One of the most important things to do during a film festival is to program a “Me-Day," a day when you have no obligations, no films to review, nothing. Nothing to do but go and watch movies. For fun. For yourself. One day all about you. Because the rest of the festival you will be running around like a chicken with your head cut off. That one day, that single, perfect day, is there to remind you why you do this, why you put up with waiting in line for an hour to see some crappy movie that you’ll end up having to spend an hour or so writing about later. That day is a special kind of Zen. And you shouldn’t write about it. You should keep it pure.

Unless, of course, your "Me-Day" turns out as perfect as mine did. I saw three films, three exquisite delicacies that not only refocused me, but man-oh-man, they need to be out there and seen by the masses. So, despite the fact that I went in promising myself not to write about them, I just had to put a few words to print about them.

Second Skin:
This one hit me where I live. For about a year I wrestled with an addiction to online gaming. Not that I had a life, marriage or career-threatening problem, but in the span of one year I logged in over three months of game time. Six hours out of every day on average. Yeah. Did I mention I have a very understanding wife? Anyhow, Second Skin is a movie entirely about the ups and downs of the online gaming (MMORPG) business and world. The friendships that are made, the careers that have sprung from it, the true loves found. And the addiction. The lost jobs. The failed relationships. The divorces. It is a compelling, well-crafted documentary that explains in layman's terms just what is going on and why you should be paying attention. Perfectly unbiased, you walk out having seen an honest, evenhanded look at online gaming, free of any propaganda or perspective. Accessible filmmaking at its finest. If you have a loved one or friend who plays, if you play yourself or you’re just curious about what everyone’s talking about, this film is a top-notch explanation. Grade: B+

Dreams with Sharp Teeth:
If you know anything about science fiction, you know who Harlan Ellison is. And if you run the geek circuit like me, it is impossible to NOT have heard a dozen or so “Harlan” stories. The guy’s a character. As one-half genius and one-half cantankerous old man, Harlan is known for a wide array of bizarre opinions, strange utterances and truly unpredictable behavior. He’s also responsible for having changed the way we look at and write science fiction. This loving documentary lets Harlan tell his story in his own words and in doing so crafts one of the most inspirational documentaries for artists I’ve ever seen. It is impossible to walk out of this film and not want to create something, anything, just to let that inner madman out to play. This movie changed the way I looked at my own life and career. A movie like that can only get one rating. Grade: A

Dance of the Dead:
Campy, goofy fun, this is the story of a zombie uprising on the night of the prom. Unfortunately, for all the horny young teens ready for the night of their lives, their only hope is the losers who couldn’t get a date. Take the sci-fi club, add in a psycho-redneck bully, a spurned cheerleader, a punk-rock band, and a gym teacher who clearly never left the military behind him and you have the makings for one hell of an enjoyable low-budget splatter fest that invokes the very best of cornball '80s horror. I capped my day off with a midnight screening of this, ordered a pizza and some hot wings, chased it down with a cold beer and had one hell of a night. If you’re not a fan of horror there is absolutely nothing here for you. But if you love a good, funny horror film, this one fits the bill quite nicely. There’s an awful lot of zombie fatigue out there (many of my friends skipped this saying, “I’m sick of EXPLETIVE zombies"). But for those that gave it a shot, they were treated to what was probably the last of the good zombie films for a decade or two. Not anywhere near perfect or anything terribly new, this send-up gets a solid and wholehearted "B" grade.

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C. Robert Cargill - - - Email Me

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