Films to Die for at the Fantasia Film Festival

By Jeff Sanders

The Fantasia Film Festival is North America’s biggest genre festival. Located in Montreal, this cinematic behemoth screens over 120 feature films from all over the globe and is the genuine haven for those who like their films horrific, funny, crazy, action-packed or starring a cat. It’s truly expansive and can be a little overwhelming, which is why we are holding your hand and taking you through a taste test highlighting some of the titles playing this year. This is by no means definitive and we highly recommend (demand) you check out their lineup through their website by clicking here. Here goes something!

MANDY

Nicolas Cage is a home-made-axe-wielding-madman on a mission to get revenge on the cult of religious crazies who killed the love of his life. This crimson lit, ethereal hit debuted at Sundance and is being boasted as one of Cage’s very best films. Directed by BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW’s Panos Cosmatos (George’s son!), with a killer supporting cast featuring Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Richard Brake and Bill Duke. This crazy, dreamy, splatter-fest is sure to give the horror kids their fix. Check out the trailer that speaks cannonball’s louder than my words. 

NIGHTMARE CINEMA

Mick Garris, the creator of Masters of Horror, director of damn near every Stephen King adaptation, and host of the greatest horror film podcast ever POST MORTEM compiled and concocted this anthology directed by him and several other horror greats: Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins), David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy), Ryuhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train, VS.), Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead). This looks like a ton of fun and features none other than Mickey Rourke as a mysterious figure named The Projectionist to guide us through the nightmares. Read the official synopsis below:

“At a forgotten, haunted bijou, a group of strangers have assembled to watch a series of macabre vignettes unspooled by the mysterious Projectionist (Mickey Rourke). Like the best anthology films (DEAD OF NIGHT, CREEPSHOW, TRICK ‘R TREAT), the stories’ tones range from truly deep, dark, psychological, demented horror to ones with a lighter, satirical spin. Witness a ghost story that will chill you to the bone; an exorcism story guaranteed to make your head spin; a B&W descent into clinical madness; a plastic surgery gone horrifyingly awry; and a cabin-in-the-woods slasher ditty with a unique twist you’ll never see coming.”

-Fantasia Film Festival official synopsis

TALES FROM THE HOOD 2

Rusty Cundieff made his own Spinal Tap back in 1993 with the hilarious FEAR OF A BLACK HAT proving to be a social-comedy wunderkind, but he really surprised us with his Spike Lee produced ghetto horror film TALES FROM THE HOOD, one of the 90’s best horror offerings. He and Spike have returned along with original co-director Darin Scott for another dose of “The Shit”. To say I was thrilled to hear they were making a sequel is an understatement. Keith David replaces Clarence Williams III in this anthology as the hilarious macabre Mr. Simms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkHmZK9kxo0

LUZ

This is one more for me, a camera geek. Shot in 16MM Anamorphic, LUZ is being described as Fassbinder meets Fulci. I am also getting a vibe similar to the great Turkish film BASKIN from a few years back. Check out the trailer below:

THE DARK

A zombie girl and a blind boy make an unlikely friendship in this unholy fantasy that has been garnering great reviews since its debut at Tribeca, and judging by the clip below you can see why:

BODY MELT

This Aussie gross-out from ’92 just got the 2k treatment from Vinegar Syndrome. Fans of BRAIN DAMAGE, BAD TASTE and RE-ANIMATOR rejoice! Not for the faint of heart or the weak of bowels. Note: trailer is RED BAND R-RATED, so don’t watch this if you don’t want to feel awkward at church this week.

BROTHER’S NEST

The filmmakers who brought us the sweet Aussie mockumentary charmer KENNY have returned and are taking no prisoners with this jet-black comedy about two brothers who scheme to change their family’s will by force, which as we all know leads to plans going straight to hell. Part Agatha Christie, part Coen Brothers, part Hitchcock, this nasty film has also been taking awards at gun point since its debut at SXSW.

COLD SKIN

Xavier Gens has helmed this great and very odd-looking siege film that seems to be one-part Lovecraft, one-part Carpenter and one-part McTeirnan. The reliable Ray Stevenson is in there alongside some nice looking practical effect fish monsters. Old school thrills and chills are what I am seeing here.

HEAVY TRIP

The Fins are at it again with a musical, head-banger, Death Metal comedy that looks like the Leningrad Cowboys have gone to Hell. I love the offbeat charm and dysfunctional comedy that those crazy Nordics give us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=sPQ9Y8HxHmI

PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH

S Craig Zahler (BONE TOMAHAWK, BRAWL IN CELLBLOCK 99) wrote this installment of Charles Band’s first puppet franchise. I don’t know how that happened, but thank goodness it did. It stars Thomas Lennon, Michael Pare and Udo Kier! Full Moon Pictures just got the right syringe of adrenaline in the butt they needed to bring back their brilliant campiness from yesteryear (TOURIST TRAP, TRANCERS, CASTLE FREAK).

THE RANGER

Glass Eye Pix has been relatively quiet over the past few years which is a shame. They are the company that helmed some of the best horror films over the past 20 years with films like HABIT, WENDIGO, THE LAST WINTER, HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, I SELL THE DEAD and LATE PHASES just to name a few. THE RANGER is their newest offering directed by Jenn Wexler and we are happy to have it.

OUR HOUSE

A remake of a really cool micro-budget Canadian Film PHASMA EX MACHINA, this looks to be a nice, nasty haunted house movie about a kid who invents a machine that transfers and manipulates electricity and ends up bringing back ghosts of dead family members, or something of the like. Written by the screenwriter of MOON Parker Anthony.

ROKUROKU: THE PROMISE OF THE WITCH

I have a confession: I am a huge fan of lo-fi cult cinema. I think the shot-on-video look lends itself better to films of a certain budget (UPSIDEDOWN CROSS, 28 DAYS LATER, SERIES 7: THE CONDENDERS are all films that just rule that world) and I really miss it in today’s age of every camera looking like a million-dollar movie. ROKUROKU evidently didn’t get the memo. This thing looks straight out of the early 2000’s and I am having a wave of nostalgia hit me with this weird-as-hell looking Japanese import.

SATAN’S SLAVES

This remake of the Indonesian film PENGABDI SETAN looks like the films we video store junkies used to find buried deep in the horror section. The film looks straight out of the late 70’s and early 80’s where the Devil felt real and alive in that 4:3 frame. This should be a nice companion to films of recent like THE WAILING, HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and HEREDITARY.

MEGA TIME SQUAD

An inventive, low budget sci-fi comedy about a low-life drug dealer who uses a time machine device to duplicate himself and pull off the heist of a lifetime. Those Kiwi’s got a style that is just so darn appealing.

THE WITCH PART 1: THE SUBVERSION

Park Hung-joon (I SAW THE DEVIL) returns to the cinemas with his unique style of visceral thrills. This one sounds like X-MEN, but thankfully looks for like THE FURY and FIRESTARTER.

1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES

Jang Joon-hwan directed the powerful, inconspicuous A TAXI DRIVER a few years back and returns with another riveting film based on true events. 1987 seems to have the same power behind it’s assured direction that made films like SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY and ’71 so appealing. I think Joon-hwan is a name we will be hearing a lot more from now here to come.

These are just a few of the films that I am excited to check out that are playing this year’s festival, but I also know for certain that this is just the tip of the iceberg at a festival as expansive as this. Thank goodness for Fantasia keeping interesting genre film alive. The world of cinema needs you more than ever.