Third 'Spooky Movie' Event: Prepare to Be Disturbed
Third 'Spooky Movie' Event: Prepare to Be Disturbed
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Scary movies tend to reflect the times we live in. In the 1950s, for example, the psychological fallout of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings revealed itself in such Japanese films as "Godzilla."
So what to make of the fact that, among the 200 films considered for "Spooky Movie: 2008," Washington's third annual horror film festival, there was a noticeable preponderance of plot lines involving creepy twins, escapees from mental institutions and members of the Jehovah's Witnesses?
"I don't even want to speculate about what shared anxieties we're working through this year," says festival founder Curtis Prather. "The first year, it was zombies. Last year, cannibals."
In that case, maybe we shouldn't even ask him about "Snuff: A Documentary About Killing on Camera." That movie, a surprisingly thoughtful (and, oh yes, quite disturbing) examination of underground films in which people are really murdered, screens at 12:45 a.m. on Oct. 19. No one younger than 17 will be admitted, Prather is quick to point out, regardless of parental consent. "Do you think I made the right call on that one?" he asks.
Uh, yeah.
All other feature films, though unrated, should be considered a hard R, except for "The Shadow Within" (Oct. 19 at 12:30 p.m.). That Italian ghost story, about a boy who can speak with his dead twin, is suitable for age 13 and older, Prather says. It's part of a family-friendly programming block that includes the animated short "Tofu the Vegan Zombie."
As for the rest of the lineup, the violence ranges from the alien-zombie satire of "Brain Dead" (part of an Oct. 17 grindhouse program starting at 9:45 p.m.) to the almost torture-porn levels of "No Through Road" (Thursday at 7 p.m.), an Australian bloodbath about home invasion.
But horror isn't necessarily only about carnage, says Prather, who defines the genre broadly as "people having the worst days of their lives." Of course that's a theme that's echoed in many comedies and dramas, too. It's a theme that is as old, he notes, "as stories themselves."
"Spooky Movie: 2008" runs Oct. 16-20 at the Cinema Arts Theatre, 9650 Main St., Fairfax. For the movie schedule, visit http:/
-- Michael O'Sullivan
