I promised I would do some coverage of this year’s Fantastic Film Festival, and while you’ll have to forgive me for my tardiness, I figured telling you a month later was a whole lot better than leaving you in the dark. So as a reward for being so patient, instead of one review, why not have three?

Sting

Lido was packed for a pretty momentous opening night. There were friends of the filmmaker, local film critics and just those looking for a good creature feature to occupy their evening. Many dressed the part including Hudson, the artistic director of the festival.

In full exterminator cosplay, with a huntsman stitched to his shoulder, he looked like he’d come straight from the set. Lido employees also took the opportunity to dress the theatre up, as cobwebs and toy spiders lined the corridors. Safe to say, there was a palpable energy in room. And carrying that same energy into the theatre, I was ready to enjoy my first night of this weird, wacky and wonderful festival.

Sting follows the story of Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a twelve year old New Yorker, who, under appreciated by her step father Ethan (Ryan Corr) and unable to go outside due to extreme snow storms, finds herself in a state of perpetual boredom.

That is until a tiny meteorite crashes through her bedroom window, and she comes face to face with her new friend: a red back spider from outer space.

Charlotte raises the titular Sting on a diet of small bugs and insects. However, when it grows large enough to escape the confines of its jam jar, it begins to skulk the apartment vents, in search of a more substantial midnight snack.

Writer and director Kiah Roache-Turner wasn’t shy about his love for Ridley Scott’s Alien and its influence on the film. From an environment on lockdown and the labyrinth of apartment vents, to the practical spider eggs bursting open to reveal gooey, flapping insides.

Having worked previously on the Wyrmwood series and other Ozploitation projects, Roache-Turner wouldn’t have any trouble getting a monster movie off the ground. Nevertheless, considering his personal connection to the material and most of the writing stage taking place in lockdown, he knew he wanted to go above and beyond to make something special. So, snagging the opportunity to work with Wētā Workshop, most known for their involvement in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, to produce some of the classic creature designs, and finding the talented Alyla Browne just before she was to make her debut as a young Furiosa, all the pieces seemed to be in place to make cult classic.

Wētā Workshop knocked it out of the park. Sting shown in all its slimy, wet and shiny glory is truly what elevates the film from the straight to streaming slop you force yourself to put on in the background. That being said, I would hesitate to put this film up there with the other horror darlings of the past year – Talk to Me, Late Night with the Devil and Evil Dead Rise just to name a few – as quite frankly the narrative elements were just uninteresting. While Ethan’s arc of learning to be a real father to Charlotte was a nice touch, it also lacked any depth or specificity. Conveying the reality of raising a daughter as a stepfather was clearly important to Roache-Turner, who was emphatic that this film was a monster movie ‘with heart’. Which would be fine if the father daughter relationship hadn’t felt so weak. Unlike Evil Dead Rise, where the sometimes taut relationships of the characters would add to the tension in a given scene, it felt as if every dramatic scene in Sting wanted to seperate itself from the ‘monster’ moments in an attempt to be treated more seriously. But when the dramatic writing has to also appeal to B-Movie standards, it just saps any excitement or tension from the film.

Also, it has to be written, but the decision to base the film in New York was a grave mistake. Imagine, having an all Australian cast, at a time when Aussie horror is making waves and having a giant, bloody red back spider as the monster, only to set the whole thing in America. The decision just doesn’t make sense. You could argue that like Late Night with the Devil before it, the film needed its American setting for narrative reasons. After all, talk shows and snow storms are the two things Australians almost never bare witness to. I would argue a severe Melbourne or Sydney flood could offer the same, if not a better, “locked in” narrative device. However, during the Q&A, when asked about the choice to set it in the U.S, Roache-Turner said nothing of snow storms or floods, only citing the vague studio reason of ‘global appeal’.

Despite my misgivings about the choices made – both practically and narratively – Sting was more fun than flat, and with some glorious kills interspersed throughout, it’s hard to stay mad at this local attempt at a creature feature.

Mars Express

Most people outside Europe might be unfamiliar with french director and animator, Jérémie Périn. However, if you, like me, were old enough to access the internet in the 2010’s (hopefully all of you reading this were otherwise I might as well start calling myself an old man), you were either lucky, or perhaps unlucky enough, to bear witness to DyE’s Fantasy music video.

Being an easily frightened child and only ever hearing it as “die fantasy” or “the fucked up” music video in and around the middle school locker room, I avoided seeing Fantasy like the plague. But watching it now, there’s a clear artistry and thought behind the existential horror on display. And to think, roughly ten years after instilling fear into a generation of school children, Périn would come back with a full length animated feature worthy enough to premiere at the 76th Cannes film festival.

Aline (Léa Drucker), and her android partner Chris (Mathieu Amalric) are investigating the death of young computer science major and hacktivist, Jun Chow (Geneviève Doang). However, they’re soon dragged deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole when they discover that Jun had not only created a way to remove The Three Laws of Robotics from every machine, but that her subsequent murder was possibly carried out by someone in their precinct.

Mars Express’ animation is just as fluid and gorgeous Perin’s previous work , but it’s its commitment to going fully 3D that should honestly be commended. Despite the violence being somewhat toned down this time round, having characters with rigged models seemed to make the weight of what damage there was all the more impactful. There was a particular neck snap near the beginning that had me squirming in my seat.

While it does tend to borrow from the neo-noir science fiction that came before it ( Blade Runner, and especially Pluto), it’s thoughtful and rich world building is arguably what makes it stand out amongst the greats. The film chooses not to have a future defined by a human robot binary, instead the line is blurred. Humans have augmentations, androids are implanted with the digital backup of a human brain, and supercomputers are made with lab grown biomaterial. So, the question no longer becomes “who gets to be human?” but “who deserves to be free?”

Unfortunately, if you were looking for a satisfying mystery, you’ll be left wanting. Don’t get the wrong idea, it starts off strong with a locked room style murder, and multiple suspects. However, it never felt like the audience was lead to the same conclusions the characters were. There’d be a major reveal and you’d wonder if you missed a clue or two. But seeing this with three other people, I can tell you that not one of us could remember anything being set up to prepare us for the wild finale.

And speaking of that finale, while I won’t go into spoilers, it’s open ending left more questions than answers, and not in the good way that encourages rewatching the film, but in the way that they were pitching a sequel or TV series that would answer everything at a later date. A shame considering how excited I was to see an incredibly tight and self contained story.

Regardless, it was no doubt one of my favourites at the festival and if Jérémie Périn and his talented team can make a miracle for under ten million euros, I eagerly await the next instalment in the Mars Express cinematic universe.

The Raid (2011)

Who takes their mum to see The Raid? That’s probably what some people were thinking as I sat down in the centre row with my fifty seven year old plus one. But knowing her love of Hollywood action movies and her propensity for the more boyish side of life, I had a feeling that the only barrier between her and the film would be the subtitle bar. And to no one’s surprise: she absolutely loved it. And to my surprise, I found myself not only liking it, as I’d had in the past, but now I simply adored it.

Maybe it was the energy of the audience, maybe it was seeing it on a massive cinema screen, or maybe it was every snap, crack and thump blasting through the Dolby Atmos surround. Whatever it was, it had my heart racing and my eyes hooked.

The story’s quite simple. Rama (Iko Uwais) and several other MBC officers form a SWAT team to take down infamous drug lord, Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy), who has occupied an apartment block to do his dirty work.

Rama and his superiors plan to catch Riyadi by surprise to keep the arrest clean and avoid any civilian casualties; knowing the criminal won’t hesitate to use his tenants as hostages. However, with every plan there’s always a contingency waiting to rear its ugly head. And when the unexpected death of a child lookout raises the building’s alarms, Rama and his sergeant, Jaka (Joe Taslim) will have to fight their way up and out if they want to survive, let alone arrest Riyadi.

Beautifully restored in 4K, its hard not to see why this indie action darling inspired the likes of John Wick and the 2012 reimagining of Dredd, the latter of which seems to take more than just a few plot points or shots of reference. Director Gareth Evans, clearly had an eye for what makes an action scene intense, as while there is a lot going on, the frame never once feels over or under crowded. Despite the breakneck pace, the audience is never bombarded. but still finds themselves wary of who or what might be lurking around the corner. His keen insight stems from his background as an action and stunt choreographer. No doubt this line of work would have lent itself to an appreciation of martial arts cinema. As every kick, punch and splatter is heard or seen. No action is left shredded on the cutting room floor. Every movement, from the ground floor all the way to the penthouse, is planned out in meticulous detail.

Despite the copious amounts of kickboxing and hand to hand combat, their is also no shortage of every day weaponry. Wrenches, fluorescent lights and fridges filled with propane tanks; whatever you think would be on hand inside an apartment block, they use it. If you thought John Wick using a pencil was gnarly, just wait till you see what Rama does with a doorframe.

Although my new found love for this film cannot be understated, I do find myself still critical of the twist ending, which, if you’ve seen the film isn’t exactly shocking. It’s the kind of ending that undercuts the stakes in an unsatisfying way rather than revealing anything new or mind-rattling. However, it is a small blemish on an otherwise simple, yet, strong narrative. It’s one of the few action films that sticks to the barebones demands of its genre, while still having effective protagonists, deep relationships and a menacing set of villains.

There’s a particular scene in which Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian), Riyadi’s loyal henchman, backs Jaka into a corner by holding him at gunpoint. However, once inside one of the vacant apartments, he mockingly uncocks his pistol, skulks to the kitchen counter and places the magazine down. “I never liked using these,” he says before turning around to face Jaka, for him guns simply “take away the rush.” But as he spreads his fingers out in front his opponent in twisted glee, we know exactly what his weapon of choice is. By keeping dialogue simple and sparse, Evans may tell us less, but its clear that wants to show us a whole lot more.

The Raid is one of those sleeper hits in cinema that at least one person in your friendship circle knows about. And while over ten years of love and praise hasn’t quite helped it escape cult status into the mainstream. I think the best thing you can do right now is to see the restoration in cinema’s while it’s still floating around, or invite your friends for a movie night when the 4K release from Umbrella is available for purchase.

Thanks for taking time to read. Hopefully you’ve now got some films to add to your watch-list. If you’d like to stay up to date on what else I’ve been watching lately, feel free to follow me over on Letterboxd, as I’m fairly active (some would say too active) on there.

Otherwise, I’ll be writing some more stuff soon so stay tuned! And if you’re new here I would really appreciate any of you signing up for this newsletter, as it’s just nice to know my work is being seen by real eyeballs!