I'LL BE DAMNED!!!!!!>>> *DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD (1979), *VAMPYR (1932).

SPLODGE! NOTES: 3rd. Mon. MARCH (18/03/02)
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ON THE FIRST AND THIRD MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH

"SPLODGE!"

a community FilmEdSoc project,
*now* ON a budget, (but not much of one!)

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Unusual films of discernment, still presented in convivial
surroundings!

ALL PRESENTED ON GROOVY 16 MILLIMETER FILM!

the back room
714 NICHOLSON (CNR. SCOTCHMER) STREET, NORTH FITZROY

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1st. Quartile

MARCH
AD 2002

Monday, 18th.

Registration: 7.30 - 8.00 pm
Screening: >>>>> 8.00 (*EIGHT*!!!!) pm <<<<<


I'LL BE DAMNED!!!

*DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD (1979),
On January 28th, 1978, (Evil?) Roy Frumkes and a crew of six left New
York on a two-car trip to Pittsburgh. The purpose of this trip was to
shoot what Frumkes (a teacher at the New York School of Visual Arts)
described as a "kinetic lesson, given on the set of a film in
production." Since his crew was comprised primarily of students, Roy
had to find a non-union, independent film to cover.

As it turned out, there were two independent horror films going into
production that Roy could gain access to. One was an Earl Owensby
flick called WOLFMAN (1979); the other, a sequel to a popular horror
film of the late sixties ( - DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), dummy!). Roy
wisely chose the latter, and the rest, as the say, is history.

DOCUMENT is the Heart of Darkness of horror-movie documentaries.
Narrated by ANDY WARHOL-fave Susan Tyrell, the film covers all aspects
of the production, and also delves into other GEORGE A. ROMERO
productions, most notably NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and MARTIN
(1977).

This was long before the endless stream of "Making Of..." specials
that catered mainly to special-effects fans. DOCUMENT details the
entire process of constructing and distributing an independent
feature. The work of make-up wizard TOM SAVINI is not glossed over,
however; there's a great high-speed sequence of Tom gluing appliances
and pouring blood on none other than Roy Frumkes himself. In this age
of "Makeup Academies" and "Art Institutes," it's weirdly nostalgic to
hear Tom say, "No, [there are no makeup schools] that I know of...I
had to teach myself."

ROMERO is an unsung hero in the independent film world, especially the
low and no-budget horror world. His taboo-breaking tale of zombie
flesh-eaters attacking a farmhouse, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968),
was made on a shoestring and hit the audience like a bullet to the
temple. The film may have looked grainy and rough around the edges,
the performances uneven, but the audience had a strong, visceral
reaction to the sight of ghouls gobbling up entrails.

It wasn't just the gore which shook people up, - though God bless
ROMERO for taking risks. It was the frenetic pace of the film which
didn't let up, the sheer number of jarring cuts from one canted angle
to the next, an alienating wide shot of a woman in the field shifting
its perspective into a hustling medium-shot as she runs along. The
juxtaposition of disturbing close-ups on household objects with wide
action shots of ever increasing ghouls on the lawn outside.

Roy Frumkes, clearly in sheer adoration of his subject matter, created
DOCUMENT in an attempt to hear, in Romero's own words, how he creates
a movie.

ROMERO remains an affable subject throughout, speaking without
pretensions or academic bluster. He wanders around the mall with
Frumkes, or sits in his makeshift office giving detailed answers to
every question, smoking like a chimney. He plans for his picture
rigorously beforehand, seemingly with miles of storyboards for action
sequences (such as the trucks blocking the doors in DOTD) and hundreds
of pages in his screenplay paying attention to minutiae of detail.
While shooting, he combines this careful, pragmatic approach with a
spur-of-the-moment, "just shoot it" attitude which allows for new
things to happen.

There are also interviews with the key actors from DOTD who each say
what a heck of a nice guy ROMERO is, and more, how specific he is in
what he wants. The director of photography and lighting director
describe the arduous task of lighting that huge shopping mall without
benefit of a blockbuster budget.

Producer Richard Rubenstein goes into his willingness to support
Romero's vision and his refusal to compromise an unrated version for
potential distributors. He also discusses their luck in securing the
shopping mall for virtually nothing, which added enormous production
value to the entire picture.

It seems like all of the interview subjects except Romero, Christine
Forrest (Romero's wife, assistant director and occasional actor) and
SAVINI were shot out in one day, so they don't get into too much
detail. However, they cover enough, and show a willingness to promote
their work.

We're treated to some wonderful interviews with SAVINI, who is as
personable, charismatic and thorough as Romero in his responses. He's
caught while putting the make-up on an extra, but carries on with the
interview undeterred as he zombifies the cast member. What a trooper.
We also see SAVINI pulling off the nifty stunt of being thrown from
the balcony in some nice behind-the-scenes footage. Winner of a Gold
Award at the Houston International Film Festival. Frumkes also went
onto produce the low-budget splatter film STREET TRASH (1987) and has
written the scripts for the Dutch horror film THE JOHNSTONS (1992) and
the action film THE SUBSTITUTE (1996).

TRIVIA TIDBIT: Had to suspend DAWN OF THE DEAD filming for one month
because they didn't want to waste time removing Christmas decorations
from Mall every night.

BEST "OW, THAT'S GOTTA HURT" MOMENT: Screwdriver stabbed into brain
through ear.

BEST QUOTE: "I'd really like to be a zombie, George. I really would.
I'd work hard. I'd shuffle. I'd bleed. Whatever you want me to do."

Dir/Scr/Prod. Roy Frumkes, Phot. Reeves Lehman. Mus. Ralf Ulfik. Anim.
Henry Jones. Prod Co Roy Frumkes Productions. Feat: John Amplas, Carl
Augenstein, Steve Bissette, David Emge, Ken Foree, Michael Gornick,
Scott H. Reiniger, Christine Romero, GEORGE A. ROMERO, Richard P.
Rubinstein, TOM SAVINI, Gahan Wilson. Narr: Susan Tyrrell. 66 mins.
NFVLS.

and featuring:

*VAMPYR (1932),
With money from Baron de Guntzberg, Danish director Carl Dreyer made
the most beautiful horror movie of all time. It set the tone for the
American horror pictures from Universal that followed right after
Vampyr.

Julian West plays a young man, David Gray, who receives a book about
vampires from the father of two beautiful daughters. The family itself
is in fact under assault from a female vampire and its mortal minions.
One of the sisters has succumbed to a strange sickness - anaemia. As
Gray becomes more familiar with the environment, he begins to suspect
that the house may be under the influence of a vampire.

Based on CARMILLA, a story from IN A GLASS DARKLY, by JOSEPH SHERIDAN
LE FANU, Dreyer has transformed Le Fanu's horror tale into a mystic
quest, a meditation on the theme of death, and neatly fashioned it as
an abstract experimental film. The camera is like a sleepwalker,
leading us trancelike into a labyrinth from which cause and effect
have disappeared. The hauntingly sinister atmosphere created is
disquieting and unforgettable.

What makes this movie so interesting are the spooky camera views, and
a sort of fog-effect that in fact was a technical error. Dreyer wanted
to keep this error in because it made the movie even more atmospheric.
The special effects are simply beautiful. The shadow effects are
stunning, and that for a seventy-year-old movie.

While the story revolves around the Vampire issue, the film itself
uses it simply as an anchor from which the director is able to create
a much wider canvas. Every shot of the film appears to have been
crafted with the utmost care - every angle, the lighting, the shadows
all merge together to give the film its unforgettable atmosphere.
Large parts of the film - on either side of the middle of the film
where the story unravels - have an almost incoherent, dream like
quality to them. Shadows coming alive, there is a recurrent image of a
man digging a grave, a sequence with the central character seemingly
dead and yet undead are all aspects which give Vampyr its sinister,
surreal quality.

There is also an attempt to show the vampire as being more than just a
purely evil entity. We learn much about the origins of vampires, their
blood lust, the compulsion to increase their numbers, and the curse
that they bear - namely that they are damned to roam the world of the
undead living off the blood of their near and dear.

Unlike Nosferatu, we see little of the vampire in the film and when we
do, there is much less of a visual impact on the viewer. Vampyr
depends much more on an atmosphere of hidden uneasiness and eeriness
than the more apparent menace of Nosferatu. Dreyer's film though is
nothing less than a masterpiece - hauntingly shot and richly
atmospheric.

There is little talking as Dreyer is a visual story teller. Vampyr is
the kind of film where dialogue like "the wounds have almost healed"
and "why does the doctor only come at night" are given without
explanation. We make sense of what is going on as he starts to piece
together what is happening and who is causing it. Dreyer effectively
establishes a mood by use of shadows of objects and people. The
leading actor remains a cipher; if this was a book, it would be
entirely in the passive voice. Things happen to the characters; they
don't initiate actions (which on initial viewing seem unrelated).

Dreyer frequently shows actions by shadows cast by the characters we
already know. This fits with the film's style of indirection with plot
by inference rather than by direct narrative. The film is filled with
memorable images: a skull turning to watch; a shadow walking over to
join its subject sitting in repose; point-of-view filming from inside
a glass-topped coffin as the lid is nailed down and then carried out
to the churchyard for burial.

The story goes that the first few days of filming was damaged by a
light leak in the camera, but Dreyer liked the effect so much that he
had the rest of the film photographed to match. As a result, the image
quality on this picture has never been as pristine as a film from the
1932 could look. Rudolph Mate was one of the finest cinematographers
in Europe, and we can be sure that the photography looks exactly as
Dreyer wanted it- the sense of a dimly remembered dream. Amidst the
fogginess, shots of machinery in a mill are as sharp as a tack.

The image is windowboxed throughout with a soft matte surrounding the
picture, rather than the usual hard matte. While conceptually
appropriate, the Gothic type used for the main titles and subtitles is
quite hard to read when there is a lot of text on the screen. The
subtitles are presented with a black background which takes over the
frame and is very distracting.
Fortunately the dialogue is as sparse as Dreyer's style, so there are
not many titles, though, in silent film fashion, the director uses
explanatory titles to advance the plot. Upon first viewing, the film
works primarily as a succession of images.
However, on reflection, the plot comes together and the film has a
significant impact.

VAMPYR is also known as The Strange Adventures of David Gray, Not
Against the Flesh, Traum des David Gray, and Castle of Doom. Produced
by Baron Nicolas De Gunzberg and CARL THEODORE DREYER. Directed by and
Carl Theodor Dreyer. Scr. CARL THEODORE DREYER, Christen Jul. Phot:
RUDOLPH MATÉ. Mus. Wolfgang Zeller. Sound recording system:
Tobis-Klangfilm. Cast: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel,
Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronmiko, Henriette Gerard, Albert Bras, N.
Babanini, Jane Morn. 72 mins. NFVLS.

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Minor programme changes may occur due to unforseen
circumstances.
Feature runs last; shorts order may vary from listing.

* Acknowledging ACMI Inc. ;) *

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