Fantastic Fest - Day Two - Pig with Rice, Not Lipstick

The story of a young couple stranded in the middle of the night and pursued by (choose one: vampires, zombies, space creatures) is a familiar one. But by filming in China, employing some very creepy looking undead and getting some strong performances from his cast, director Eduardo Sanchez makes the familiar still rather enjoyable. When a newlywed couple (Amy Smart and Tim Chiou) is abandoned by their tour guide on a late night drive in the Chinese countryside they find themselves in a village where all the inhabitants have boarded up their houses with an assortment of farm animals tied up outside. It soon becomes apparent that these are sacrifices and that something very bad is coming. Filming mostly at night Sanchez says a lot of work went into creating the zombie-like horde that runs rampant throughout the production. What you get is the creepy suspense from Blair Witch and the frenetic chase of 28 Days. The film has plenty of holes (one being an overly dramatic, hypnotic scene where the couple is "drawn" into an old house where they make love as part of some religious ritual) but it will do nicely for a good old fashioned fright.

It was interesting to hear the various opinions on this worldwide collection of primarily black and white animated stories centered around fear. Many thought Charles Burns' twisted tale of an insect collector who has the tables turned on him was the best. But of the whole bunch I was most impressed with Richard McGuire's story of a man breaking into what he thought was an abandoned house to escape a snowstorm. The stark black and white imagery is fascinating to watch as the man explores the house and its secrets. And I definitely want a transcript of Pierre di Sciullo's running monologue on life and its inevitable insecurities. 

This Spanish superhero tale has a bit of everything. The problem is that there are too many "bits" and not enough "bite". Two friends (Javier Gutierrez and Leonardo Sbaraglia) who grow up obsessed with superheroes try to create a comic empire. What they don't know (and we don't learn till later) is that their obsession is not just an accident. The film includes flaming comets, parallel worlds, shit-eating bug men, betrayal, gratuitous sex scenes, fanboys, comic books, flashbacks and animation. Unfortunately, it also includes a rather bland, cornfed script.