ATLRetro

You thought the Halloween season was over? Think again, because the Buried Alive! Film Fest (BA!FF) is about to invade ATLRetro’s favorite movie palace, the Plaza Theatre, over the weekend of November 11-12 and unleash a slew of weird, wonderful horror films on lucky attendees.

Founded by horror fanatic Luke Godfrey (Atlanta’s Godfather of Gore, who started the Zombie Walk Atlanta, as well as one of the sick minds behind Halloween attraction Chambers of Horror and the award-winning monthly Splatter Cinema screenings at The Plaza), Buried Alive! has been generating international attention as the coolest, strangest movie festival in Atlanta. Since we’ve interviewed Luke (here)and Festival Director/filmmaker Blake Myers, (here), we decided to go after Programming Director (and our own contributing blogger) Philip Nutman. Despite his insane schedule, ATLRetro managed to get a few minutes of his time…

ATLRetro: Describe this year’s festival.

NUTMAN: “Psychotronic” – a whacked selection of crazy short films and some cool features. Comedy, gore, zombies, disappearing cats, resurrected goldfish, amputees, killer sperm; this year’s selection of films defy classification. The range is from the bizarre to the very serious, from the downright demented to very funny. Every program block is different. We have a terrific selection of local shorts. But the feature I’m most excited about showing is CHILLERAMA. It is the sickest, most freakin’ insane anthology film I’ve ever seen. It’s a total reinvention of an early 70s grindhouse movie…*very* retro. And I mean *in-f***ing-sane*

Let’s come back to CHILLERAMA. But first, how about the short films? And how do you program them?

My title as “program director” is an honorific; the BA!FF board all watch the movies and we selected them together. Last year was the festival’s most successful to date. This year we received a ton of submissions and we had to make some tough choices. Please don’t ask me to name favorite films; they are all different and we’re excited to show them. ‘ Nuff said…but, check out the program listing at the official website.

Understand this: we do this for love of Independent filmmaking, not money. None of us involved – Luke, Blake, Alyssa Myers, Mark Malek – make a dime off the festival. This is about supporting people who make movies and deserve to have them screened; bringing the best shorts and features we can find to Atlanta; entertaining the audience…and supporting The Plaza, which is a nonprofit and an Atlanta treasure.

Writer/director Ryan Lieske is your guest filmmaker and Patrick Rea is your “featured filmmaker” this year. Why?

Because they are two of the most talented, diverse filmmakers out there. Ryan is coming into town on his own dime – we have no funding to be able to afford to fly people into Atlanta. We screened the fake trailer for CLEAN BREAK  and the actual short last year. Ryan and the Collective Studios gang came into town at their own expense and had a great time. But if DOWN TO SLEEP, his most recent short, which we’re screening, was crap, we would have rejected it. He’s coming back to Atlanta because he loves the festival.

Patrick Rea's EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.

If all goes to plan, we also will have the world premiere of the trailer of British filmmaker Ashley Thorpe’s new short, BORLEY RECTORY. He’s so hard at work, he doesn’t have the time to come to the festival this year. (Editor’s note: Thorpe won the BA!FF Visionary Award for three animated shorts, including the haunting highwayman story SCAYRECROW, last year.)

Patrick Rea is a prolific filmmaker. He submitted three films last year and we rejected two of them. This year we accepted three out of five. His films keep winning awards and getting better. He’s a director to watch out for. So, since we’re screening three of his films, all of which are different, he deserved to be “featured filmmaker.”

But everything in the festival is solid gold. I’m especially delighted we’re screening Eddie Ray’s SATANIC PANIC: BAND OUT OF HELL, which is totally nuts. And Chris Ethridge and Jayson Palmer managed to pull off what I thought was an unfilmable Stephen King story with SURVIVOR TYPE. These are in the local shorts section. The quality of talent in Atlanta keeps growing, and we want to support that.

So back to CHILLERAMA…

It’s going to blow the audience away. It’s sick, totally twisted and hilarious. It’s a contemporary retro grindhouse anthology film that takes place in an old, about-to-close Drive-In. The four films are written and directed by Adam Green (who made the HATCHET flicks), Joe Lynch (WRONG TURN 2, which was better than the original), Tim Sullivan (2001 MANIACS) and Adam Rifkin (DETROIT ROCK CITY). It’s a love letter to ’50s/’60s/’70s exploitation movies. Sullivan’s I WAS A TEENAGE WEREBEAR is like a ’50s AIP teen monster movie crossed with a Frankie & Annette BEACH BLANKET BINGO film. It’s a musical with gay leather boy werewolves and is hysterically funny. Adam Rifkin’s WADZILLA is the biggest “come shot” on film; giant killer sperm – what’s not to love? Adam Green’s THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN is like what if Ed Wood made a Jewish anti Nazi propoganda movie starring the Golem. It’s nuts. Joe Lynch is responsible for the wraparound story at the Drive-In which turns into a totally demented narrative with sex-crazed zombies. Words don’t do the flick justice. It’s totally retro with post-modern humor. (I can’t believe I just said that; damn, that sounds pretentious!). Watch the trailer online and “come” see the movie – we have a stunning print. I nearly puked up my dinner with laughter after I first watched it.

And final words?

NUTMAN: If you love independent filmmaking, horror, weird shit – you need to come to the festival and support The Plaza.

Check out the full frightening film schedule here.