Randall Lotowycz
photo by Arnold Wells
In addition to reviewing Simon Rumley‘s new film Fashionista, we were fortunate to sit down with him and the cast before the premiere at Fantastic Fest for a lively and laughter-filled discussion about the film, its influences, the city of Austin, allergic reactions, and much more.
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The Lure
We wish we could do a full review for every film we watched, but there just isn’t enough time. But we also did not want to miss the opportunity to address the many films we watched and appreciated.
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The Void is a superbly surreal nightmare of a horror film the writer/director team Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski. Haunting from the first moments–a couple fleeing from a sinister house with gun-toting pursuers–the film never relents and never goes where you could ever expect. The approach is very much, throw it all against the wall and see if it sticks. And, almost miraculously, IT ALL STICKS.
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Fashionista is a hypnotic exploration of identity and transformation written and directed by Simon Rumley. The narrative focuses on vintage clothing shop owners April (Amanda Fuller) and Eric (Ethan Embry), whose marriage is tested when April begins to suspect her husband of having an affair. After her suspicions are proven, their lives fall apart. April, seeking validation, attracts the attention of the wealthy, brooding Randall (Eric Balfour).
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12-year old Luke (Levi Miller) is in love with his babysitter, Ashley (Oliva DeJonge). He holds out hope they can overcome the 5-year age gap between them, but time is running out because she’s set to move away in a few days. When his parents (played by Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton) hire her to watch him one last time on a snowy December night, Luke knows it’s now or never. He has it all planned out, until they find themselves threatened by a home invasion.
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A mountain man evades authorities and survives the winter by breaking into empty houses. A fisherman is lost at sea, sending out letters in bottles with hopes they reach the shore. And a family man works night shifts at a hotel, living with his wife’s parents as they try to save up to get a place of their own with their infant daughter. All three men are one of the same, existing at different times yet simultaneously in Sarah Adina Smith’s impressive second feature film, Buster’s Mal Heart.
Read MoreSpeaking at the New York premiere of the newly restored Multiple Maniacs last month, John Waters touched on the state of his first feature length film, Mondo Trasho. He said it would probably never be re-released because the music licensing would cost $750,000, and it’s not the first time he has made a statement like this. And every time I hear it, it’s a bummer. There’s an entire generation of Waters fans who have only seen VHS rips on YouTube or via torrents, and that’s a shame. These mediums are not suitable for an acclaimed director’s first film, nor are they exactly legal. Let’s get the fan entitlement out of the way. We’re not owed an official, restored release of Mondo Trasho.
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Shortly after graduating film school and coming out to his family, Will Allen joined a Los Angeles-based group called The Buddhafield. He was searching for spiritual fulfillment and found it in the group of like-minded individuals. With his video camera in tow, Allen spent twenty years documenting the group’s activities, at the center of which was their enigmatic leader Michel. Over the two decades, the group’s focus changed due to both external and internal forces. They grew to be seen as a cult by the outside world while Michel tightened his grip on them. His public behavior bordered on bizarre, but it was what he did in secret that ultimately led to the unraveling of The Buddhafield. The footage that Allen accumulated serves as a record of both the joyous highs and horrific lows of the group, capturing the literal Holy Hell it became.
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If all went according to plan, Jon would drive his friend/mentor Daryl on a 3,000-mile trip to the Pacific Northwest on a custom motorcycle fitted with a sidecar. The trip would fulfill a longstanding promise and allow Jon to pay Daryl back for helping him through rough times. It had a sense of urgency as Daryl suffered from degenerative eye disease that’ll leave him blind. He’d likely never have another opportunity like this one. But in the grand tradition of road trips, nothing went as planned.
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Caroline Williams is one of those actresses you never forget. In 1986 she starred in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Tobe Hooper’s bonkers and wildly entertaining sequel to the original horror classic. As disc jockey Stretch Brock, she fought to survive an unfortunate run-in with Leatherface and the rest of the sadistic Sawyer clan. Following that iconic performance, she appeared in dozens of other films, including another of my favorite horror sequels, Stepfather 2. This month marks the 30th anniversary of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, as well as the release of her latest film, Syfy’s Sharknado 4. To celebrate, we reached out (and geeked out a little) to Ms. Williams about her historic horror career.
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