Fantastic Fest Day Two

Running on only an hour of sleep (no lie) from the previous 2 days I decided to actually catch up on sleep and walked over to S. Lamar late in the morning. Friday wasn't going to be a big day of super-desirable screenings so I was confident I'd get some decent choices. Turns out I made the right decision as I got nearly everything I wanted.

Started the day with a backup selection of Mamoru Hosoda's anime feature Summer Wars (2009). Wasn't expecting much but what a wonderful, heartwarming animation. Basically War Games for the internet/social networking age woven around a delightful Japanese family drama. Love this flick!


Dante Lam's Fire of Conscience (2010) was my primary choice for the next slot and it was open. Sadly I was disappointed with this Hong Kong crime film. Has some decent set pieces including an finale that has to be seen to be believed but underwhelming plot.


Couldn't pick up any of the films in my 3rd slot so I accepted the premiere of the web series Zombie Roadkill (2010) showcasing all 6 episodes... for a grand total of 30 minutes. Upside is that it's darn funny and put together quite well by director David Green & his team. We were also treated to a Q&A with Green, writer Henry Gayden, and Thomas Haden Church conducted by Spyder from Fearnet. Church's dry wit made it worthwhile.

Afterwards I picked up ride from new friend Gilbert down to the Paramount Theater for the Corman double feature & award presentation. I met & shook hands with ROGER CORMAN! Possibly the greatest singular moment of my Fantastic Fest experience. The first feature was Mark Hartley's Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) documentary on Filipino exploitation films. Really enjoyed this and now I want to see all the flicks featured in this doc.

Following that was the Q&A with Roger & Julie Corman by Tim League. Then Elvis Mitchell came onstage to present Corman with the SyFy lifetime achievement sword. Really nice moment. Then came the big screen debut of Sharktopus (2010). Unfortunately this was a letdown and nowhere near as fun as prior monster shark flicks. Tough to endure but at least it had a few funny sequences and dialogue. Micah provided the needed lift back the hotel thankfully. 9 films seen so far!

Next: Fantastic Fest Day Three

Previous: Fantastic Fest Day One

• September New: 53
• September Re-watch: 0
• September Total: 53
• 2010 TOTAL: 560