28th Cucalorus Film Festival opens with a blast, and with a connection to the past

It shouldn't have been a surprise, really. And yet there it was: 6 p.m. on a Wednesday, barely an hour into the 28th annual Cucalorus Film Festival, and people were already partying and getting down on the dance floor like it was the wee hours.

The festival's first event was a private shindig billed "Helluva Party" for opening night feature "The Devil's Stomping Ground" held − where else? − at the Hell's Kitchen bar and restaurant on Princess Street. In addition to food, drink tickets, a DJ and, yes, dancing, there was even a devil's food cake complete with a depiction of Beelzebub himself.

One of the dozens of party guests was overheard to note he wasn't surprised that Cucalorus was off-the-chain from the get-go this year: "Some of these people haven't been in a room with other filmmakers for three years," he said, a reference to the last time Cucalorus was similarly pandemic-unencumbered, way back in the Before Times of 2019.

Even so, many more masks than have been seen in Wilmington recently were on display and, as opposed to the casual hipster wear of Cucaloruses past (which many, of course, still adhered to), some wore fancy attire more attuned to a film premiere.

Which, for the very excited cast and crew members of Wilmington-made horror feature "The Devil's Stomping Ground," it technically was.

As a packed house at historic Thalian Hall awaited the film, festival director Dan Brawley walked out on stage and addressed the crowd.

"Why put a theater in a government building?" Brawley asked, referencing Thalian Hall's status as one of the few buildings in the country that contains both government offices and a working theater. "Either the politicians really liked theater − possible, right? − or they knew storytellers were more powerful than they were."

Then, Matt Malloy, who emceed the very first Cucalorus back in 1994 at the old Water Street Restaurant and has been a festival presence ever since, came out to officially introduce the film. When his mic briefly cut out he quipped, "This is what we call a Cucalorus moment. It used to be the film breaking."

More: Cucalorus Film FestivalWhat to see at Wilmington's 28th Cucalorus Film Festival: Best movies, performances

More: Cucalorus Film Festival24 things to do in Wilmington this weekend, at the Cucalorus Film Festival and beyond

The lights dimmed and the festival began in earnest, with an off-the-wall Cucalorus promo featuring a talking VHS tape floating in the hellscape-like environs of a long-abandoned Blockbuster Video location.

Before the feature began, "1st Memory," a sweet and thoughtful short film from longtime University of North Carolina Wilmington film professor Chip Hackler, infused Cucalorus with a local vibe that would carry the evening. Performances by Wilmington actors Paul Teal, Fracaswell Hyman and Jana Allen were strong, and the short featured, perhaps, the first Wilmington screen appearances of Louie and Emmett Moss, the young sons of former Port City actor Cullen Moss ("One Tree Hill," "Outer Banks").

"The Devil's Stomping Ground," the only Wilmington-made feature in this year's festival, found a very warm and receptive hometown crowd while also providing a very tangible connection to Cucalorus history: Writer and director Jon Landau had a short film in the very first Cucalorus back in 1994.

A found-footage horror movie in the tradition of "The Blair Witch Project," "The Devil's Stomping Ground" picked up steam as it made its way toward a bloody conclusion, with young independent filmmakers shooting a movie at a supposedly haunted site in the woods while fighting, making out and eventually coming to A Very Bad End.

After the screening, Landau joined his cast and crew on stage and talked about making his "crazy movie" over nine nights in the woods of western North Carolina.

"It was harrowing at times and very difficult", Landau said: Cold at night, everyone got chiggers and the bright lights of filming attracted the attention of some curious, sketchy mountain locals.

After the movie, the crowd assembled for the after-party at Hi-Wire Brewing on Princess Street, a festive affair that featured sets by former Wilmington (now Atlanta-based) musician Kim Ware and by Port City songwriter extraordinaire Sean Thomas Gerard.

The event was also supposed to feature the reunion of Kenyata Sullivan's old-school Wilmington band The Majestic Twelve, but the performance was canceled due to the illness of one band member. Still, the night provided a special moment when Sullivan, an excellent songwriter who used to run the old Wilmington Exchange (W.E.) Fest in Wilmington, took the stage for one song, his first time performing locally in more than 15 years.

A late-night, 10:30 p.m. "secret screening" at the Cucalorus home base of Jengo's Playhouse on Princess Street lived up to its name. Many in a long line were ultimately turned away, but those who made it in were required to surrender their phones for the duration of the film to keep the secret, as-yet-unreleased film truly secret.

More: Cucalorus Film FestivalCucalorus Film Festival's Dance-a-Lorus is like catharsis, in motion, for Wilmington

More: Cucalorus Film FestivalQ&A: Isabella Rossellini’s long-awaited return to Wilmington, Blue Velvet and her new show

On Thursday morning, the festival kicked off the first of four consecutive days of wall-to-wall film screenings, events and only-at-Cucalorus moments.

For example, at the Tasselled Wobbegong shorts block at Thalian Hall, the experimental films were introduced to a healthy crowd by a poet who turned the audience into a choir for a bit of inspired call and response.

The experimental short films themselves were a ripping representation of all things Cucalorus: weird, fascinating, at times incomprehensible but for the most part deeply compelling. "You Can Always Come Home" told the sweet, at times salty tale of a Black family in Miami, while "Revelation to the Disembodied" by UNCW's Andre and Shannon Silva conjured up an ethereal sense of wonder, David Baeumler's "30 Second Thoughts: Volume One" scored some well-earned absurdist laughs and "Wrought" pithily explored the unexpected beauty of rot.

You'll have another chance to see the experimental Tasselled Wobbegong shorts 1:45 p.m. Saturday at Jengo's Playhouse.

The Cucalorus Film Festival continues through Sunday, Nov. 20. For a complete schedule and event descriptions, go to Cucalorus.org.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington 28th Cucalorus Film Festival 2022 opens to big crowds