PARK CITY '08 NOTEBOOK | Slamdance Offers Refreshing Alternative: "Paranormal"; "Fix"; "Project", "Tingler"
by Eric Kohn (January 21, 2008)
A scene from Ryan Piotrowicz's "The Project." Image courtesy of the Slamdance Film Festival.
Compact in terms of programming and scale, the Slamdance Film Festival offers a refreshing grassroots alternative to the Sundance Film Festival‘s glamour. This year’s program includes several markedly similar attempts to tell fictional stories within a documentary framework. These aren’t lighthearted mockumentaries of the Christopher Guest variety: YouTube generation filmmakers have adapted the style as a non-ironic storytelling device—and when the tactic works, it’s stunning. ”Paranormal Activity” makes a strong case for this approach. Despite its miniscule production values and somewhat rudimentary concept, this intelligently paced ghost story creates a stripped-down intensity that the horror genre often sorely lacks. Israeli-born director Oren Peli uses a technique reminiscent of “The Blair Witch Project,” but it really suggests a DIY take on “Poltergeist.” Shot on digital video and edited like found footage, the movie tracks the efforts of a young couple (Katie Featherson and Micah Sloat) to record a menacing supernatural presence haunting their home at night. Peli generates suspense with nuanced cues that suit the material (plenty of things go bump in the night). Like any great thriller, anticipation trumps excess. “When I watch a movie with a lot of editing tricks and loud sound effects—these kind of things make you jump, but they don’t stay with you,” Peli said last week shortly before the premiere of his film. “The ones that don’t show a lot of things always scare me.” Consider Peli’s alternative to the genre’s typically simplistic shocks in light of the Slamdance documentary “Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story,” which tracks the bizarre efforts of the prolific genre filmmaker to break the fourth wall of the horror filmgoing experience. Castle, whose stature as the producer of “Rosemary’s Baby” became overwhelmed by the prolificacies of Roman Polanski, succeeded as a performance artist—but the camp value of his gimmicks cheapened his reputation. (In one interview, John Waters tenderly recalls the flimsy skeleton drifting over a bemused crowd during “House on Haunted Hill”). Castle’s legacy is illuminating when juxtaposed with the icy power of “Paranormal Activity,” where the illusion of real danger engenders a greater terror than any given mass market ploy.  A scene from Jeffrey Schwarz’s “Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story.” Image courtesy of the Slamdance Film Festival.
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AFI Fest
AFI Fest '09
BROKEN EMBRACES
A Film By Almodovar, Starring Penelope Cruz Opens New York 11/20, Opens Los Angeles 12/11 Opens additional cities 12/25 Where is it opening by you? www.sonyclassics.com/brokenembraces/dates.html "Astonishing! A Masterpiece!" Jeffrey Lyons, KNBC Weekend Today "Cruz with Almodovar makes BROKEN EMBRACES soar!" Richard Corliss, TIME Written and Directed by Pedro Almodovar www.brokenembracesmovie.com www.facebook.com/brokenembracesmovie |
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Eric,
I totally agree with your comments on ‘The Project.’ I found the film thinly conceived, weak on details when it mattered most - the basic ideas were fatally flawed. That film was DOA with all of the audience members I spoke with after the screening.
Great article, Eric, thanks!
I have to disagree. I saw the film and was totally engaged. The story cuts like a razor and the acting was superb! Your review does not represent the audiences reaction and excitement to this film.
Funny article coming from someone who probably has never been on the real streets in any city. I saw The Project and was totally engrossed in it’s message. Also, when I go to a movie I try to pay attention to the details. Where was the “obnoxious white guilt” message delivered. Instead of sitting there and thinking about all the clever quotes you are going to write, try watching whats in front of you. I have lived there and have done that, it was raw and all too familiar. Next time you happen onto Fort Green try staying awhile