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[REVIEW] Fantastic Fest 2024: ‘Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire’, ‘Else’, and ‘Heavier Trip’

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The lineup for Fantastic Fest 2024 was just as impressive as always. Where does one begin? My experience at this year’s fest started with Stuart Ortiz’s solo directing debut Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire. Ortiz made a name for himself as one-half of The Vicious Brothers, the two filmmakers who created the brilliant found footage film Grave Encounters. Ortiz sets off on his own to bring audiences a truly terrifying true crime mockumentary.

Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire

Strange Harvest is framed as your typical true crime doc. We follow the chronological timeline of detectives Joe Kirby (Peter Zizzo) and Alexis Taylor (Terri Apple) who are on a decades-long hunt to find a serial killer by the name of Mr. Shiny (Jessee J. Clarkson). It becomes clear all too quickly that Mr. Shiny is a force to be reckoned with as he unleashes terror throughout Southern California.

Ortiz shines with a fully realized vision in his solo debut. Rarely can true crime-focused mockumentaries instill true terror into the viewer, but Ortiz finds new and creative ways to scare. Bordering on too realistic for its own good, Strange Harvest sets a new bar for mockumentaries. You can learn more about Strange Harvest and the possible connections to The Vicious Brothers’s Extraterrestrial in our interview here.

Still image from Else

Else

Thibault Emin’s Else hooked me on press photos alone, though the plot also sounded pretty intriguing. Quar-horror is here to stay, and we must accept that. Thankfully, Else ditches the COVID-like pandemic tropes and takes a new route with this world-halting disease. As the credits rolled, I couldn’t help but feel Emin bit off more than he could chew.

Else follows Anx (Matthieu Sampeur), a neurotic and frustrating man who lives in a garishly childish apartment. The film opens with an awkward sexual encounter between Anx and Cass (Edith Proust). Cass, who is childishly self-obsessed, quickly takes a liking to Anx. Cass [basically] forces her way into staying with Anx when their city is put in lockdown. The two quickly fall for each other as the world falls into madness.

Alice Butaud, Thibault Emin, and Emma Sandona’s script might be too smart for its own good. It raises questions and predicaments that never feel fully fleshed out. Emin’s directing, in company with Léo Lefèvre’s cinematography, singlehandedly carries the film to the finish line. Sampeur and Proust give decent performances, but it feels like everyone is holding something back (and not in a way that propels the story). The film hinges on how trippy it becomes, and that’s where the biggest issue lies.

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I could not find any information regarding the digital effects in Else, but the amount of visual effect artist credits provides an answer. There are multiple points when the visual effects kick off, that you feel like you’re bombarded with AI imagery. And that will be a huge thorn in the side for many viewers. Whether AI was used or not, it feels almost purposeful how close the effects look to the AI images you see all over Twitter and Facebook. I can’t in good conscience say AI was definitely used, but I can’t say it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the film.

Still image from Heavier Trip

Heavier Trip

Ending my first day of film viewing was the rock-solid sequel to 2018s Heavy Trip, Heavier Trip. I hadn’t become aware of Heavy Trip until I heard of Heavier Tripboy did I miss out. Heavy Trip was an incredibly fun Finnish film about a metal band called Impaled Rektum. The finale of Heavy Trip finds our loveable band members, Turo (Johannes Holopainen), Xytrax (Max Ovaska), Lotvonen (Samuli Jaskio), and Jynkky (Antti Tuomas Heikkinen) (and eventually Oula (Chike Ohanwe)), on the run from the law as they try to make it to a festival to premiere their band. All they want is to premiere their unique sound, which is called symphonic-post-apocalyptic-reindeer-grinding-christ-abusing-extreme-war-pagan-fennoscandic metal.

Heavier Metal follows Impaled Rektum years later as they serve their jail sentence. One day, they are graced with a visitor Maxwell Efraim Fisto (Anatole Taubman), or M. E. Fisto, for short. Get it? Fisto promises the band a spot on stage at a gigantic metal festival in Wacken, Germany. The only problem is, they’re still in jail. When Lotvonen’s father falls ill, Impaled Rektum must question how far they will go to save his life (and farm).

The big issue regarding sequels is matching the tone and feel that makes the first film work so well. Yes, you have to [usually] go bigger, but at what cost? When does a parody film start to feel like a parody of itself? Is that the point? Or is it an unintended outcome? At points, Heavier Trip feels too preachy, with its “Music industry bad,” statement being hammered over your head repeatedly. Not to mention the multiple times they figuratively jump the shark.

But that’s not enough to make me dislike Heavier Trip. While the vibe feels different, and a bit more forced, than its predecessor, Heavier Trip turns the amp up to 11 and doesn’t let go. There’s a heavier emotional undercurrent to this film that unintentionally bogs the pacing down quite a bit, but the cast is just so damn great together, it doesn’t cause much of an issue. Fan service abounds, and Heavier Trip gets the job done–and does it loudly. Oh, and the Baby Metal bit is so damn cute and I’m glad to see metalheads accept and appreciate them!

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Brendan is an award-winning author and screenwriter rotting away in New Jersey. His hobbies include rain, slugs, and the endless search for The Mothman.

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[INTERVIEW] Celebrating ‘The Coffee Table’ on Father’s Day with Caye Casas

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The Coffee Table hit the U.S. streets in 2024 and imprinted itself on the brains of Horror fans (I am Horror fans). If you have not seen it, I can guarantee it’s like nothing you’ve seen before. The film follows a couple, Jesus and Maria, who have just become parents, and decide to buy a new coffee table. This decision has unexpected consequences. I highly recommend checking out this movie; you will be changed. You can catch it streaming (at the time of this article) on Tubi, AMC+, Shudder, and VOD. When I watched it for the first time, I rented it, and it was worth every penny. 

I contacted Casas’ team and sent over a few questions about his inspiration for The Coffee Table and a memory with his dad. Please note that the responses have been translated from Spanish to English. 

An Interview with Director Caye Casas

Jazzmin Crawley: What was your inspiration for The Coffee Table?

Caye Casas: I hadn’t filmed anything in five years, and I hadn’t come up with any projects. I thought I’d never be able to make another film. But I wanted to try to make one last film, one that would be powerful and that anyone who saw it would never forget.

I had the script for The Coffee Table in a drawer, written years ago. I knew I could do it on a tight budget, and a friend let me use her apartment for free, so we dove in and shot it in only 10 days. I wanted to tell a great tragedy with touches of dark humor, and based on some real news stories about these types of accidents, so we wrote the film.

We wanted to make a terrifying film, but not a typical horror film. Here, there’s only a dining table and a cruel fate, and a tragedy that can happen to any of us.

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What was your favorite part of making this film?

My favorite part was getting back to filming after so much time. It’s something I needed at the core. I always say that having a passion for filmmaking is a curse, since it’s so hard to get the money, and life goes by, and you shoot very little. And if you ask me specifically about this film, my favorite part was shooting the kitchen sequence with Maria’s (Estafanía de los Santos) laughter. It was very funny, and I think it’s a sequence of cruelty and dark humor.

The design of the coffee table is interesting! Was it created for the film, or was it something you found? Is there a story behind this design?

We didn’t have the money to create a table, but we knew we wanted it to be kitsch, ugly, and different. Luckily, an antique dealer friend had this table in his warehouse. We asked him if he’d sell it to us at a good price, and he gifted it to us! We painted it gold, added the “unbreakable” glass, and it became the star of the movie.

Now I have it in my house, but without the glass.

I’m writing this article for Father’s Day. Do you have a memory with your dad you’d like to share?

Honestly, my best memory of my dad is when he used to take me to Camp Nou to watch FC Barcelona play. I’m a huge Barça (short for FC Barcelona) fan, and that’s thanks to my dad. My greatest passions are Barça, movies, and retro toys…in that order!

You have a history of working in the comedy and horror genres. Why do you like this medium? 

Dark humor is my brand; it’s what defines me. I like to mix genres and put dark humor into a great tragedy, like life itself. Life isn’t just one genre, it’s many. I always use the example that sometimes you’re at a funeral, and humor comes up. Life can be contradictory, and the same thing happens in my films.

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That’s why I’m passionate about mixing those two genres; for me, it’s really fun.

What would be your dream project?

Shooting the next film! I have various scripts written, and I’m looking for financing. There are multiple projects. Aside from that, I’m developing a script for a U.S. film. I hope something comes out of all this! You never stop chipping away at the stone in this business, at least in my case. My dream project is to make films for a living.

If you can talk about this, what’s next for you?

As I’ve told you, I have my own projects, some commissions, but nothing’s confirmed. We’re working on it, looking for money, investors, you know, that tedious phase of looking for money under every rock. But I assure you, the films made will be as talked about, if not more so, than The Coffee Table.

End of Interview

It was great to get an opportunity to ask Casas questions and get insight on this darkly funny project. The Coffee Table will live rent-free in the minds of Horror fans everywhere. We must fund and support independent filmmakers. If Casas could make something like The Coffee Table on such a small budget, imagine what he could do given ample funding.

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Independent filmmaking is where some of the most unique ideas live. I hope we are able to see what Casas has in store next. If we want to see new and refreshing films, we have to support the teams behind them. 

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This Queer 2015 Slasher Desperately Deserves A Cult Following

Dive into “You’re Killing Me,” a 2015 queer horror slasher that’s equal parts romance, comedy, and bloody thrills. Follow Joe, a budding serial killer, as he navigates love and West Hollywood’s apathetic social scene in this vibrant, satirical coming-out allegory. A must-watch for queer horror fans!

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This Pride Month on Horror Press, one of our main missions is to spread the word about queer horror movies that have actually, explicitly queer characters. Throw your queer theory textbook out the window today and put away those notes about the subtext of Fright Night. Today we’re diving deep into an example of one of my favorite movie genres (slasher) that features one of my favorite human genres (queer people). That’s right, we’re here to talk about 2015’s You’re Killing Me, a movie that celebrates the 10th anniversary of its OutFest premiere in July and desperately needs to have developed a proper cult following by the 20th anniversary, if there is any justice in the universe. Or the 15th anniversary. Or hell, the 11th.

The Queer Classic That Is You’re Killing Me

In brief, You’re Killing Me is a romantic comedy about social misfit Joe (Matthew McKelligon) meeting George (Jeffery Self). The pair fall in love and Joe insinuates himself with George’s West Hollywood friend group, including George’s co-star in his online videos, Barnes (Bryan Safi). It’s all very sweet, except for one wrinkle. Joe is a budding serial killer, and every time he talks about coming into his own as a murderer, his new boyfriend – who is too busy thinking about his favorite subject, himself – just assumes that he’s kidding.

Not only is You’re Killing Me a movie jam-packed with queer characters, it tells an entirely unique queer story through the allegory of Joe’s murders. Its true intentions may be hidden behind rivulets of blood, but it’s a coming-out story, too. It’s a rather unique “hero killer” story (to steal a phrase referring to movies that have their killer as the protagonist from Brian Collins, who may – in all fairness – have stolen it from somebody else). While the story does have a strong dash of Dexter to it, it’s got a much more focused coming-out metaphor, about trying to self-actualize and live one’s truth while surrounded by people who aren’t pushing back but rather could not give a shit about anything beyond the surface level of a person or a situation.

A Slasher With Heart

While the movie clearly has a lot of affection for the characters that it is lovingly satirizing, it harshly critiques their inability to connect with Joe properly, and their punishment for not listening to him is an increasingly deadly rampage. Joe mistakes their lack of processing as actual encouragement, and his self-actualization is allowed to spin wildly down a destructive path. However, by making the scenes where Joe commits his murders more lush, colorful, and beautiful than everything else, the movie hints that the character is much more alive than the dead-eyed WeHo-ites who surround him, by dint of actually living his truth.

While I’m not saying the movie justifies murder, per se, it definitely calls out the evil inherent to apathy, and that’s another way that it is much more queer and textured and interesting than the average slasher movie. So why isn’t it a cult classic just yet? You tell me! It just boils the blood. But I’m trying to build said cult here, so allow me to continue my pitch.

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The Queer People Behind You’re Killing Me

As much as there is ample queerness to be seen in You’re Killing Me, there is just as much offscreen. Just like the West Hollywood culture the movie heavily satirizes, this group of gay people has a strong tendency to trend white, cis, and male (though longtime ally and LGBTQ+ advocate Mindy Cohn is also floating around the cast!), which, sure, could be a knock against it, but let’s take a quick journey through who we have here!

Director/Co-Writer/Producer Jim Hansen

Jim Hansen (not to be confused with the muppet pioneer of almost the same name) is primarily known for his work in the costume department of various major projects, including being the costume designer for Another Gay Movie and a costumer for Bring It On, Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2, and Wizards of Waverly Place.

He is also the co-creator of The Chloe Videos, which feature Drew Droege (who also appears in You’re Killing Me) in drag as Chloë Sevigny. Currently, You’re Killing Me is his final directorial feature, because the moral arc of the universe does not bend toward justice. However, his career is still ongoing, and more recently he has been the costume supervisor for shows like One Day at a Time, Bunk’d, and Happy’s Place.

Co-Writer/Star/Producer Jeffery Self

Comedian, actor, and writer Jeffery Self is best known to me as Liz’s gay cousin from 30 Rock, but he has a wide range of credits under his belt. Star of Search Party, author of the young adult novel A Very Very Bad Thing, host of the MTV aftershow Scream: After Dark, writer of salacious Fire Island recaps where he details the fact that he used to date one of the stars… this man has done it all. He’s also currently in theaters playing a supporting role in Christopher Landon’s Drop!

Notably, his Self-insert character (so to speak), George, is perhaps the most wicked person in this movie about a serial killer. This speaks to a willingness to make oneself the butt of the joke that is refreshing in screenwriters providing parts for themselves.

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Star Matthew McKelligon

McKelligon is a mainstay of YouTube web series turned Logo TV web series turned Netflix series EastSiders, which was created by Kit Williamson and co-starred Constance Wu!

Star Bryan Safi

Actor and general man-about-town Bryan Safi played a major role in You season 3, but he is perhaps best known as the co-host (with Erin Gibson) of the LGBTQ+/women’s news comedy podcast Attitudes! (formerly Throwing Shade).

Supporting Cast

In addition to Drew Droege, of course, You’re Killing Me also features notable queer supporting players including Matthew Wilkas (star of Gayby and thus former onscreen love interest for Adam Driver, as well as being a former real-life love interest for gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy), Jack Plotnick (who has lived the gay dream, starring in both Gods and Monsters and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Sam Pancake (gay character actor extraordinaire who you’ve seen everywhere from Friends to Arrested Development to Search Party to Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde).

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