Chantal im Märchenland (3 Stars)

"Chantal im Märchenland", engl. "Chantal in Fairy Tale Land", is a German comedy. It's still in the cinemas, and it's already the most successful film of 2024 in Germany, out-grossing the American blockbusters. As a serious film fan I had to acknowledge it by laying my money on the counter.

It's a spin-off of the "Fack Ju Göthe" film series. That's a strange premise. "Fack Ju Göhte" is a high school comedy that takes place in the real world, whereas "Chantal im Märchenland" is a fantasy film. Chantal is a girl that we met in the previous films. Now she's in her early twenties and she's trying to become famous as a YouTube influencer. It's not as easy as she thinks. She only has 500 subscribers to her channel.

One day Chantal falls into a magical mirror that she wants to use as a prop for a video. Her best friend Zeynep jumps in after her. The two young women find themself in a fantasy world. Chantal is a princess, while Zeynep is a commoner. The fantasy world is a mixture of fairy tales and other fantasy stories. Chantal meets a witch and realises that she's about to be cursed to become Sleeping Beauty, so she deflects the curse onto a prince. The prince falls into a deep sleep until he's awakened by the kiss of a stable boy. The two men fall in love, but he's ashamed to admit it, so he tells his mother that Chantal's kiss woke him up.

There are other things mixed in. There's a sword in a stone which will belong to whoever can pull it out. Many men try in vain, until a princess arrives and pulls it out easily.

Then Chantal meets a young man called Ali Baba. She weaves him a flying carpet, so that they can fly together to Bagdad.

The film is hilarious. It's a product of today's mixing of gender and sexuality roles, but it's successful because it's a comedy. When the prince and the stable boy kissed, nobody in the audience sighed romantically, they all laughed.

The film's biggest problem is the language. The dialogue is full of vulgar swear words. I see no reason for it. It's a fairy tale world, so why is everyone swearing? Is it supposed to be funny? I didn't find it funny. The bad language is totally unnecessary.

Seed of Chucky (5 Stars)

In the last film we saw Tiffany having a baby in the cemetery. This film takes place a few years later, and we see what a beautiful boy he's become. Red hair and blue eyes is a beautiful mix. He was stolen from the cemetery by a ventriloquist and taken to England, but after seeing Chucky and Tiffany on television he recognises them as his parents and mails himself to Hollywood.

It's not clear how the two murder dolls found their way into a movie studio. They seemed to have been destroyed at the end of the last film, but they've been reassembled to make a horror film about their killing spree. Ah ha, so it's a metafilm, like we know from "Scream"/"Stab". The dolls are no longer alive, so they have to be animated by electronics.

The star of the horror film is Jennifer Tilly, the real Jennifer Tilly.

She's supposed to be on a diet for her role, but she sneaks into the props room for a snack. What's she eating? I've watched the scene in slow motion, and I can't tell whether it's a Snickers or a Mars bar.

Leave her alone! She's beautiful enough to carry a few extra calories.

The boy recites a ritual from the pages of "Voodoo For Dummies", bringing his parents back to life. They call him Glen, but when he undresses they see that he doesn't have male equipment, so they change his name to Glenda. This starts an argument between the parents. Chucky wants a son, but Tiffany wants a daughter. Can't he be both?

Glen is a good boy. Or girl. He doesn't want to kill, but after seeing his parents go on a murder spree he wants to be like them. 

"Seed of Chucky" has a different style to the previous four films. Until now they've been horror films with slight touches of comedy. In this film the comedy is in the foreground. Critics have called this the weakest film in the series, probably because of the comedy. I used to agree with them, but after watching "Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky" back to back I can accept both films in their respective styles.

Success Rate:  + 0.1

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Bride of Chucky (5 Stars)

"Love between the ugly is the most beautiful love of all".

That quote must mean something to me. It's is the third time I've used it in my blog. Although I have to say, only Chucky is ugly. Tiffany is beautiful, even as a doll.

But I prefer her as a woman. Jennifer Tilly is one of the sexiest actresses I know. It's not just her voluptuous curves. It's not even her baby doll voice. Something about her oozes evil, and I mean that as a compliment. I wouldn't dare play poker with her. She'd take all my money and laugh at me as I leave.

Have you noticed that she always shows off deep cleavage when she plays poker? That's a deadly distraction to the men at the table. As they say, "If you've got it, flaunt it. If you've got a lot of it, use it as a weapon".

"Bride of Chucky" was made seven years after "Child's Play 3". Even though it's a continuation of the franchise, it has the feeling of a reboot. It's a new start with new dynamics, mainly due to the arrival of the Hong Kong director Ronny Wu. He's breathing new life into the series. Whatever he does turns to gold. I have enough of his films to do a mini-marathon. Maybe I'll start next month.

Success Rate:  + 0.0

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Oddity (2 Stars)

This is the 15th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Ted Timmis works in a hospital for the criminally insane. One night his wife Dani is murdered, and a recently released patient is found guilty. But Dani has a twin sister who's blind and psychic. When she touches an object she can see what happened to it. She wants to investigate and find out if the patient really was guilty.

This is the sort of film I don't like. There are lots of things going on; some are relevant to the plot, some aren't. There's a lot that the viewer has to accept. For me it was too much. Evidently it was too much for the other festival guests as well. Things happened that made them laugh, even though they were supposed to be terrifying.

This was the last film that I watched in this year's Nights Festival. I regret that the festival ended on a poor note.

Concrete Utopia (4½ Stars)

This is the 14th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

This was Korea's entry for the best foreign language film at the 2024 Oscars. It takes place in Seoul in an area where there are a lot of residential skyscrapers, 15 or more floors high. There's a massive earthquake, and all the buildings are destroyed, except for one. The people from the neighbouring buildings flood to it, seeking shelter, and the question is whether they should be accepted or turned away. Soon they're divided into two groups: the residents and the cockroaches.

The film's message is plainly clear. What should we do with refugees? Let them in or turn them away? And how is our decision influenced when we don't have much ourselves? There was an incident in my home town a few years ago. There was a supermarket called Cap which employed mentally handicapped people. Only the manager was "normal". I often shopped there. The staff were friendly. They were disabled, but I liked them. Then the town was ordered to build a home for asylum seekers. Cap had received financial support from the council because the employees weren't able to work as efficiently as normal employees. The council wrote to Cap and told them that the social budget was exhausted by the refugee home, so they couldn't pay money to Cap for the next two years. Cap was closed, and the mentally handicapped people lost their jobs. It never re-opened.

I found that disgusting. The weakest people in our society, the ones who needed the most help, were the ones who had to pay for the refugees. It was wrong to stop funding Cap.

I'd better stop ranting. Back to the film. It's very good, though uneven in parts. There are subplots which I found unnecessary. Nevertheless, I intend to watch it again.

Bitten (5 Stars)

This is the 13th film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It's a coming of age drama, and the vampire elements are only incidental. The year is 1967. Francoise is a 16-year-old girl who lives in a Catholic boarding school. Her best friend Delphine has just lost her virginity. Francoise is jealous, but she has other things on her mind. She has a premonition that she will die before dawn, so she wants to have a good time in her final hours of life.

Francoise and Delphine hitch a ride to a mansion in the woods where there's a big party. Lots of good-looking boys, but Francoise rejects their advances. She's more interested in a young-looking boy called Christophe. He tells her that he's a vampire, and he's really very old. Francoise asks him to kill her, but he's reluctant.

That's it! No more spoilers.

As I said above, the vampire element of the film is subdued. It's more about the feelings of two young girls, trying to deal with their hormones and the impending feeling of doom.

Cobweb (5 Stars)

This is the eleventh film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

"Cobweb" is a film within a film. The director Kim Ki-yeo, called Director Kim by all, has just completed a film called "Cobweb". It's a wrap. But the day after its completion he has ideas about improving the film by changing the ending. His films have all been called lightweight trash by critics, but his new ideas will make it a masterpiece.

So he tries to refilm the final scenes. But his studio refuses. The actors have already gone on to film other projects. What can he do to continue with his film?

I admit that I found the opening scenes boring. "What's this all about?" But as it continued I was more and more drawn in by the zany humour. I was soon sitting in awe, waiting to see what would happen next. I was also trying to figure out what "Cobweb" (the inner film) was about, but it just confused me. In the original ending a woman killed her husband. In the revised ending another woman killed him. The scattered footage just gave clues that are intended to puzzle the audience.

This is the best film in the festival so far. I can't wait to see it again.

Boy Kills World (unrated)

This is the tenth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It's not often that I decide not to rate a film. There's a lot in "Boy Kills World" that annoys me, but there's also a lot that I like. If I'd just averaged the film out with a three star rating, it wouldn't have accurately expressed my feelings.

The whole film has a post-apocalyptic feeling to it. It takes place in an American city that's controlled by Hilda Vanderkloy. Once a year she holds a ceremony called the Culling, in which she publicly executes anyone who opposes her rule. Bill Skarsgard plays an unnamed young man whose family was killed in a culling ceremony. He's been training all his life so that he can kill Hilda.

What I like about the film is the incredible fight scenes. They're a joy to behold. What I don't like is the film's post-apocalyptic premise and the stupid look on Bill's face. It's annoying. There are other things that annoy me which I can't reveal without giving away spoilers. Nevertheless, I'll watch the film again when I get the chance. Maybe I'll rate it next time.

The Empire (4 Stars)

This is the ninth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

The film takes place in a sleepy French fishing village. Something big is happening beneath the surface, not even seen by the inhabitants. Aliens from two races are taking control of villagers. The races call themselves the ones and the zeroes. The ones are benevolent and intend to live on Earth in peace, helping humanity to advance. The zeroes are selfish and wish to exploit humanity for their own purposes. The two races are preparing to go to war against one another.

This is a ridiculous science fiction comedy, but it's enjoyable.

Riddle Of Fire (3 Stars)

This is the eighth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Jodie, Hazel and Alice are three young friends who live in Ribbon, Oklahoma. They ride around on motorbikes that look too old for their age, armed with paint guns. The girl sitting on the ground is Petal, but they don't meet her until later in the film.

The film is described as a fairy tale, but it reminds me more of the computer adventure games in which a series of tasks have to be performed in order to reach a goal. It's easy to explain. The children want to play a video game, but only their mother knows the password. She promises to tell them the password if they fetch her a blueberry pie. The cook at the only bakery in town is sick, but she says she'll give the children her recipe if they fetch her ice to cool her down. When they get her the ice (by stealing it) she gives them the recipe, but they can't get a speckled egg because a man buys the last box before their eyes. So they have to follow him to steal the eggs.

And it continues from there. It's a whole chain of tasks that have to be performed in order to play their video game.

This is probably suitable as a children's film, and it's pleasant to watch, but it's not a film I'm likely to watch more than once.

Sting (4 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Charlotte lives in an apartment building in New York City. The house belongs to her grandmother's sister. That's a great aunt, isn't it? Most of the apartments are used by her family.

One night a small meteorite smashes its way into her grandmother's apartment. Charlotte finds a small spider and takes it into her room. She calls it Sting and feeds it bugs, but the spider is very unusual. It whistles when it's hungry. It grows rapidly, doubling its size within a few days. It's remarkably intelligent, opening the lid of its jar when it wants to hunt for food, then closing the lid again when it returns.

Sting feels affection towards Charlotte, but everyone else in the house is in danger. It's soon as large as a dog and able to wrap humans in a web.

In theory the film could be terrifying. The problem is that the picture is too dark for most of the film. Do you remember the good old days of the 1960's horror films? Or any films, in fact. Even if a scene took place at night, the picture was still clear, and shading was used to show that it was nighttime.

The Invisible Fight (4½ Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Wow! This is the first Estonian film I've ever seen. I wonder if it's typical.

The story takes place while Estonia was part of the Soviet Union, so it's some time between 1944 and 1991. My guess is that it takes place towards the end of that period.

Rafael served in the Soviet army as a guard on the Russia-China border. While there he learned kung fu. After returning home to Estonia he wants to continue with his martial arts, so he applies to become a monk in an Orthodox monastery which teaches martial arts. I didn't know the Russian Orthodox Church encourages martial arts. I learn something new every day. Rafael only wants to stay a short while in the monastery, but the head monk sees something special in him. He says that Rafael will become a saint. Rafael doubts this, because he likes drinking vodka and listening to heavy metal, but maybe the head monk is right.

This is a hilarious film. Interestingly, no fun is made of the Christian religion itself. Christianity is assumed to be correct, and the humour comes from the way Rafael and the monks practise it.

It's already been released on Blu-ray in America.

Meanwhile on Earth (3 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Franck Martens was an astronaut who took part in a space mission. The space ship disappeared. No explosion, it simply disappeared. Three years later he's considered a hero. A statue has been erected to him in his home town. His younger sister Elsa sits gazing at the stars every night wondering if she'll ever see him again.

One night she hears his voice talking to her. He tells her that he's the only survivor of the mission, and he doesn't know where he is. Then she hears a second voice telling her that they (whoever they is) will return Franck to her if she does them a favour. Over the next three days she has to take five people to a place in the forest, either one at a time or in a group. If they stand at the right place, or even just walk over it, their bodies will be occupied by them. They promise it isn't an invasion, they just want to live on Earth.

This is a quiet dreamlike film. Questions of morality aren't directly discussed. Elsa just wants her brother back. I found the film too quiet for my tastes.

Love Lies Bleeding (4 Stars)

This is the first film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

It takes place in an unnamed town in New Mexico, close to the Mexican border. Jackie is hitchhiking from Oklahoma to Las Vegas to take part in a body building contest. That doesn't look like the most direct route, but when you're hitchhiking you have to take whatever rides you can get. She's short of money and sleeping rough. In the opening scene we see her having sex with the manager of a gun club to get a job as a waitress.

Louise is the manager of a gym. When Jackie comes in to work out the two become lovers. They're both lesbians. Jackie only sleeps with men when she needs something from them.

It's a small town where everyone knows everyone. Louise's father is the owner of the gun club. The man Jackie slept with is Louise's brother-in-law JJ. Louise's father also makes money by illegally smuggling guns into Mexico. The FBI suspects him, but doesn't have enough proof to act.

Things start moving when Louise's sister Beth is so badly beat up by JJ that she ends up in hospital. Jackie takes revenge, breaking into JJ's home and killing him with her bare hands. Murder needs to be carefully planned. Spontaneously killing someone leaves clues. Jackie and Louise do their best to get rid of the evidence, but it's not easy.

The plot meanders on, with ever deepening conflicts. I shouldn't give away anything else, except that the film becomes even more fascinating as it continues.

I have a simple question. Is it normal for a bodybuilder to be a heavy smoker? I would have thought that Jackie would do without cigarettes in order to remain fit.

This was a good film to open the Nights Festival. I admit that I enjoyed the lesbian sex scenes with gratuitous nudity. What do you expect from me? I'm a man.