The 2025 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival got off to a hell of a start with the opening day world premiere of William Bagley’s suburbanites vs. monsters from hell horror comedy, Hold the Fort.
Freshly christened homeowners, Lucas (Chris Mayers) and Jenny (Haley Leary) are in for the night of their lives when they learn that their HOA does quite a bit more than simply measure the growth of the neighborhood lawns and admonish those who put their trash cans out too early. Their new housing development has an added feature that is possibly even more exciting than the soon-to-be-completed pool: a portal to hell!
While Lucas is gung-ho on their new lifestyle, city girl Jenny is a bit more hesitant and worried about losing her urban edge amongst the soccer moms. One major cause for concern is the HOA. A home owners association is typically there to make sure that a neighborhood maintains its carefully curated charm and image, but this HOA has more vital concerns. Every year a pit just beyond the carefully manicured lawns turns into a pipeline for all manner of devilish beasties looking to conquer the world, and it’s up to HOA president Jerry (Julian Smith) to make sure that the neighbors are prepared to beat them back.
At a pacy 75 minutes, Hold the Fort doesn’t waste time in getting to the action. We get to spend maybe ten minutes meeting the principal characters, including the above-mentioned Lucas and Jenny and a colorful squad of neighborhood couples, and then we’re off to the racers. As our surrogates in this bizarre story, Lucas and Jenny are just as confused when the hellish onslaught begins as is the viewer, but we quickly get the gist and everyone is on board – though some are more suited to the task than others.
Bagley’s writing and directing is effective and efficient, delivering only what is absolutely necessary to settle in to this gleeful suburban splatter survival horror. With a clear love and appreciation for old school splatstick a la The Evil Dead, as well as its more recent revitalizations like Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, Bagley does not skimp on the gore. Heads explode, innumerable bursts of blood, cocaine-fueled samurai sword rampaging, the whole nine yards. It is a bit of a bummer than so much of the FX are computer generated, but at this budget level, that’s to be expected, and creativity is king here, and in that sense Hold the Fort delivers.
The film is greatly helped by a cast who completely understands the tone and the assignment and goes for broke. While this is far from a character study, Bagley does manage decent arcs for our two leads over the course of this brisk feature, with Lucas and Jenny adapting to their situation in different but believable ways in what is an utterly unbelievable conflict. Mayers and Leary go for it in every scene, and become the reluctant heroes that the world needs when fighting off hell-spawned witches and kung fu spirit zombies. Julian Smith’s performance as the tight-assed Jerry is a standout as well, delivering the most ridiculous dialogue with a comforting (and sometimes shocking) sincerity.
A classic horror comedy programmer, Hold the Fort does exactly what it needs to do to get a smile from fans of the genre and then it gets the hell out. The barely feature length run time of 75 minutes is indicative of the broadening backlash against overindulgent Hollywood fare, and films like this are better for it. Horror audiences looking for a good time, a whole lot of very silly dialogue, and people exploding will find a lot to like about Hold the Fort. A perfect kick off for North America’s biggest genre film event.