A. - I got up at some truly ungodly hour to get to the airport, and those of
you who've noticed my discussion board posts on local radio host Russ Parr will be utterly unsurprised
to learn that the cab driver was listening to - what else? Yup, the Russ Parr morning show. My pre-caffeinated
brain decides that this is perhaps not an auspicious beginning, but certainly an appropriate one.
There's some fun at the airport when A. arrives: we've only seen each other's pics on our bio pages, which aren't
exactly very clear, so we're looking around thinking "Okay, let's see, I should be able to recognize the lower left half of
his face...." But we spot each other, big hug, and are soon en route to Orlando. It's a fun-filled four-hour drive from e.'s
house in Pompano Beach (down by Ft. Lauderdale), featuring thunderstorms and a moderately close encounter with a wildfire -
gotta love Florida! We check into the lovely Langford Hotel (which features an AstroTurf Mickey Mouse
sculpture in the lobby- talk about a scary stick-man), get changed into Film Festival Premiere Gear, and head to the
Enzian Theater.
The place was packed, and we were absolutely thrilled
to get in just as the Haxan boys were introduced (and presented with
an award originally conceived by Mike Monello a few years back when
he worked for the FFF- talk about cool!). It was jarring to finally
see the Haxan Five in person, on stage not 50 feet away from us;
having corresponded with the guys for so long still didn't prepare
me for finally sharing a room with them!
They seemed thrilled to be
there, and were exceedingly gracious.
They would return after the screening for some Q & A, but now it
was time to finally screen the film that had driven us to
build our humble little site- THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
(First, however, a highly amusing short film was shown, spoofing
the indie- player mentality, preceded by the official 1999 FFF
animation by Bill Plympton).
e. - What can I say? I went into the film with a LOT of expectations,
and every damned one was exceeded by an order of magnitude. The
film works on all levels, and was easily one of the most unsettling
movies I've ever seen. All the reviews we've read from the original
screenings were >dead-on: the audience laughed in all of the right
places, and the final 15 minutes bathed the theatre in total silence,
punctuated only by gasps of disbelief as the crowd was drawn to hell
and back. A. grabbed my hand for those last 20 minutes, and left
bruises- and she'd already seen the film at a screening in
Philadelphia two months before!
We were completely breathless by the end, and were glad to lead a standing ovation when the Haxan
5 took the stage again for the Q&A.
I'll next go into details about the party, and about meeting the
Haxan 5!
