Artsfest Film Festival: Dark Narrative Explorations

Image from Carny

100 Years of Movies recently took a break from our chronological project to attend the Artsfest Film Festival in Harrisburg. The film festival is programed by the folks at Moviate and ran from May 27 through May 30.

The "Dark Narrative Exploration" session screened four films deal with horror and violence. I found things to recommend about each of them, but my favorite was the first short, The Grave by Alexander Monelli. A lone gravedigger works to create a space for another coffin when a bell in front of one of the tombstones starts ringing. The bell is tied to a rope that goes into a coffin buried ten years earlier. The digger flees in horror, but must decide if he can face his fears.

Monelli makes effective use of a creepy location and conceit and rings everything he can from it. The camera is always in just the right place and the ending is both perfect and stays with you. The movie's only real failing is its lack of budget and crew. The costumes are a little too neat and the overall feel is that of a really well done student film (which is what it is). I would love to see this film redone with more money and people.

Where The Grave's violence is primarily imagined, Matthew Garrett's Beating Hearts is the goriest entry of the four, but it uses its violence well. The film follows the violent consequences of a too-close-for-comfort relationship between a man and his granddaughter. It's subject matter is very disturbing, more so because of just how well made and acted the film is. Seeing it once was enough for me, which is a statement on how effective it is. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Giuseppe Capasso's 108.1 FM Radio

If The Grave is "Tales from the Darkside" and Beating Hearts is "Masters of Horror," the Giuseppe Capasso's 108.1 FM Radio is the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" of the bunch. The setup is simple: A man picks up a hitchhiker just as the radio is reporting a story about a hitcher who killed a family earlier that evening. Each man is suspicious of the other. But just who is the murderer?

My appreciation for this short has faded a bit since I saw it. There are plot elements that only serve to manipulate the audience. Still, it's atmospheric and creepy in the best possible way.  And, it has an ending I did not see coming.

Finally, there was Carny, a film by Kevin Lonano which has impressive production design and establishes a great tone, but which has a confusing and slight story. Stay for the characters and the creepy Tim Burtonesque costumes and makeup, but don't think too hard about the plot which follows a magician's assistant in danger of being replaced for her age.

All four films were well-crafted so, if they screen at a festival near you (and you like your films a bit dark and twisted), they are worth a look.

The Grave trailer: