The 25th annual Boston Underground Film Festival took place at The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA from March 19-23 with a genre-blending lineup that included premieres, festival favorites, anticipated titles, short film blocks, special guests, after parties, and more.
Here’s what I saw at this year’s event…
The Surfer
Like a wave, there’s no stopping the pure energy of Nicolas Cage. The Academy Award winner never phones in a performance, regardless of budget or subject matter, but not every filmmaker can harness his signature eccentricities. Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) joins the ranks of those who possess such an abiloity, delivering a sun-baked descent into delirium with The Surfer.
Cage stars as The Surfer, a white collar man who wants to ride the waves with his son (Finn Little, “Yellowstone”) on the Australian coast where he grew up. But his paradise is lost thanks to a cult-like gang of local surfers, led by the enigmatic Scally (Julian McMahon, “Nip/Tuck”), that doesn’t take kindly to outsiders. A series of bad luck and bad decisions leave The Surfer stranded at the beach hoping for a modicum of justice, only to be met with increasing despair.
Thomas Martin’s psychological nightmare of a script doubles as a satirization of toxic masculinity and economic mobility. The film plays like a virtual midlife crisis, with director of photography Radek Ladczuk’s (The Babadook) deft use of zoom and wide angle lenses, an ethereal score by François Tétaz (Wolf Creek), palpably oppressive heat, and so much vicarious humiliation that it feels like you’re experiencing it firsthand.
The Surfer will be released in theaters on May 2 via Lionsgate.
Chain Reactions
With nothing left to add about the making of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre that hasn’t been already well documented over the past 50 years, documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe (The People vs. George Lucas, Memory: The Origins of Alien) takes a unique approach with Chain Reactions: enlisting five celebrated artists to explore the impact of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 horror masterpiece on their work and psyche.
Stephen King candidly discusses the film’s craft, the horror genre, and morality in art. Actor/comedian Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire) discusses the movie and its relation to other works with equal passion and eloquence. Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer) details how a formative viewing of the film impacted his later work. Film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas provides an analysis from the perspective of a girl in Australia. Director Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation) examines the role of beauty in art.
Each subject is given about 20 minutes to wax poetic about the film. Without an overarching narrative, Chain Reactions can feel more like a collection of featurettes (albeit quite handsomely produced ones) than a proper documentary, but its intimate structure is a refreshing change of pace from the standard talking-head format.
Chain Reactions will be released later this year from Dark Sky Films.
Fréwaka
Like Relic meets The Wicker Man, Fréwaka infuses folk-horror roots into a supernatural horror story that grapples with generational trauma. Writer-director Aislinn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway), aided by ominous cinematography by Narayan Van Maele (You Are Not My Mother) and a dissonant score from Die Hexen (You Are Not My Mother), sustains a disquieting atmosphere throughout the 103-minute (mostly) Irish-language film.
Following the suicide of her estranged mother, home care worker Shoo (Clare Monnelly) is sent to a remote Irish village to look after Peig (Bríd Ní Neachtain, The Banshees of Inisherin), a headstrong elderly woman consumed by paranoid delusions of the Na Sídhe, malevolent entities from Celtic folklore she claims abducted her in the past and are still lurking beneath her house.
Shoo and Peig butt heads at first but eventually form a maternal bond after opening up to one another about their respective struggles and realizing that they can help each other. The end comes somewhat abruptly following such a masterful, slow-burn escalation, but the lead characters fascinating dynamic makes for a strong foundation on which Fréwaka builds its horrors.
Fréwaka will stream on Shudder on April 25.
Alma and the Wolf
There’s a killer, bipedal wolf in Alma and the Wolf — a practical creature played by a man in a suit with an animatronic head — but it’s far from a werewolf movie. Directed by Michael Patrick Jann (“The State,” Drop Dead Gorgeous) from a script by actress Abby Miller (“Justified,” “The Sinner”), the film is a unique blend of psychological horror and supernatural mystery with hints of folk horror and body horror.
Having squandered his chance to escape the coastal Oregon town of Spiral Creek, troubled deputy Ren Accord (Ethan Embry, Empire Records) drowns his sorrows in booze and the hope that his distant teen son (Jann’s real-life son, Lukas Jann) can succeed where he failed. When his old high school classmate Alma (Li Jun Li, “The Exorcist”) asks him to kill the wolf that took the life of her beloved dog, Ren is sent down a dangerous path into the unknown.
Continually reinventing itself, the film subverts expectations and turns conventions on their head throughout. The efficacy of the buildup make the predictable conclusion all the more unsatisfactory, but there’s plenty to enjoy on the journey. Embry earns extraordinary sympathy for his character’s descent into darkness with a vulnerable and nuanced performance.
Alma and the Wolf is currently on festival circuit.
Fucktoys
All the psychics agree: AP (Annapurna Sriram, “The Blacklist”) is cursed. The news sends the unconventional sex worker — who charges on a sliding scale — on an odyssey that reimagines The Fool’s Journey as a fever dream fueled by anarchic absurdity, with 16mm photography that makes the various filth and fluids that fly throughout the movie all the more sumptuous.
In addition to weaving in a Tarot-inspired color palette and iconography, Fucktoys employs a variety of larger-than-life characters that represent Major Arcana cards, including AP’s twin flame (Sadie Scott), her best client (a scene-stealing Damian Young, “Ozark”), her psychic (rapper Big Freedia), sketchy celebrity James Francone (Brandon Flynn, Hellraiser), and a mysterious john (François Arnaud, “Yellowjackets”).
A transgressive romp with sinister undertones, Fucktoys echoes the best of John Waters and Gregg Araki. Directing with a confidence rarely seen in a first-time filmmaker, Sriram builds a fully-realized world in Trashtown, USA (shot on location in New Orleans); an alternate reality on the brink of collapse where cotton candy skies meet urban decay. It’s entertaining at face value but also has plenty to say about classism, capitalism, and the female experience.
Fucktoys is currently on festival circuit.
Escape from the 21st Century
Maximalist in every sense of the word, Escape from the 21st Century plays like a hyperactive blend of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Kung Fury, and Stand by Me. It may take a while to get in sync with the Chinese film’s unique rhythms — from shifting aspect ratios to animated effects — but if you’re able to acclimate, a wild ride awaits.
Set on the Earth-like world of Planet K, a trio of high school friends exposed to a mysterious chemical find themselves with the ability to sneeze their consciousnesses back and forth between 1999 and 2019. After bearing witness to the danger and hardships that the future has in store, they attempt to work backwards to resolve it while longing for the simplicity of childhood.
The breakneck energy makes its 98-minute runtime feel longer, and some subplots are more successful than others, but Escape from the 21st Century is certainly never boring. While it may seem like little more than an exercise in excess at a glance, writer-director Yang Li imbues surprising poignancy amidst the chaotic action and humor.
Escape from the 21st Century will be released later this year from Cineverse.
Re-Animator: 40th Anniversary Restoration
BUFF hosted the world premiere of Ignite Films’ 40th anniversary restoration of Re-Animator. The screening was preceded by an enthusiastic dance competition, the winner of which was awarded the limited edition box set, and an equally spirited introduction from special guest Barbara Crampton. The horror stalwart also participated in a fun post-screening Q&A moderated by Rue Morgue’s Michael Gingold.
Director Stuart Gordon, co-writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris, and producer Brian Yuzna turned H. P. Lovecraft’s 1922 short story Herbert West–Reanimator — itself an homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein — into one of the greatest horror-comedies of all time. From the eye-popping opening to the bonkers finale, there is nary a dull moment among the lightning-paced 86 minutes.
It’s not exactly like seeing the film again for the first time, since Arrow Films’ previous edition was quite impressive, but the new 4K restoration injects new life into the cult classic. Witnessing the madness with an audience, some of whom were seeing it for the first time, proved that Re-Animator is still wildly entertaining, funny, and shocking four decades later.
Re-Animator will be released on 4K UHD in April from Ignite Films.
