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The Navigator

Like Cannes ... with corpses and cuties

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published March 2, 2007

Just from the marketing copy, see if you can guess Saturday night's big event:

Daring ... depraved ... disgusting!

No, sorry, Britney Spears is not coming to town. Try again.

If you lust for sexy, scantily clad women ...

Nope, it's not a fundraiser for Joe Redner's City Council campaign. Nice idea, though.

If you love to see blood spray all the live long day ...

Honestly, as much as I would love to see Rosie and the Donald face off in a steel cage match, you'll just have to settle for ...

The Horror & Hotties Film Festival. Sure, the name's about as subtle as the marketing, but hey, these guys know their audience.

This free screening of gory horror flicks, plus some related events, runs from 6 p.m. to midnight at the University of South Florida's Cooper Hall.

It's proudly advertised as being restricted to attendees 18 and up, with the additional proviso "No Wimps." That's apparently for good reason.

In addition to the gruesome films themselves, the event promises grisly diversions like young women participating in a "bloody T-shirt contest."

The organizers, Clearwater filmmakers Andy Lalino and Andrew Allan, also are providing "complimentary barf bags."

Hey, who says you can't get anything for free these days?

"Such a wild and energetic city deserves a no-holds-barred film festival," Lalino said in a press release. "It's going to be an outrageously fun night."

The release promises an "unbeatable lineup of grisly gore, bawdy humor, and sexy sirens in salacious situations."

Among the films scheduled is Pervert, a 2005 homage to '60s sex-and-violence auteur Russ Meyer. Felix Vasquez Jr.'s review at cinema-crazed.com sums it up thusly:

"What's the real point of the movie? Breasts. Really big breasts, and nudity, and gore."

Then there's the 2006 release Devil's Den. Its plot is summarized on the Internet Movie Database imdb.com:

Two small-time drug dealers cross paths with a female assassin, a monster hunter, a Japanese swordsman and even the devil himself at a gentlemen's club housing murderous she-demons.

Ah. The movie takes place at a "gentlemen's club." That should play well here in Tampa.

There's also a movie entitled Cannibal Flesh Riot, and I'm guessing you probably don't need much more explanation there. Suffice it to say it doesn't star Meryl Streep.

Lalino's pitch: "These films live up to their billing. If you want to see predictable and safe movies, go to the multiplex.

"If you want to rediscover how much fun going to the movies can be ... come to Horror and Hotties."

Just don't say you weren't warned, and then some.

At the risk of changing gears suddenly, keep in mind that there's an entirely different - and decidedly classier - event Thursday:

Keb' Mo' (a.k.a. Kevin Moore) will be playing the Tampa Theatre in support of his new album, Suitcase.

It's the perfect venue to check out Moore's thoughtful mix of Robert Johnson-influenced blues with pop and folk stylings.

Unlike the film fest, the show's not free. But it is guaranteed 100 percent bloody-corpse-free.

Well, probably. Moore has been known to slay with that guitar.

Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431. His Times blog, the Ill Literate, is at www.sptimes.com/blogs/tampaarts.

If you go

Horror & Hotties Film Festival

6 p.m. to midnight Saturday. USF's Cooper Hall, 4202 E Fowler Ave., Room 103. Free admission.

An Acoustic & Electric Evening with Keb' Mo'

7:30 p.m. Thursday. Tickets, $34.50. Visit tampatheatre.org or call 274-8982 .

[Last modified March 1, 2007, 07:41:08]