In its first virtual edition, the Chattanooga Film Festival brought nearly thirty features, dozens of genre shorts, and four full days of packed live events straight to attendees’ home screens. Emphasis on packed. The landing page of the virtual festival allowed viewers to select films to watch at their leisure. A curated schedule of events allowed attendees to watch along live to special sessions, panels, and live film commentaries—all for an insanely low price that made attending a film festival more accessible than ever before.
Highlights included filmmakers Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, and Dave Lawson providing live-commentaries on Resolution, Spring, and The Endless. Scripts Gone Wild hosted a live reading of the screenplay for The Thing, complete with drinking game rules and a roster of notable talent led by Barbara Crampton playing R.J. MacReady. The more the group flubbed their lines, the higher the alcohol consumption. Let’s say things got rowdy. Mick Garris shared insight into his career as well as the making of The Stand in a delightful discussion. Podcast sessions, writing workshops, and Q&As with filmmakers featured in the lineup also rounded out the events.
The first virtual edition did have some kinks and occasional technical issues, but the enthusiastic staff worked through those with seemingly effortless ease. For example, Ernest Dickerson couldn’t be reached for his scheduled conversation with Ice-T over the making of their cult classic Surviving the Game. Instead, Artistic Director Josh Goldbloom stepped in to host the convo, which proved a major highlight with Ice-T’s frank anecdotes- when asked if Ice-T struggled with the emotional scenes in the film, he retorted that he learned acting standing in front of a judge.
For VIP badge holders, executive director and lead programmer Chris Dortch II led a discussion with Chad and Carey W. Hayes over their screenwriting career. They recounted their brushes with the supernatural while staying at the infamous LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans to write the first draft of their upcoming horror film about the place. They also revealed that Sony commissioned them to write a remake of William Castle’s The Tingler, though its status is up in the air thanks to the pandemic.
Attendees fell hard for mascot Beelzebub, Bubs for short, and Professor Morte and Guna delivered horror host sketches, adding visual interest to the online format. All of which to say, the groundbreaking virtual edition exceeded expectations. The only downside to this format is that the social element of film festivals shifted to social media, prompting an influx of attendees to live-tweet their way through movies not yet available to the public. Perhaps future virtual fests could create secure online chats to avoid this.
As for the film lineup, it contained a mix of festival darlings, retrospectives from Vinegar Syndrome, and new premieres. Check out our reviews for Skull: The Mask, The Pandemic Anthology, Fulci for Fake, and Attack of the Demons.
In addition, here are five more films to put on your radar…
Scare Package – coming to Shudder June 18
This horror anthology goes for broke both in silliness and gory practical effects. It showcases seven directors, seven tales of terror, and one overarching love letter to the genre. The wraparound features a Joe Bob Briggs-obsessed video store owner who recounts blood-splattered stories of horror to his new employee, relaying the rules of the genre. The segments are directed by Hillary & Courtney Andujar, Anthony Cousins, Emily Hagins, Aaron B. Koontz, Chris McInroy, Noah Segan, and Baron Vaughn. Luckily, you don’t have long to wait to check this anthology out; it’s coming to Shudder on June 18.
The VICE Guide to Bigfoot
This one offers a hilarious paranormal comedy by Adult Swim’s Zach Lamplugh. This debut feature plays like a mockumentary, in which Brian Edmond (as himself) aspires to be a hard-hitting reporter. Much to his chagrin, he’s instead assigned yet another clickbait project. That entails hunting for Bigfoot in the Appalachian Mountains with a popular YouTube cryptozoologist as his guide. Things get wacky, then violent as Edmond is forced to question whether his job is worth dying for. More straightforward comedy than genre feature, this entertaining mockumentary is still worth checking out.
The Wanting Mare
Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s feature debut is pure artistry. A sci-fi fantasy feature that spans generations, it revolves around the city of Withren, a sweltering place prone to violence. Wild horses are captured and sold for a pretty penny, shipped across the sea via gigantic industrial ship Levithen. For the line of women in the film, who share a recurring dream of escape, they yearn to procure the coveted ticket that would allow them passage on Levithen. Nearly everything in this film is a digital effect. The Wanting Mare is impressive visually and narratively; it plays out more like a lucid dream. It’s not the type of film to give its answers easily.
Homewrecker
This festival favorite from the Fantasia Film Festival proved to be a favorite among Chattanooga attendees as well. Alex Essoe stars as Michelle, a woman who reluctantly gives in to pushy requests to hang out by the overbearing Linda (Precious Chong). Michelle quickly realizes that Linda is obsessive and jealous, sparking a brutal game of cat-and-mouse. This one gets vicious and twisty, and you may never think of Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You)” the same way.
Read our review out of Fantasia here.
The Beach House
If there’s any film from Chattanooga Film Festival’s lineup that should be prioritized, it’s this one. Written/Directed by Jeffrey A. Brown, The Beach House sees two college sweethearts arrive at a family beach house for a romantic weekend getaway. When they find it’s currently occupied, their vacation becomes a fight for survival thanks to a mysterious infection. While the romantic drama between the two leads ultimately goes nowhere, The Beach House becomes more than worthwhile thanks to an excellent lead performance by Liana Liberato, gnarly practical effects, and a breathless final act that draws from The Mist and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Also, one unforgettable moment of cringe-worthy foot trauma. Even better? Shudder acquired this title as well. Look for it sometime this year.