Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
I’m really sorry I missed this one at the FanTasia Film Festival last month. Sounds like fun...
I am currently enjoying the Festival of Fantastic films in Manchester. This is the 15th event and my 1st time here. The festival is very relaxed and laidback and like me the crowd seem to enjoy their booze as much as their twisted movies. Last night I got to see the movie freak-out and man was it Fantastic. Extremely cheap, but it had laughs, slapstick, cleverness, action and even a couple of tender moments. The 2 leads are very well matched, in a contrasting buddy comedy sort of way, if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong though, this film is v low budget and there is a segment in a strip-bar that left me scratching my head. But that aside the film seems to have taken it's homemade roots on board and made fun of it's indie-ness and surpassed what I expected in places. Little things that are normally the 1st victims in cheapo movies like sound, editing, locations etc are quite impressive.
Plot wise - imagine if Malcolm and Reece found a mad axe murderer in an X-rated bloody feature length episode of Malcolm-in-the-Middle and you pretty much have the brilliance that is freak-out. Re: Horror/Comedy this is basically the ANTI-Scarey Movie, there's no Exorcist spoofs here, the amount of respectful nods and homages to all things great is huge; Black Christmas, Elm St, Brando's Dr.Moreau, NOTLD, Evil Dead, Critters, Ghoulies, Mad Max; Beyond Thunderdome, Dusk Til Dawn and Dressed To Kill all get a subtle or not so subtle wink to camera. The direction and script are both quite inventive and original and (with a few exceptions) the performances are raw and funny.
If you want to see what MALLRATS would have been like directed by Pete Jackson circa 1988 then look no further than this film.
Over and out,
Mikaiu
I’m hoping I get a chance to see this one for myself sometime soon. In the meantime, check it out if you get the chance and let us know what you think!
"Moriarty" out.
