Seven exploitation films in twelve hours. The second Ex-fest from Exhumed Films can be summed up best by the tagline on the poster they made:

“She was young… she was pretty… she was innocent… until Exhumed Film’s eX-Fest Part II!”

Interesting line-up this year. I had only heard of two of the films, and I hadn’t seen any. Nothing beats experiencing the first viewing of a film in the theater. Especially at the International House, and especially with the EF crowd.

Again, the group always puts on a good show. Check out my recaps and reviews here: http://reelfriction.com/index.php?s=exhumed+films

The films:

1) The No Mercy Man

Vietnam vets protect an old man’s ranch from a gang of carny ruffians. A slow burn film with some good action set-pieces and corny dialog. The ending is a highlight: a long-awaited killing spree followed by a mano-a-mano fight to the death.

2) Fear is the Key

This opens with one of the longest car-chases I have ever seen. Some good stunt work, a cool central character, and Ben Kingsley very young mask a convoluted story of revenge, too much coincidence, and underwater salvage.

3) The Man from Hong Kong

Jimmy Wang Yu goes to Australia and kicks butt on the trail of a martial artist mob boss. Great stuff from Brian Trenchard-Smith. The perfect blend of action, comedy, and old-fashioned exploitation fun. The highlight of the night.

4) Death Weekend

The usual story of a gang of young ruffians dead set on terrorizing a young model and her weekend date. It’s spiced up a bit by portraying the date as a rich jerk with very few qualities that bring him above the level of their tormentors. Takes a bit to get to the usual revenge stuff. Nothing special.

5) Wipeout!

An Italian crime film. Amidst double crosses and assassinations a mid-level mobster rises the ranks of the “family.” Henry Silva could play a roll like this in his sleep, and he pretty much does here. It’s a decent actioner that has well-filmed explosions, gun fights and car chases. The best part was the rock-guitar music cue that pops up throughout.

6) Vice Squad

From 1982, this film was down-right new compared to some of the others shown. It’s the story of a prostitute turned police-informant who is being hunted by a psycho-pimp. The style isn’t as sleazy or dark as you would imagine. It’s more colorful than you would expect, with some hints of intentional humor. Great performance by Wings Hauser as the villain. Thoroughly enjoyable.

7) Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS

An ultra-rare 35mm print. I should be honored to have seen it! The notorious film, about a female Nazi doctor who experiments on and has sex with both male and female prisoners, is not as shocking as you would think. For the time it’s notoriety was probably earned, but now it is pretty tame compared with what can be seen in mainstream movie theaters. But it is campy and stupid and was a nice nightcap to an outrageous slate of films.

2012, USA, Drew Goddard, 95 min.

This isn’t really a review of Drew Goddard’s brilliant and entertaining film. This is more a rant on the usual genre movies and a love-letter to the ones that got it right.

As most reviewers are doing. I am going to avoid describing Cabin in the Woods and just urge you to go see it. Don’t read about it. Don’t watch previews. If you are a fan of film, just go see this one.

What I can say is that while watching this movie I was thoroughly entertained. I have watched a lot of films, and it is rare when a great film comes along that is different and surprising.

Sure, there are a lot of films that are different and surprising (The films of Noboru Iguchi for example), but most of that lot suffer from the misplaced notion that being bizarre and shocking is enough to make a good film.

Cabin in the Woods is the rare film that provides a refreshing and engaging viewing experience by being smart. Let’s face it. Most horror films are stupid and most horror fans are as well.

Yes, I know that is insulting. But watching a film like Cabin in the Woods makes me realize how genre audiences have let themselves be treated for years. By praising the likes of Saw, Hostel, Trick ‘r Treat, Dead Snow, Splinter, [REC] and Chillerama as “fresh new horror”, we (myself included) are lowering the bar. We are just asking for more of the same. More slashers, more gore, more stupid humor and copy-and-paste writing.

The film that I can most closely compare Cabin in the Woods to is Shaun of the Dead. The same things make both films great: A knowledge of what came before them, a fresh and unique script, the intelligence to present the story with the proper tone, and a breakout director helming the production. Both films have enough respect for the audience to create something different.

Props need to go to Joss Whedon for pulling this together, to Drew Goddard for showing he is a true talent, and to all the actors involved who played their parts pitch-perfectly. Especially Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, and Fran Kranz. I can go on, but what I really want to say is that Cabin in the Woods makes me realize why I love genre film, and makes me realize why we shouldn’t settle for the same old movie just because it falls into a genre that we know and love.

This film wins the award “Best Happy Frog” for, well, I’m not gonna say. Just go see the movie!

USA, 2012, Gary Ross, 142 min.

I can see the appeal of The Hunger Games story. It’s a compelling idea with a good hook and potential for some good action and character development.

The film is well-made. It’s a solid sci-fi/action/drama anchored by a strong central performance by Jennifer Lawrence.  Great costumes and atmosphere. The pace moves quickly and it does entertain. But I couldn’t help but feel that the whole thing was a missed opportunity.

The future dsytopian world was interesting but unsurprising. Maybe more will be explained later but for this film the story of the games and the world around them are simplistic. But the biggest issue was the lack of choices presented to the main character.

The story was ripe to have interesting moral choices for Katniss. But instead of taking advantage of that, the film is written in such a way that she never has to make any of those hard choices. In fact, besides her first big scene where she volunteers for the game, Katness just ends up getting pushed into each new situation. She has no control over anything and rarely gets to choice what to do.

There is so much potential for more, but its never realized. So although the film entertains and excites an the surface, its too broad and simplistic to really engage.

This film wins the award “Most Intricate Beard” for Wes Bentley’s carefully shaped facial hair.

USA, 2012,  Chris Kentis/Laura Lau, 88 min.

The setup of Silent House is not surprising. A young heroine (Elizabeth Olsen), her father and her uncle are cleaning up an old summer home the family owns so they can sell it. Things turn bad quickly, and the house soon becomes the setting for the usual horror tropes.

Those tropes are unsurprising, sometimes effective, sometimes not. But the gimmick of the film, and really the thing that elevates it above a standard horror outing, is that it appears to be filmed in one shot. The camera starts following Olsen at the beginning and does not cut away from the action until the credits roll.

This allows us to enjoy the film on a technical level throughout instead of only intermittently as a horror film. And the third act effectively highlights the use of that gimmick. Without ruining it, I’ll just say that the film cleverly includes breaks from reality, and some well-timed character blocking. It’s all impressively presented.

The film is a remake of an Uruguayan film of the same name, which I have not seen. But here Elizabeth Olsen does a great job in a demanding performance. The one-shot idea is used in some ingenious ways. Overall, it’s an interesting and well-paced film. Of course, you have to give a lot of credit for that to the unsung hero, the person who had to hold the camera.

This film wins the award “Best use of a Camera Flash” for a cool sequence full where we know something is going to scare us and we just have to wait for it.

No more lists, just awards!

The Award for “Best Theft Scene” goes to Cold Weather for a unique climax to a unique story.

The Award for “Best Potential Spin-off” goes to X-Men: First Class for making everyone think a great film would be “Magneto: Nazi Hunter”.

The Award for “Best Michael Caine Impressions” goes to The Trip for Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon channeling Michael Caine for five minutes.

The Award for “Best Sex Scene” goes to The Perfect Host for David Hyde Peirce enjoying the company of an imaginary woman.

The Award for “Best 70s Film” goes to Super 8 for being a film straight out of my childhood.

The Award for “Best Soundtrack” goes to Hanna for a killer score by The Chemical Brothers.

The Award for “Most Courageous Film” goes to Tree of Life for being an unconventional film that could have ruined careers.

The Award for “Worst Food Poisoning Scene” goes to Bridesmaids for a gross-out scene that really felt out of place in a fairly smart film.

The Award for “Best Documentary” goes to Tabloid for telling a truly outrageous and entertaining story about Mormonism and kinky sex.

The Award for “Most Offensive Film” goes to Chillerama for being an utter piece of crap.

The Award for “Worst Clown Film” goes to The Last Circus for its absurd circus story that almost works but doesn’t.

The Award for “Best Film with a Strange Planet” goes to Melancholia for telling the story of a giant planet heading towards Earth.

The Award for “Second Best Film with a Strange Planet“ goes to Another Earth for telling the story of a discovery of another Earth eerily similar to ours.

The Award for “Best Chase Scene” goes to Drive for Ryan Gosling outwitting the police using mostly his wits.

The Award for “Best Laugh-out-loud Moment” goes to Shark Night 3D for the one-armed football player standing waist deep in the water, holding a spear, and taunting a shark.

The Award for “Most Slow Motion” goes to The Dead for endless scenes of slow-motion zombie walking.

The Award for “Best Song” goes to The Muppets for making me decide if I am a man or a muppet.

The Award for “Worst Soundtrack” goes to Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol for music that actually took me out of the movie.

The Award for “Best Piece of Property” goes to The Descendants for a parcel of thousands of pristine acres in the middle of Hawaii.

The Award for “Best Use of 3D” goes to Cave of Forgotten Dreams for showing the great Chauvet cave paintings in three dimensions.

The Award for “Most Entertaining Funeral” goes to Hesher for Joseph Gordon Levitt’s titular character talking about his testicles.

The Award for “Most Tired Concept” goes to The Change-Up for another body swap “comedy”.

The Award for “Coolest Car” goes to Bellflower for the flame-throwing, apocalypse-ready Medusa.

The Award for “Worst Final Shot” goes to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for a scene that totally messed up a really cool character.

And back for this year, my favorite part of being a film fan. The Best Repertory Cinema Screenings of 2011:

3) Basketcase (1928) / Frankenhooker (1990) – Crystal Plumage screened these two horror/comedy classics with Henenlotter in appearance. The second film quickly became one of my favorite movies.

2) Meet the Feebles (1989) - The last film of the Exhumed Films 24-hour film festival. I can’t believe I saw that in 35mm!

1) Planet of the Apes (1968) and all the sequels in one sitting. The original is one of my favorite films. And seeing the whole series in the theater was amazing. Thank you Exhumed Films!