Screamwave #18: TORONTO AFTER DARK

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Another solo episode by Aaron as he delivers his report on the Toronto After Dark film festival, including reviews of two zombie films (Doghouse and Evil - In the Time of Heroes), Swiss sci-fi film Cargo, and the two insane Japanese films: RoboGeisha and Alien vs. Ninja.

Also, Aaron talks with Thea Munster of the Toronto Zombie Walk and interviews the writer, director, and animator of the short Junko's Shamisen: Sol Friedman.

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Show Notes

• Junko's Shamisen
• Movie Moxie
• Row Three 
• Final Girl Project
• Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind
• Toronto Zombie Walk

They Shall Pay With Rivers of Blood from Buck Anderson on Vimeo.

RoboGeisha (2009)

RoboGeisha (2009) 

Director: Noboru Iguchi

How do you judge whether a movie like RoboGeisha is a good movie? I guess the question depends on how you answer a few key questions.

• Do you want to see a geisha with a circular saw for a mouth?
• Will your life feel more complete after witnessing a Japanese castle transform into a kaiju robot?
• Does the idea of a woman with machine gun breasts and throwing stars shooting out of her ass make you excited? Even hot?

If you answered "yes," to even one of these questions, then like me you love a whimsical trip into the bizarre, and RoboGeisha will be something you need to check out.


SYNOPSIS


Yoshie and Kikue Kasuga are feuding sisters. Kikue is a promising geisha who constantly abuses and degrades her younger sister Yoshie until Yoshie's anger manifests in a beauty and physical power that catches the attention of a wealthy steel manufacturer. He seduces / abducts both Yoshie and Kikue, turning them into killer cyborg geishas as part of his personal geisha army. Eventually, Yoshie defects and becomes the avenging hero RoboGeisha.

Rating: 3.5/ 5 Geisha Saws

IS IT SILLY?

RoboGeisha fully embraces a low-budget, on-the-cheap, artificial aesthetic to deliver a live-action cartoon with production values that just barely surpass the level of a Power Rangers episode. The CGI is thin and cheap-looking, but this strikes me as a purposeful aesthetic choice to accentuate the ridiculous premise and outlandish visuals. For example, whenever people are shot with CGI lasers or bullets, no damage is caused to their shirts or bodies. It's all a quick and easy post-production effect. In fact, few of the digital effects have any material weight, but that didn't really bother me. There's nothing funny, for example, about a Geisha that transforms into a realistic tank. A Geisha that transforms into a silly CGI tank against an obvious green screen, however, really tickles me. There are some cartoon-inspired makeup effects (such as when a man has fried shrimp shoved in his eyes or when a guy's face is literally sucker punched), but RoboGeisha is rarely gory. Although the film has a thin plot, from start to finish it is a silly action film that strives for some cheeky humour but seems more preoccupied with deranged video game-inspired cartoon action.  The film would be almost surreal and shocking if not for the cartoon atmosphere RoboGeisha engenders.

Master Shredder, is that you?

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RoboGeisha worked for me as a disposable laugh and a solid work of entertainment, but I know many people who were frustrated by the film's complete silliness and lazy visual effects. It's really a film for fans of bizarro cult action pictures, so I appreciated it on that level. Beware the hype but also beware the trailers. This is the type of film where too much information will ruin the experience.

The Last Exorcism (2010) -- Not the film you expect!

The Last Exorcism (2010) 

Director: Daniel Stamm
Producer: Eli Roth

Don't believe the ads. The Last Exorcism is not the film you're expecting. I too scoffed at the PG13 rating (how scary could it be?). At the Toronto After Dark film festival, I went into The Last Exorcism half-expecting another tepid supernatural tale like A Haunting in Connecticut. Instead, we were delivered a tightly scripted, superbly acted, and atmospheric psychological thriller where the dread is subtle and the story walks the tightrope of the uncanny before plunging into frightening unforeseen territory.


SYNOPSIS

The film is presented as a documentary of exorcist Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian). A former priest and self-confessed showman, Marcus is an incredibly charming fraud, but a fraud with a cause -- to expose exorcism as a scam. As a young man, he followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a minister and performing exorcisms for the faithful, but he lost his faith and realized that exorcisms were nothing more than a psychosomatic service given to the mentally ill and delusional by playing on their expectations and beliefs in demons. There are no demons, he reasons. The Last Exorcism is the documentation of such a scam, in which he will show on camera how easily fraudulent exorcists can beguile the faithful. He travels to the Sweetzer farm in New Orleans where a father believes his sweet young daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) is possessed by a violent demon. Is she really possessed by evil, or are her bizarre night walks, raging outbursts, and grotesque bodily contortions the symptom of mental illness brought on by family abuse and medieval religious teachings of an overbearing father? Is it faith she needs to cure her or a psychiatrist? Marcus finds himself in a no-win situation as his lies complicate matters and the situation degrades into a harrowing night of bloodshed and secrets.

Rating: 4 / 5

IS IT SHOCKING

The Last Exorcism is a film about atmosphere. Filmed like a documentary, the film thrusts the audience into a number of carefully chosen POV sequences while also acting as a witness to Marcus's confessions. The audience bonds with the characters quickly. Because of the POV style, audiences enter the room with the characters, filling each scene with expectation and the fear of the unknown around every dark corner. There are some jump scares and one or two gory moments, but the truly shocking aspects of the film come from the moments when the mounting tension breaks and what you thought was real both is and is not real. Then the foreshadowed comes to pass in an entirely unexpected and horrifying way. 

Actress Ashley Bell, producer Eli Roth, and actor Patrick Fabian

Rather than offering a roller coaster of cheap thrills, The Last Exorcism burrows into your mind and simmers. It's a film I enjoyed in the theater but now, thinking back on it, enjoy even more for its subtleties and psychological manipulation.


Do not go in expecting a balls-to-the-wall display of supernatural phenomena. It's not that kind of movie. It's better than that and plays many of its cards close to the chest. Be prepared or psychological horror, and be prepared to think about what you're seeing on screen. That will make The Last Exorcism a rewarding experience and a good note of horror on which to cap the summer movie season.