I have never had such a concentrated blast of consecutive moviewatching in my life than I experienced at the 2020 Women in Horror Film Festival in Marietta, Georgia, over the last three days of February. If I hadn’t sat out two of the short film blocks, I would have seen all 89 films that played from Thursday-Saturday. In the end, there were 67 short films and 4 features I watched over that time frame, and it was quite a ride through each of them.
If you’ll recall, I first heard about the Festival when a filmmaker I’ve been reviewing for a few years, Nickolas Duarte, announced that his new short, “Old Man Forever,” would be playing at the Festival back in November. That led me to check it out, and then, shortly after I was accepted to cover the festival, I learned another filmmaker I’ve gotten to know over the years, Robbie Barnes, had a short screenplay in the screenplay competition at the festival, and that she would be coming down for the fest. Even though Duarte would not be there himself, having some familiar voices around to talk to, and cover, made it even more exciting, and that’s before looking at the schedule to see some other familiar names on the program.
The easy way to approach this blog would be to simply go through each day, what stood out and what happened, but I’m going to go for a different approach, and I want to start by leading into the below video, filmed after one of the short film blocks. None of the filmmakers from the block were there, but the announcer, and the festival’s co-founder, Vanessa Ionta Wright, took the opportunity to allow some of the other filmmakers in the audience discuss how they viewed the community of women filmmakers, regardless of genre, and how to promote their work. It illustrates the sense of community within the walls of the festival itself, which is something I know myself, and other people, noticed throughout the weekend; it was inspiring to see as everyone commiserated over the three days, and made it feel like everyone was a part of a family of filmmakers, bloggers and content creators that spans the globe.
The Films
As I said above, I watched 71 films over the weekend. I never planned on writing reviews for each of them as the weekend went on, and not just because that would take a ridiculous amount of time, but I knew there were some I wanted to spotlight. The four features I wanted to review, and you can find the links to all of those reviews below, and I was definitely going to review “Old Man Forever,” my first of Duarte’s films I was going to get to see on the big screen. Over the week, however, filmmakers either reached out to me about writing about their movies, or I was inspired to do so, leading to eight reviews total for the weekend, which are all linked to below. The variety of voices in those eight illustrate just how wide a net Vanessa and the rest of the people involved with curating the festival cast in programming, even when focusing on female filmmakers, and stories focused on female characters. Even if I’m not a fan of every movie, I am really impressed with the care and imagination that went into building the lineup.
The First Night
Thursday started off with some terrific films in the “Not of This World” supernatural block. Even the opening film, “The Last Vacation”, which was too short for my liking, had a clever concept in how it approached the supernatural, leading to a really strong group of films wherein a few of my favorites of the festival- Bridget Barbara’s “The Shadow”, M. Burger’s “Cleanse” (about a woman who helps people heal through energy crystals finds herself faced with a challenge when a couple comes in), and Ray Kermani’s “In Her Shoes” (about a young girl who follows a pair of shoes to a dark place; the lead actress won the Acting prize for the festival)- led in to “Washed Away”, a film directed by horror icon Heather Langenkamp, whom was there along with her “Nightmare on Elm Street” co-star Amanda Wyss (receiving the festival’s Horror Icon Award); I did not take the chance to introduce myself personally to them, but just seeing them being so generous with their time and insights with the other attendees was great to see, and really added to that sense of community at the festival. “Washed Away” was a strong close to the block- inspired by the death of Langenkamp’s own son, the film follows a surfer giving a young Japanese girl a ride to see her brother. It doesn’t go the way you expect, and it is a thoughtful piece of storytelling.
The weekend was never going to keep up that level of high quality in the short film blocks, but each one had films that spoke to some of what I appreciate the most in the genre, whether it was atmosphere, the ability to bring theme and genre to a new level in how they are combined, or good, old fashioned jumps and execution of form. My vote for the Audience Award ended up going to Heather Halstead’s “Blur” from Thursday’s “Class of 2020” student block, and while some others could have gotten that vote, as well, I went with it in the way she brings both psychological terror and traditional tropes together in a story about a police photographer whose sight is failing. It brought to mind the classic final moments of “Wait Until Dark,” both in the stage play and the 1967 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin, which I made sure to tell Halstead during Thursday’s after party, and that identification- which scared the crap out of me as a kid- is part of why it was my Best in Show for the festival. It had some competition, however.
“Black Lake”
The best feature of the four at the festival- at least in my opinion (Dan Bush’s “The Dark Red”, a very good psychological thriller, won the award at the festival)- is one that perfectly illustrates the complex nature of storytelling that is infused with stylistic purpose, and thematic weight over linear narrative, which was out in spades in many of the films I really loved over those three days. K/XI’s “Black Lake” is the story of a young artist who goes to a house by a lake for inspiration to create her art, and is given the gift of a scarf by her aunt. That scarf has a dark history, though, one that Aayra finds herself in the grasp of as her isolation goes on. A minimal amount of dialogue is spoken through the film, and K/XI uses striking cinematography (for which she won the Best Cinematography prize at the festival) and a riveting score by BurningTapes to bring us into the emotional mindset of Aayra as she goes on this turbulent journey that brings her to a place of feeling the traumas brought forth by the scarf. There are images in this film that are unforgettable, and it’s a film that challenges the viewer to keep going with it- you can either check out because of the unorthodox way it tells its story, or you can follow it to the dark recesses of pain its main character is going through. I don’t blame you if you check out, but I couldn’t keep watching.
I feel the same way I felt watching “Black Lake” when I’m watching Nickolas Duarte’s films, and his entry in the festival, “Old Man Forever”, illustrates what I love about his best work. Duarte loves unconventional storytelling, and this film is like a tone poem; based on a section of a feature script by Sonia Campbell, it follows a man walking through a Chinatown district, alone, and there is a moment when he screams. It feels like a short meditation of the loneliness of life, and how scary that can be when we feel that way. Not fun, but hard to shake. None of the other films challenged narrative conventions quite like those two, but films like the mother-daughter reunion of “Honor Thy Mother”; “Shaken” (wherein a woman struggles with the loss of a child, and a mind that won’t let her heal); “Forget Me Nots” (about a sister and brother who struggle to maintain a normal life after their parents die) and “Dark Water” (a creature horror story, with magnificent production values, about a woman who uncovers a secret about her birth) all brought interesting narrative challenges to the table as looked at emotional issues.
Where’s the Fun At?
What can I say? Dark, psychological horror with mood and atmosphere speaks to me profoundly. There were plenty of dark, sometimes nasty, sometimes silly horror films on the docket, as well, and they were a pretty great respite from the serious fare. Leading the way for me was the stop-motion animated “Kim”, about a siren and a fisherman who find common ground at sea, followed by “Backward Creep”, a proof of concept film about a group of cosplayers set upon by a menacing monster who takes eyeballs- it was an audience favorite, and purely entertaining. The features got in on the fun, as well, with “Mass Hysteria”, about a Salem Witch Trial reenactor who finds herself the subject of an angry mob’s ire; it was the perfect closing film of the festival. “Love Bite” put relationship issues in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and the result was wickedly funny. “Toothache” found a woman having unusual tooth problems, and “Lone Wolf” had a teenage girl going through some awkward changes at a sleepover. “Smiley Death Face” played off of the old “girl gets a creepy call while home alone” trope by having her tormentor use emojis to terrorize her, and “Synthia” had a woman experimenting with AI in the home. I actually missed the horror comedy block, but these films all pushed that button effortlessly and entertainingly.
The Rest of the Best
I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge other terrific films like “Maggie May”, about two sisters after their mother’s death; “Reformed”, where an old man is waiting for a train; “Return to Sender”, a thriller about a woman who receives a mysterious box; “Elixir”, a black-and-white film about a daughter and mother’s stressful relationship; and “The Obliteration of the Chickens”, which needs to be seen to be believed. In Friday night’s “Socially Conscious” Block, we were treated to some thoughtful and wicked films like “Diabla”, about a woman who gets unexpected revenge on her attacker; “It Will Happen Eventually”, a bit of suspense with a girl being followed home, and “Lili”, about an actress on an uncomfortable audition- when Robbie Barnes and I caught up at the after party that night, that one particularly hit home with her. You’ll hear more about those discussions on the podcast.
With that, I think this will be a good place to end this written discussion of the festival. It was a busy three days of moviewatching, and it was great fun. In the podcast, I’ll discuss more about the interactions and vibe of the festival as a whole, as well as share interviews I did with some of the filmmakers over the three days. I hope you join me for that.
2020 Women in Horror Film Festival: The Reviews
“The Shadow” (Short)
“The Dark Red”
“Old Man Forever” (Short)
“Black Lake”
“Diabla” (Short)
“Cold Wind Blowing”
“Retch” (Short)
“Mass Hysteria”
2020 Women in Horror Film Festival
The Announcement
Sorting Out the Schedule
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
