By Ali Ikram
Dubbed the Citizen Kane of bad movies, The Room is a $6 million vanity project by lead actor, writer and director Tommy Wiseau.
The good news is he does all three jobs wonderfully terribly.
“It’s a film that started with really good intentions,” says Ant Timpson of the Incredibly Strange Film Festival.
“He wanted to make himself the next Tom Cruise. But he looks like Gene Simmons and he’s constipated.
“It was never going to have a chance, but it’s so horribly directed and acted that audiences have embraced it – it’s a phenomenon.”
These days Wiseau claims the movie is a “black comedy” and zealously controlling who gets to show it – hence the six years it’s taken to get to the festival.
“Those are great bad films, when you can see there was passion behind it, just absolutely no talent involved,” says Timpson.
The festival also showcases cult New Zealand director David Blyth’s return to filmmaking, after a long hiatus with Wound – promising bondage, incest and explicit graphic violence.
In the spirit of this festival that likes to fly by the seat of its pants, Wound is yet to pass the censor’s office yet.
3 News