Fantastic Fest 2012 Preview: Australia & NZ Attack Austin

Fantastic Fest 2012 Preview: Australia & NZ Attack Austin


Fantastic Fest 2012 Preview: Australia & NZ Attack Austin

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 08:00 PM PDT

There are many reasons to be fired up about Fantastic Fest this year, and my biggest reason is the awesome selection of Australian (and New Zealand) genre films playing the festival - after yet another year of these countries churning out some absolute classics. I'll be 9000 miles away in Melbourne during the festival, too far even for a Clive Cussler-type nautical tractor to drive there across the ocean floor, but the next best thing I can do is give you some insight into these gems as you organize your schedules. Aussie featuresHAIL (2012)Regional PremiereDirector - Amiel Courtin-Wilson, 104 minsReal life ex-con Daniel P. Jones stars in this haunting and unflinchingly realistic film crafted from over 500 pages of his own memories and experiences.Amiel Courtin-Wilson is one...

TIFF 2012 Review: ABCs OF DEATH

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT

The anthology film, that strange form of film where a number of directors assemble to tell their own take on a given subject, are strange cinematic beasts. On the one hand, they play like mini festivals, a cinematic buffet, or one of those sushi places that have the dishes on a conveyor belt. As an audience member, you can sample bites from a variety of sources, with the advantage that if you don't like a given segment you only need wait a few minutes for another taste to come along.The disadvantages, however, tend to outweigh some of the positives - no matter how strong the theme, or how capable the filmmakers, there's inevitably going to be some real stinkers that you have to sit through,...

Chris Nash's SKINFECTIONS Trilogy Trailer Both Teaches and Teases

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 03:15 PM PDT

With the premiere of MY MAIN SQUEEZE and LIPLOCK at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival last year to much acclaim (as well as gasps and gags), Toronto filmmaker and friend of Twitch Film Chris Nash, perhaps best known in these parts for his award-winning short film DAY OF JOHN (an alumni of Fantasia's Small Gauge Trauma series), had finally concluded his series of short films about the trials of relationships and skin diseases. Aptly dubbing the trilogy of films, which includes the 2009 short BLACKHEAD, as the SKINFECTIONS TRILOGY in the wake of all three films being programmed in Fantastic Fest's Short Fuse programme, Nash has also cut a trailer for the whole shebang; one that that manages to educate, disgust and is sure...

Fresh Images From Paw Charlie Ravn's Gorgeous Animation THE CHILDREN'S WORLD

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:40 PM PDT

It was all the way back in February of 2011 that we first brought word of The Children's World, a mid-length animated film from Danish animator Paw Charlie Ravn. At the time all that existed was an animation test for the film, a brief scene designed to show off the look and feel of the world. And what it showed off was truly remarkable. THE CHILDREN'S WORLD is a 2D adventure set in a world where there are no grown ups. The girls and boys of this world are in a constant war with each other - the boys occupying a city while the girls living in a hidden forest. But when Albert, one of the boys, wounds a girl during a battle he decides...

The Creators Of BANANA MOTHERFUCKER Provide A Useful Lesson In DIY VFX

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT

Over the course of three short films the talents behind Portuguese film collective Clones have shown themselves to be masters of low budget splatter. When it comes to learning the lessons of early Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi there is a definite sense of craft and art required, which is why so very many people who attempt those feats get it so very badly wrong. But not Clones. Oh, no. They get it and they've got the filmmaking chops to pull off massive scale splatter on micro budgets.Which is why they were asked to lead a workshop on the subject at this year's MotelX film festival in Lisbon. The hilarious results are below....

Twitch-O-Meter: Know Your Anime And Guess That Angel!

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT

One of the attractive things about Japanese animation is the way it can differ so much from animation we consider to be traditional, so it is disheartening to see how much recent series are basically rehashing ideas from earlier efforts. Many anime can be easily labeled and categorized, and original ideas are hard to find as even the more edgy and outlandish ones keep being re-used, and re-used, and re-used... I could for example write a future Twitch-O-Meter entirely about "Naked Girls Falling From The Sky". But today, let's cover (or maybe uncover) angels, be it actual celestial beings or just chicks with wings. A regular trope in many an anime, beautiful young women can regularly be seen flying around as cool eye-candy and they...

L'Etrange 2012 Video: Bob Clark's DEAD OF NIGHT with Live, Rockin' Score by 7 Weeks

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:30 AM PDT

It's becoming more common for live bands to perform scores over silent movies... but what happens when a heavy post-grunge band plays over a B-Movie talkie? Well have a look at this clip from Bob Clark's post-Vietnam zombie classic Dead of Night (AKA Deathdream) with a live score by the group 7 Weeks. The entire performance went down this week at L'Etrange Festival and once again, we have an exclusive clip to give you a feel for it. Sure, the dialogue's harder to hear, but as far as strangling-dogs-and-scaring-children scenes go, I think this one gains a lot of energy from the electric guitars. ...

Bring The Fruity Apocalypse Home! BANANA MOTHERFUCKER Hits DVD!

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT

It's the trash classic you never knew you needed and now it can be yours for a ridiculously low price. Portuguese film collective Clones unleashed their enormously bloody tale of vegetative retribution, Banana Motherfucker, on to an unsuspecting world last year and after a lengthy festival run their ready to put it into your hands to love and cherish forever. They're releasing the splatter gem on DVD for the ridiculously low price of just three Euro - shipping included - with proceeds earmarked towards whatever they're cooking up next.Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi have got nothing on this thing. Check out the outrageously over the top trailer below. And, yes ... speaking as someone who has seen the complete film it absolutely lives up to...

Sparky's Alive! New Clip From Burton's FRANKENWEENIE

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 08:32 AM PDT

Just days away from its world premiere at Fantastic Fest a new clip has arrived from Frankenweenie, director Tim Burton's tale of a boy and his undead dog. By this point people should be well aware of the history of Burton's long gestating labor of love - the film being a stop motion animated expansion of a previous live action short - so we'll just cut right to the chase. Check out the latest clip below....

SyFy: Production Designers Face Off On The HOT SET

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 08:01 AM PDT

Now that Faceoff is into its third season it is safe to say that SyFy has found a niche and filled it. They have added to their roster of unscripted reality competition shows another one that goes behind the scenes of the film and television industry; that of production design. Following the same format of Faceoff, Hot Set pits two production designers against each other in the competition format. The series has its premiere this Tuesday night, September 18 at 10/9c. In the show two production designers and their teams have three days to turn a small space into a predetermined design of the judges' choosing. With a budget of $15,000, access to special effects houses in Hollywood and the limitations of their own...

Contest: Win an AMERICAN HORROR STORY Season 1 Blu-ray Prize Pack

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT

With the second season of the FX horror series on the way in October and the first season hitting DVD and Blu-ray next week, we've got two copies of season one for a couple of our lucky, very smart, and attractive Twitch readers. First up, here's the official synopsis and disc details: Brace yourself for an addictive thrill ride! American Horror Story is TV's most original new drama, a deeply stylish psychosexual haunt devised to keep you on the edge of your seat. The Harmon's (Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton) fresh start in a new home deviously twists to reveal discoveries of love, sex and murderous revenge. Featuring a Golden Globe® -winning performance by Jessica Lange, Season One scares up a host of engrossing extras. Street...
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