SUFF '18: The Traumatic Revenge of Mandy Luz's Puppet Reich

The program for this year's Sydney Underground Film Fest is off the chain. Their hottest lineup yet? Yeah, I think so. In 11 years SUFF has gone from the little fest that could to Sydney's premier genre event. No disrespect intended to SFF, ANOH or Monster Fest, but  SUFF is where it's at baby. 

I've picked up tickets to five films: Chilean "extreme" shocker TRAUMA (which is being compared to the infamous A SERBIAN FILM); the latest horror hit out of France, REVENGE; Arty German euro-horror throwback LUZ; the insane looking PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH (scored by Fabio Frizzi!); and most exciting of all, Panos Cosmatos' reportedly bonkers Nic Cage starrer, MANDY (with added bonus of the disgustingly delicious combo of ice cream and beer!).

If I had the goddamned time, I'd be going to Forzani/Cattet's Euro-crime + Spaghetti Western mashup LET THE CORPSES TAN, and Jim Hosking's GREASY STRANGLER followup AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN too! I WANT MORE LIFE, FUCKER!

SUFF TIX

THE ENDLESS

I caught THE ENDLESS at SUFF yesterday, and it gives me great pleasure to report that those indie mavericks Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have done it again. Following hot on the heels of RESOLUTION and SPRING, the boys are now three-for-three. The screening began with one of their signature personalised video intros, and I have to say that as well as being some of the most exciting genre filmmakers on the scene, these guys are pretty charming too.

THE ENDLESS opens by introducing us to Justin and Aaron (played by the directors, reprising characters seen in a brief cameo in 2012's RESOLUTION), two brothers who are eking out a meagre living in Los Angeles, ten years after escaping together from a rural death cult. The arrival of a mysterious video tape reveals that the mass-suicide they thought they were escaping never happened, and that the idyllic lifestyle in the cult's camp has continued on without them. Aaron, depressed and dissatisfied with his post-cult existence, finds himself pining for the good old days of his childhood in Camp Arcadia, much to the annoyance of his older, more cynical brother. He wants to revisit the camp, to find some kind of closure, and despite Justin's protests, the trip is starting to look inevitable.

Far more of an overt sequel to RESOLUTION than I was expecting, THE ENDLESS expands on that film's examination of the closed-loop, eternally repeating nature of storytelling (from cave paintings to digital media) and ramps it up to 11. As a fan of RESOLUTION, it's very satisfying to see all the links to that film play out here, as a succession of returning characters, themes and locations. However, where the first film had a visually minimalist approach (due largely to budgetary limitations), this quasi-sequel is bursting at the seams with vividly realised imagery that is arcane, eldritch and often horrifying. It's truly breathtaking to behold, and will make your head spin. THE ENDLESS is certainly one of the most successful visual representations of Lovecraft's "unknowable" universe that has ever been put to film. And as with their last film, SPRING, the fx here are for the most part very impressive on such a low budget.

As to what all this esoteric weirdness means, my interpretation is that the Three-Act structure of cinema, and storytelling in general, is a mirror for our dust to dust existence. As with stories, our lives can be seen as a closed loop (beginning, middle and end), endlessly repeating, the same cradle to grave cycle, told again and again, down the long aeons of evolution. You can quit your little loop if you want (suicide), but it won't stop the inexorable repetition of all the virtually identical lives that will follow yours.

Honestly though, I walked out of yesterday's screening feeling pretty bewildered. I rewatched RESOLUTION last week, after which I felt like I had a better grasp of its serpentine concepts than before, but a lot of that went out the window yesterday. And I'm fine with that. As I surrendered myself to THE ENDLESS' deep dive, it felt like the foundation of understanding that I took into the theatre with me was shifting and being eroded beneath me, an unsettling feeling that I think may be a big part of Benson and Moorhead's intent. To give the viewer a dizzying sense of vertigo as they peer into a Lovecraftian abyss of the unknowable, indescribable and truly alien.

SUFF 2015

The Sydney Underground Film Festival has launched its 2015 program, and I think they've pulled together an exciting and diverse selection this year. Best of all, the Factory Theatre is within stumbling distance of my place. We get new films from Takashi Miike, Gaspar Noe, Eli Roth, Adam Green, Bruce McDonald, Kim Ki-Duk and Quentin Dupieux. Not too shabby at all. I'll try and make it to all of the following:

Gaspar Noe's followup to the transcendent Enter the Void. Although it's being sold on the titillating promise of explicit, real sex, the semi-autobiographical Love is reportedly Noe's most restrained and personal film to date.

Bruce McDonald's Hellions (his first horror movie since 2008's excellent Pontypool) is my most anticipated film at this year's SUFF. I love horror movies that rely heavily on style, atmosphere and visuals, so it looks like I could be in for a real treat with this one. It was shot predominantly in Infrared(!), and is reportedly brimming with gorgeous, dreamlike and surreal imagery.

Speaking of surreal, Quentin Dupieux is back. The man who gifted us with the best rampaging psychic tire movie ever made is at it again! Following the absurd wonders of Rubber, Wrong and Wrong Cops, Dupieux's aptly titled Reality is about a first time director trying to get backing for his horror movie project. Things will (of course) get very weird.

Takashi Miike. Yayan Ruhian. Vampire Yakuza mayhem. That should be all you need to know.

With Eli Roth's love letter to Cannibal Holocaust - The Green Inferno - finally hitting screens this September, it looks like we're getting two new Roth movies in a single month. Knock Knock is a quiet remake of Peter Traynor's 1977 thriller Death Game, produced by Traynor and the original's two lead actresses, Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp. It marks a departure for Roth: his first star vehicle, and his first feature to trade in gore for straight up suspense.