Dark, creepy Disney World indie gets Awesome Fest premiere
“Escape from Tomorrow,” shot on location at Disney World without park officials’ knowledge or approval, is a sinisterly surreal, black-and-white psycho comedy about a family in breakdown mode. It screens Sunday.
If you've ever had a panic attack in a theme park, a freakout at a crowded fair, or simply reflected on your life a little doomily while waiting on an endless line to gain entrance to some hugely popular amusement ride, boy, do the folks at Awesome Fest have the movie for you. On Sunday night at the Trocadero, Escape from Tomorrow -- a surreal and darkly comic black-and-white indie about a family's trip to Disney World – gets its Philadelphia premiere. A hit at Sundance, Randy Moore's subversive pic was shot in the Florida theme park without the knowledge, or approval, of Disney officials – not that they would ever have okayed this trippy nightmare, in which a husband (Roy Abramsohn) starts his day at the resort hotel with a cellphone call informing him he's lost his job, then spends the ensuing hours on the trail of two French teenage girls, ogling them ickily while he drags his kids around the Magic Kingdom. Elena Schuber plays the guy's nagging, needling wife, and various Disney cast members -- including some iconic rodents, dogs and princesses – make unwitting cameos. Abramsohn, born and bred in Philly, returns from L.A. to field questions -- and deflect spews of Cat Flu-carrying saliva, perhaps? (see the film!) -- for the Sunday night affair.
Twisted, terrifying and terrifyingly funny, Escape from Tomorrow pokes its figurative fingers into the dark underbelly of one of America's entertainment institutions -- and into the psyche of a nation fed on feel-good promises and pricy admission fees. For info, go to: http://theawesomefest.com/