Page 230 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

C H A P T E R 1 8

T H E B R U S S E L S I N T E R N A T I O N A L F E S T I V A L O F F A N T A S T I C FILM

Dirk Van Extergem

Tom Goodwin: Keep behind me. There's no sense in getting killed by a plant.
- The Day of the Triffids, 1962

INTRODUCTION

There's a thick crowd, packed, waiting in the hallway that leads to the Auditorium of the Passage 44.
In the right corner, next to the entrance kneels a small figure, the long black hair covering the face,
surrounded by a shrine of more or less religious imagery. She predicts the future: 'The film you re
about to see will change your life...'. Two pale-faced, long-legged and sharp-roothed vamps take an
innocent bystander by the neck and lead him to the right side of the lobby where for free you can have
your face transformed, with the help of gentle strokes of sponges and brushes nonetheless, into that of
some creature of the night. Other strange, deformed, latex-like creatures sneak up on non-suspecting
spectators, yelling 'boo' or something like that. At a spoken signal the crowd begins to move, bit by

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