Fantaspoa Film Festival Reviews: “Cemetery of the Lost Souls” and “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes”
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Brazilian feature Cemetery of the Lost Souls (O Cemitério das Almas Perdidas) is an occult horror film that asks a bit of viewers in regards to keeping up with its different plot threads but rewards them with a grue-soaked blast.
After the devil forces a blind monk to write a book, the book passes, quite violently, through different hands until it winds up with Jesuit priest Cipriano (Renato Chocair). The book corrupts those who possess it because of the great power that it offers — and being a diabolical book, naturally that power comes with consequences. Cipriano saves a ship from certain doom by using the book, and the men on board become his followers. They all wind up as undead beings trapped in the titular cemetery, and threaten the locals into providing them with people to torture and devour or they will do the same with the local children.
A traveling carnival group is seen as satanic by the locals and offered up to Cipriano and his hellish horde. It is up to one of the carnival workers, Jorge (Diego Garcias), a young indigenous woman named Aiyra (Allana Lopes), and a priest named Joaquim (Caio Macedo) to try and save the mortals before they meet their dreaded fate at the hands and mouths of Cipriano’s bunch.
Throw some cannibalistic indigenous tribes people into the mix, and we have a thrilling, chilling plot that may be constantly busy and occasionally momentarily confusing, but never convoluted. Writer/director Rodrigo Aragão is a prolific horror director and he shows here that he has a keen knowledge of fear fare and knows how to ratchet up suspense, as well as deliver the goods in the kills and practical effects gore departments. The cast is top notch and the film looks terrific thanks to Alexandre Barcelos’ fine cinematography. Fans of supernatural horror should find plenty to enjoy with Cemetery of the Lost Souls.
On a much lighter note, the Japanese science fiction comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a fun, charming “one take” offering in the tradition of the excellent One Cut of the Dead. Made with a modest budget but a huge heart, the film sees cafe owner Kato (Kazunari Tosa) suddenly discover that the television in his business is two minutes into the future as compared with the computer in his apartment above his cafe, allowing him to time travel and change events according to what his future self tells him.
With his employee Megumi (Aki Asakura) and eventually a group of friends and cafe regulars, he finds that two minutes isn’t as short a time as it sounds when it comes to making life-changing decisions. Danger comes calling in two forms as gangsters track down the group after some dirty money is discovered, and I will leave the other threat to future viewers to discover on their own as it is an offbeat surprise.
Director Junta Yamaguchi, working from a clever screenplay written by Makoto Ueda, directs with verve, keeping things going at a brisk pace. The ensemble cast is terrific, with Tosa leading the way in an amusing performance as an everyman hoping for simple pleasures and Asakura outstanding as his peppy sidekick and cheerleader.
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a wittily, artfully constructed time travel comedy that eschews special effects for a good story, likeable characters, and sharp dialogue. It’s a feel-good movie that deserves to find a wide audience and leave its viewers smiling.
Cemetery of the Lost Souls and Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes screened as part of Fantaspoa 2021, which ran in Brazil on the streaming platform Darkflix from April 9–18, 2021.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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