Ask Me a Question: Halloween @ Beyond Fest

Beyond Fest keeps on kicking with no less than 3 screenings this past Wednesday night.  The centerpiece being a newly restored, 4K version of John Carpenter's seminal indie horror classic, Halloween!  Humans From Earth co-presented the festivities with Geoff Boucher on hand for the pre-film Q&A.  Another sold out crowd, we marked our territory in the balcony this time and hit neighboring Pig & Whistle for a couple of Jameson and Ginger Ales.  Since I had extra tix, I gifted them on some thankful dudes in the Stand-By line.  Inside, Death Waltz had even more vinyl for sale, including a re-mastered version of Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 soundtrack.  As the theater quickly filled up, we were treated to some Beyond Fest pre-trailers that were awesomely hilarious.  One was a supercut of dummies filling in for humans falling or getting their heads chopped off.  The next was a riff on Queen's Another One Bites the Dust I believe with screams and handshakes filling in for the beat complete with Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell's epic high five over Teri Hatcher's head in Tango & Cash!  I nearly stood up and cheered.

American Cinematheque and BF programmer and creators Grant and Christian did some quick trivia and tossed out Halloween disks courtesy of Scream! Factory.  Boucher introduced Mr. Carpenter who introduced star Jamie Lee Curtis.  Apparently this is the first time the duo have ever attended a screening of the film together:

- 22 day schedule, $300,000 budget
- Curtis auditioned several times, liked Laurie's role because she got to do more than "be cute"
- Obtained entire wardrobe in one trip from J.C. Penny
- Curtis just remembers the film being fast and fun, young crew, everybody friends with someone else, for example Michael Myers was played by Carpenter's band mate in the Coupe DeVilles, Nick Castle, instead of a stuntman in later installments
- Carpenter didn't realize the film was doing well at first as it rolled out regionally with a few prints, by Christmas, knew it was cooking when some independent producers came to see him
- Most fun film Carpenter ever made as he was young, too dumb to know any better and hadn't been fucked over by the studios yet
- Doesn't mind remakes, it's just part of the deal, studios think audiences are too dumb to see anything original, of course he likes remakes that cut him a check VS ones studios own rights to
- Assault on Precinct 13, Carpenter could afford 1 day at a UCLA studio to create score, on Halloween could afford 3 days
- Curtis is very involved with charity, just got into conventions and made $150,000 in one weekend for her causes
- Auctioning off a replica of Michael Myers' bust signed by every member of the production team

The pair were very complimentary to each other, giving credit for inherent talent and future success.  Carpenter didn't drop his "gotta go see my drug dealer" line to close things out though.

I haven't seen Halloween since high school maybe when I got uber freaked out at a friends house due to all the windows someone could be looking at us through.  The great theme music starts things off in typical Carpenter fashion with credits over black screen, this time with a Jack-O-Lantern off to the side.  One night, young Michael Myers inexplicably stabs his sister to death.  15 years later, he's institutionalized and Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance, The Great Escape) wants to keep him there forever, knowing the boy is pure evil.  When Michael escapes, Loomis deduces that he's most likely headed back to his childhood home which has become the local haunted house but is about to be sold by Strode Realty.  Young Laurie Strode goes to the house to drop the key off and soon, she and her friends become Myers' prey as he stalks them over Halloween night.

While over 30 years old, the flick holds up pretty well.  It's pretty funny and dated due to it's low budget stature, mostly inexperienced cast and whatnot but the atmosphere, chills and scares are still there.  Myers is not portrayed as a man but a force of evil so you just take his Boogeyman quality and accept it.  Many a horror flick would take cues from the flicks structure, characters and traits as Halloween went on to spawn 7 sequels over the next 24 years and then a reboot in 2007 that received it's own sequel.  Can't say I've seen a single one though...

The Monster Squad and Snowpiercer next!

Live Goods: Humans From Earth Podcast w/ Joe and Anthony Russo

The latest endeavor from Nerdist and former L.A. Times and Entertainment Weekly writer Geoff Boucher is Humans from Earth, a monthly movie screening and podcast series.  The inaugural event was a showing of Slither with director James Gunn appearing after for Q&A.  Slither is a great horror-comedy flick about alien slugs that attack a small town but made little impact upon release in 2006.  You'll probably be more familiar with his work after this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy hits screens in August care of Marvel and Disney.

Humans From Earth is one of Nerdist's latest podcasts.  At WonderCon, Chris Hardwick mentioned they were going from 26 current programs to something like 50.  Taking place in the cozy Spielberg theatre inside the Egyptian theatre, writer/actor/director Jon Favreau kicked off the podcast series and ran 20 minutes late into Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo's slot.  Being their first time out, the show has some kinks to work out such as the online ticket sales not working, the guest line up not being announced until the day before, our session started late but then ended on time thus cutting 20 minutes out of the advertised 60 minutes and so on.

It felt a little like Howard Stern as you had the guests, host, a kid reciting the birth and death dates of actors and a co-host on the side chiming in.  Boucher informed us he at one time had 14,000 comic books in his collection and handed a few out to audience members.  I can't recall which Russo brother was the bigger comic book fan as a kid but never loved Captain America.  He mentioned having to picture Steve McQueen as the Star-Spangled Avenger in his head in order to give the character more machismo and less straight laced Boy Scout earnestness.  It was an interesting choice as 70's Cap is of course the personification of Robert Reford because even though Steve Rogers has been through a lot like losing both parents at a young age, growing up during the Depression, being sickly, rejected from the Army then becoming Cap through a crazy science experiment, watching his partner get blowed up by a booby trapped rocket hatch, going into suspended animation and being revived in an era not his own...I don't think the character lets that weigh on him in an obvious sense.  His eyes are still wide and his mind open because he can deal with his issues on an internal, brooding level, not externally obvious like McQueen's chip on his shoulder.

Beyond that, there were some tidbits about Easter Eggs in the movie as the Brothers believe it's better to have them than not.  Their prop team is responsible for most, such as the jar of Newman's own pasta sauce in Redford's refrigerator.  The comic loving Russo cited The Winter Soldier run of comics as it's Dark Knight era and how important Frank Miller's work was to him in the 80's.  It was a fun 40 minutes and would definitely attend again if the guest list piqued interest.  Boucher invited the audience to stay for the next podcast featuring Fanboys director Kyle Newman but we were off to Glendale to see Bob Peak and Drew Struzan's movie poster exhibit!

Ask Me a Question: Iron Man Three

It's going to be a crazy couple of weeks for genre movies around Hollywood with Entertainment Weekly's inaugural, week long Cape Town Film Festival kicking off tonight followed by the LA Times' Hero Complex soon following.  Cape Town started things off with a hilarious bang in the form of an advance screening of Iron Man Three!

The near capacity Egyptian Theater crowd was treated to some extremely amusing Iron Man cartoons from the 1960's.  Animated Tony Stark and his alter ego take on Mole Man, molten lava and robotic dragon lizards when buildings around town start sinking towards the Earth's core.  Besides the POW and FLOP style subtitles, the shorts were memorable for their typical 1960's chauvinistic treatment of female characters.  Just as James Bond slaps a bum and tells whatever pretty young thing it's time for "man talk", Stark orders around Pepper Potts at every turn to hysterical results.

Moderator Geoff Boucher introduced Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige for a quick yet informative discussion.

- At Comic-Con 2006, Marvel trotted out directors Jon Favreau, Louis Leterrier and Edgar Wright to discuss Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and Ant-Man.  Still waiting on that Ant-Man feature!
- Marvel tried to use Mandarin in Iron Man One and Two to no avail.
- Thor II wrapped in January and they're currently editing it above the sound stages where Captain America II is being shot.
- At the end of every film since Iron Man II, about 100 special posters are commissioned and given to department heads and cast.
- Shane Black's penchant for Christmas stories continues into Iron Man Three.  Feige recalls how hot it was shooting in North Carolina in the Summer but the set design and actors fool you into thinking it's cold.
- Shane Black's directorial debut Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was instrumental to landing Robert Downey Jr the role of Tony Stark.
- Feige figured if they did it right, the name Tony Stark would be as known as Iron Man and the actor behind it would be their Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp.
- Feige's experience with other, disappointing super hero part III's led them to challenge the formula and try something different.
- At some point Daredevil will be back at Marvel but that doesn't mean they're going to make the film any time soon.
- Marvel has mapped out their cinematic universe until 2016, then Phase III begins.
- The SHIELD television show won't effect the rest of the universe.
- Guardians of the Galaxy is an exciting property since it's not as well known with less expectation and more chance to make a mark a la non-existing properties/brands The Matrix and Star War were before.

Boucher and Feige have a nice rapport and discussed more but hey, become a member of the American Cinematheque and come see for yourself.

The movie rolled and it was fucking great.  Extremely funny and exciting.  Don't want to spoil anything else.

Cape Town Night Two features a double feature with Edgar Wright and I'm sure a surprise or two.  I'll be back for Night Three and The Thing with John Carpenter!