Friday night found me third in line with Manuel and Toni for the midnight showing of Bruce La Bruce’s Otto: or, Up With Dead People. Mr. La Bruce, who was in attendance, describes the film as a melancholy gay zombie movie. There was blood and guts galore, and how can we be sure the zombies really are gay unless we see them have sex? Actually, the title character Otto was the only “real” zombie, but there was plenty of gay zombie sex nonetheless. La Bruce wanted to make a film about an outsider who ironically was the ultimate conformist. There was a bit too much philosophising on the part of Medea Yarn, who was making the film-in-film Up With Dead People. However, the overall was entertaining.

Saturday afternoon was time to see Choke, the film adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel about a sex addict who “earns” money by choking in restaurants. A pretty faithful adaptation if memory serves correctly, the only thing that really detracted was the young couple behind me who talked during the entire film. (The guy had a habit of repeating the last two words of the sentences that particularly moved him in the film.) It’s difficult to judge this film having read and enjoyed the book. Some of the comments I’ve read online express outrage that it was done as a comedy, and to that I say I feel bad for anyone who read the book and couldn’t laugh. However, I don’t know what Palahniuk would say to that. Sam Rockwell in the lead does a great job as usual, as does Angelica Huston as his clinically demented mother. Brad William Henke plays his best friend, and I’ve decided that if he weren’t seven inches too tall, Henke would be perfect as the title character of Jim Knipfel’s Noogie’s Time to Shine. That is, in the event it is also adapted for film.