Fantastic Fest Capsule Reviews
A Wounded Fawn - Travis Stevens, whose Jakob's Wife was one of last year's best horror movies, returned to Fantastic Fest with his latest work, A Wounded Fawn. It's about a woman named Meredith (played by the excellent Sarah Lind) who ventures to a remote cabin with her new boyfriend, Bruce (Josh Ruben). Strange things start happening shortly after they arrive, not the least of which is her realization that he's a compulsive murderer. That's not a spoiler, as we're tipped off to his behavior from the start. There's a lot more to the story, although going into even minor detail would be giving away too much. Let's just say that a piece of art depicting the Greek goddesses of vengeance plays a vital role. Plenty of surprises occur in the plot, which builds to some awesomely nasty WTF-ery in the last half-hour. A Wounded Fawn concludes with a lengthy final shot that rivals the one in Ti West's current Pearl in its audacity. The movie is a wicked, demented delight.
Chop & Steele - Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher are the guys behind the Found Footage Festival, a traveling comedy show in which they run clips of bizarre VHS tapes they've accumulated. The documentary Chop & Steele looks at a different facet of their careers, though. The guys began pranking local television morning news shows around the country, appearing as the fake strongman act that gives this movie its title. The parent company of one station sued them, and things got dicey from there. Aside from often being very funny, the film looks at how they upped the ante, even finding their way to the stage of America's Got Talent, where they did something so outrageous that NBC had to cut it from the broadcast. Chop & Steele is a celebration of comedy as used to surprise and stimulate, one that challenges the audience's views on pranking. The portrait of friendship is touching, as Joe and Nick share the kind of commitment typically reserved for married couples.
The Blood of the Dinosaurs - Imagine Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood as reconceived by David Lynch and you have some idea of what Joe Badon's short film The Blood of the Dinosaurs is like. It's presented as an episode of a children's program from hell, where the super-creepy host, Uncle Bobbo (Vincent Stalba), teaches viewers where oil comes from. Aside from the questionable information Bobbo imparts, the story takes bizarre detours involving a bottomless pit, a rather gruesome childbirth, and a wise-beyond-her-years little girl named Purity who has seemingly been trapped in a kitchen cabinet. The Blood of the Dinosaurs has a surreal quality that's kind of captivating. The films whips you from one outlandish moment to the next, ensuring you never know what to expect. Risk-taking of that sort makes this a freaky 17-minute treat.
