant mistake. Regardless, he announces himself as a major new talent with The Incident, while also providing a heck of a calling card for his design team. This is a painstakingly crafted film that masterfully controls what the audience sees and the temporary assumptions they form. Pretty impressive stuff, recommended for fans of Lost and David Lynch’s better mind-trips, The Incident screens this Friday (1/15) at the Cinema Village, as part of this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.

Philip K. Dick ’16: Sympathy for the Devil

The Process Church of the Final Judgement has been repeatedly linked to Charles Manson and his followers, but it seems this was rather unfair to the cult. However, they truly started out as a Scientology schism group, making them plenty scary enough. Yet, the former members do not remember it that way. The so-called church was just a part of the 1960s. The cult’s rise and fall are chronicled in Neil Edwards’ bizarre documentary Sympathy for the Devil: The True Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgement (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

Everyone basically acknowledges the Process Church was essentially, strictly speaking, more or less a cult, but as cult’s go, it was relatively harmless. They may have fleeced some silly rich members, but they were nothing like Jim Jones’ socialist Peoples Temple or Charles Manson’s evil flower children. They argue they were wrongly demonized as Satanists due their strange Trinity of Jehovah, Satan, and Lucifer, sometimes expanded into a quartet including Jesus. According to the former Processeans, it was really all about the ultimate forgiveness and reconciliation of Heaven and the fallen angels. Satan and Lucifer were also somehow separate and distinct, but there is really no point in getting hung up on that.

Of course, the Processeans played their roles to the hilt, parading through London’s fashionable Mayfair district in black capes. Charismatic former Scientologist (and official Suppressive Person) Robert De Grimston was the cult’s front man, but former members consider his wife Mary Ann to have been the real brains of the operation. It seems she was the one who decided they had to relocate to Mexico, where adventures ensued.

Obviously, the former members are remain uber-defensive when it comes to Manson. Maybe he picked up parts of their doctrine or maybe not, but they were certainly inviting extreme personality types. All of Edwards’ interview subjects clearly think the lack of a mass grave with the Process Church’s name on it vindicates them on all counts and by the standards of the 1960s counter-culture they are probably right, but they are still weird.

How weird were they? Weird enough to attract the attention of John Waters, who duly sits for interview segments. Even if you are incredulous about all facets of the Process Church, their story is absolutely train-wreck fascinating. Edwards tells it well, teasing out many wonderfully strange details and conveying a sense of their milieu through era-evocative animated sequences.

This is one doc that is never dull. Even if the Process Church truly was as benign as cotton candy, their story is all kinds of creepy. Edwards talks to most of the people who were there, giving us a full flavor of their ideology and times. Highly watchable and debatable, Sympathy for the Devil is one of the most provocative docs of the last two or three years. Highly recommended for the innately skeptical and individualistic, it screens this Friday (1/15) at the Cinema Village, as part of this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.

Philip K. Dick ’16: The Mill at Calder’s End (short)

There has always been a macabre side to the art of puppetry, going back to the commedia dell’arte roots of Punch and Judy. We sort of lost sight of it because of the Muppets, but it would occasionally manifest itself in ambitious Henson projects like The Dark Crystal. However, Kevin McTurk raises old school rod puppetry to new gothic heights in his visually arresting short film The Mill at Calder’s End (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Philip K. Dick Film Festival in New York.

After a long absence, Nicholas Grimshaw is returning to Calder’s End to claim his inheritance. It is a lonely drive, but his destination is even drearier. His family estate is a shunned place in the Lovecraftian sense. He would gladly relinquish all his claims to it, but an ancient Faustian bargain binds his family to the evil force centered in the ominous looking mill.

Of course, everything in Calder’s End looks ominous, even including Grimshaw’s late but still accursed father, who bears an unmistakable resemblance to the great Peter Cushing, which has to be one of the coolest cinematic hat tips ever. It is altogether fitting too, since the influence of Hammer Horror and the Corman Poe films is evident in the wonderfully rich and atmospheric production and art design. As if that were not enough fan service, Barbara Steele, the Giallo legend and a semi-regular Corman repertory player gives voice to the malevolent Apparition of the Mill.

The story of Calder’s End would still be a satisfying little gothic hair-raiser had it been a conventional live action drama, but as a piece of puppet theater, it is kind of stunning. McTurk (whose technical credits include films like Iron Man, Hugo, and Pacific Rim) and his accomplished team have done some of the best special effects, set construction, and costuming you will see in a film of any length, with any sort of cast.

Calder’s End doesn’t seem very Philip K. Dick-like, but who cares? Fans of Cushing, Hammer, and gothic British horror in general will absolutely flip for it. So far, McTurk has been honing his macabre puppetry in shorts (this being only his second), but when he applies this concept to a feature, it will be a major event for genre fans. Very highly recommended, The Mill at Calder’s End screens as part of a short film block this Friday (1/15) at the Cinema Village, during this year’s Philip K. Dick Film Festival.