Midnight Adrenaline - "Them" and "Aachi & Ssipak"

In years past, midnight moviegoing has been somewhat of a counter-cultural phenomenon, inviting attendees to stay up past their bedtime (a residual childhood rebellion?) to indulge in a cinematically subversive amalgam of high camp, ultra-violence, graphic sexuality, rude comedy, extreme horror and/or outright narrative and visual insanity (or all of the above, for that matter).

This phenomenon has also been a boon to films that had initially floundered in front of mainstream audiences for one reason or another, such as the initial box office failure "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and has allowed many of these films a significant afterlife.

In recent years, midnight releases of so-called blockbusters have become more popular, as a box office booster/word-of-mouth marketing tool and as a blessing to devoted fans who get off on being the first in line for whatever hook, line and sinker the studio dangles in front of them.

For the record, I will shamelessly admit to getting caught up in the hype of such releases as the first "Lord of the Rings", "Saw" and, most recently (and unfortunately), "Spider-Man 3" as just a few random examples.

I was definitely pumped up to see the first "LotR", which paid off in spades when it not only didn't suck, but also left me pining for more. However, that late night outing was definitely tied to an urge to join the "see it first" collective...the film itself was a grand scale epic that needed an earlier time frame to grab my full attention.

"Spider-Man 3", most recently, kept me awake for no other reason than to suck $9.75 out of my pockets while bombarding me with empty, excessively-CGI action and a Peter Parker with the most prolific tear ducts of any on-screen superhero to date. Sometimes, I wish that Sam Raimi would get back to his roots..."Son of Ash", anyone?

Even "Saw", the closest of these three to a true midnight movie (of the more contemporary variety), came off as an MPAA-sanitized version of the kind of fare that Takashi Miike, for example, had already been producing abroad years earlier and to better effect - see "Audition" or "Ichi the Killer" for more potent exercises in cringe-inducing pain infliction, psychological horror and over-the-top violence.

Each of these screenings, all hype aside, left me longing for the four consecutive weekends that comprise the SIFF Midnight Adrenaline program. Bless the programmers' hearts for adding a Memorial Day screening this year, bringing the total count of the program to an all time high of nine films.

While always a mixed bag, this year's lineup has been fairly respectable, if not as diverse as previous years - horror films (a couple with a dose of comedy) are the majority of this year's crop, with "Aachi & Ssipak" and "Alien Autopsy" being the sole exceptions. For today, I bring you the lowdown on the first two midnight screenings (I am running way behind...more to come, though):

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"Them" - Friday, May 25 - Midnight - SIFF ballot vote: 4/5

After the delightful silent film homage "The Aerial" and the slow-burning "Red Road", my eyes were heavy and my consciousness in question. Never mind, though. Not more than 5 minutes into this bad boy from France (with a terrificly terrifying prologue), several collective audience jumps/screams kicked off another seventy-two minutes of some seriously scary shit.

Based on true events (I suspect loosely, considering the denouement), the minimal and to-the-point story focuses on a schoolteacher and her beau who take on some invasive and persistent late-night intruders in their large countryside abode and periphery. The couple is subjected to some initial mind-fucking (i.e. power is switched on and off and their car - one method of escape - is stolen) before unknown intruders methodically stalk and eventually attack.

The unwelcome guests go sight unseen for much of the film (an idea that more scare flicks should give due consideration to), which adds to the suspense and creepiness factors...their eventual reveal may seem a bit anti-climactic, but is deeply unsettling just the same. Excellent sound design and effective camera positioning - close ups that give little information about what's just outside of the frame - allow the scenes to be frightening on their own, without audio "stingers" or shock-editing.

My only complaint is with the film format, which is listed in the film festival guide as being 35mm. I'm guessing that the source material is digital video (I'm happy to stand corrected if you know something I don't), and it doesn't always give the best clarity. This does create a more realistic feeling in the darker scenes, but also hampers visibility. While this may have been the point, I don't think that a clearer image would have detracted from the overall effect.

I haven't been this tense or prone to jolting in my seat in some time, and the effect was much like an anxiety-inducing overdose of caffeine without the sour stomach. If you can track it down on DVD, turn the lights down and turn the sound way up.

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"Aachi & Ssipak" - Saturday, May 26 - Midnight - SIFF ballot vote: 3/5

My previous exposure to SIFF's animated midnight picks has been minimal, as with my exposure to anime in general. Last year's "Terkel in Trouble" was entertaining if not particularly exciting, and a reliable source gave me such an awful depiction of sitting through "The District" that I couldn't bring myself to brave it for myself.

The plot description on this one, though, I simply could not resist.

In a future society, fecal matter is harvested from citizens to provide energy for the world. Addictive (and very phallic looking) "juicybars" are rewarded to those who deficate for the greater good. Uh huh. The title characters are a couple of small time (and not very successful) black marketeers who smell (heh) opportunity when they discover Beautiful, an actress with a knack for prolific bowel emptying.

Plotting expands to several other characters, including the Diaper Gang, who can't crap or procreate due to excessive juicybar consumption. I must admit to being a little fuzzy on some of the smaller plot details, but I fall back on sensory overload as an excuse for dropping the ball there. The Stranger's review had stated, "if you go, go impaired", and this advice might also warrant a future viewing of this in a non-sober state of mind.

Regarding that sensory overload, the film works its way through several chases and a few beatings for A & S, as various greedy parties attempt to harvest Beautiful's...um...assets (I'm not even trying for an original pun). Clear, colorful 2-D and 3-D animation seem to collide nicely - at least based on my limited knowledge of the genre - and the loud, hyperkinetic action and ever present vulgarity make for a giddy combination.

Opening credits and several scenes throughout offer either an homage to or a rip-off of various Hollywood movies and ideas, including a final chase right out of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Commercial interruptions are thrown in for good measure (think back to the newscasts and commercials in "Robocop"), and the film has at least one self-referential moment to remind you that none of this is to be taken even remotely seriously.

Overall vibe of the film is hyper, gleefully vulgar, not as funny or clever as it would like to be and yet strangely likeable in it's earnestness to be entertaining. Not bad, not great, but an amusing entry into the midnight program.

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