Fan Fare

Zombie porn movie finds limited life at Toronto film festival

Let’s get this out of the way: If you find yourself aroused by this particular porn film, you should probably check your pulse. “L.A. Zombie”, which last month made headlines when an Australian film board banned the Canadian movie featuring “gay zombie porn” from screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, provides a look into the world of zombie-on-zombie action, perhaps a world’s first. After hitting the festival circuit in Germany and Switzerland earlier in the year, the film has landed on home soil of the Canadian director Bruce La Bruce at the Toronto International Film Festival. Toronto film organizers described it like so in the program book: “L.A. Zombie is a hardcore gay porn film. There are numerous scenes of men having graphic sex shot in the manner of pornography, not art film erotica… But L.A. Zombie is very much an art film, too.” It’s definitely no “Dawn of the Dead”, “Shaun of the Dead”, or “Zombieland.” At first, the zombie, played by French porn star Francois Sagat who will appear in “Saw 6″, is met with laughter and several gasps of “Oh My God”. What else do you do when a zombie that has just emerged from the Pacific ocean is having graphic sex with an open chest cavity of a dead man and the heart suddenly starts beating again? Yes, the zombie gives back life in a sexual ressurection. Progressively, there is less chuckling as five sex scenes unfold. But the film, with very little dialogue, speaks about homelessness, schizophrenia, and rotting. At a press and industry screening, at least 10 people left within the first 20 minutes of the 63-minute film. By the end, some 30 people had left before the credits started rolling. NNotablye that the exits seemed to coincide as the intensity of some of the scenes ramped up — with lots of blood spraying, and let’s just say “money shots”.)

Let’s get this out of the way: if a film that combines full-on horror with necrophilia and gay porn  is not your thing, then avoid “L.A. Zombie.”

“L.A. Zombie”, which last month made headlines when an Australian film board banned the Canadian movie featuring “gay zombie porn” from screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, provides a look into the world of zombie-on-zombie action, perhaps a world’s first.

After hitting the festival circuit in Germany and Switzerland earlier in the year, the film has landed on the home soil of the Canadian director Bruce La Bruce at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lohan, Dreyfus and two tall Hollywood tales?

From the wacky world of Hollywood comes two larger than life stories — but  only one of them may be true.

1) Double Emmy winner,  actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Seinfeld” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine”  fame  gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Grumpy “Seinfeld” creator Larry David was among those turning out to celebrate with her.  But there’s one problem.  Just before the ceremony,  organizers realize they have spelled one of Julia’s names wrong  (Whoops!) and scramble to fix it before she arrives.