Festival SPASM 2008 Preview

In probably its best advertised and funded incarnation yet, the grassroots Quebec genre film festival celebrating the best in horror, science fiction and trash film cheese arrives for its 7th edition. SPASM 2008 starts tonight and haunts the Cinema Imperial, Cinematheque Quebecoise, Cafe Cleopatre and Club Soda until Halloween. The grand premiere film this year is by Quebec locals Jean-Mathieu Berube and Carlo Harrietha; Cul-de-$ac is an homage to the ninja genre and likely the first of its kind coming from the province. More horrific, disgusting or just plain fun events continue until its culmination into a grand costumed party at Club Soda on All Hallow’s Eve.

SPASM 2008 is a pretty accessible festival, as it avoids overlapping from an excess of films. Rather, one even per night allows those who are so inclined to see all the festival has to offer. Jumping from venue to venue, each night has a different theme. There is the Science Fiction 2008 evening, which also shows a classic Quebecois sci-fi film from 1964, Jean-Paul Fugere’s Cyborg. There is an action night, and a short films night dedicated to trashy films. One night specializes in fake trailers created locally. An animation night organized by the students and staff of the Cegep du Vieux-Montreal is also part of the program. Lastly, two more feature-length Quebecois horror films get the big screen treatment: Hunting Grounds directed by Eric Bilodeau and End of the Line by Maurice Devereaux (which was just released on DVD last week).

For a full schedule of events visit SPASM 2008’s main website here.