Jason goes to Indiefest--Day 10

A four movie Saturday. Usually at Indiefest I do five movie Saturdays, but Peaches Christ made me trade quantity for quality. Anyway, let's dive right in.

First up, the surreal masterpiece THE BEAST PAGEANT. Abraham lives in his stultifying modern life, working a rote mechanical job (stuffing pills into fish as part of an assembly line) then goes home to his apartment full of electro-mechanical marvels, like his woman (wife?) who is a head in a fishbowl who calls him on the phone, and his TV with an old bearded guy instructing him how to buy such conveniences as the breakfast cereal Fish Chompers (the only way to start the day) or New Shoes. But something is crawling out of his stomach--a tiny country singer named Zeke, with whom he sets out into the wild world to be molested by trees, rocks, and an artichoke man before learning to connect with his natural side. Hell of an adventure.

I heard many people comparing THE BEAST PAGEANT to ERASERHEAD, and the comparison is as obvious as it is superficial. BEAST PAGEANT is about the stultifying effects of modern life and the freedom of the return to a more primal state, ERASERHEAD is about the fear of sex. They couldn't be more different.

Next up, we continued the grand Indiefest tradition of odd music documentaries, starting with the short NEGATIVIPEG. In 1985 Guess Who lead singer Burton Cummings was involved in an altercation in a 7/11 in his hometown of Winnipeg. Talking of his experience and venting frustration, he called the city Negativipeg (although Lose-ipeg would've been a better quip) and swore to cut all ties. In this film Rory Lepine, the guy who broke a beer bottle over Cumming's head, tells his side, and is augmented by opinions of local leaders. Very interesting, and a keen observation of the lasting effects and reinterpretations of a single incident.

That was a lead-in to CORPUSSE: SURRENDER TO PASSION. Corpusse (pronounced like Corpus, the extra -se is some unexplained legal issue) is a Montreal rocker/performance artist (although he insists simple rock and roll). His shows feature extreme, in your face rants and even more extreme performances (icluding simulated sex acts with poultry). It's kinda goth, maybe not. It's kinda metal, maybe not. It's kinda music, maybe not. But it's all extreme and passionate. Oh, and he paints, too, but that's secondary. He's gotta be seen to be believed, and I'd bet seeing him live is better than seeing this movie. By the end I was interested in him, but it took a long time to get there. The first performances shown were rough and not shot well. They waited way too long to get to his family--his loving, supportive mother and his recently reunited father. It's tempting to make something out of the absent father, but I don't really think there's anything there that explains where his music is coming from (although, as an aside, the cut from Corpusse trailing off as he admits he doesn't know where his dad is to suddenly interviewing the dad is one of the best moments of the film). Instead, it'll just have to remain his singular, passionate, personal vision.

Then I had something I hadn't had all of Indiefest--a break. I actually sat down for dinner (had sushi, it was good), all because the next show was at 8 instead of 7.

And that was Peaches Christ presenting SEED OF CHUCKY with star Jennifer Tilly and director/Chucky creator Don Mancini. Peaches did her always fantastic pre-show, featuring herself as Chucky Christ and her usual entourage all dolled up, including Little Orphan Trannie, Puta Nesca as the Bride of Chucky giving birth to Martiny as Glen/Glenda.

After that, an inspired clip role of Jennifer Tilly in Oscar-nominated roles and Don Mancini's earlier Chucky creations, coalescing into Jennifer Tilly as the Bride of Chucky.

Then the stars came out, as Jennifer Tilly came out looking absolutely fabulous including shoes she insisted cost more than the entire theatre, and Don Mancini came out wearing a t-shirt of Jennifer Tilly breastfeeding the spawn of Chucky and blood dribbling down her chest (advantage of the front row, and it was excellent). They told great stories about the movie--how Jennifer didn't want to barf in her purse, how she ad-libbed the line (referring to herself) "this bitch is fat!" Mostly it was just clear they had a blast making the movie and a blast being in front of such an enthusiastic audience.

And then finally the movie. It's ten years old, I assume anyone who cares has seen it by now. Chucky and his bride Tiffany (voice of Jennifer Tilly) died at the end of the last movie, but left behind a timid...son? Daughter? Doll with no genitalia (voice of Billy Boyd, who went on to star in the LORD OF THE RINGS movies. Which also featured Brad Dourif, who voiced Chucky. How's that for a weird reunion?) He goes to Hollywood where they're making a Chucky movie based on the events of the previous film, and starring Jennifer Tilly (played by Jennifer Tilly). He revives the prop dolls with the demonic curse, and things go crazy. Plus John Waters plays a paparazzo whose face gets melted by sulfuric acid. Pretty freakin' awesome, and better with an enthusiastic audience, as I knew it would be.

And that ended in time for me to catch the late show, featuring nunsploitation!

First, the short THY KILL BE DONE. Drug gangs have taken over the church parking lot, and kill the priest who confronts them. So the nuns take over, using the fighting skills they learned in Nam. This must take place in the late 70's at the latest, because the nuns are pretty much the same age in the Nam flashbacks. Anyway, an amusing film that's an excuse for some awful/great puns like "it's a cloisterfuck!" and "Bad habits die hard!"

And then the feature, NUDE NUNS WITH BIG GUNS. How can you go wrong with such a title? Answer: you can't, as long as you deliver on that promise. And it delivers, it more than delivers! Tons of boobies, plenty of full frontal, and plenty of kick-ass killing. The church is a front for a drug smuggling gang. At least, primarily drug smuggling. When the nuns get uppity it's also a prostitution racket. One nun escapes, and returns for revenge. This movie is from the modern grindhouse auteurs who brought the rape and revenge flick RUN BITCH RUN to Holehead a couple of years back. That had promise, but not a high enough revenge/rape ratio. NUDE NUNS amped up both the rape and the revenge, and also improved the ratio. And it's perfectly set up for a sequel (which I will see, if given a chance).

Total Running Time: 358
My Total Minutes: 223,133