By JO SATANA

Tired, weary, weak and wounded: it’s week two of the FanTasia film festival and I’m feeling damn fine. While the previous enumeration of adjectives are normally used to describe someone claiming refugee status, I can’t say that my current plight is that different and you can easily see why:

Week Two of the fest brought us such genre entries as The Horseman, Smash Cut and Combat Shock! All within a 24 hour period!

Everything kicked off on Saturday evening with a screening of Australia’s The Horseman (Steven Kastrissios). Proceded by a cheezeball vampire short called The Long Night (Long Night indeed, aside from some cute acting, there really was no reason to program this, I….didn’t get it?), The Horseman is a stripped-bare “poor man’s” rape revenge flick that follows a father’s quest to get back at those who lead his daughter to a life of drugs and pornography (from a father’s perspective, that not being mine, I can’t decide which one would be worse). Angel Eyes having kicked the bucket after an H overdose, the father is mysteriously sent a copy of Street Sluts 2, where his daughter is featured prominently, in an obvious state of non-sobriety. A fiery mess of violence ensues. Never piss off an Aussie is good advice, never piss off an Aussie by giving his daughter bad H and raping her on film, golden advice. Broken Bones outback style. Recommended.

Now, staying on the theme of pornography, Saturday night ended with a midnight screening of Lee Demarbre’s Smash Cut. Hordes (actually, the showing was surprisingly less crowded than what I expected) of hormonal horror fans gathered with hopes of seeing porn star Sasha Grey in the flesh (confusing I know, cause we’ve all seen her flesh) as she was in town to present the world premiere. A timid, rather shy Grey was not the reason I was in attendance however…… Mr. David “I can’t believe I didn’t rape anyone on film for Smash Cut” Hess was in the crowd as well and frankly, made the night for me. A true 42nd street champ in my book.

Smash Cut is, as it was repeated and alluded to several times both during and after the screening, a loving tribute to H.G. Lewis’ lude, crude and shrewd ‘tewd style of goretastic filmaking (ie: nothing is too shocking in the pursuit of money). A terrible movie under all other accounts, Smash Cut is a charming, fun, stylish homage to the over the top gory theatrics of Lewis and the likes. Notable are the performances of Hess and Grey, who despite the lack of nudity, gave the whole experience that grimy, 70′s porno feel. Also noteworthy is an amazing eye gouging scene that oozes fanboy love and impracticality. Great fun, but I couldn’t help but point out the irony in the fact that Sasha Grey keeps her clothes on, and David Hess does not rape anyone (in the flick or in real life).

The screening was followed by a long winded Q&A that yet again makes Demarbre the fanboy that everyone loves to love. Sasha Grey was surprizingly quiet and played off of David Hess’s enthusiasm. As the basic lot of questions were being asked, I couldn’t help but think of what a strange night it’s been overall and this was one after-party that I really wish I got the invite for (btw, why the hell didn’t I get any invites for ANY of the after parties? What’s the deal guys, geez!) Hess, Grey and Lewis: Smash Cut is a no brainer for the midnight enthusiast. Avoid direct contact with soap for this one.

Now, FanTasia has turned into a much different beast than what it once was. I initially got turned on to the fest back in the days when it was more common for the programmers to line up long-forgotten shocking classics that haven’t seen a projector since the discovery of latex. As the festival started programming more and more premieres, we started to see less and less of our beloved genre oddities and cult favorites. That’s not saying that they entirely disappeared though, as on Sunday July 19th, Buddy G’s personal print of American Nightmare’s Combat Shock found it’s way to infiltrate the retina’s of every mud-fucking montreal grime-meister that managed to crawl its way outta the sewer (C.H.U.D.!!!!!) to attend this rare screening of such a curio piece. Devastating? Well, maybe not anymore. This was Buddy’s personal cut of the film, which apparently differs substantially from the cut that Troma distributed, but nonetheless I can’t help but think that maybe the ticket I purchased to the hype train was for a trip that I could have walked myself, you dig? But these are nonetheless the screenings I live for: small, sweaty theater surrounded by a helter skelter cast of characters, all staring at a 16mm print of a much hyped flick that rarely gets seen or spoken of outside circles like these. These screenings are really few and far between, and I soak up every moment of it. Combat Shock is a slow burning explosive work that can never really find it’s audience through conventional marketing. Dark, funny, brutal, sincere and all around destructive, someone either hands you a copy (it will be re-released at the end of the month by Troma on DVD, with a new cut of the film) or invites you to a screening like the one I witnessed. True FanTasia form, this film made the festival for me. A definite buzz film if there was one. Glad for those who were able to make the pilgrimmage to see it.

That’s it kiddies, with 8 days left and at least a dozen more movies to see, I’ll kindly point you to the exit of this mind-fucking steam roller. At least you have the option to leave. Myself, I’m kind of stuck here fore a while…..

So long sunshine, I’m out!

Jo Satana