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Cinematical Seven: Reasons Why We Love Fantastic Fest (Well, Besides the Movies)
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Horror », Independent », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Festival Reports », Fantastic Fest », Cinematical Seven »
Although circumstances dictate that I don't attend nearly as many film festivals as my colleagues do, it soon became clear that my last-minute decision to head out for last year's Fantastic Fest was a wise one. FF veterans were quick to note that the event had grown in proportion to its popularity, and the relatively young festival has similarly changed things up in its fifth year out of hopes of accommodating even more attendees than ever before.
However, this is not a think-piece about a mid-level film festival struggling with the limitations of stardom. No, this will merely be a list of seven reasons why we at Cinematical and the Squads are about to very much dwell on Fantastic Fest for the week to come -- well, seven reasons other than the movies.
We'll get around to those in due time.
Discuss: The Curious Case of 'Drag Me to Hell's Button
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Thrillers », SXSW », Mystery & Suspense », Universal », Summer Movies », Polls »
(Spoilers herein.)Okay, so you lot have had two weekends now with which to see Sam Raimi's sublimely ridiculous Drag Me to Hell, and I'm seeing the debate that a couple of us waged out in front of the Paramount at SXSW last March coming back around on a grander scale, so I want to open up the floor.
Some have claimed that the third-act twist -- in which Alison Lohman's character mistakenly gives away an envelope with a quarter instead of an envelope with a cursed button and is consequently dragged to, um, Hell -- is telegraphed so far in advance that it takes the suspense out of the last reel or so, while others (including yours truly) believe that Raimi is smarter than that, and knows that we're in for this ride anyway, so even if we know that her efforts to pass on the curse are futile, we'll take a certain pleasure in knowing that her fate is sealed regardless.
Sure, Raimi could have simply cut out an insert shot of everything falling on the floor and mixing up, thus letting himself slightly, temporarily off his own hook. Lohman's character could have simply reached into her boyfriend's bag and grabbed the wrong one (oddly enough, the button falls out of her purse -- which she's holding -- but the quarter was placed in her boyfriend's bag, which is nowhere to be seen...). But he does seem to go just enough out of his way to let us know what's afoot. If you've seen the film, what do you think - rookie mistake or intentional wink?
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