Toronto After Dark Diary Day 2: Frostbite, Shinobi, Retribution, Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell

The day started with a matinee showing of Swedish Vampire Flick Frostbite. I say matinee instead of afternoon because that’s exactly the spirit the movie conjured. It brought up memories of time spent seeing Lost Boys and Fright Night in the eighties with friends. Maybe it was the great atmosphere at the event, which has been full of friendly genre happy types all excited to see the films and make jokes about minor tech gaffes etc. but I doubt it. The truth is Frostbite was enjoyable pretty much beginning to end.

The film does have a few problems. Most notably the writing, which suffered in pretty much every department. Unless the subtitles were just plain off, the dialogue was B movie to a fault with teenagers cracking wise without being funny. The story itself contains several plots that would have been more interesting had any attempt been made to weave them together. Lastly the film seemed neither confident enough in its comedy, unsure of how to develop its drama and not savvy enough to take advantage of its endless night scenario choosing instead to have the events take place over the course of single evening rather than a series of sunless days.

But ultimately these were all relatively minor considerations given the moments in this film that did work. Pet lovers beware! Small animals provide some really, really funny moments here including one that features a bad end for a very cute bunny. One of my favorite scenes showed a police officer entering a room where one the vampire suspects has been detained. Dressing him in body armor the other officers wryly allow him to see for himself exactly how difficult teenagers can be. Also outstanding was the score of the film.

In the end Frostbite was a really pleasant diversion with striking monsters, an overall interesting series of characters and the kind of corny one liners that make for perfect Saturday Afternoon creature featuring.

Next up was Shinobi. I see so many forgettable sword play martial arts films that I almost groan at the thought of sifting for another gem. But Shinobi carried off a good story with visual flair, exciting fight scenes and a love story that I completely bought into. I liked this film so much I’ll probably seek it out on DVD soon to share with friends and that is a rarity given its genre.

Following Shinobi and a fabulous dinner at Pizza, Pizza (joke) where Mack and I bumped into The Movie Blog’s John Campea, I steeled myself for the film I had looked forward to more than any other, the new Kiyoshi Kurosawa flick Retribution. I recently swore if I never saw another Japanese ghost story again that would be fine. I take it all back. This heavily atmospheric, genuinely unsettling film shows Kurosawa at his near best in my opinion.

Kurosawa regular Koji Yakusho plays a police officer trying to figure out his connection to a nameless murder victim, worried that he himself might be the serial killer he and his fellow officers are trying to track down. Haunted by the woman’s spirit in a series of breathtaking visitations he desperately wracks his brain but comes up empty handed. Meanwhile the pile of bodies grows, all with the same MO, all drowned in salt water and all murdered by different people. As Yakusho moves closer to the truth you will find most of what you know about Kurosawa and Japanese ghost stories incorporated, and offered up with atmospheric élan. A stylish exercise in alienation.

My last review might be one to take with a grain of salt since I was heavily under the influence of Starbucks Bold when I saw it. But if memory serves me right Beach Party At The Threshold of Hell was the perfect way to end the day. Twonky doesn’t begin to describe this zany comedy about the formation of the new America following Nuclear apocalypse.

A self styled politician guarded by two androids is inspired by the drunken ramblings of a radio messiah to locate the messiah’s nephew and appointed heir and rescue him from his bomb shelter on the beach front property known as the Threshold of Hell. Hitting the road with his caged captive Cannibal Sue he wanders the apocalyptic landscape asking for support from the mutated populous only to have his plans for a new government thwarted by a genetically superior beach partying cult anxious to sacrifice tanless humans.

You will ask many questions after viewing this film. How did they get Jane Seymor, Daniel Baldwin and a host of other well known minor celebs to agree to be in it? How did they get other people to agree to finance it? How are they going to make a living now? I’m just kidding. Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell has all the makings of serious cult hit and filmmakers mentioned at the Q and A they want to do two sequels. I say give these people a budget and a producer that makes sure they spend it on the cappuccino they must have lived on to create this hyperkinetic, gonzo satire.