Absolute Underground TV

Special Week-long
Screening in Victoria, BC

Feb 27 - Mar 5
The Odeon Theatre
780 Yates

The Vic Theatre

Modern life is very rough for the ancient vampire. In Wellington, New Zealand, just What We Do in the Shadows presents a comical look into what life is truly like for these creatures of the night in a more humanist kind of way. They allowed a small crew of cameramen to follow them around to record their antics and to see them acknowledged time to time gives this movie an air of authenticity that can be appreciated. When the film is presented as a mockumentary, the laughs are well earned, and some horror lore enthusiasts will recognize the world that these creatures, along with the werewolves and zombies, belong in.

Fans of minimalist horror will love what’s created in a simple tale of terror, It Follows and to find where it will screen next requires carefully paying attention to this movie’s own Facebook page for where it will play next.

Students of the occult will want to figure out what the entity is and to figure out what the monster represents can be studied in film analysis class but is any of the above really needed at all? Most likely not, but in a film that certainly delves into themes about sexual awakening, this tribute to 80’s sentimentality certainly delivers the thrills in an effective manner that even John Carpenter would approve of.

9:45pm Feb 10
Odeon Theatre

The art of free-falling as an extreme sport can be dangerous. When done right, the euphoria experienced might be like that of experiencing heaven shine upon one’s face like a bright sparkling diamond. Sunshine Superman is an aptly titled documentary about Carl Boenish, the father of BASE jumping. His work in the 70’s and 80’s helped further interest amongst the masses, and the challenges he faced typically meant disobeying the law. Not everyone in enforcement liked the idea of miscreants breaking into buildings or climbing high mountaintops only to leap off it.

Forget trying to get praise from Quentin Tarantino, filmmaker Takashi Miike might want to put his support into Shion Sono’s (Suicide Club, Love Exposure) action comedy Why Don't You Play in Hell? (地獄でなぜ悪い) that will be arriving in video stores and video on demand January 28th. This over-the-top gonzo madcap film features Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) as an aspiring guerilla style filmmaker intent on making a masterpiece ala Bruce Lee's Game of Death with his film club. Sasaki (Tak Sakaguchi) is cast into the yellow jump-suit leading role, and Kill Bill this movie is not. To make a film within a film about two feuding Yakuza clans is a fun approach to see how Hirata's movie crew stumble into a gang war. To see what transpires next is hilarious, like it was lifted from a Japanese cartoon, and the fallout is not without some classic moments taken from traditional theater.

The Victoria Film Festival returns for another year with a wide collection of films, thrillers and chillers for film-buffs, heavy metal and comedy enthusiasts to enjoy. Ron James of Black Fly and Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall fame will be here to talk about their careers, For McKinney, a screening of the classic Brain Candy, follows afterwards. The shenanigans begin 11:30am on both days, Feb 7th and 8th.

Cineplex Entertainment’s Great Digital Film Festival is no doubt going to delight geeks, nerds and cinema buffs starting January 30th all across Canada. This year has a lot of comic book properties being played out and that shows where the direction of pop culture cinema has been and will be headed. With movies ranging from Alien to the X-Men, the latter is going to be a mega-marathon that will start from the latest film, Days of Future Past, and go backwards to the original — all happening on Saturday, January 31st. For Dick Tracy and Dark Man, this year marks their 25th anniversary!

“The best way to see any movie, no matter what hands-down, is to see it in the theatre,” said Canada AM film journalist, Reel to Real co-host and author Richard Crouse. “I like seeing movies on the big screen — the way the director intended it.”

Italian filmmaker Raffaele Mosca certainly has a wide range of musical tastes. From Pig Destroyer, a grindcore/death metal band from Virginia to Gaslight Anthem, a punk rock group from New Jersey, to name a few, the decision to travel to South Africa to make the documentary March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads is interesting.

After he graduated from Fondazione Milano, a school that trains people so they can work in the television, film or new media industry, the jobs did not come easy. He jumped between London and Milan a lot before he finally said, “Fuck it. I had to shoot this movie. I owed it to myself.”

Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino
November 08, 2014 AT 8:00 PM

There’s a musical battle brewing in the tour that’s featuring Cheech & Chong ever since they paired with the band bearing the name of War. In their return to the Pacific Northwest at the Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino, there’s no mention of the band and for ol’ time fans wanting to see more of the comedy duo, they just may get it. In their Canadian leg of the tour, the show was billed as Cheech & Chong with musical guest War. Perhaps the confusion has gotten their marketing department’s attention and there’s some adjustments to the advertising going on.

Yes, even the people from South Africa are also born to bang their heads. The heavy metal scene is excellently explored in March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads and this documentary makes for a great primer into this world located deep south. But this land-locked country located between Namibia (in the west) and Zimbabwe (the east) with South Africa proper (south) has come a long way in a continent often plagued with internal strife. When this country’s economy is dependent on diamond mine production, what’s next will depend on what other trades will emerge as exportable.