Tag: Based On Book

[Victoria Fringe 2023] Renfield, or Dining at the Bughouse – A Review

Sometimes, you just have to dive deep into the madness that created Renfield, or Dining at the Bughouse as it takes a bite at what created him, even before meeting Dracula!

Renfield or, Dining at the BughouseBram Stoker’s Dracula has left an indelible impression on pop culture, and there are many ways to read into the tale. For playwright Bill Zaget (who also performed this show at Montreal Fringe), what he’s taken from it is a new way to present the madman who declared this vampire, “Master!” In Renfield, or Dining at the Bughouse, this performer gives this character a life that’s different from what I recall from the book. By stripping away the world, what he recounts of his childhood (which has never been told before) is haunting.

While some people may get bothered by the allusions to child abuse and sexual misconduct, thankfully it’s just fiction. The story is told from the point of view of him regressing to a point of view of an eight-year-old. At other times, an insectoid perspective (basically, what he ate) gets used. As a result, I can’t help but be reminded of classical myths where these bugs are revered and even feared for one reason or another. They often lead to a chrysalis, a metamorphosis, to a new state of mind. What Zaget offers is mesmerising when he gets to that point with the stories presented within a story.

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Perhaps It’s Best Not to Book Passage on the Last Voyage of the Demeter

Sometimes, a new life can be breathed onto the The Last Voyage of the Demeter, had it been released on a different platform.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter Movie PosterAlthough The Last Voyage of the Demeter has set sail, away from theatrical screenings, hopefully it’s eventual home video release will do better to help make Warner Bros. think this release isn’t doomed to failure. This expansion of the material presented in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, is an effective horror film. Plus, not only does this take offer a lot more story than the eight pages featured in the book but also expands on it!

Here, horror fans are treated to a two hour film (which equates to approximately 120 leaflets). Also, instead of seeing a group of five navigate the stormy seas, the crew has become eight! Although one individual was unnamed, the others include first mate Wojcheck (David Dastmalchian, a character created for this movie), Olgaren (Stefan Kapicic), Abrams/Abramoff (Chris Walley) and Petrofsky (Nikolai Nikolaeff).

I’d have to rewatch this film again to double check who was second in command and served the food. In charge of this brigade is Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham). In regards to who’s new are Doctor Clemens (Corey Hawkins) seeking passage to London, a stowaway going by the name of Anna (Aisling Franciosi), and the cabin boy Toby (Woody Norman) who also happens to be the captain’s grandson. Continue reading “Perhaps It’s Best Not to Book Passage on the Last Voyage of the Demeter”

Believe it or Not, Satan Wants You in this documentary about the Satanic Panic

The journey undertaken by Sean Horlor and Steve Adams to discover why Satan Wants You doesn’t necessarily begin and end with a book titled Michelle Remembers. Instead, there may be more to this story that’ll be added to in the future.

Satan Wants You Directors Sean Horlor and Steve Adams Photo Credit Grady MitchellPlaying at select Canadian
cinemas beginning August 11, 2023.

Local screening at The Vic (808 Douglas St.)
Aug 13, 2023 5:15pm

After Fantasia Film Festival 2023, the rest of Canada (especially the residents of Victoria, BC) are next in line to get a screening of Sean Horlor and Steve Adams‘ compelling documentary, Satan Wants You. Both filmmakers got their start in different sectors of the entertainment industry before finally getting together to make edgier works. Horlor was the co-host and creator of Don’t Quit Your Gay Job, and he teamed up with Adams to make Someone Like Me, for the National Film Board of Canada. Afterwards, they decided to look at the Satanic Panic as what should they produce together.

Although much of that was fuelled by the publication of Michelle Remembers, just how much of it is fact and other fiction depends on who you ask. What these self-taught filmmakers have uncovered in their research reveals a lot more than just a plan to capitalise on the spiritual xenophobia which existed evey before the book was published.

But for Horlor and Adams who’ve certainly done their research, just how they connect the dots will have some theologians wanting to double-check their sources, and others perhaps even more curious in why we’re attracted to such narratives. I got a chance to talk to them prior to the debut at the Montreal based film festival, and ask about how this film came to be and how it connects to pop culture.

What made you decide to focus specifically on Michelle Remembers and how it started the Satanic Panic?

SH: I grew up in Victoria, BC, right after that got published. Growing up here meant hearing all the talk. At one point, they lived 10 minutes down the road from where I lived, and it wasn’t until 30 years later when we started looking at it again. That’s when I realised Michelle and Larry’s book ended up touching the lives of millions and millions of people around the world.

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Oppenheimer. A Movie Bursting at the Seams!

The only thing the scientist Oppenheimer truly has to fear is his role as the destroyer of worlds as many a movie trailer showed.

Oppenheimer Movie PosterChris Nolan‘s movie, Oppenheimer, may feel long, but time went by quickly when I saw it again for the second time. That’s because the time differential from knowing when it’ll happen to searching for that reference regarding black holes kept me glued. Also, this film is not about when that bomb dropped to kickstart the atomic age. Instead, it’s about who J. Robert Oppenheimer is–a brilliant scientist and flawed individual who said, “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

In what this filmmaker enthrals viewers with is how this individual sees the world. It’s a place where particles collide, and how it moves is non-linear. Just how he frames this story is with one overarching narrative with plenty of flashbacks laid in between. It’s easy to follow. And when he juxtaposes moments between the present and the past, what’s presented is like waiting for lit stick of TNT to explode.

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Ernest and Celestine Returns to the Big Screen with A Trip to Gibberitia!

At long last, the producers behind the first Ernest and Celestine film has made a sequel, and it’s a perfect continuation!

Ernest and Celestine A Trip to GibberitiaPlaying at the Chicago Critics
Film Festival May 7, 12pm (tickets)

While not everyone has read the original books by Belgian children’s author Gabrielle Vincent or saw the first movie over a decade ago, Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia stands very well on its own. It also has an undeniable charm, and a presentation worthy of Hayao Miyazaki‘s watercolour technique back when films were made by hand.

There’s even some humour which is endearingly familiar. It’s as though this new movie is tapping into my love for Sherlock Hound. This Italian-Japanese series also used a similar approach to misfit antics, and as for what the law enforcement represents, they’re just as much like the keystone cops. They enforce a steadfast rule in the town the bear (Lambert Wilson) and mouse (Pauline Brunner) visit. The actors reprise their roles like no time has passed. That is, nothing has really changed in their relationship since the first film from ten years ago.

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Donnie Yen. Demi-God or Something else? Sakra (The Legend of Qiao Feng)

Overall, Sakra moves like a Chinese opera, and you really have to pay attention to everything that’s going on to make sense of it all.

Sakra Movie Poster Starring Donnie YenWell GO USA
Coming to Select Theaters April 14
and Streaming online April 18

Donnie Yen‘s Sakra (or The Legend of Qiao Feng; 天龙八部之乔峰传) begins like a Western, the set-up reveals a Feudal Chinese world up in arms. It frequently asks, “Am I a bad person?”

Life in the frontier depends on Qiao Feng (Yen) to keep the peace. But when he’s accused of murdering his adoptive parents and some monks, the community wants retribution and instead of dispensing cowboy justice by hanging him, he voluntarily accepts being exiles, and for the remainder of the film, tries to get to the bottom of this conspiracy.

This adaptation of Jin Yong’s serialised fiction, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, is different. At first, I thought there’d be the divine getting involved in mortal affairs, but what’s presented is a fictionalised world that’s almost akin to George Stevens’ Shane. Here, the tale concerns matters of loyalty and righteousness, but unless viewers know what saṃsāra means, what this film is about might feel confusing.

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