In terms of festival content, we have got it all broken down for you in our wrap-up (above) with links to our previews, reviews, and interviews and some of our thoughts on the festival's offerings from all of those who attended. Click the images in the gallery to see what the favourite films of the festival were, as well as the disappointments, discovers and non-festival shenanigans (Gambling! Melon Stabbing! Daytime Drinking!) Team ScreenAnarchy managed to get involved in.
What was your favourite film of the festival?
Andrew Mack
Tie. A few factors make Turbo Kid and Deathgasm easy choices. I like to laugh. I like splatter gore most of the time. Depending on the day I like Metal and Electronic music. Both of these movies ticked all those boxes for me. I had to see for myself if Laurence Lebouf really does steal the show. She does. What was extra special was watching Turbo Kid with the hometown crowd. I watched Deathgasm prior to coming to the fest so I didn’t have any crowd energy to feed off of. But being there for the Turbo Kid homecoming was extra special and especially emotional for the filmmakers. Both of these films are certified crowd pleasers for sure.
Izzy Lee
I'm gonna have to go with Shrew's Nest. After reading the synopsis and seeing executive producer Alex de la Iglesia's terribly misogynistic Witching and Bitching, I was prepped --- and afraid of --- more of the same. Thankfully, Juanfer Andres and Esteban Roel's film is far more adult, and incredibly well-acted and directed. Shrew's Nest tells the tale of Montse (the incredible Macarana Gomez), a very religious, neurotic, and agoraphobic woman who lives with her exasperated sister "La Nina" (Nadia de Santiago) in 1950s Spain. One day, a man falls down the stairs in their apartment building and Montse takes him in. Think Misery with an effective, well-made family horror story.
Kurt Halfyard
Trevor Juras’s existential horror-comedy The Interior was astonishing for a debut feature film, instead of making the horror funny, it makes the comedy of the situation horrific. A young Toronto man quits his job and dumps his girlfriend to live like a hermit in the forests of British Columbia and rethink his life. But the world, cruel as it is, has other plans and this fellow simply cannot get a break. It’s like Beckett and Thoreau arguing how to boil down maple syrup on a cold damp mossy knoll, and I adore it so. A passion play of paper cuts, The Interior encourages us to laugh at the absurdity of the universe casually shitting stardust and raindrops on mortal man as he squanders his youth in a fit of narcissistic hubris. Yum.
Jason Gorber
I enjoyed Turbo Kid a lot, but think of that as a Sundance flick that had its homecoming. Goodnight Mommy was a treat, but one that I missed way back at last September’s TIFF. So I’d have to say that Sono Sion’s Love & Peace takes the cake, if only because it was pretty damn sweet and joyful screening of a pretty sweet and joyful film. We know his “other” project took home the top prize, but I’ll give a shout-out to this lovely little fable.
What was your biggest discovery of the festival?
Kurt Halfyard
All the fine folks behind Cash Only, a Detroit set gritty street crime thriller made by a team of fearless Albanians. High in energy, brimming with engagement and empathy and scuzzy characters, the film was a diamond in the rough that I sincerely hope makes further impact on the festival circuit. This world ands its characters are so rich and compelling, that I hope director Malik Bader (who won the Best Director award at Fantasia) and writer-star Nickola Shreli revisit things with another film or two in the near future!
Izzy Lee
They Look Like People is the sort of micro-budget horror indie that is usually pretentious, boring and long-forgotten after one viewing. Plus, it's filled with pseudo-hipster characters that you're nearly primed to hate, mostly filmed in one interior location. However --- all those other films don't have what They Look Like People has: a roster of talent that combines for a surprisingly great debut feature film. (Read Ben's Slamdance review here.) There's an old, informal mantra in film that you shouldn't try to do everything; however, Perry Blackshear --- the director, writer, editor, production designer, and cinematographer --- accomplishes an impressive amount. Sure, people can make technically competent films, but those same films usually fall short of making us FEEL anything of substance. Blackshear's direction, picture, and editing are spot-on. He rouses fantastic performances from his actors while framing scenes that cause sheer dread with a story on mental illness ending how you don't think it would end. A+.
Andrew Mack
Since it appears that all the other quiet horror-like films (The Interior and They Look Like People) are taken then I am going to say the Irish black comedy thriller Traders. We were encouraged to not miss this screening by one of the staffers. This is the second year in a row that I have gone in blind to a screening on their recommendation. We’ll see if they get the hat trick next year. Back to Traders. This was a dark and morbidly funny film. During the economic crash a Harry and Vernon find themselves without work. Vernon looks to cash in on those who have lost hope in these tough times by creating a fight club in essence. Fighters bring all their assets to the fight, winner takes all. The winner is the survivor. Yes, these fights are to the death. Harry benefits the most between the two of them at first and Vernon resents him for it and begins plotting against him. Harry finds himself agreeing to more and more fights just so he can maintain his former lifestyle. After how much money though do you begin to do it for the thrill of moment?
Jason Gorber
Nearly everything at Fantasia is a discovery, but let me say that at Dagwoods they slice the meat for your sub when you order! And it is kind of magical. Plus I finally go to A/B Fairmont vs Saint Viateur and can say unequivocally that the latter is the superior Montreal bagel when eaten hot from the oven at 2am.
What was your biggest disappointment of the festival?
Izzy Lee
I'd like to mention Bunny The Killer Thing because of how irritatingly stupid it is, but I knew from the trailer that I was headed into something pretty dumb that would appeal to horny 10-year-old boys. The real winner --- after "Bunny The Killer Shitstorm" and the rotten Cherry Tree --- of Biggest Disappointment here is Orion, which, along with Bunny, is the second film I walked out of during Fantasia. There's only so much of your life you can waste of hateful, misogynistic filmmaking and poor story choices. The film's official IMDB synopsis: "In a desolate, future world, after civilization has collapsed, a wanderer fights to save a virgin mother from a powerful magician and, with her, searches for a mythical city containing the world's last survivors." Even with decent cinematography and a good-but-probable-Dungeons-and-Dragons-like premise, stars David Arquette and Lily Cole cannot save this medieval-yet-apocalyptic-mash-up-white-guy film. After walking out, I was vindicated by three other industry friends, including fellow Twitcher Kurt Halfyard, about 10 minutes behind me. If you are going to drag a woman around on a chain, you had better be Star Wars. And, I have said enough about that!
Jason Gorber
I’ve said this many times, but my expectations aren’t particularly high in festivals of this style, so I’m usually pleasantly surprised at success rather than bummed about failure. Still, I had a modicum of hope that Director’s Commentary would be fun (it wasn’t), and that Børning would be bad ass (it was just regular ass). Am I disappointed in Extinction? That’s where the question of expectation rears up again.
Andrew Mack
Coming out of my movie discouraged and disappointed only to hear from friends who were at the other screening how great theirs was happened for too many times this year. It started with Ju-on: The Final Curse, which was balls, and hearing that Cash Only could be the film of the festival. Then there was Cherry Tree, again, balls, when I could have seen Ringo Lam’s Wild City. I didn’t want to miss the entirety of the closing party of Frontieres so I skipped out on Love & Peace, which everyone raved about. Not so much a miss in lieu of drinking and karaoke. I just never seemed to be at THE SCREENING OF THE DAY.
Kurt Halfyard
Besides my one-on-one interview with Kevin Bacon falling thru at the last minute (it happens all the time at festivals), my biggest disappointment was Asiel Norton’s post-apocalyptic tone-poem, Orion. David Arquette is certainly no Mads Mikkelsen, and it just goes to show how much of a rare gift Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising is to cinema. The film was promised as changing how narrative and philosophy were captured on film, and while technically ambitious and bold in vision, it was still a letdown for myriad hard to articulate reasons that made me flee the cinema at about the 30 minute mark.
What was your favourite non-film Fantasia moment?
Andrew Mack
Easy. The international debut of Tales From Beyond the Pale on my final night in Montreal. Just like my mammy and pappy used to do when they were youngins, I listened to live radio plays put on by Larry Fessenden and friends. Except I got to do from the comfort of a comedy club bar where I was sitting with a couple of my festie-besties sharing the tab and immensely enjoying the performances. My dad and I often talk about listening to The Goon Show when he was a lad in the East End. I do not think he would take to the horror slant and Fessenden and friends gave us that night. Every time I eat watermelon I will now think of stabbing someone.
Jason Gorber
In an interview I made Michael Ironside cry, so that was certainly memorable.
I am not sure that nights at the pub even count as non-film events at Fantasia, as the camaraderie is an absolute integral part of the festival. This really feels like a kind of summer camp for film lovers, and the mess hall (with many messy people) at 1am at the Irish Embassy bar is a critical part of the proceedings.
The Big Lebowski Live Read was ostensibly part of the Just For Laughs festival, but given the number of attendees from Fantasia that were on hand I’ll also say it was an extension of the genre fest. So, I’ll say winning money at poker at the Casino – it helped pay for my trip, and I took down a number of pros in my little game. Ooo-rah indeed.
Izzy Lee
Even if I wasn't one of the performers at Tales From Beyond The Pale, spearheaded by Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid, I'd still choose this sold-out event. Having attended other Tales at the 2014 and 2015 editions of the Stanley Film Festival, I knew what kind of treat the audience was in for. Featuring great sound design and live music and foley work -- YES, death DOES smell like watermelon! Tales presented three tales of terror instead of the usual two. Doug Buck's Hidden Records featured Candyman himself, Tony Todd, while Glenn McQuaid and April Mullen wrote myself and Fessenden into Speaking in Tongues, their Quebec French-English tale, along with local Montreal actors, and Fessenden's Barricade offered up Todd again with Roxanne Benjamin and Jeremy Gardner. Here's hoping this super-spooky-fun event becomes an annual Fantasia tradition as it has at Stanley.
Kurt Halfyard
I got to give a brief lecture on the joys and the smarts of Joe Dante’s The ‘Burbs, as part of Kier-La Janisse & Paul Corupe’s SATANIC PANIC: Pop Cultural Paranoia of the 1980s, a book for which I wrote the final essay. Having a number of people in the cozy but fabulous Drawn & Quarterly Book store come up afterwards and say they have never really thought about what The ‘Burbs was about and that the were going to give it a serious re-watch after the talk is pretty much why I write about such things in the first place. Drinks and conversation with Kier-La before and after the book launch are a gift, as I treasure her biographical criticism book, the essential House of Psychotic Women, to be one of the best film-writing texts ever made.
Also, having long engaged conversation with ex-Twitch writer (and exemplary human being) Michael Guillen on the Kafein Cafe-bar patio. Kind of like the day-time version of the Irish Embassy get-together, we were joined by new pals and old friends over the course of the afternoon. Later, we were joined by Larry Kent, Canada’s longest working filmmaker, in what is now a three-years-and-going strong-tradition of ebullient chat and duck sandwiches in the hot, hot, hot Montreal sunshine.
Larry would later pick up the Barry Convex (Best Canadian Feature at Fantasia) Award from Spectacular Optical for She Who Must Burn, and that is an exceptional way to close out Fantasia 2015.