For the first time in more than a year, the 2021 Gasparilla International Film Festival (“GIFF”) welcomed fans and patrons back to local theaters for what proved to be a rousing four-day celebration of movies and the way they make us feel.
And, for those who missed it, GIFF delivered one of its best debuts in recent memory, “The Old Ways," a fantastic Latin American-centric horror film that completely subverts every expectation and exasperation you likely have about tired and overused demonic possession tropes.
“The Old Ways” is actually a new way to tell such stories, and it’s one of the best, most authentic horror films I’ve seen in years.
It turns out that was the intention.
“It takes a lot of different, traditional horror elements and places them in a new way,” Christa Boarini, who served as one of the film’s producers, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay “These things, I don’t think anyone has ever seen them in this setting.”
Boarini, who was born and raised in Guatemala, now lives in Bradenton, which allowed her to attend a weekend screening of “The Old Ways” and speak about the movie after.
Boarini said she—along with producers David Grove Churchill Viste and T. Justin Ross, director Christopher Alender and screenwriter Marcos Gabriel, who was born in Puerto Rico but went to high school in Winter Park and studied at Florida State University in Tallahassee—tried to imbue “The Old Ways” with as much cultural authenticity and integrity as possible.
“This was very much about showing the Latin American version of Latin America,” Boarini said.
The pedigree of the creative talent behind “The Old Ways” is just one reason why it excels.
Boarini most-recently produced the wildly fantastic “Spree,” which is currently available on Hulu. Ross and Alender both served as producers on Shudder's exceptional anthology, “The Mortuary Collection,” and Alender also has produced such genre standouts as “Southbound,” “Synchronicity” and “The Wind.”
Boarini and Gabriel also are examples of how this year’s GIFF leaned heavily into its Florida roots and its local connections.
GIFF opened with a special screening of “Lady of the Manor,” which was filmed in Tampa and St. Petersburg, and is the directorial debut of brothers Justin and Christian Long, who were both in attendance and making jokes on the red carpet.
When asked for their secret to successfully working together as siblings, they answered as only brothers can, and couldn’t resist taking some playful jabs a CL's expense.
“I think we have very similar sensibilities,” Christian said. “We get along as friends.”
“We trust each other,” said Justin, whom fans know from a host of cult-favorite films, including “Jeepers Creepers,” “Galaxy Quest” and “Tusk.”
“We like to loaf around together,” Christian said.
“Creatively!” Justin chimed in. “Smoking and loafing.”
Justin said the brothers spend much of their down time bouncing ideas off each other, which is how they came up with “Lady of the Manor,” a ghostly buddy comedy that is under a review embargo until July.
“90% is garbage,” Justin confessed.
“95%,” Christian countered.
“97%,” Justin said.
And the festival concluded with a special screening of “Midnight in the Switchgrass,” an upcoming Florida-centric serial killer thriller starring Bruce Willis, Megan Fox, Emile Hirsch and Lukas Haas, which also is the directorial debut of Miami native Randall Emmett.
Emmett, who attended the screening with Hirsch, Haas and other actors from the film, said it meant a lot to show his first feature in Tampa.
“My heart’s in Florida, and always will be,” he said. “Having a story that was set in Florida and we could come here and have kind of our first premiere before we even go to L.A. I thought it was a special thing, and the fact they came and supported was even more magical. Especially after COVID, having a premiere is special.”
Emmett, who has produced nearly 120 movies since the mid-1990s, including more than a dozen with Willis and two with Hirsch, said it helped working with actors he already had an established relationship with.
“For me, it’s great having people I’m close with because they supported me,” Emmett said. “If I was unsure of something, Emile or Lukas would be there for me. It’s nice to work with people you’ve produced because there’s a family type atmosphere.”
GIFF is unlike other film festivals, in part, because of the relationships it fosters and showcases (Emmett is an advisory board member who has brought several films to show in past years) and the opportunities it creates for locals to interact with actors, producers and other creative talent.
At its heart, however, GIFF is about introducing new films to a wider audience, which is why the inclusion of “The Old Ways” stood out so much this year, both as an exceptional slice of gory horror but more as a template for celebrating diverse storytelling and spotlighting cultural traditions not as well known in the United States.
In the film, journalist Cristina (Brigitte Kali Canales) travels home to Veracruz, Mexico, where she was born, years after immigrating to the U.S.
“That is an experience that is so real,” Boarini said, “people who come to the U.S., but leave this whole world behind.”
What Cristina encounters upon her return is a mixture of resentment and remembrance from those she once knew, which quickly turns into a tortuous ordeal and rebirth after she is possessed by an ancient entity.
The script pulls influences from Mayan and Aztec cultures and mythology, along with more recognizable Roman-Catholic and Spanish theology, but “The Old Ways” isn’t interested in presenting a priest with holy water shouting ‘The power of Christ compels you!’
Boarini said she and others behind the camera worked to ensure the dialects were true to the region surrounding Veracruz, including certain scenes where characters speak in Nahuatl. They fought to include certain indigenous elements, like decorated teeth, and made sure that the ceremonies performed by the film’s Bruja, or witch, were steeped in realism.
Having the opportunity to see “The Old Ways” just a week after reviewing the eighth movie in “The Conjuring” franchise really helped restore my faith that horror has yet to run out of original ideas.
You’re going to want to be in line when “The Old Ways” finally opens wide, and hopefully that date isn’t too far away. Boarini teased that a major distribution announcement should be forthcoming in July.
Until then, just keep practicing what I think may be the best movie line of this summer season: “I’m a motherfucking Bruja!”
John W. Allman has spent more than 25 years as a professional journalist and writer, but he’s loved movies his entire life. Good movies, awful movies, movies that are so gloriously bad you can’t help but champion them. Since 2009, he has cultivated a review column and now a website dedicated to the genre films that often get overlooked and interviews with cult cinema favorites like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell and Dee Wallace. Contact him at Blood Violence and Babes.com, on Facebook @BloodViolenceBabes or on Twitter @BVB_reviews.
