Fantastic Fest in full swing

Thomas Haden Church. Photograph by Holly Aker

Before this year, I had never  really been active in Fantastic Fest. Honestly, I had never heard of the genre festival before last year when I became co-editor of the entertainment section of the St. Edward’s University newspaper, Hilltop Views. However, this year I am taking full advantage of everything the festival has to offer.

I kicked off my Fantastic Fest by seeing a press screening of “Stone” on Thursday. Starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Milla Jovovich, “Stone” takes you into the life of a prisoner named Stone (Norton) who is willing to do anything to get out of prison early. Reaching his breaking point in the slammer, Stone and his wife (Jovovich) concoct a plan for her to seduce Stone’s parole officer (De Niro). What follows is one of the most powerful and heavy movies I’ve ever seen. The movie also features a beautifully composed score that adds to the intensity and keeps you gripping the armrests throughout the film.

As a follow up to the film, I participated in a round table interview with Edward Norton yesterday. In the interview Norton went into detail about how he developed Stone as a character. He explained how he spent some time in a prison visiting with inmates, and after meeting a certain, name-less inmate, he knew he found an inspiration for Stone. Norton was also a really nice, considerate guy in general. The first half of the interview was dominated by these two very aggressive journalists that would cut off Norton’s answers just so they could get the next question in. Finally, Norton cut off one of the journalists and said that everyone else needs a chance to ask some questions at which point he turned to my co-editor and me as if to say, “Go ahead, ladies.”

I finished off the day by attending the red carpet event for “Zombie Roadkill.” The movie is a comedic horror that stars Thomas Haden Church (Easy A, Sideways) and David Dorfman (The Ring, The Ring 2). The basis of the movie is pretty self explanatory from the title: a highway that brings roadkill back to life as zombies who then start killing people who use the highway. Sounds super cheesy, but super awesome at the same time.  I took all of my red carpet pictures with my Nikon F5, so I need to go get those developed. But check back soon!