PHANTASM: Remastered SXSW Premiere Screening March 14th
For those not in the know, famous film director J.J. Abrams, or as we like to call him here on the blog - the score composer for Don Dohler's NightBeast, and his company Bad Robot Productions have done a meticulous 4K restoration, from the original 35 mm, of Don Coscarelli's amazing, enduring, weird and wonderful horror film Phantasm, which was first released in 1979.
Last night, on Monday, March 14th, 2016, they celebrated the SXSW premiere screening on at the Stateside Theatre in Austin, TX.
J.J. Abrams and director/writer Don Coscarelli introduced the film to the festival audience eagerly awaiting to see the film restored to the best technological condition as possible.
In attendance from the film: Director/writer Don Coscarelli (Phantasm series, Bubba Ho-tep, John Dies At The End), A. Michael Baldwin (Phantasm series), Kathy Lester (Phantasm series), Paul Pepperman (Co-producer, Phantasm, Co-writer The Beastmaster)
Special guests included: J.J. Abrams & Chloe Coscarelli
See the photos from the premiere below!
Last night, on Monday, March 14th, 2016, they celebrated the SXSW premiere screening on at the Stateside Theatre in Austin, TX.
J.J. Abrams and director/writer Don Coscarelli introduced the film to the festival audience eagerly awaiting to see the film restored to the best technological condition as possible.
In attendance from the film: Director/writer Don Coscarelli (Phantasm series, Bubba Ho-tep, John Dies At The End), A. Michael Baldwin (Phantasm series), Kathy Lester (Phantasm series), Paul Pepperman (Co-producer, Phantasm, Co-writer The Beastmaster)
Special guests included: J.J. Abrams & Chloe Coscarelli
See the photos from the premiere below!
Don Coscarelli
(L-R) A. Michael Baldwin, Kathy Lester, Don Coscarelli
(L-R) Paul Pepperman, A. Michael Baldwin, Kathy Lester, Don Coscarelli
(L-R) Chef Chloe Coscarelli and guest
J.J. Abrams and Don Coscarelli
J.J. Abrams and Don Coscarelli
J.J. Abrams
Don Coscarelli and J.J. Abrams
Don Coscarelli
Check out Phantasm ONLINE:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhantasmMovies
Website: http://phantasm.com/
John Dies At The End - The NYC Premiere Jan 7th 2013
The Director himself and star Paul Giamatti were on hand afterwards to answer questions and even, graciously, shook people's hands, signed people's stuff and even pose for photographs.
It was a fantastic night.
I intend to cover the film in a little more depth over on the podcast and I have some exclusive content from the Q&A that I will be sharing very soon as well but I just wanted to get down my initial impression of the film here on the blog.
Let me begin by saying I am a big fan of Coscarelli's work, you can read my Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep reviews elsewhere on this site but I really dig his style and sensibility behind the camera. So couple that with the always reliable and likable Giamatti and a plot that promised some absolutely bonkers stuff and me wanting to see this film, from the moment it was first mentioned, became a no-brainer.
Having seen the film the first thing that came to my mind was 'I need to see that again'. It has a very definite vibe, a particular disjointed mindset and I am not just referring to the weird plot, I mean in the way it was written, shot and performed. If I am honest. I am not sure tonight I was always in the groove with it, maybe it was having spent the day at work in my mind-numbing 9 to 5 surrounded by beige and grey tedious indifference or maybe it was the fact that usually on a Monday I am operating on hardly any sleep but sometimes I connected with it and other times I didn't. Hence I need to see it again and soon. Clear headed, awake and ready to go anywhere with it.
I am not even going to bother to try and explain the plot in depth, as it would do the film a disservice, but it has something to do with a drug called soy sauce that makes you see into the past and the future, travelling to other dimensions, monsters, friendship, zombies, exorcisms and a magic dog. Anyway, this thing is different and I urge everyone to see it.
It's the mutant love child of Naked Lunch, Twin Peaks, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Phantasm and contains references to a dozen more cult genre favs.
In fact an ever so slight criticism of the film is that, while it clearly marches to the beat of its own drum, as much as it can, the script does, on occasion, have the distinct whiff of a fan boy's giggly, immature paws all over it but never to the annoyingly grating and smug extent of someone like a Tarantino (who has all the subtlety, where homages are concerned, of a 15 Ton, Monty Python, style weight).
On the plus side it has phenomenal, pleasing performances from almost the entire cast, it's directed and edited with Coscarelli's usual charm, flourish and delight in the downright weird or darkly comic and the script throws endless curveballs at you both clever, comedic and also sometimes just for curveballs sake. I am not someone who usually likes a film that tries to be all smug, clever and different for difference sake and I am pleased to report that John Dies At The End does narrowly avoid sliding into that territory.
There's also some great Bob Kurtzman practical effects and also some not so great B-Movie CGI but, to be honest, that they did it at all for the low budget, it's incredible.
I haven't read the book and from comments made in the Q&A I understand that a vast passage of it would be unfilmable, no matter how much money you had, but I can say that the film version could have, to please more pallets, attempted some level of coherence in it's third act. What it lacks in pleasing structure, however, it more than makes up for in vivid, intriguing and artful images.
Now is it ever going to be as successful or as much of a fan favourite as the Phantasm series? probably not and will it ever match up against the understated perfection of Bubba Ho-Tep? definitely not but that's not to discount it, when you have a resume as sparse but as cult and fan friendly as Coscarelli's, winning out over past glories becomes a fools errand and, with John Dies At The End, he, thankfully, doesn't try to. There is, however, plenty here that fans of his previous work will eat up with a spoon.
It has been 10 years since Bubba and 7 years since his Masters of Horror episode and in that time mostly all we've heard about was the ill-fated Bubba sequel. I, for one, am glad that John Dies was, eventually, the film Coscarelli made and not Bubba Nosferatu, while he will no doubt get a lot of idiot critics desperately trying to compare this film to the nuanced brilliance of Bubba Ho-tep, imagine how much harsher it would be if he had gone ahead with the planned, Campbell-less, sequel instead.
As much as I believe this film will divide his fans and have as many embracers as detractors, I am going to go ahead and say we NEED films like this and we NEED film-makers like Don Coscarelli. At the Q&A Paul Giamatti said that it's films like this that America should be embracing, he is clearly a passionate genre fan, and I couldn't agree more. Love it or hate it we just don't get enough films like this being made and so when one comes along I think we owe it to ourselves, as passionate genre fans also, to do what we can to make sure it's not the last time a film like this sees the inside of a cinema.
Me with director Don Coscarelli
Other photos from the Q&A
Bubba Ho-Tep - 10th October 2010
Bubba Ho-Tep is maybe one of the weirdest and most outrageous plots ever committed to film: An old man who is coming out of a coma caused by a shattered hip, in an East Texas rest home, with cancer of the penis claims to be the actual Elvis Presley, he meets and befriends a wheelchair bound African American guy who claims to be JFK, dyed black and with a bag of sand for a brain and together they fight a 2000 year old Mummy in a cowboy outfit. Add to the fact that Elvis is played by, none other than, B-Movie genius Bruce Campbell and Jack Kennedy by the legendary Ossie Davis and if that synopsis doesn't make you want to either rush out and buy the film right away or get it out and watch it for the 100th time then there is something medically wrong with you.
The miracle with Bubba Ho-Tep is just how Don Coscarelli, the director, Joe R Lansdale, the original story writer and the cast manage to ring every ounce of emotion, sentiment, message and pathos from this, admittedly, ludicrous sounding premise. If you want a genuinely affecting buddy movie, then it's here, if you want a statement on how we treat old people in our society, then it's here and if you want comments on life, death, fame, the meaning of being a hero and the nature of nobility then it's all here but without, in any way being preachy or taking itself too seriously. Now, for cinema, that may just be the greatest trick anyone ever pulled.
In fact, Bubba Ho-Tep, for all it's wild sounding notions, is a lesson in stripped down, simplistic, narrative driven storytelling. That's not to say that Coscarelli's style is simple, far from it, but the film just plays out slowly, sweetly and without any fuss. He makes it look entirely effortless, keeps your attention and the result is a mature, funny, engaging and strangely touching movie about two fallen icons being given one last chance.
At the same time as seemingly being a softer paced, dialogue driven character piece it also has moments of sublime, surreal humour, knock about slapstick, explosions and action which never feel out of place or over-the-top. It's also one of the funniest movies of the last 10 years. Also, I defy anyone, not to get a single solitary man tear by the end of the film. It gets really sad in places.
In his performance, Bruce Campbell, not only proves himself to be an actor that is far more versatile than he is usually given credit for (lets see De Niro pull of an elderly Elvis with a growth on his penis and maintain such a high level of dignity) and mirrors the film, in that he is subtle, restrained, simple and 100% effective. Thirty minutes into the film you are not watching Bruce, you are watching Elvis, such is the immersive quality of Campbell's acting, ability to work with make-up, take on anything the role demands and lack of star ego. If the Oscar's were given out honestly then he really should've won because I can't think of a better more believable performance given by an actor in the last decade, let alone just in 2002. For all the people who think Bruce Campbell just plays his 'Ash' persona in everything, the swaggering loud mouth, prat-falling idiot, then they are not only mistaken, missing the true underlying subtlety in a lot of his work but have to flat-out change their opinion after watching Bubba Ho-Tep, such is the honest genius of his portrayal. If only there were more roles like this for him to sink his teeth into. It's a real shame that they couldn't agree on part two, oh well.
Ossie Davis, also, is perfectly cast as Jack Kennedy and at no point, once the friendship is fully established, do you ever not believe him. It is a really tricky role to pull off and it requires a certain stature and grace to portray it as believably as possible and Ossie has all that as well as the authority of screen presence, sense of history and sheer brilliant acting ability. He also mixes in a little sense of the absurd and is obviously having tons of fun with the role.
The supporting actors too, are all perfectly cast and provide a solid, amusing ensemble to back up the two leads but this is definitely the Ossie and Bruce show.
The other joy of this film is that the effects are, almost all, practical, gloriously low tech and work perfectly. The work that Coscarelli and his crew do with lighting, for example, is tremendous and completely suitable as it harks perfectly back to the mummy picture of the 30s.
KNB's make-up is superb and, like always, subtly compliments the film without ever becoming showy or threatening to take over the piece. They also came up with a new, dramatic, skeletal depiction of the mummy and a faultless aging effect for Bruce.
Finally, finishing the film off in a truly inspired and, in places, transcendent way is Brian Tyler's score which can not be praised enough. It was a tall order to make a film about Elvis without using any of his music (it would be too expensive) and the only way to overcome that and not disappoint the audience or even let them notice was to have a fantastic score/soundtrack and that's what Tyler gives us. It is haunting and poignant when it needs to be, light, loose and inspiring in the right places, dramatic, catchy and compliments the style of the film perfectly.
The best thing about all of it is that the film was completely independently financed and filmed, then when it was released it was taken around the country, state by state, using the internet and Bruce's fans to get the word out by forming street teams of promoters and all that effort paid off as it wound up being successful enough to get a distribution deal in Europe and receive an MGM released, no less, deluxe DVD. It really was the little movie that could, proving, once again, that what an intelligent audience seems to want is original, interesting movies.
Yes, as I have said before, it's a shame this sort of film doesn't get made more often but the fact that one seems to squeeze out every few years is, to paraphrase Hunter S Thompson, a sign that someone, somewhere is tending to the light at the end of the tunnel.
10 out of 10 tins of old fashioned chocolates
Points from The Misses 9 out of 10 tins of old fashioned chocolates