Tuesday, May 03, 2005

The Movie I Watched Last Night XC

Last night, thanks to Clem Richardson at the Daily News, I made my way to the Lower East Side after work for a special event organized by Fangoria magazine. For the last two months, they've hosted a Monday night screening at the Pioneer Theater, one of the better small screening spaces in the city.

The rainy evening's fare included a T-shirt and book/DVD/comic giveaway, the beautifully eerie short film "The Fine Art of Poisoning" by Bill Domonkos, and the 1990 feature-length horror spoof Hiruko the Goblin. Directed by Shinya Tsukomoto, maker of Tetsuo, it's a clever romp combining a Lovecraftian buried terror, a John Carpenter's Thing-like organic horror (same as the first thing, still), and Jackie Chan-like slapstick (the heroes). Equally tension-setting and sappily romantic, the movie made me cover my eyes as much as I laughed. And the cheesy song sung by Megumi Ueno's character! If I had to hear it one more time, I think I may have gone bonkers.

Kudos to Fangoria for staging a solid series. I'll return next month, for sure. Editor Tony Timpone gave a short talk before the screening, and the staff member I met giving away free tickets outside before the show seemed nice enough. Hint: Don't buy your ticket like I did. The theater wasn't crowded, and chances are they'll give away tickets next time, too. Even if they aren't, I bet you'll still be able to get one at the door. Not much better than watching horror movies in a public theater!

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