Important

The festival is over, but the site keeps on truckin'. Later in May you can expect a report of the festival, complete with exclusive pictures of the guests and the pandemonium at the Night of Terror.

> The Festival's closing film, Robert Rodriguez' From Dusk Till Dawn, won the Silver Scream Award 1996. The final night, wednesday 24, held some surprises for the ratings. For almost a week the chart was topped by Brian Yuzna's surprise movie The Dentist, but on friday it was easily passed by From Dusk Till Dawn as well as Katsuhiro Otomo's manga Memories.

> If conclusions can be drawn from the results (BIG if), they are that manga is here to stay (with two titles in the top 5) and splattercomedy still reigns supreme (From Dusk Till Dawn and The Dentist). Surprising results are the high points for science fictioner Strange Days, Argento's hallucinatory The Stendhal Syndrome and Carpenter's remake of Village of the Damned (which did far worse in the reviews) and the (relatively) low points for the near perfect thriller Mute Witness and the not-that-bad The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But the voting audience had taste, as proven by their slashing of Hellraiser: Bloodline, Serpent's Lair and especially Lawnmower Man II.

These are the final results (given are place, title, points):

1 From Dusk Till Dawn 3,60
2 Memories 3,46
3 The Dentist 3,27
4 Strange Days 3,25
5 Ghost in the Shell 3,21
6 The Stendhal Syndrome 3,17
7 Lord of Illusions 3,16
8 Day of the Beast 3,15
9 Crying Freeman 3,10
10 Village of the Damned 2,94
11 Mute Witness 2,93
12 12 Monkeys 2,91
13 Lady in White 2,75
14 Wicked City 2,74
15 Unforgettable 2,67
16 Virtuosity 2,57
17 Castle Freak 2,54
18 Screamers 2,53
19 The Silent Service 2,41
20 Hellraiser: Bloodline 2,28
21 The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1,93
22 Serpent's Lair 1,78
23 Lawnmower Man II 1,45

> The Festival of the Fantastic Film is well on its way. Although the first screening of the festival on thursday afternoon had to be changed when the copy of El Dia de la Bestia turned up in Los Angeles in stead of Amsterdam, so far that has been the only setback. Thursday evening the Festival was properly opened with the sold-out premiere of 12 Monkeys. First guests Clive Barker and Frank LaLoggia had already arrived. Among the company of the guests is Karen Powell, the actress playing the titular role of Lady in White. Friday afternoon saw a very well attended talkshow with Clive Barker. Barker, who will be leaving on Sunday, has a very busy schedule, with interviews, signing-sessions at bookstores in Amsterdam and Utrecht and attendance of the nightly screening of Lord of Illusions at Tuschinski.

> Friday night ended with a bang, when Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon introduced the surprise film of the festival: The Dentist. Directed by Yuzna and co-scripted by Gordon, The Dentist is a 'real sick puppy' of a horrormovie. It tells the story of a dentist obsessed with regularity and tidyness, who goes stark raving berserk when too many people screw up his highly organized way of life. In a way very reminescent of John Waters' Serial Mom, the dentist (played by a menacing Corbin 'Tales from the Hood' Bernsen) picks off his victims in his operating room, while the world around him barely notices a thing. Playing on our fear of dentists the movie tries to convince us that it would be difficult to distinguish normal treatment from torture, a cry of pain from one of sheer terror. Of course it's all done in the worst possible taste with hysterical results. The scenes of the dentist at his maniacal work had the audience squirming in their seats.
The screening was a true world premiere, with the print out of the laboratory just two days earlier.

> We can now confirm the attendance of the following guests at the festival:

Clive Barker, writer and director of Hellraiser, Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions,
Stuart Gordon, director of Castle Freak, Re-Animator, The Beyond.
Brian Yuzna, director of Society, Return of the Living Dead III, producer of Crying Freeman and Re-Animator,
Harry Kümel, director of Malpertuis,
Nigel Wingrove, owner of Redemption Video and director of Visions of Ecstasy,
Frank LaLoggia, writer/director/composer of Lady in White
Dario Argento, director of Suspiria, Deep Red, Inferno, Opera and The Stendhal Syndrome.

> The following talkshows have been arranged (schedule subject to change):

Fri 19: Clive Barker talks with Hans Beerenkamp
Sat 20: Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna talk with Jan Doense, Phil van Tongeren and Bart van der Put
Sun 21: Harry Kümel talks with Mike Lebbing
Mon 22: Nigel Wingrove talks with Phil van Tongeren and Jan Doense
Tue 23: Frank LaLoggia talks with Fir Suidema and Jan Doense
Wen 24: Dario Argento talks with Hans Beerenkamp and Jan Doense

> The talkshows take place at Alhambra 2, at 16.30 each day. Free entrance. Also all guests will attend and introduce the screenings of their films.

Festival pays hommage

While the mayority of movielovers mourns the sudden death of Polish filmmaker Krystow Kieslowsky, fans of genremovies have their own source of grief.
Early in March Lucio Fulci died in Italy. Fulci (68), director of numerous Euro-horrorfilms, had been in poor health for years, but seemed to be making constant come-backs. His death was a surpise after all. His latest movie, Wax Mask, was set to roll in a few weeks time and Fulci's death must cause producer Dario Argento apart from possible heart-ache a certain headache.
Argento is slated as guest of the FFFXIII and his memories of Fulci will certainly be a subject at the talkshow that is planned.

Festival-organisation tried to find a fitting hommage to the memory of the godfather of Euro-gore, director of such genre-classics as Zombie (Zombi 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters, 1979), City of the Living Dead (Gates of Hell, La Paura nella Citta dei Morti Viventi, 1980), The Beyond (...E Tu Vivrai nel Terrore: L'Aldila, 1981) and House by the Cemetery (Quella Villa accanto al Cimitrio, 1982).
Three of these titles are being shown:

City of the Living Dead (Thu 18, 15.00 and Sat 20, 22.30, Alhambra 2)
Zombie (Thu 18, 22.30, Alhambra 2)
The Beyond (Mon 22, 22.30, Alhambra 2)

Last updated: May 01, 1996