Movie Review: Maximum Shame (2010)
Teacher: Carlos Atanes
Students: Ana Mayo, Marina Gatell, Ignasi Vidal, Paco Moreno, Ariadna Ferrer, David Castro, Eleanor James
High School: Fortknox Audiovisual
Study Guide: www.carlosatanes.com
I first became aware of Carlos Atanes’ third feature film Maximum Shame because its cast included, among others, the British scream queen Eleanor James, whom I really enjoyed in films such as Colour From The Dark and Forest of the Damned. I was even fortunate enough to meet her on the sets of Unrated – The Movie and Karl The Butcher Vs. Axe. Elle’s scene in Atanes’ movie, however, is rather short and weird… and to be honest it didn’t help much to aid my viewing pleasure of what’s most likely one of the strangest, most fucked up and unfortunately least entertaining flicks I’ve seen in quite some time.
If I understood correctly, the film tells the story of a husband and his wife who somehow end up in a nihilistic parallel world, which is basically an abandoned warehouse or factory. Stranded in that awkward scenario, the two lovers try their best to escape the cruelty of that place’s eccentric ruler, the so-called Queen, who gets kicks out of torturing her lackeys by poking them with sticks, eating cakes in front of their hungry eyes or singing to them in a shrill, annoying voice.
Continue reading ‘DVD Review: Maximum Shame’
Published by Tobias Piwek September 29th, 2011
in INTERVIEWS and MUSIC.
With tons of kick-ass acts such as The Other, Calabrese, Gorgeous Frankenstein, The Crimson Ghosts and countless others, the horror punk scene is stronger than ever these days. And one group, that definitely deserves to be mentioned among the very best bands of the genre’s “second wave” as well, is Blitzkid from Bluefield/Virginia! Since these cool ghouls have just released an excellent new album and announced some pretty important line-up changes, I’ve hooked up with founding member Argyle Goolsby and asked him to fill me in about the latest news from the Blitzkid camp. Here’s what he had to say…
Do you still remember the heighday of the drive-in cinemas, when hundreds of thousands of American teenagers sneaked out of their bedroom windows at night, short-circuited their daddy’s factory-new Buick convertibles and took their high school sweethearts to the local drive-in, where the two love birds made out on the leather-upholstered backseats while trashy terror flicks like Humanoids From The Deep, Sadomania and I Drink Your Blood flickered across the giant screen in front of them? Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t recall that time at all, because not only was I born too late but also on the wrong side of the ocean to ever have been able to take part in this wonderful era. Thus, I’m always more than happy when I stumble upon a movie such as Chillerama which lives and breathes the reckless exploitation spirit of yesteryear throughout each and every second of its playing time.
For as long as he can remember, life’s not been kind to Frank D’Arbo (Rainn Wilson). Beaten by his father, harassed by bullies at school and ignored by just about every girl he’s ever had a crush on, he ekes out a dreary existence as a cook in a run-down, barely frequented diner. The only shining light in his otherwise depressing life is his beautiful wife Sarah (Liv Tyler), whom he loves more than anything else in the world. When she leaves him for an arrogant strip club owner Jock (Kevin Bacon), Frank is crushed beyond repair and willing to let go of whatever tiny bit of self-respect he had left.
