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SXSW
- Day Two, Saturday, 3/11/2000
Before I spent the godawful amount of $60 for a Film Pass
to SXSW, I had thought I was just going to hang out this week,
see what was going on and vibe the scene. One of my plans
was to go to the ZXZW alternative fest. I had been invited
by one of the festival organizers. So, that's where I went
on Saturday night.
ZXZW was at Trophy's Sports Bar on South Congress. I had
never been here before. From the outside it looked pretty
seedy and the inside did nothing to dilute this impression.
Trophy's is one of the scariest bars I've been in for a long
time. It's full of haggard looking locals and 50 year old
women who should really be home enjoying a good book. This
isn't the kind of place you would take your mom, unless of
course, she has a mountain man fetish. I felt totally out
of place there. This, of course, was silly, but I felt that
way none the less. After the night got rolling, however, and
the younger crowd got there, the place seemed far cooler.
I watched a few stragglers drag in, listened to the band,
which would play later, set up, checked the projection equipment,
and had a beer. I looked at my watch and wondered when it
would all begin.
At a little after 7, announcements were made and the films
started. As the night progressed more and more people filed
in until, by the end at 10pm, it was a packed house. One thing
that was mentioned is a lawsuit SXSW has against ZXZW. The
organizers of this anti-fest claimed to have signed an agreement
to not use the name ZXZW after this year. They are looking
for a lawyer.
Here are the shorts that were played as a part of ZXZW and
what I thought of them.
Sploosh - Silly and pointless short about a sea monster.
It's got a guy with a hilarious Scottish accent in it but
not much else going for it. It is mercifully short at 4 minutes.
(Canada)
The Collector - A curious yet typical B&W modern
noir about a Bully who gets his comeuppance from a creepy,
young Asian guy. It was filmed very stylistically and was
interesting even after we could see where it was going. (California)
Death and a Salesman - Shot in Houston. A short film
where Death comes for a used car salesman and ends up making
a purchase instead. The actor playing the salesman wasn't
as vibrant as he should have been and death wasn't as creepy
as he should have been. Amusing fun regardless. The final
joke is a dozy! This one also showed last year at the first
ZXZW. (1995, Texas - director Brazil J. Grisaffi)
http://www.grisaffi.com/joe.html
All Cheerleaders Must Die (excerpt) - Looks like
it could be made for Troma. It's funny, gory, shot on DV and
full of swinging teenagers. Okay, they actually look like
20-somethings pretending to be high school students, but that
just makes it more fun. The best thing about the film is that
just when you think it's getting stupid, something funny happens
again. I'd love to see the whole thing someday and I can't
imagine why Troma wouldn't pick this one up. (California)
http://www.geocities.com/allcheerleaderdie
Reign of the Dead (15 minute trailer) - This is a
wonderful postmodern riff on the Romero lore of zombie ideology.
Taking off from the 60's cult classic, the modern conspiracy
theorists here blame the government, and not a meteor, for
all the flesh-eating undead walking the Earth. The film may
have had some cheesy dialogue here and there but overall it
was interesting and amusing. (Pennsylvania)
http://www.reignofthedead.com
Mountain of Terror - Unfortunately this is the only
film shown at ZXZW that had no blurb in the program. It's
a shame too because this is the best of the lot, one of the
funniest and most loving salutes to Z-grade films ever made.
Paying homage to the laughable film "The Creeping Terror,"
the filmmakers here again use rolled up carpeting for a monster.
But here, there is a little more "costume" involved. It's
a hilarious monster. The film also contains one of the most
amusing and clever uses of a "Mountain Man as Doomsayer" that
has ever be put on film. There's just so much to love here.
And even though it is obvious this is a no budget video short,
it's fun and worthwhile. There is no blood or no gore, just
an audience in stitches. And rightly so.
Killer Rock n Roll Zombies from Texas - Pointless
and nonsensical, this short was still interesting and fun.
A zombie roams around town doing nothing until he finds a
flyer and auditions for a local rock band. It doesn't really
have much to offer however one assumes that there is a feature
length version just waiting for funding. (Austin - director
George Hewitt)
http://punkrockvideos.com
Barn of the Blood Llama (excerpt) - Austin's Kevin
West, who is working on his new feature "Rowdy Round-Up Night
of the Killer Piñatas," starring my bud Xanna Don't, had to
cut his finished feature down to 25 minutes for the festival.
Of course, the finished product made no sense. Still, the
film had plenty to like. Shot on 8mm with overdubbed sound,
the film had plenty of interesting images. Color was used
interestingly, miniatures were beautiful additions to the
transition shots, and there was just enough cheese to keep
you giggling. There was humor and silliness. At times, the
film denigrates into sheer stupidity, and West's performance
as a simpleton named Jug left a lot to be desired. But, in
the end, I really wanted to see more. (Austin - director Kevin
West) http://www.lamc.utexas.edu/klw
And intermission moment was another highlight of the fest.
Taped from some cable Science Fiction awards program in 1978,
Bernie Taupin introduces William Shatner doing his poetic
and smarmy version of "Rocket Man." It was the most wonderful
and horrid mangling of a song to be heard for decades. Listen
in wonder as Shatner plays with the inflection of the syllables
of the title to make us think. Is it Rocket Man… Rocket, Man…
or Rock-It Man?" What a beautiful and surreal moment of magical
history. Thank you for this, guys!
The Second Hand (excerpt) - A beautiful and artistic
looking film, the excerpt here really gave us no indication
of what the film was about. It doesn't matter though because
the glorious images and the seeping colors really made us
want more. The organizers said Bob Ray (director of Rock Opera)
shot the film. I'm dying to know more and see more. (Austin
- director Troy Miller) http://www.spookymovie.com
Attack of the Bat Monsters (trailer) - One of my
favorite films of the Austin Film Festival. This trailer cannot
do justice to the glorious wonder that is Kelly Green's "Attack
of the Bat Monsters." When is the next time I can see the
film again? (You can read more about the film in our coverage
of the 1999 Austin Film
Festival). (Austin - director Kelly Green)
Rock n Roll Frankenstein (excerpt) - What a hilarious
idea for a film! A mad scientist makes a monster out of the
body parts of dead rock stars. In a goofy homage to "Young
Frankenstein," the lab assistants drop Jim Morrison's penis,
rendering it useless, and in a hurry grab another one. Whose
penis? You ask. Why none other than Liberace. Trouble is that
this opens up the film to the most offensive and typical gay
jokes imaginable. It gets to be too much. Still, it's a great
idea for a film. (New York) http://www.rrfrankenstein.com
The Creepies vs. Monster Number Two (trailer) - Silly
homage to classic Asian B&W monster flicks. Basically a glorified
rock video. (California)
Mondo Ford - Purporting to be an Italian documentary
on the JFK assassination and the rise of Gerald Ford, this
senseless black and white marvel is humorous for a while.
Eventually it denigrates into utter nonsense. (Austin - director
Nico Fratelli)
The Collegians are Go!! - But after a while you just
wish they'd stop. This black and white local flick wants to
be a fun rock 'n' roll zombie film but it eventually gets
bloated down in it's own silliness. Worse yet, it seems to
have a definite hang up on dead presidents. This film might
be fun if it were put together by college students but as
a film made by almost 40 year old grown-ups, it just seems
a bit sad. This one was made by the festival organizers, so
it's easy to see how it got accepted. The performance of Patty
S., however, does make most of the film forgivable. (1998,
Austin - director Dean and Chuck Collegian) http://www.flojo.com/collegians
Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy
- Funny, clever, interesting and unique. This 8mm film pays
homage to 60's spy flicks, zombie monster movies, Mexican
mummy films, Mexican wrestling films, porno loops, karate
flicks, and much, much more. For it's 25 minute running time,
you are never bored or restless. It's just one amusing and
interesting moment after another. The most original and accomplished
film of the festival. It won the "Best of Fest Golden Zombie
Award). (This film also won the Spirit of Slamdance Award
at Park City this year). (Director is Lee Demarbre). http://www.epoxygroup.com/harry
And that was the festival. Overall it was a night of interesting,
humorous and creative films. I don't normally like Zombie
flicks but there was just enough variety here to make the
event fly by. It was really a good time. As the seats were
cleared out for the rock show, which was to be the capper
for the evening, I made my way to the bar to get another drink.
There I met up with Xanna and Anna-Mari, the scripter of Kevin
West's new film "Rowdy Round up…," She was pissed because
the festival hadn't shown the trailer for the new film. We
all decided to head to her place to see the trailer. I rode
with some guy I had never met before. He told me about how
he was travelling the country making computerized maps for
some cyber company. It was really weird. He said he hadn't
lived in a house for like 15 months or something.
Anna-Mari's house is really nice. We all gathered around
the TV to see the trailer. There were several people there,
most of which I did not know. Kevin West, the director, and
Earl, the DP, of the film were there. Fitz, who plays in a
band called the Defrockers and a couple of nice looking young
ladies were also present. Fitz told me that his band was playing
at Flamingo Cantina on 3/29. I really want to see them.
The trailer for "Rowdy Round Up" was pretty bad. It did
feature a lot of female semi-nudity and some interesting clips
from the film. I have heard so much about the film that it
was really hard to judge. They had shot a special narrative
for the trailer where a character, I think her name is Tin
Starr, runs around in buttless chaps and talks about he film.
It was all rather drab and uninteresting. There were a couple
of clips with Xanna and her acting seemed really bad. Perhaps
that is what the film calls for. There were a lot of things
that looked like they could be funny. I still can't wait to
see the film.
I hung out for a while and talked to the young ladies and
Fitz as well as Anna-Mari. One of the girls, it turns out,
was Barbara Jean Whitberg, the girl who was in the trailer
wearing the see-through chaps. She is also in "Attack of the
Bat Monsters." She said that Kelly Green has finished the
film but she doesn't know when it will be shown again for
sure.
The other young lady was Deborah Abbott. She may look like
Xena the Warrior Princess and even make some money doing look
alike gigs, but she has a style and personality all her own.
She seemed like a very nice person. She spent some time telling
me her stories about auditioning and trying to get an agent.
She also told me about some of the film she was in and some
she was auditioning for.
Barbara and Deborah gave me a ride back to my car at Trophy's.
I had wanted to see some of the bands playing but I was just
too dog ass tired. I went home and crashed.
New news:
Patti Smith will be playing at Waterloo Park next weekend
for SXSW! Awesome!
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
PREVIEW PAGE
DAY THREE
DAY FOUR
DAY FIVE
DAY SIX
FILMS
DAY 7
DAY EIGHT
DAY 9
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