Cassandra and Seeing the Future

I returned from a lengthy get-away for work and pleasure.  The work (what work?) portion was spent in Salt Lake City for the second annual FilmQuest festival.  It was a lovely experience, where I met tons of amazing people, saw some incredible films and made some awesome new friends.

But with one of the people I met -- there turned out to be a very odd and cool connection.

Chris Fitchett was there from Australia to promote and screen his latest picture, The Fear of Darkness (it's my last review to complete for the entire event -- it's on its way, I promise!).

I got to chat quite a bit with Chris -- one on one, and even sent off a script for him to read -- and if all goes well, he'll send it off to the many producers he has close ties to and my screenwriting career will be made.  Easy, right?  Well, bottom line, he's a nice guy and I'm glad I got to hang out with him.

The wacky part of our meeting, one day as we sat in the lounge -- just off the red carpet -- I brought up that I happened to be a fan of many Australian horror films -- particularly of the '80s.

The 1985 made-for-HBO film Fortress is one of my favorites.  Chris worked with that production company -- I don't believe on that feature.

Razorback.  He knows many of those folks, including Everette De Roche (screenwriter for that and Fortress).

Road Games.  He was a close friend of director Richard Franklin (also director of the Elisabeth Shue/Terence Stamp vehicle; Link and Psycho II).  Okay.

So I then brought up a feature from the late '70s which I recently reviewed and loved, Long Weekend.  To which Chris replied, "Oh yes, the Colin Eggleston film."  We then talked about a recent remake, and I brought up the fact that as I did my research for the review, (cuz I recognized the director's name) I discovered that Eggleston had directed a film in the mid-'80s which I fondly remember, but not with great detail.  A film called Cassandra.  This was one of those fun finds on the video store shelf for myself and my best bud, Eric.  We would grab anything which sparked our fancy on the shelves -- eyeing the intriguing cover art and being fearless and completely un-jaded.  We found a lot of favorites in this way, and it saddens me that this long-ago openness has all but vanished.  The fact that I now am sent many films to review -- which I have no previous knowledge of -- sort of takes me back.  Lots of clunkers, but lots of goodies too.

So as the conversation goes on, I advise him of this film, Cassandra.  He lightly smiles and points to the laptop I am holding and says with his delicious Aussie accent,  "Look up the IMDb page for Cassandra."  Me being awfully dense half the time, I do so -- not sure what to expect.

I get to the page and ask him what I'm looking for.  "Look at the writers."

I had already scrolled down to the main portion of the cast, so I moved back up to the top where the director/writers were listed.

There was his name as one of the film's screenwriters!  My response as my jaw dropped and I looked over to him, "No way!"

His response?  "Way."

Being the neurotic I am (I bring this ridiculous quality to the level of art), later that night I hemmed and hawed over the fact that it must have looked set up.  The next day, I advised him of my pathetic mental problems.  He laughed it off, and said, "I could tell it was a real reaction."  Problem solved.

Anyway, it was a striking highlight of the event, and I hope I can stay in touch w/ Mr. Fitchett.  He's good people.  At the closing night party, we chatted a long time -- about film, about coming out (a family member of his is gay) and about life in general.

But the big point of this post (notice it's been 6 months since I've posted on my beloved klugulablog) is that back in the day, when Cassandra was released on video (it shows a date of 1987 -- so we can assume I saw the film in 1988 or so), I was 13-14 years old.  I told Chris of an illustration I did after seeing the film, obviously inspired by the cover art and the film itself.  I knew I still had it somewhere in a file.  I promised I would send it to him once located.  Within 1 minute of searching, I found it.  Here it is.  I figure I'll go ahead and send this entire link off to Chris, whereas before I was just going to send him the pic.  Note the notebook edges of the paper.  It's old and authentic, I tell you.

The bottom line is that I met some fantabulous folks at this event, among them, Chris.  But it seems to be some sort of kismet that the conversation took this turn, and the Cassandra "connection" revealed.  I've not seen the film since that sleep-over w/ friend Eric so many years ago, but it seems prime-time to seek it out for another viewing.

I'm also attaching a pic of the VHS cover art -- so you know where I'm coming from.

It's a weird world, isn't it?  And I love it!  :)