The VHS Graveyard Salutes the Chattanooga Film Festival

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Attack of the Demons, best film festivals, CFF, Chattanooga Film Festival, cinema, Coming Home in the Dark, film festivals, film reviews, films, horror, Koko-di Koko-da, Movies, My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To, online festivals, Scare Package, Scenes From An Empty Church, Something in the Dirt, The Leech, The Old Ways, The Skull, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

CFF 2022

One of the main goals of The VHS Graveyard is to introduce people to films and filmmakers that they might not be familiar with. By this point in cinematic history, stretching back over a century, there’s too much for even the most dedicated cinephile to keep track of, much less folks who don’t devote every waking minute to the subject. While we certainly don’t know everything (or even most things) about film, you can bet that the folks behind the annual Chattanooga Film Festival probably do.

CFF 2021

Beginning as a film club, in 2009, before becoming a full-fledged movie festival in 2014, the Chattanooga Film Festival is one of those amazing grab-bag events, like the higher-profile Fantastic Fest, that offers a little bit of everything, programming-wise.

CFF 2020

From ultra-low budget indie fare to soon-to-be breakout hits and reshowings of classic genre offerings that might’ve gone missed, back in the day, there’s something for everyone, regardless of what they’re looking for. Throw in the usual panel discussions, seminars, salutes to industry legends and assorted workshops and it’s pretty obvious that the CFF stands tall with the best of them.

CFF 2021

If this was all there was to the story, however, this festival would remain something that the Graveyard respected but didn’t pay much attention to. What’s managed to imprint the CFF on our overstuffed brain?

CFF 2020

Quite simply, the Chattanooga Film Festival successfully did the one thing that so few other larger festivals have even attempted: they took their event online, to spectacular results.

CFF 2021

When the global Covid pandemic shut physical get-togethers down in 2020, the CFF responded by taking their party directly to the masses, films, events and all. Despite our love of cinema, we’ve never attended one of the big festivals: between the travel, the crowds and the expense, there was never enough of a reason to draw us out of our comfortable cocoon, in the past. The announcement of the CFF’s all-digital version in 2020, however, was too good to pass up.

CFF 2022

Suffice to say, that first year impressed us so much that we eagerly bought passes for the following two years as soon as they went on sale. As a now dedicated fan, the Graveyard can honestly say that the difference with the Chattanooga Film Festival comes down to one thing: these folks not only know about but love film, in all its wild, wonderful and occasionally trashy glory.

CFF 2020

Whether celebrating a new, unseen film that’s poised to take the world by storm or paying tribute to an ultra-cheesy TV movie from the ’70s, the CFF does nothing ironically or archly: they’re unapologetic about loving what they love, which gives us all the freedom to love what we love with like minded folks.

CFF 2021

While the CFF has more short films, special events and workshops than one person could reasonably attend, it’s the full-length features that always get our full and undivided attention. Since 2020, we’ve made a game of trying to see every last feature and haven’t succeeded yet but have come pretty close.

CFF 2020

Since 2020, many of the films that have ended up at the top of our Best Of lists (for both horror and non-horror) have come directly from the vaunted online halls of the Chattanooga Film Festival: films like Scare Package, Koko Di Koko Da, My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To, Coming Home in the Dark, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Something in the Dirt and The Leech were all first seen via the CFF.

CFF 2020

One of the biggest compliments we can pay the Chattanooga Film Festival, ultimately, is that we’ve had such a good time, virtually, that we’d happily make the trip (at some point in time) to experience the fest in person. While we have nothing, specifically, against either Chattanooga or Tennessee, we never would have entertained this notion before 2020.

At the end of the day, every film festival must be judged on a few simple criteria but the most obvious one should be: is it actually any fun? As someone who has eagerly looked forward to and massively enjoyed the (virtual) CFF for the past few years, I can answer that with a very resounding and definite “Fuck yeah!”

The VHS Graveyard Meets the Chattanooga Film Festival – Day One

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2020, animated films, Attack of the Demons, Brian Emond, CFF, Chatanooga Film Festival, cinema, directorial debut, Eric Power, film festival favorite, film festivals, films, homage, horror, Jeffrey A Brown, mockumentary, movie reviews, Movies, new movies, The Beach House, The Chattanooga Film Festival, The Vice Guide to Bigfoot, writer-director, Zach Lamplugh

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As usually happens at festivals, Day One is all about getting your bearings, making plans and easing into the serious business of having fun. As such, my first day at the Chattanooga Film Fest only involved three full lengths, four shorts and about 45 minutes of a filmmakers’ commentary session (full disclosure: I guess I’m not super fond of talking during a film regardless of who does it). I’d make up time in the following few days, however, and that’s really all that matters when you’re playing the long game.

Ultimately, though, it’s about quality and there was no shortage of that on display. Let’s start everything in earnest now, shall we? With no further ado, in order, I present my Friday screenings from this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival.

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Attack of the Demons

As outsiders descend on the small Colorado town of Barrington for its annual Halloween/battle-of-the-bands festival, we see that all isn’t quite as hunky-dory as it seems. In particular, one robed stranger has literally brought Hell to town in the form of a virulently infectious demonic plague that brings gruesome death and even more gruesome rebirth to all it touches. The only hope for the world lies in the hands of a group of survivors brought together by fate and a desperate need to escape…the Attack of the Demons!

As with nearly every film I screened during the festival, I knew nothing about Attack of the Demons before I actually sat down to watch it, aside from the fact that is was animated. Within moments, I was hooked. By the end credits, the film had entered that rare ground that I like to call “Instant Classics.” There haven’t been many of them but this is most certainly one of those.

What makes director Eric Power’s homage to horror of all eras so unforgettable? In this case, the answer is in the attention to detail. While Attack of the Demons utilizes the same sort of “moving paper” style that South Park has made so famous, the filmmakers have packed every inch of the film with so many lovingly rendered details that it makes the whole thing feel impossibly alive and practically demands repeat viewings. From the intricacies of the various humans, demons and animals presented to all the truly amusing in-jokes that reference not only horror but music (the obviously Misfits-inspired Banshee Riders are as brilliant as the amazing ’70s Italian horror flick that we glimpse), there’s almost too much to take in on the first go.

None of the cool details would mean a thing if everything else in the film wasn’t firing on all cylinders but this is the complete package: the voice acting is excellent and nuanced, the score is brilliant (one of the best Carpenter clones I’ve heard yet), the editing, writing and production elements are all top-notch, the humor and horror halves are perfectly balanced (the film is consistently funny) and it’s quite obvious that the filmmakers dearly love horror. While I’ve heard this described as “South Park meets Evil Dead,” I actually got more of a Demons vibe (lots of references to Italian horror) mixed with lots of The Thing. For all you gore-hounds out there, just know that this thing is so splattery, if it were live action, it might out-do Peter Jackson’s immortal Dead Alive.

This was the kind of movie that I never wanted to end which, if you think about it, is really the best kind of film. Suffice to say that I’ll keep my beady eyes fixed on Power and company from now on: this is as close to a perfect film as it gets, at least as far as I’m concerned.

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The Vice Guide to Bigfoot

Opting to keep the mood light, I decided to follow with one of my favorite sub-genres: the mockumentary. As with the best of these kinds of films, the plot is as streamlined as necessary: egotistical, jackass Vice reporter Brian (co-writer Brian Emond) and his put-upon producer/cameraman/friend Zach (director/co-writer Zach Lamplugh) are sent to the wilds of Georgia to meet up with cryptid hunter/YouTube celebrity, Jeff (Jeffrey Stephenson), and hunt for Bigfoot. The problem? Smart-ass Brian thinks this is all a bunch of click-bait bullshit while goofy Jeff truly believes. When strange things start to happen in the woods, will this be the proof that Jeff needs or Brian’s chance to finally crack a “real” story?

Finding the perfect balance between snide and sincere, Lamplugh and Emond’s film is not only smart and well-made but genuinely funny and full of plenty of surprising, organic twists and turns. The characters all end up being so well-developed and likable that the film develops real stakes by the seat-of-your pants finale, something that many horror-comedies struggle with: you come to care about all of these idiots so much that you really don’t want anything bad to befall them, regardless of how stupid they behave. The horror aspect, while not overpowering, was still nicely realized with some surprisingly effective touches of gore.

Where the film really excels, however, is with the deftly handled humor. Whether coming from Brian and Zach’s push-me/pull-you relationship, the subtle skewering of YouTube/Soundcloud celebrities, Jeff’s general buffoonery or Brian’s essentially caustic view of anything that isn’t him,  there’s a lot of funny stuff being thrown at the screen and the vast majority of it works, especially once we get to that bonkers finale.

Perhaps the highest praise that I can give The Vice Guide to Bigfoot, however, is that I would love to see this become a franchise: while the film isn’t perfect, these are the kinds of characters I want to spend more time with. Hell, The Vice Guide to the Jersey Devil is playing in my head, as I type, and it’s great. Talk about the power of cinema!

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The Beach House

After a couple of comedies, it was finally time to get into the serious stuff and writer-director Jeffrey A. Brown’s The Beach House was one that had me intrigued based on the synopsis alone. It promised to be weird and creepy, two things that have me responding faster than Pavlov’s pooch.

A couple with relationship issues decide to get away from the world at a secluded beach house owned by the guy’s family. Once there, however, they discover that they aren’t alone: a couple of family friends are already there, although they’re only too happy to share the gorgeous ocean view. While this seems a little odd, the intense bio-luminescence and gathering fog outside seem even odder still. And then things get really weird.

Recalling films as diverse as Richard Stanley’s recent adaptation of The Color Out of Space, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! and The Mist, Brown’s feature-length debut is quite the accomplished bit of filmmaking. In fact, cinematographer Owen Levelle might just have provided us with some of the most singularly gorgeous shots of the whole year: there are moments in The Beach House, like the opening deep dive to the ocean floor, that truly take your breath away. The sound design, editing, production design and performances are all apiece with the camerawork, making this one of the most immaculately crafted movies I’ve seen in some time.

And yet, for all that, I didn’t love The Beach House. Despite being thought-provoking and visually lush, I also found it a bit overlong and repetitive: I also wasn’t fond of a particular story element, something that I felt was a little below the film’s overall reach. If the worst thing you can really accuse a film of is doing things that you don’t agree with, however, than the film must inherently be doing something right. There was a lot to like here and somethings that I’ll never forget: the scenes with the bio-luminescence, for example, probably rank with some of the most awe-inspiring things I’ve ever seen in a film. I predict a very interesting career for those involved: this was a helluva calling card.

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While I didn’t get through quite as many features as I wanted and barely even scratched the surface of the other content, this first day of the CFF would bode well for the days ahead. At this point, there was still 23 films to go: who knew what was in store? Stay tuned, dear readers, and find out.