The Playlist

Fantastic Fest Review: The Kids Are Alright In Dan Bradley's Sturdy Remake of 'Red Dawn'

By William Goss
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September 27, 2012 9:00 PM
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5 Comments

Reviews

After North Korean forces set foot on American soil in a clandestine invasion, one character utters that “this was bound to happen sooner or later.” He may just as well be referring to the fact that yet another beloved ‘80s title has been tapped for a remake by Hollywood; this time around, it’s “Red Dawn,” John Milius’ moderately beloved 1984 paean to small-town might and Soviet panic. Dan Bradley’s version won’t sway anyone who already construes the mere prospect of an update as something resembling sacrilege, and it’s unlikely to leave as potent an impact on its current generation, but it stands well enough on its own as an efficient, exciting tale of teenage insurgency.

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Fantastic Fest Review: 'Wake In Fright' Is A Genuine Lost Ozploitation Classic

By Drew Taylor
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September 26, 2012 12:23 PM
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Reviews

As the terrifically fun and informative documentary "Not Quite Hollywood" notes, at around the same time that austere, gauzy Australian films were bewitching American art house crowds (dubbed the Australian New Wave by people who dub those sorts of things), another, equally powerful surge of Australian movies were capturing the hearts and minds of stateside grindhouse audiences. Colorfully characterized as "Ozploitation" films, these pictures were down and dirty and unlike anything anyone had seen. In the same year that Nicolas Roeg's poetic outback tale "Walkabout" debuted (a cornerstone of the Australian New Wave), so too did Ted Kotcheff's "Wake In Fright," a much more bruising portrait of the Australian wilderness. While "Walkabout" was instantly considered a classic, "Wake In Fright" has largely languished as an unseen Ozploitation oddity. Until now. It's been cleaned up and is ready for canonization.

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Fantastic Fest Review: Tim Burton's 'Frankenweenie' Is A Rousing Return To Form

By Drew Taylor
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September 20, 2012 8:45 PM
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6 Comments

Reviews

For the last decade or so, visionary filmmaker Tim Burton, once known for original concoctions like "Edward Scissorhands," has gotten very good at taking studio assignments for pre-existing properties that seem to roughly fit within his wheelhouse ("Planet of the Apes," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Alice in Wonderland") and applying just enough of his unique sensibilities, to make these properties seem fresh and easily marketable. It says something, then, that Burton's best, most enjoyable, and most emotionally resonate film in years is actually an adaptation of one of his very first projects: "Frankenweenie," originally a live action short he made while working as an animator for Disney, reanimated now as a brilliant black-and-white 3D stop-motion monster.

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'Red Dawn' To Premiere & Close Fantastic Fest, Plus Three New Images Of The Cast

By Edward Davis
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September 5, 2012 1:22 PM
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2 Comments

News

"Red Dawn," the 1984 John Milius film, is a '80s cold-war classic. Not because it's amazing (it's a fun teen actioner), but because of the nostalgia factor involved. And hell, arriving in the heart of the tense Regan/Gorbachev years, it spoke to a lot of us growing up in the era of potential nuclear-war anxiety.

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Will Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master' Premiere At Fantastic Fest?

By Kevin Jagernauth
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July 23, 2012 11:41 AM
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2 Comments

News

In case you missed it, this weekend we dove deep into the breathtaking full trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," investigating the spot from all angles in what is easily one of our most anticipated films of the year. Now the question is: where will it premiere? While the Venice Film Festival has seemingly been the leading contender thus far, some recent activity in Austin suggets that Anderson may choose to return to a festival that has already served him well.

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Tim Burton's 'Frankenweenie' To Have World Premiere At Fantasic Fest While 'Godzilla' Expected To Stomp Into Comic-Con

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 29, 2012 10:52 AM
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0 Comments

News

Two very different kinds of monsters are getting ready to make their debuts in the comind weeks and months -- one set to be released, and another a long in the works remake/reboot that is hoping to get it right this time.

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Tom Six Says 'Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)' Will Head To America & Directly Follow 'Part 2'

By Todd Gilchrist
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October 3, 2011 5:46 AM
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24 Comments

After seeing the encyclopedic acts of horror on display in “The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence),” it’s hard to imagine that there’s too much more to do with the concept, short of capturing an actual rape or murder on camera. But writer-director Tom Six, who premiered his sequel at Austin’s Fantastic Fest last week, said he has plenty more ideas where those for the first two films came from. “When I was writing the first script, I had so many ideas that I couldn’t put them in one film,” Six explained in a recent interview with The Playlist.

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Fantastic Fest Review: 'Elite Squad 2' A Sprawling, Exciting Look At The Depths Of Corruption

By Todd Gilchrist
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September 30, 2011 3:27 AM
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6 Comments

More of a “Red Riding Hood” or “Millennium Series” installment than a traditional sequel, “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within” doesn’t require viewers to have seen the original “Elite Squad” because it builds upon its predecessor’s themes and ideas rather than the strict details of its plot. Director Jose Padilha, returning to the director and co-writer’s chair for the second time, crafts an engaging, morally ambiguous thriller that also fearlessly examines police and political corruption in Brazil.

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Fantastic Fest Review: 'Sleepless Night' A Deceptively Simple Thriller That Packs A Punch

By Todd Gilchrist
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September 29, 2011 3:59 AM
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0 Comments

Containment thrillers can often be limited by the landscape of their locale, but in the French film “Sleepless Night,” the nightclub where corrupt cop Vincent (Tomer Sisley) races to rescue his son is expansive enough to make it seem like a mini-mall. Writer-director Frederic Jardin somehow manages to squeeze every last drop of claustrophobia from the massive, multilevel building, even after he’s filled it wall-to-wall with clubgoers, diners, socialites, and especially the odd assortment of cops and crooks who all have a stake in Vincent’s future. Although it’s quite deservedly scheduled for an American remake via the folks at Warner Brothers, “Sleepless Night” is the kind of entertainment that requires little translation to succeed, as its characters and story are so cleanly and cleverly designed that they would work in virtually any language.

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Fantastic Fest Review: 'Paranormal Activity 3' Runs Low On Ideas, But Delivers Plenty Of Scares

By Todd Gilchrist
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September 29, 2011 1:03 AM
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0 Comments

As a person terrified by the prospect of encountering a shadowy figure in my apartment in the middle of the night, the “Paranormal Activity” movies work like gangbusters on this writer. On an intellectual level, It's genuinely admirable how effectively they’re able to wring significant suspense out of so little happening on screen, but in terms of visceral impact, they’re among the few horror films whose effect on this viewer lingered long after leaving the theater. “Paranormal Activity 3” is less effective than its predecessors, but it still works when and how it needs to. As a prequel to a prequel that further explored the supernatural world created by Oren Peli, the film unwittingly reveals the dwindling supply of ideas left to be injected into the franchise, both in conception and execution, even as it offers a finale mostly worthy of its predecessors.

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