MACABRE and VAMPIRE GIRL Threaten a Dallas Frightmare

Ooh, I love it on those rare occasions when Asian horror invades my town! Macabre, the Indonesian slasher that just enjoyed its European premiere at Sitges, and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, the latest outrageously over-the-top splatter romp from the director of Tokyo Gore Police, will play together this Saturday at the Studio Movie Grill in Addison, Texas, only a few miles north of Dallas proper.

The double bill is presented by my friends at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas and Texas Frightmare Weekend. Attendees are encouraged to dress up as your favorite Asian horror character -- long black hair is de rigeur -- for a costume contest. Door prizes will also be awarded. Tickets are available for advance purchase online, or bring cash to see one or both movies. AFFD members get in for free.

And what movies! "We've seen this before," Todd Brown wrote in his review, "but when it comes to Indonesia's Macabre the execution is the thing - if you'll pardon the pun - and Macabre executes well and often, the film spiraling on the edge of control into a blood drenched fugue of death and dismemberment. ... A feature length expansion of characters found in the Mo Brothers' previous short film Dara, Macabre takes key concepts from that film and pushes them out into new, unexplored dimensions."

Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl has earned several reviews here at Twitch; I'll quote from the one by Swarez when he saw it last month at Fantastic Fest: "The film is a hilarious take on teen soaps and is basically a romantic comedy at its core. The filmmakers set their sights on teen fads that are popular in Japan, emo wrist cutters, ganguro girls (the ones that want to resemble black people but here taken to a whole new extreme) and gothic dolls and tear them to shreds. All this is blended together in a diabolical mixer of guts and gore and resulting smoothie is pretty damn awesome." Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) and Naoyuki Tomomatsu (Stacy), Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl sounds like the perfect midnight movie.

Dallas doesn't get too many Asian horror treats, so I encourage all my North Texas movie pals to head on out and join in the hilarious pre-Halloween slaughter.

OK, you don't have to wear a long black wig if you don't want to.