Beyond Fest X!

Beyond Fest 2022 has come to an end, but oh what a time we had! For 2 weeks we fanatics were treated to 70+ movies. There were photo ops and costumes and popcorn and popcorn costumes and beach balls. Of course, we mustn’t forget the flying tees. Is it even a Beyond Fest without the famed Beyond Fest t-shirt cannon? Screenings were held at 4 locations throughout L.A.: the Hollywood Legion Post 43, the Aero in Santa Monica, Shudder Theater at the Los Feliz 3 and the TCL Chinese also in Hollywood. We saw premieres and revivals, foreign films and the long overdue big screen debut of Halloween cult classic turned phenomenon Trick r Treat. Since I already talked about that night with Michael Dougherty, let’s move on to the other 3 I watched.

Beyond Fest brought their particular brand of moviegoing mayhem back with the West Coast premiere of Parker Finn’s Smile at the Aero. The promotional campaign for Smile was pretty damned creepy. Menacing grins haunting our screens from fan filled stadiums. Yes, those faces are smiling at you from behind home plate. The trailers did not disappoint; the smiles are unsettling. They were disturbing and frightening and there weren’t nearly enough of them. I was also distracted by the notion that I’d seen this movie before. Smile has plenty of the standard movie tropes but also traces of The Ring, It Follows, It, The Conjuring 2 and Stranger Things to name a few. The creepiness is effective, and I dig the random jump scares throughout, but I needed more of those menacing grins.

Sadly, I missed out on horror anthology Satanic Hispanics from directors Alejandro Brugues, Mike Mendez, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Demian Rugna and Ed Sanchez but plan to talk about that and Juan of the Dead very soon.

What can I say about the next event other than it’s in my Top 5 greatest Beyond Fest experiences in the 6 years I’ve attended? Not much actually. We were an audience of enthusiastic, singing nerds; many of us dressed as various incarnations of our accordion slaying parody hero. This is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of 2022. I’ll have more for you about Weird: The Al Yankovic Story in November.

Since our screening started earlier than the red-carpet brouhaha at the TCL Chinese, technically Beyond Fest ended with the premiere of Halloween Ends. The final entry in the Strode/Myers saga is a massive disappointment. I left the theater in a state of absolute disbelief. Over 30 minutes into the movie and still no sight of The Shape other than a brief flashback? This is how Halloween Ends?! It’s more disconnected family drama than horror flick. Michael Myers’ slasher legacy deserved better and honestly; 2 sequels were unnecessary. Together they might’ve even made a decent singular movie. Carpenter themed Easter eggs abound as well as a few redeeming moments like the completely satisfying opening sequence. I rank Halloween Ends as my least favorite of the 13 films in total. If you haven’t watched, please do and judge for yourself. But it’s available on Peacock, so enjoy the End from home instead.

2 weeks of L.A.’s finest movie festival never seems like enough. Beyond Fest X was the best yet and I look forward to continued years of cinematic mayhem! Many thanks also to the American Cinematheque, Shudder, Rucking Fotten, the volunteers and Glory to the People’s Republic of Beyond Fest!