Screamfest L.A. - Los Angeles, CA October 10th - 19th This was the third year of Screamfest L.A., but my first year in attendance. It was founded by Rachel Belofsky, a tiny young woman who is the desire of all my male friends. Screamfest is a horror film festival lasting nine days that includes independent horror films, shorts, student films, animations, special screenings, as well as seminars. It is held at three theatres across the Los Angeles area, The Arclight, the Fairfax Laemmle Theatre, and the LA Film School. This year Screamfest honored Wes Craven with a Lifetime Achievement Award. I only wish I could have attended all nine days, perhaps next year I will have perfected the clone of myself and it will be possible. I did enjoy being able to attend opening night at the Arclight, which benefited the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, to see a Q&A with one of my favourite directors, Sam Raimi. First we were treated to a special screening of Spider-man, followed by Sam's Q&A. I was surprised by the lack of people in attendance, but it was very fun, and very intimate. Sam was forced to answer the usual questions regarding Evil Dead 4 as well as the rumours of the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash movie, which is not true by the way. But the bulk of questions directed at same revolved around Spider-man 2 and the introduction of Dr. Octopus; and of course the return of Tobey Maguire to the hero's role. After the Q&A there was a screening of the classic Raimi film, Army of Darkness. There was also an after party nearby, but once I entered and saw people dancing to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean, I knew it was past time for me to go home. October 12th found me grumpily bitching about having to sit through a screening of Scream, which for some reason I was convinced I hated; I was wrong. I found myself laughing and having a good time all the way through the movie; it must've been the sequels I hated so much. I was delighted as always when Wes Craven came out for his Q&A; it's always a pleasure to look upon Wes's beauty, not to mention he's hilarious. He mostly discussed Scream, which was a bit disappointing. I vaguely recall hearing him mention something about Sharon Stone and spiders, but I was getting tired by then, perhaps it was a dream. I wasn't as tired, however, as the guy who fell asleep in the back of the theatre while Wes was talking. And in pure Wes Craven style, he led us in a countdown and a giant scream in an attempt to wake the man. When he didn't move, Wes hung down his head and said, "Brace yourself folks, he may be dead." October 14th the exhaustion of working all day and attending screenings at night was starting to get to me. It was a double screening, two films by director JT Petty. I have to admit, the only reason I decided to come to this night was to meet Lance Henriksen, who ended up not being there due to other commitments. First we (meaning the five or so people that showed up) sat through JT Petty's first film, Soft for Digging. It has received a lot of attention in the independent film circuits, and landed Petty his directing gig for Mimic 3; however, I was pretty unimpressed. Perhaps unimpressed isn't the right word; I was bored to tears and considered leaving more than once. Mimic 3 followed and I was, again, unimpressed. While definitely less painful to watch than Soft for Digging, it still lacked anything that grabbed my attention, and even the addition of Lance Henriksen and Amanda Plummer couldn't save this film. There was a Q & A session with JT Petty, but with only a few people in the audience it didn't go very well; I almost felt sorry for the guy. October 15th was the last night I attended of Screamfest and I'm glad I did. They did a double screening of Dracula II: Ascension and Dracula III: Legacy. I was suspicious, as I am not a huge fan of Dracula 2000, to which these films were the sequels, but with Roy Scheider in a priest uniform, it couldn't be all bad. I must say I adored Dracula II! I found Jason London irresistible, the effects fairly awesome, and was thrilled to see Craig Sheffer doing something that gave him room to spread out and show us what he's really capable of. There's also a new hero in town: a bad ass kung fu priest played by Jason Scott Lee. I also really liked Dracula III. Of course, I'm partial to Rutger Hauer. Many of the cast members were in attendance and I spoke to Jason London; he's just too adorable. There was a Q & A session with director Patrick Lussier and producer Joel Soisson; stay tuned for interviews with them soon. Screamfest was a lot of fun and I hope to attend more of the festival next year. Hopefully then it will be better advertised and more people will show up; this festival is too fun to miss. I'd like to thank everyone I met and who helped me over the week, especially Amy Levy, Rachel Belofsky, and Legion. -Aine
	Sam Raimi Patrick Lussier & Joel Soisson Patrick Lussier & Aine (if only my eyes had been open) Jason London & Aine
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