Editorials
Nightmares Film Festival ’18 – Day Three
Saturday is always the busiest day at Nightmares Film Festival and this year was no exception. The packed lineup this time ‘round includes 2 panels, 7 blocks of short films (including a Stephen King “Dollar Babies” block), and a whopping 10 feature films. Saturday always runs from 10am to 4am of the following morning, making it a massive endurance run for the festival’s sleepless fans. Most of the events also run simultaneously, so there are a lot of hard choices to be made each time out.
Do you opt for mostly features? Mostly shorts? A mixture of both? It’s not easy and wanting time to mingle with other fest attendees is always a third option on the table. After all, the screenings never stop, so if you want to chat, you’re going to be missing stuff. Luckily there’s never really a wrong choice to be made, so long as you have a great handle on your own cinematic tastes.
Of the feature films that I managed to sit down with, the clear standouts for me were Livescream and well-known Friday the 13th fan film favorite Never Hike Alone. Speaking with other attendees, it sounds like The Head, Confessions of a Serial Killer, The Night Sitter, and Trauma were big hits as fans and filmmakers alike. Rounding out the rest of the features were documentary More Blood!, psychological thriller The Final Interview, the super-violent La Puta es Ciega (aka The Whore is Blind), and international anthology flick The Field Guide to Evil.
The focus of the two panels were “Distribution” and “Social Progress Through Horror”. The former examined a lot of the benefits and pitfalls of trying to get an independent film actually shown to the masses once you’ve completed it. We live in a world where physical media is becoming more of a collector’s market filled out by many boutique home video labels, especially when it comes to horror. Many people have switched over to digital collections over the past five years and it’s something that is really hurting the industry. After all, most filmmakers can’t make much money off of streaming services and digital outlets, which in turns hampers their ability to make further features and shorts.
I can already hear some out there groaning about the “social progress” panel. Well, guess what? You can stuff it. Social commentary has ALWAYS been an important component of horror filmmakers, from the early silent era that was deeply affected by the events of WWI to the rise of socially progressive “masters of horror” in the 1970s like John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg. Like it or not…ignore it or not…social progress and politics will always be reflected within the genre. As a result, both filmmakers and audiences need to grow with the times as our world marches on and (hopefully) becomes more accepting of people and issues that exist outside established norms.
Next up is Sunday, the final day of the fest, but one that still has plenty to offer. An additional four features and three blocks of shorts are on deck to close things out for 2018. It’ll be a bittersweet ending, as always, but one I’d never miss.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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