Fest

Part 3 of 3

Beginning tomorrow (Friday, March 7), I’ll be blogging live from Boston (Brighton, actually), providing updates roughly every two hours from the 22^nd Annual 24 Hour Film Fest.  The posts will consist of short reviews of the 12 movies that will be shown, most -- probably all -- of which most of you have never seen.  If you’ve read the past two blog posts you know that have a particular passion for unusual and interesting films, and I have only seen two of the ones being shown this weekend.

Fest, as we stalwarts like to refer to it, happens in the apartment of my friend Mike.  It’s curated by Mike and another friend, Lynn, and they’ve been doing it for 22 years now.  How they manage to keep coming up with so many obscure, strange, bizarre and wonderful films I will never know, but thank god they do.

I’ve attended at least 17 Fests, maybe more.  I can’t remember if I was at the first one, and I know I missed several in the mid-90s due to such inconveniences as illness and having kids.  Other than Lynn and Mike, there are only a handful of folks who have attended more Fests than I, so I consider myself one of the long-standing veterans with more than a little perspective on this unusual annual ritual.

Fest’s goal, it seems to me (from my perspective, without having consulted the organizers) has always been to find the most interesting, strange, unusual but most of all entertaining films possible and show them to a room full of people jacked up on junk food (the snack table is venerated almost to the point of idol worship).  There’s no way I would ever be able to see many of the films shown at Fest any other way; I’d never even hear about them.  Lynn’s specialty is Asian and other foreign cinema; it was through Fest that I first saw a Jackie Chan movie and was exposed to all the wonder that Honk Kong and Korean cinema had to offer.  Not to mention some wacky and bizarre Japanese films, way outside the mainstream.

Mike finds the horror, science fiction and other genre chestnuts, sometimes reaching back as far as the silent era or sometimes as recent as a few months ago. Some choice examples include “The Penalty,” a 1920 Lon Chaney movie; “Slither,” “Giant Claw” and “Midnight Meat Train.”  And who could forget “Sonny Boy?”  Nobody who’s seen it, that’s for sure.

We’ve also watched “Bride of Frankenstein,” “Bedlam” “Evil Dead 2” (and 1), “American Movie” and “Descent,” mainstream and near-mainstream films that have that certain Fest-ness to them.   

There’s a rhythm to Fest.  It ramps up from the 6 p.m. starting time, and is usually best-attended after the dinner break through the late-night to early-morning hours.  If you get through the 2 to 6 a.m. part OK, you’re doing great.  Morning usually brings a second wind.  Only the most stout of heart can brave the afternoon into the home stretch.  The miasma of snacks helps, as does lots of caffeine.  Enduring that many movies and junk food creates an atmosphere of camaraderie among Fest-goers which is hard to understand; just ask Mike’s wife.

I won’t be able to vouch for my posts at certain times.  Coherence may be sacrificed.  But those may also be the most entertaining.  Coupled with the roster of films slated to spool out through the 24-hour period, we may be talking some breakthrough moments here.  No spoilers; you’re going to have to wait to find out what the films are as they play.

And maybe we’ll post a photo or two of the snack table, just to make you jealous.

Watch for the first post Friday evening around 8 p.m.  And please, forgive the typos.