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diff --git a/content/film/2017-08-19-ramaskrik-2016/index.en.md b/content/film/2017-08-19-ramaskrik-2016/index.en.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8240ba0 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/film/2017-08-19-ramaskrik-2016/index.en.md @@ -0,0 +1,415 @@ ++++ +title = "Ramaskrik 2016" +lang = "en" + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["film", "horror", "Ramaskrik", "festival"] + +[extra] +author = "harald" ++++ + +{% figure(img="howl_front.jpg") %} +One of the attractions this year was the screening of Howl from an old train car at Oppdal station. +{% end %} + +This report from the [Ramaskrik Horror Film Festival] of 2016 has taken way too +long to finish. My apologies for that. We're now only a about a month and a +half away from the next Ramaskrik, which I'm very much forwards to it! Anyways +here is my report from four days dedicated in full to horror films, beers and +socializing with other horror fans. + +<!-- more --> + +One of the great things about this festival is it's location. A very small town +in the middle of Norway. (Yes, that sounds like "in the middle of nowhere" for +a reason.) [Oppdal] is a picturesque small town surrounded by mountains. A +popular skiing resort in winter time, and great for mountain trips in the +summer and fall. + +Due to its small size the festival gets very social. Audience, producers, +directors, actors and the organisers of the festival mingle freely. Pretty much +everyone stays at the same hotel. The venue doesn't have any VIP area, and the +evening usually ends up at one of the local bars – either at the hotel or +somewhere else. + +We (the audience) appreciate this, but it seems like the professionals present +do so too. We're all horror film enthusiasts in the end, and the atmosphere is +informal and very inclusive. + +Right! Enough chit'chat, on to the report! + +## Day 1 - Thursday + +{% figure(img="midtnorsk-fortellerforum-underholder.jpg") %} +Midtnorsk fortellerforum is making the train trip scarier. +{% end %} + +For me the trip kicks off with the Horror train from Oslo to Oppdal. This year +I volunteered to be the host of the trip from Oslo, so I don't feel I can +comment too much on how that experience was. Most of the other travelers were +familiar faces from last years trip with a few new ones added. + +Also this year +we had people from [Midtnorsk Fortellerforum] (a storytelling society) come on +board and tell some macabre stories for us during the trip. This was a great +addition! We also had the horror quiz where the winners could gain glory, +fortune and prizes when we arrived at the hotel. + +...which we did just in time to check in before going to see the opening film – +_[Train to Busan]_. An action packet and tight zombie film where most of the action is +on a train. After all, what could be more appropriate after a five hour train +trip from Oslo? A great start of an excellent festival! The director, Sang-ho +Yeon was not able to be at the screening himself, but had sent a video message +that introduced the film. + +Next up was _[The Autopsy of Jane Doe]_ introduced by the director _André +Øvredal_. Øvredal is best known for his previous film _[Troll Hunter]_, and +said he wanted to make something completely different this time around. And he +definitely did. + +_The Autopsy of Jane Doe_ is tight, dark and claustrophobic. Extremely well +made, and plays very successfully on suspense and the primal fears of darkness +and dead bodies. I found that the story worked really well, and the atmosphere +gradually evolves from the mundane everyday attitude of morticians towards pure +dread. A film highly recommended! + +{% figure(img="janedoe-poster.jpg") %} +_The Autopsy of Jane Doe_ poster. +{% end %} + +Due to the travel time from Oslo, two films was all I managed this first day. +However, a really strong start on the festival, and I think everyone is smiling +as we head back to the hotel bar for some beers. André Øvredal hangs around for +the evening, even though he has to get up early to get to the next festival (in +Stockholm) already the next day. + +## Day 2 - Friday + +First film for me on friday was _[31]_ by Rob Zombie. I'd read mixed reviews of +this film in advance, but wanted to give it a shot. We meet a crew of traveling +con artists that get caught up in a game of "31" where they play pawns for the +rich to place their bets on. The game is played by letting them loose in a +closed off industial labyrinth with hired killers trying to kill them off in +more or less imaginative ways. + +This is an orgy of violence for the sake of violence itself. Still I think it +works. It's well executed, the setting is interesting, and both the hunters and +the prey are interesting characters. Perhaps not a favourite from the festival, +but absolutely worth watching if you're not turned off by this kind of +violence. + +Before the next film _[Red Christmas]_, we got to see the short film _[Night of +the Slasher]_. + +{{ vimeo(id="127454533") }} + +_Red christmas_, an australian slasher mixing the festive themes of christmas +with the ethical and political dilemmas around abortion, downs syndrome, human +selection etc. Quite a few people didn't like this one, but I found it +entertaining. The ethical aspects were present but not dominating, still they +added a small touch of uniqueness to what would otherwise be just another +slasher film. And legendary Deb Wallace does a good figure as the mother with a +dark past. + +_[Seoul Station]_ was next on my agenda. But first we got the norwegian short +film _[The Absence of Eddy Table]_, a really absurd computer animated story +about a guy with a backpack that gets lost in a jungle of strange berries, huge +women and snail like creatures that will transform you to a monster by growing +a huge mouth in your neck. Voice talent provided by Mike Patton amongst others, +this was very enjoyable and a surreal ride! + +_Seoul Station_ is an animated prequel to _Train to Busan_. Made by the same +director – Sang-ho Yeon. It's much slower than Train To Busan, and the fact +that it's animated rather than a real film distracts me a bit. It's also a tad +longwinded. Not a bad movie, but not really needed as a companion to Train to +Busan either. + + + +{% figure(img="francesca-poster.jpg") %} +_Francesca_ poster. +{% end %} + +Fourth feature of the day was the Italian Giallo homage _[Francesca]_. This was +also a film that divided the audience a bit. I loved it, but others found it +too much a pastiche of it's genre. + +The atmosphere is set right away, by a catchy prog-rock soundtrack, over +saturated colours and even the proper typefaces from the 70's in the title +sequence. The plot is admittedly thin, and you have to enjoy the aestethics of +the film and the genre for this to be worthwhile. On one level it felt more +like a long music video than a feature film. + +_Francesca_ was preceeded by the short film _[Tunnelen]_ (The Tunnel) again by +André Øvredal (who also had _The Autopsy of Jane Doe_ on the festival.) + +This is dystopian futurism, and we follow a family on their way home from a day +by the sea. On their way back into the city they have to pass though a tunnel, +and while everybody assures eachother there's no danger in passing the tunnel +we sense that they're just not showing their fear. Based on a short story by +Alice Glaser, this is again masterfully executed by Øvredal and not the least +by the actors. Very nice! + + +After this I team up with a couple of friends for a food break. Even though +that means missing _[The Rezort]_ which I had planned to see in this spot. Head +and stomach found it wiser to eat though, so off we went for a bloody beef! + +... + +Back at the venue I went for _[Pet]_. But first the hilarious short film +_[Death Metal]_ from Chris McInroy. A metal head with less than average guitar +skills is given a new guitar by his dad. The new guitar has some secrets +though, and some rules that need to be followed. Needless to say they're not, +and things take off differently than our guitar hero expects. Very funny and +lots and lots of blood! + +_Pet_ was a film I liked very much. It starts off as more of a quirky romance +than a horror film, but it takes a different turn after about 20 minutes or so. +Then it takes different and unexpected turns several more times. + +This was a film that managed to surprise me in a good way. The actors do a +great job, and the story is twisted but somewhat realistic. This is not a film +that aims to be scary, but it does tell an interesting story that's way darker +than what I first thought. Very much recommended! + + +{% figure(img="greasy-poster.jpg") %} +_The Greasy Strangler_ poster. +{% end %} + +Last film for the day, and the one that it seems the entire day has built up +to, is _[The Greasy Strangler]_! + +Jim Hosking's debut feature film is sleasy, greasy, and a hell of a lot of fun! +Don't expect a deep story, or for that matter a conventional film in any way. +This is as if someone put all the sleaziest parts of John Waters films, the +acting talent of a low budget Troma film, mixed them all with bucketloads of +grease and added disco! If that sounds great, this is your film! Don't say I +didn't warn you! + +Three people from _Spectrevision_, the production company behind the film had +come over from Los Angeles to Oppdal for the occation. They were really funny +people with lot's of stories from the shooting of the film and other hilarious +anecdotes. The Q&A after the film had to be broken off because thay had so many +stories to tell. We all went to _Spisbar_, a nearby pub for beers and to let +the films of the day sink in. Most of us went to bed when the bar closed... + +## Day 3 - Saturday + +Saturday starts early! First with a Horror breakfast, where author _Jørgen +Brekke_ reads a couple of horror short stories. + +The first is _Gulebjørn_ (Yellowteddy,) one of his own stories. Since we hade +some time left, he also read _The Oval Portrait_ by Edgar Allan Poe. Both +stories are very enjoyable, but he clearly had not practiced reading the second +story, so that felt a bit stuttering. His own story worked much better. Still a +great start. + +First film on my schedule for saturday was _[Ouija - The origin of evil]_, one +of the more commercial films on the fetival. + +But first the short film _[Closet Space]_ by David F Sandberg. I've been +following this promising director and the shorts he's made with his wife since +I first came accross the original short _[Lights Out]_. I haven't been able to +catch his full length version of Lights Out yet, but his shorts are allways +refreshing and innovative. If you don't know his films, do check out his +channel on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/ponysmasher) or +[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/ponysmasher). + +{{ vimeo(id="156095543") }} + +As for _Ouija_, I found it to be really good. It builds up nicely and is +extremely well made. Also the young actress playing the gifted child does a +very good job! All in all a very enjoyable movie. + + +{% figure(img="the-similars-poster.jpg") %} +_The Similars_ poster. +{% end %} + +Next up was the mexican production _[The Similars]_ (Los Parecidos). It was +very different than what I expected from the liner notes. A highly original +film, and with a story that manages to surprise at many levels. I liked it a +lot, while it could proabably have worked just as well with a shorter running +time. + +The Norwegian short _Hunden_ (The Dog) was screened just before _The Similars_. +A quietly told drama from the norwegian countryside. Very well executed, the +minimal dialogue accentuates the quietness of the countryside. While the +twist at the end is not really that surprising it comes with a great punchline. +Definitely worth watching! + + +Another mexican film, _[The Untamed]_ (La Región Salvaje) was again quite an +original one. Alejandra is left alone to care for her child after her husband +is taken to prison. By means of a female patient of her brother who is a nurse, +she is introduced to a mysterious creature in a cabin which gives intense +sexual pleasure. + +It works well on some levels, but not quite as well on others. It feels a bit +long. It's not really much of a horror film, but neither does it work as a +science fiction. Still the parts that work is well worth it, and the story is +interresting and fairly original. + +As with last years outdoor screening of _Villmark II_, Ramaskrik had organised +a special screening this year too. This time it was the train/werewolf flick +_[Howl]_ that was screened in an old train car at the Oppdal train station. + +While the film was far from the highlight of the festival, and a train car +really does not lend itself that well to watching movies, the overal experience +was great! It was a fun thing to do, and the setting did help the film in my +opinion. + +As for the film itself? It falls for the classic mistakes of revealing the +monster too soon, too often, and too much. Outside of the action it really +didn't have much of a story to tell, and the characters seemed too +stereotypical to be interesting. + +{% figure(img="night-of-the-living-deb-poster.jpg") %} +_Night of the Living Deb_ poster. +{% end %} + +Back at Oppdal Kulturhus I go for _[Night of the Living Deb]_, with the +somewhat similarly named _[Dawn of the Deaf]_ as the pre-film short. As the +organisers explained, they were placed together for their tounge-in-cheek +names, not their content. The short was light on the horror elements, but had +an interesting twist that leads well into it at the end. + +_Night of the Living Deb_ was rollercoster of a zombie-romance-apocalypse. +Somewhat in the style of _[Shaun of the Dead]_, but with a woman as the leading +role and a romantic backstory to drive the film. In other words, quite +different. This was a refreshing and at times hilarious mix that makes this +film really stand out among the rest. Highly recommended! + +After a short break with an aborted quiz (due to the quiz being longer than the +break!) I was ready for the last film of the day: _[Scare Campaign]_. + +A TV crew needs to spice up their horror reality concept to stand a chance at +attracting viewers against the competition from underground internet snuff +crews. This is a film that could go both ways, but it twists around a few times +in interesting ways. I enjoyed it a lot, and recommend that you check it out! + +{{ vimeo(id="138946032") }} + +Before _Scare Campaign_ though, we were presented the short film _Invaders_. A +couple of guys argues about what masks to wear for a home invasion. They've +picked out a nice house where a family is gathered for their thanksgiving +dinner. Thing's don't go as planned... + +## Day 4 - Sunday + +All good things must come to an end, and so also this edition of Ramaskrik! Up +way too early again judging by the beer-bill from yesterday. But hey, the +breakfast at the hotel is really good so off we go! + +{% figure(img="windmill-massacre-poster.jpg") %} +Poster for _The Windmill Massacre_. +{% end %} + +I got to see two films before heading back to the train station for the ride +home. The first one, _[The Windmill Massacre]_ was a very enjoyable piece from +the land of windmills – the Netherlands. I think I enjoyed this for two +reasons, it really captures the Dutch friendly pragmatism in a good way, _and_ +it had a good story. + +We meet a number of random people that happen to meet on a guided tour to view +some of the old Dutch windmills. The tour bus breaks down at some desolate +place, and as things unfold it may seem that the collection of people weren't +as random as we first thought. + +I really liked the way the story unfolds in this film. Also the director, Nick +Jongerius was present and talked about the film and answered questions after +the screening. + +I was unsure if I was going to be able to finish the next film before having to +run off to catch the train home. Luckily other people are better at calculating +in their head than I am, so we went for it and finished the festival with +_[Don't Breathe]_. + +Again a fairly commercial film which has been hyped quite a bit in advance. I +liked it though! It's intense and well played. It doesn't really hold any +surprises, but is an enjoyable film nonetheless. Sometimes the simple recipe is +all that is needed. + +{{ vimeo(id="193729267") }} + +Before _Don't Breathe_ we got the short film _The Procedure_. This short film +really defies any attempt to describe it. Just watch it! It's a must see, and +it can not be unseen! + + +## Winding down... + +A really great festival has come to an end. Again I've enjoyed every moment. A +lot of films were seen, quite a few beers were drunk and people were met, talks +were had and opinions were shared. All in all a great time! + +The organizers did an amazing job, both with the selection of films and +organizing the event itself. At least from a visitors perspective everything +was super smooth from start to finish. The hotel had again done an amazing job +decorating and preparing for the event, and as far as I could see it was only +smiles and happy faces the entire weekend. + +16 feature films and 9 shorts was what I managed to see this time around. As +allways there was too many films that I did not get to see due to timing or +clashes with other films, but that's only to be expected with a program as +tight and as well put together as it was on this festival. + +See you in October! + +{% figure(img="hotelldekor1.jpg") %} +By tradition the hotel has decorated the main floor where guests for the +festival is staying. +{% end %} + +{% figure(img="hotelldekor2.jpg") %} +...and the elevator, for sports sake. +{% end %} + +{% figure(img="beer.jpg") %} +A well deserved beer between the screenings. +{% end %} + +{% figure(img="kulturhuset.jpg") %} +The venue +{% end %} + +[Ramaskrik Horror Film Festival]: https://ramaskrik.no/ +[Oppdal]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppdal +[Midtnorsk Fortellerforum]: http://fortellerforum.no/ +[The Windmill Massacre]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2923088/ + +[Train to Busan]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5700672 +[The Autopsy of Jane Doe]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3289956/ +[Troll Hunter]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/ + +[31]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3835080/ +[Red Christmas]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5120400/ +[Night of the Slasher]: https://vimeo.com/127454533 +[Seoul Station]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3845670/ +[The Absence of Eddy Table]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aJGfTL2a5Y + +[Francesca]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4958596/ +[Tunnelen]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4583446/ +[The Rezort]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3923662/ +[Pet]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183374 +[Death Metal]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5640904/ + +[The Greasy Strangler]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4381236/ +[Ouija - The origin of evil]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4361050/ +[Closet Space]: https://vimeo.com/156095543 +[Lights Out]: https://vimeo.com/82920243 + +[The Similars]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3949658/ +[The Untamed]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5265960/ +[Howl]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2393827/ +[Night of the Living Deb]: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/nightofthelivingdeb/179690844 +[Dawn of the Deaf]: http://www.dawnofthedeafmovie.com/ +[Shaun of the Dead]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365748/ + +[Scare Campaign]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4467626/ +[The Windmill Massacre]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2923088 +[Don't Breathe]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4160708/ + |