Fantaspoa ’18: Vampire Clay

Usually, water and vampires do not mix, but this case is different. Frankly, the term “vampire” might be a bit of a misnomer, but whatever you call it, this is some deadly dangerous clay. Once it gets a little bit of moisture, it will absorb and control its victims body-snatcher-style in Sôichi Umezawa’s gleefully gruesome Vampire Clay (trailer here), which screens as part of Fantaspoa 2018 in Brazil.

Due to earthquake damage, Yuri Aina is forced to relocate her prep school for prospective art students to a temporary shack. While digging in the back, she unearths a bag of dehydrated clay. Of course, she brings it inside, only to cast it aside. Alas, her star student, Kaori Hidaka findsit after returning from a Tokyo workshop. She adds water and then all Hell breaks loose.

As the mystery man skulking about outside eventually reveals, the killer mutant clay was produced by Minoru Mitazuka, the previous occupant of the ramshackle studio. The critically maligned sculptor infused a special batch of clay with his toxic waste-contaminated blood and all the bad vibes he could muster. Now his evil spirit pursues victims, pouring into cuts and other openings in the skin. It is not pretty to watch, but Umezawa’s practical effects are certainly inventive and fantastically gory.

Clay’s unapologetically simple and straight-forward narrative only serves as a clothesline on which Umezawa hangs each incident of slimy, pus-dripping body horror. Yet, the pure joy he obviously takes in his macabre craftmanship is contagious. Frankly, you have to laugh and shake your head in appreciation each time he tops his previous grotesquery.

As an added bonus, Umezawa throws in a thimble’s worth of character development, offering some pluckiness in Hidaka and a little bit of human vulnerability in Aina’s backstory, but not so much that it would detract from the ghoulish business at hand. His makeup and effects are wildly gross, but the design of Miktazuka’s sculptures is also wonderfully creepy.

Nobody is going to call Vampire Clay “post-horror” anytime soon. This is your basic blood-splattered red meat, but you have to give Umezawa credit having such a distinctive vision. This film has an unmistakable look and aesthetic, which is definitely something. Recommended for fans of body horror and mutation movies, Vampire Clay screens Friday evening (6/1) at this year’s Fantaspoa (and it is already available on VOD here in America).

Fantasporto '18: Still/Born

It’s not the dingoes. It’s a hag demon that is out to steal Mary’s baby. That’s assuming it really isn’t postpartum depression, like everyone around her so unhelpfully assumes. Whatever the case might be, infant Adam is definitely in jeopardy throughout Brandon Christensen’s Still/Born (trailer here), which screens at this year's Fantasporto.

Little Adam is already a survivor, considering his twin brother died during child birth. Mary and Jack are feeling some dramatically mixed emotions, but they try to focus on what they have. Soon after returning home, Mary starts seeing flashes out of the corner of her eye. She tries to explain them away, but the incidents quickly escalate. Before long, she is desperately trying to thwart the entity’s murderous schemes. Of course, all she gets from her doctor are anti-depressants. To be fair, Jack is reasonably supportive for a reasonable period of time, ill-timed business trips notwithstanding, but the demon has a knack for framing up Mary good.

Miscarriages and stillbirths are awfully painful for couples that suffer them, so exploiting them for a horror movie is a dicey proposition but hey, we don’t use the term “exploitation” for nothing. To their credit, Christensen and co-screenwriter Colin Minihan address such subjects with as much sensitivity as can be mustered in a fright flick. Unfortunately, the actual demonic and/or psychological horror is pretty standard stuff, albeit executed with a little stylish flair. There simply is never a moment in Still/Born that truly surprises us.

It is a shame, because the conventional narrative squanders a fierce and bravely vulnerable performance from Christie Burke as Mary. We truly believe her terror is real, regardless of its true nature. Alas, the film also wastes the great Michael Ironside in a largely inconsequential near-cameo as close-talking Dr. Nielsen. He doesn’t even get to yell at anyone. However, Rebecca Olson makes a strong impression as Mary’s desperate housewife neighbor, Rachel.

While we’re on the subject, why do Rachel and her husband have so many decorative skulls in their home and backyard? Wow, if that’s a thing, it’s sure been a while since we lived in the burbs. In fact, this is a perfect horror film for suburban consumption. It definitely taps into primal parental fears, but it follows a very well-established pattern. Still/Born is not terrible, but it is not good enough to recommend to discriminating horror viewers when it screens at Fantasporto.