Month of Horror - Day 19: Carnival of Souls

"Hey, I don't want to get turned on again,

but I was thinking of asking you to dinner."

Carnival of Souls must be commended for truly capturing the horrors of Utah. As I am a current inhabitant of this "lovely" "state", I can verify that everything documented in Herk Harvey's 1962 classic is wholly accurate. Catholics are very aware that they're "clearly not the biggest church" and organists are lured across state lines with promises of employment. The locals are friendly yet firm, alcohol leads to loose morals, and of course, non-religious women are ghoul-haunted--have been since 1820.

The movie opens on a splendid joy ride turned scene of multiple drownings. The sole survivor, a woman named Mary, packs up and heads out to America's 45th state. She's that organist we were talking about earlier. On her way through the Bonneville Salt Flats, she starts seeing things...ghostly things. This isn't unusual. During our trip home after last year's Cinequest, I thought I saw John Candy driving a 24-Hour Plumbing truck. He was driving from the passenger's seat while watching his scenes from National Lampoon's Vacation on a giant Egg McMuffin. Utah's an odd place to be sleepy. While Mary's visions aren't as overrun with celebrity cameos and product placement, they're two times as creepy.

The director, Herk Harvey, made a career out of instructional and educational videos. Carnival of Souls was his only feature film. The budget was an extremely modest $17,000. Although, those were 1962 dollars. Today, that could come out to...um...let's see, if nickels were only a penny...carry the 1/16...ah, I don't know. It cost more than Paranormal Activity. After making a trek from California back home to Kansas (America's most special state), Harvey noticed an abandoned funstructure called Saltair. He immediately knew that it would be the setting for his ghastly feature. Here's a genuinely incredible quote from the world's most reliable source, Wikipedia:

"Saltair was a family place, intended to provide a safe and wholesome atmosphere with the open supervision of Church leaders. While some of the other resorts in the area were seen as "spiritually bleak," a young courting Mormon couple could visit Saltair without worrying about gossip, which was more prevalent at the time, when Mormonism was more culturally conservative than it is today."

Delightful.

Theologic theme parks aside, for a How to Buckle Your Safety Belt filmmaker to knock it out of the park on his first try is more than noteworthy, it's goddamn impressive. For the record, Herk Harvey's Hollywood batting record is 1.000; not even Vondie Curtis-Hall can claim that.

I'm Thankful For

FACTS:
1. Joseph Campanella's dream of a weekly blog-a-thon was an inspired one.
2. Its demise was sad to me.
3. Risen from the ashes like Phoenix, Arizona (thanks to the LAMB), the blog-a-thon is back!
4. It's monthly now.

This month's theme: Who I'm Thankful For

My hometown used to have an amazing one-screen, independently-owned, art house movie theater. Before the theater closed, I had a job there and I loved it. My true love for film began at the Granada Theater. Films like El Crimen Del Padre Amaro sold out to half-overjoyed/half infuriated filmgoers with me sitting in the back row, amazed at the new shapes and forms that movies were taking.

One night, I was sitting in the office, flipping through a newspaper. Then I saw a picture of William H. Macy, who I immediately recognized as The Shoveller from Mystery Men. Later, I found out that I should have recognized him from Magnolia, Boogie Nights, or State and Main, but I hadn't seen any of those back then. I loved Mystery Men. The Shoveller was making a personal appearance at a film festival in San Jose, CA. Thinking it might be fun to meet my favorite garden-tool weilding superhero, I asked my dad if he'd go with me to Cinequest. A few weeks later, I was shaking hands with The Shoveller. I'm thankful for the Cinequest Film Festival.

[Note: If ANYONE can find this film (any region)
with English subtitles, I'll pay top dollar.]

After listening to William H. Macy talk about how everyone involved with Pleasantville thought it was going to change the world and about preparing for his sex scenes in The Cooler (which was in post-production at that time), my dad and I bought tickets for a Chinese film called Violin. We'd never heard of the movie before, or any of the people starring in it, but we thought we'd check it out anyway. Clearly, the movie was great. That's why I've been trying to hunt down a copy for five years.

My dad and I have been back to Cinequest every year since. We've seen countless movies, seen a couple celebs (Ben Kingsley, Jon Polito, Danny Glover, Kyle Gass, etc.), and had a great time every single year. Cinequest is known for their shorts programs. We scheduled our weekends around the Comedy Shorts programs until they stopped holding them.

When we first started attending the programs, the quality of the films varied greatly from movie to movie. Some where shot by semi-professional crews while others were shot at home on camcorders by total amateurs. Since the festival has begun to gain notoriety, the budgets of all the films have risen greatly. The first hint of change is when Alex Borstein showed up in one of the shorts (Billy's Dad is a Fudgepacker). Then another short (D.E.B.S.) was picked up by a studio for a full-length adaptation. Nowadays, it isn't strange to see end credits that are longer than the film you just watched. It's different with the higher budgets, but it's all part of the Cinequest that I'm thankful for.

A lot of things have changed since the Granada Theater closed. The next year, I worked for a video store and rented over 1,000 movies from them in 365 days. By then, I had seen nearly every mainstream studio picture put out between 1980 and 2000. As it turned out, that wasn't quite the greatest preparation for film school, which was my next move. Now I'm working on my thesis, living in another state, and enjoying the 7-at-a-Time Netflix rentals that my girlfriend and I get in the mail less constantly than one would hope. And I'm blogging. But while all of that is going on, I'm waiting for Cinequest 2009. Actually, what I'm really waiting for is Cinequest Schedule Day. That's the day that I cancel every other plan. Call in sick for work. Turn off the phone. Log on to the Cinequest site. RefreshRefreshRefresh. Timetables, running times, scheduling conflicts, back up schedules. It's better than Christmas.

I'm very, very thankful for the Cinequest Film Festival and all the people made it possible to shake the hand of The Shoveller.

Otis (2008)

Contrary to the rumors flying around the blog-o-sphere, I do leave my house. Apparently, the United States Postal Service have been ignoring my "Please Deliver on Sundays" e-mails. Because of this, sometimes I don't have Netflix to watch! You'd think that the "4 Out at a Time" plan would be enough but clearly this is not always the case.

The worst is when I end up watching all four Netflix on a Saturday. I drop them in the mailbox fully aware that they won't get picked up for another 36 hours. Come Monday morning, they get picked up, transported to some sort of sorting center reminiscent of Dear God, and then they're off to Netflix (which I assume is some sort of magical land about thirty minutes East of San Jose, CA). Once the Wizard decides I'm worthy enough for more movies, the discs are delivered via magical Narnia-esque wardrobe, and I'm finally able to continue my quest for cinematical knowledge.

On one of these house-leaving expeditions, I made my way to a film festival about 30 minutes West of Netflix. Whitney from Dear Jesus, my faithful companion, accompanied me for a weekend of movie mania. Overall, the festival was a blast, and I plan on flying back from Utah for next year's festivities. But here's where leaving the house loses to not leaving the house. One of the films that I had been most looking forward to was M.I.A. As it turned out, Whitney and I would have to wait until the film was RELEASED ON DVD before we could see it. They expected me just to stay home and wait? Well, that's what I did. Three months later, the DVD has arrived! The film is Otis.

Now, before you get too excited, Otis is not a spin-off of Masanori Hata's insanely delightful animal buddy film The Adventures of Milo and Otis. Oh, I wish it was too. We're just going to have to deal with what we've got. Instead of a cuddly kitten searching for his precious puppy pal, we have a homicidal halfbreed who abducts teenage girls to reenact his prom. Sorry.




Here's the trailer. I don't know if it truly captures the comedic aspects of the film or the scary aspects either. The editor and I seem to have had the same difficulties with Otis. It's definitely scary, or at the very least, creepy. But it's really funny at the same time. We've all seen films that try for both, usually failing at one or the other. Otis succeeds.

The cast is incredible. Illeana Douglas and Daniel Stern play the parents who take law into their own hands. VIGILANTE JUSTICE! Douglas, as usual, stands out, always giving the movie she's in a little something extra special. For those unfamiliar with her, go rent: "Action" (the entire series), Ghost World, and Grace of My Heart. Even her smaller parts are memorable. Keep an eye out for her in Goodfellas.

Not to knock the rest of the cast, but Illeana Douglas outshines her co-stars like Anne Frank in a "Let's Be Quiet" contest. Whoever was in charge of her wardrobe for the VIGILANTE JUSTICE scenes deserves an Oscar. If you weren't too lazy to watch the trailer, I'm talking about the bandanna/goggles combo she sports while delivering the "...cut his fingers and toes off and blend them into a smoothie and make him drink it" line. Muy Classic. There's nothing like a take-charge mother ready to attach jumper cables to the anus of her daughter's kidnapper.




Speaking of this kidnapper, I know what you're all wondering. Is this another one of those movies where a really attractive guy seems normal at first but then turns out to be crazy way later? Is he the sort of handsome devil who you'd never expect to shove cats into ATM machines? Are the kidnapper's victims swept off their feet by such a debonair gentleman and it isn't until later that they realize they've made a mistake? You tell me.




Stepping up to the plate with a relatively small filmography, Boston Christopher, hits it out of the park. Actually, he'd probably get a triple. From Minute One, the beefy, brainsick Otis sends chills up your spine. We all know this guy. He's works a menial job, he wears a lot of high-tech computer gadgets, and he's probably posts on Craigslist's "Casual Encounters" under the name "Master Chieftess." You know you know this guy.

Otis has a sweet set-up. Stained mattress. Heat lamps. Nasty bathtub. Surveillance cameras. The only thing that's missing from this Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs Combo is a Hayden Panettiere-esque cheerleader. Unfortunately, Hayden Panettiere must not have heard her phone ring because her role was filled by Mel Gibson's whiny daughter from What Woman Want.

Ashley Johnson (the voice behind Gretchen in "Recess," the best cartoon since "Doug") does surprisingly well portraying a multi-layered character. Somehow, she refuses to allow her character to become stereotypical.

Jared Kunsnitz plays Reed, Ashley's troublemaker brother. The role doesn't call for much but he definitely isn't the worst part of the movie. Daniel Stern (the skinny crook from Home Alone) plays Ashley's dad. For as much as I loved the voice over work in "Wonder Years" and for as many times as I watched Bushwacked as a kid, it pains me to say that Stern wasn't exquisite in Otis. In fact, his performance made me realize why I hadn't seen him since the eerily prophetic Celtic Pride. Congratulations Boston! Sorry Mr. Stern.




The first hour of the film covers the kidnapping and the escape. Where the film really gets interesting is when the family subscribes to THE FREAKIN' VIGILANTE JUSTICE! How many times do I need to say this? Torture! Electrocution! Hilarity! One moment, I was laughing my ass off. The next moment found my jaw dropped and my vocal chords pushing out the words "holy schnikes!" Did I mentioned I happen to scream out 1995 slang when I get scared?

I don't want to give too much away, not any more than the trailer gives away. Let me just try to convince you to rent Otis using two words: Kevin Pollak. Bet you were expecting some more VIGILANTE JUSTICE! No, I"m talking about Kevin Pollack. That's right, Mr. Usual Suspects, himself. Victor 'Boss Vic Koss' Kosslovich, himself! It turns out, he and Illeana Douglas have a lot in common. While neither of them often have the main roles, they almost always outshine the lucky actors who get to star in their movies. Pollak plays Otis' brother who constantly screams at the touched terrorist to stop eating pizza, get a real job, and clean up the house. Here we find Pollak doing exactly that:



Otis is the cool movie you show your friends. Everything seems to fall into place. The performances work (even Stern's for the most part), the characters are believable while they do unbelievable things, and the cinematography / set / lighting / score / marketing / etc. are all effective. Some people (message board people) have spoken (typed) out against the ending. They're wrong. I'm right. I have a blog, so you have to listen to me. The ending rocks too. It's unexpected but fits in with the rest of the movie really well.

Like I said, Whitney and I had plans to watch Otis at the Cinequest Film Festival but when we arrived, we were informed that it had been picked up by a distributor and that all screenings had been canceled. Maybe it's just me, but I'd think that theatrical screenings would create word-of-mouth which would create higher DVD sales. I'm just a Cinema Studies student, not one of these hifalutin businessmen who cut in line in front of me at Chipotle. Anywho, Otis is out on DVD now, 100% Netflixable. Take a evening off from your busy lives and enjoy a really funny (and scary) film about young girls getting kidnapped and the families who enjoy

VIGILANTE JUSTICE!

And because I love you guys, here's a couple of great songs from a guy who is neither a family-friendly feline nor a portly pervert. Enjoy.

Otis Redding - Pain in My Heart (zShare)
Otis Redding - Stand By Me (zShare)
Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (zShare)