LA Premiere of Bava's GHOST SON this Friday August 3rd!
This Friday August 3rd, there will be a Los Angeles premiere of Lamberto Bava's latest flick GHOST SON at the historic Egyptian Theatre as part of American Cinematheque's 2007 Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Sci-Fi. The show starts at 8PM and one of the stars Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni will be in attendance and will be part of a Q & A session afterwards! Read on for the full details!
"Lamberto Bava’s ghost saga begins with very much in-love couple Stacey (Laura Harring, of MULHOLLAND DRIVE) and Mark (John Hannah) living a dream life in the South African veldt. Then Mark suffers fatal car crash injuries in the remote countryside. Soon after, he appears to Stacey in a dream. Or was it real? The couple make love, and Stacey gradually begins to lose her grip on reality. After examining her, doctor Pete Postlethwaite is astonished to find her pregnant. Everyone assumes the child was conceived before Mark’s death, but we know otherwise. When the baby is delivered, nightmarish events mushroom for Stacey, and she realizes that Mark’s clinging ghost – nourished by the rich, local culture of ancient African spirit lore - wants to pull her out of this world and into the next through their son."
Don't forget to check out our recent FRIGHT exclusive interview with CORALINA CATALDI-TASSONI! Click the frame and it will open in a new window:
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni will be attending the Los Angeles premiere of Lamberto Bava's GHOST SON on Friday August 3rd @ 8:00pm
at the historic Egyptian Theatre as part of American Cinematheque's 2007 Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Sci-Fi
Festival Information:
http://egyptiantheatre.com/archive1999/2007/Fantasy_SciFi_HorrorET_2007.htm
American Cinematheque on Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/americancinematheque
Ghost Son Official Site:
http://www.ghostson.com
"Lamberto Bava’s ghost saga begins with very much in-love couple Stacey (Laura Harring, of MULHOLLAND DRIVE) and Mark (John Hannah) living a dream life in the South African veldt. Then Mark suffers fatal car crash injuries in the remote countryside. Soon after, he appears to Stacey in a dream. Or was it real? The couple make love, and Stacey gradually begins to lose her grip on reality. After examining her, doctor Pete Postlethwaite is astonished to find her pregnant. Everyone assumes the child was conceived before Mark’s death, but we know otherwise. When the baby is delivered, nightmarish events mushroom for Stacey, and she realizes that Mark’s clinging ghost – nourished by the rich, local culture of ancient African spirit lore - wants to pull her out of this world and into the next through their son."
Don't forget to check out our recent FRIGHT exclusive interview with CORALINA CATALDI-TASSONI! Click the frame and it will open in a new window:
Hour of the Wolf: This is what most film historians would refer to as Bergman's only "real" horror film. Artist Von Sydow and his pregnant wife retreat to an creepy and very windy island, to help him focus on his artwork. On the other end of the island is a castle inhabited by a Baron and his very strange associates. The "Hour of the Wolf" of the title is the hour halfway between midnight and dawn, during which Von Sydow is often haunted by horrifying nightmares, which he tries to stay awake to avoid. Still, even while awake he is subject to strange visions and an increasing paranoia. His wife becomes frightened of him as he apparently slips deep into a surreal madness.
The Virgin Spring: Yep, Von Sydow again. I suppose, a way, you could consider Max Von Sydow something of a muse for Bergman. This might sound familiar, although it does take place in the middle ages. Von Sydow's daughters are sent to bring candles to their church. Along the way, the younger daughter, Karin, encounters three shepards who rape and murder her. Later that night the three herdsman find themselves, without realizing it, taking shelter in Von Sydow's house. Von Sydow becomes aware of what the men have done and takes revenge. 
Yes, "The Virgin Spring" was the film upon which Wes Craven would base his much, much more violent directorial debut "Last House on the Left" on. Try keeping Bergman in mind today, and if you have a chance, maybe check out some of the films above. If you like them you might want to try some of his more dramatic films like "Cries and Whispers", "Wild Strawberries", or The next time some film snob comes at you and thumbs his nose at the horror genre and it's conventions, remind them even masters like Bergman found that they needed to express darkness and recognize there is evil and terror in the world. 
As the end credits of the film began to roll and the directors name appeared on screen the entire room came to their feet and began to applaud. Several audience members approached the director, who was sitting, very inconspicuously, in the back of the screening room, to shake his hand, to thank and congratulate him on the film. That director: Uwe Boll. The film: “Postal”. Adapted from a video game it barely resembles “Postal” is comedy that is indiscriminately offensive, boldly inappropriate, gross, and lewd. But, hey, it's also really funny too.
Playing out something like a 90 minute live-action episode of “South Park”, the film takes place in the fictional town of Paradise. Zack Ward, as “Dude”, is out of work, living in a trailer and married to a morbidly obese woman that the entire town seems to get a ride on. His Uncle Dave (Dave Foley) is a new age cult leader running a commune on the outskirts of Paradise and who owes the IRS. They hatch a plot to steal the first shipments of a hot new toy, the “Krotchy” doll (a stuffed scrotum with the voice of Verne Troyer). They don't realize that they're also in direct competition with a group of al-Qaida terrorists, led by Osama Bin Laden himself, who have secretly sewn vials of avian flu into all the toys. 
“Postal”, like “South Park”, is also a very sharp political satire wrapped up in great low-comedy. Boll takes aim at everything from religious fanaticism, to political corruption, and pseudo-intellectualism. Boll even makes a cameo as the owner of the Lil' Germany theme park and makes a little fun of himself. Of course, this is all played out with some remarkably funny and extreme slapstick violence. It'd be giving away too much, but I'll just tease you with this: During the scene in Lil' Germany about 200 kids holding stuffed Krotchy dolls are machine gunned down by terrorists and Uwe Boll pays Verne Troyer in Nazi gold before he is raped by a roomful of cross-dressing chimpanzees. The whole movie is so completely batshit crazy that even the creator of the video game “Postal” makes a cameo in which he screams, “Uwe Boll, what the fuck have you done to my game?” 
