In Cold Blood

Horror flicks account for most of the cheap, nasty fun provided by the annual bad-taste film frenzy known as Another Hole in the Head, and it’s no wonder. The genre attracts filmmakers with scant cash but a surfeit of scuzzy ideas and accommodating friends (some eager to get dolled up as zombies or werewolves, others willing to drop their tops for the pleasure of strangers, er, the glory of art). A laugh is as good as a shriek, and if the seams (or should we say stitches) show — well, that’s part of the charm. The lineup includes a few experts practiced with the sharp blades, such as perennial attraction Takashi Miike, represented by the gangster-in-training romp Crows: Episode Zero (June 11) and the U.S. premiere of the darkly gruesome murder mystery Detective Story (June 14 and 17). Mostly, though, the appeal of Another Hole in the Head is voluntarily submitting to the deranged imagination of an unknown individual inspired to make a movie called Black Devil Doll (June 13 and 18) or Frat House Massacre (June 15). Hardcore daredevils, meanwhile, will recklessly hone in on the world premiere of Chad Ferrin's Someone’s Knocking at the Door (June 13), a gross-out tale of drug-fueled med students running amok at a small college. Universal health care, anyone?
June 5-18, 2009