Tag Archives: Jakob Skrzypa

Interviews, Pod 366: A Weird Movies Podcast

POD 366, EP. 78: JOINED BY “VAMPIRE ZOMBIES” JAKOB SKRZYPA… FROM FANTASIA!

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Quick links/Discussed in this episode:

Jakob Skrzypa’s site for information on Vampire Zombies… From Space! and other projects

Nosferatu (1922)/Terror of Dracula (1922?): Read the Canonically Weird entry for Nosferatu! This is the Essex Films version of Nosferatu, which uses the character names from the novel (i.e., it’s Count Dracula, not Count Orlok). Although the ad copy is ambiguous, we gather that Terror of Dracula is a 30 minute cut of Nosferatu that was sold on 8mm film to home collectors via mail order; it’s included as a bonus. John Mucci composes new scores for the films. These are curiosities for completists, released by reelclassicdvd (but on Blu-ray). Buy Nosferatu/Terror of Dracula.

Only the River Flows (2023): A Chinese policeman questions whether they have the right suspect in a murder, as he struggles with nightmares that suggest madness. Played in Cannes in Un Certain Regard, and although most critics are coy about the actual plot (favoring words like “enigmatic”) it suggests the potential to be marginally weird. Only the River Flows official site.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

On next week’s Pod 366, we’ll do our last live check-in at the 2024 , with a special guest scheduled: Nina Martin, Associate Professor of Film Studies at Connecticut College and occasional film reviewer at her personal blog I Wear Black on the Outside. In written reviews, Giles Edwards will have another week of festival reviews, reports and interviews: we’ll soon have a review for Chainsaws Were Singing (mentioned prominently in this Week’s Pod 366) along with interviews with that film’s director and an actor, Frankie Freako‘s Steven Kostanski, and a date with Miguel Llansó (Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway) to discuss his latest offering, Infinite Summer. Meanwhile, Shane Wilson chips in a written review of another reader-suggestion: Leos Carax‘s incestuous but literary Pola X (1999). Onward and weirdward!

Capsules

2023 FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL: “MEGA-MEMORANDA”, PART TWO

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Montréal 2023

The other day, I gave a fellow a cigarette, the favour returned with a compliment on my “overalls.” They’re called suspenders, people, and they hold up trousers. At least I can take comfort that later in the week I was offered a black-market bow tie.

7/27: The Becomers

This Easy-Going Sci/Fi Escapist Genre (“EGSFEGG,” as I suspect I may need this acronym further down the line) piece is appropriately narrated by Russ Mael, and is among the few earth invasion films I’ve seen whose story is told from the point of view of the alien. Zach Clark’s aliens have fled their home world, and have relocated on Earth. Sure, the bodies that the aliens “become” are disposed of via nasty disintegration liquids, but the imitators are endearing, and they mean well. Influenced by most of the alien movies from cinema’s golden age of that kind of thing, The Becomers is delightfully performed (the traveling “lead,” in particular, is impressively transferred through four or more actors), with humor both clever and silly (loved the cult who snuck into the action), and visual treats.

7/28: Hundreds of Beavers (A Personal Experience)

& Co. have achieved a glorious devolution with Hundreds of Beavers. Their feature film debut was at least a talkie, but now all dialogue has been stripped away to make room for the raw and masterful idiocy of the premise. We’ve covered this before, so I will just add here: they added a heckuva fun live-bit during the screening, and were just as delightful for the Q & A.

7/29: Empire V

It was impossible for me to watch this without bearing in mind the current war in Ukraine, and what deplorable scum Russia is governed by. That said, Victor Ginzburg’s film is banned in his homeland, which is probably to his credit. Empire V concerns vampires as a global (but Russo-centric) cabal of Earth’s true overlords, being parasitic vessels for some neat-o cosmic bat entity. Their modus operandi is very much like the Russian mafioso-style government: always punch down, always fight dirty, never Continue reading 2023 FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL: “MEGA-MEMORANDA”, PART TWO →