Movie Preview: Chillerama, The Secret Diary of Anne Frankenstein

One of the treats at this years Frightfest was an exclusive preview of Chillerama, an anthology movie directed by Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Tim Sullivan, and Adam Rifkin.

Cecil Kaufman is screening a quartet of movies on the final night of the last ever Drive-In in America. Through four connecting stories (that will I assume blossom into an unofficial fifth) Kaufman plans to wow his audience with the scare of their lives.

The four movies (all around 20 minutes in length) are The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein directed by Adam Green which combines the story of Anne Frank and a Jewish Frankenstein Monster. Adam Rifkin delivers a sperm count shocker in Wadzilla which it was mentioned (though we will have to see if this is a joke or not) will feature a giant sperm having sex with the statue of liberty, the story surrounds a man who tries to increase his sperm count with horrific results. Joe Lynch’s movie is simply entitled Zombie movie and will see the dead return to have sex with the living. And finally Tim Sullivan’s section is The Curse Of The Werebears, a story about hairy gay men.

As an additional treat to the news, we were able to see The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein in its entirety (minus some editing of course). The story begins with the Frank family stowed away in their secret hiding place in Holland, when Adolf Hitler (Joel Moore) and two guards break in. Killing the frank family (name shortened from Frankenstein because of bad publicity for the family) Hitler makes off with a book that explains how to create the ultimate killing machine.

While lots of people will frown on this section of the story, especially the Jewish community director Adam Green a Jewish man himself says he has tried to deliver it as tastefully as possible. Despite the political incorrectness it was laughs all round the cinema, as joke after joke was delivered with expert timing. From Hitlers handing of an empty book to a guard stating “right some gloomy stuff in here” stating that the book in future years will make millions (a nod to Anne Frank’s diary) to the arrival of the monster played by none other than Kane Hodder. And let me not forget the fake German language used (the movie is in “fake” German with subtitles), although Green does say that the real but minimal German language that is used is just insulting. This twenty-minute feature delivered some of the best laughs I have had this year.

An obvious homage to Young Frankenstein, Kane Hodder’s Monster even looks a little like Peter Boyle, with make up of course. Green explained that so much of the Frankenstein Monster image is protected by copyright that he had to improvise, by giving typical Jewish traits to the monster thus removing the need for Bolts on the neck etcetera.

While the movie is still in production, its due to start its worldwide cinema release late in 2011.  I’ll be interested to see how it fares with worldwide censors, especially in Europe.