Festivals: Fantasia
Fantasia 2023 Review THE ABANDONED, Slow Burn Crime Thriller Rewards With Horror Thrills And Chills
Police detective Wu Jie sits in her car down by the river holding her service pistol in her hand. Clearly distressed she places the gun below her chin, intent on taking her own life when she is interrupted by panicked...
SATAN WANTS YOU Interview: Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams Talk Moral Panics
Moral panics have been with us as a species since time immemorial. From the persecution of European pagans at the end of the Roman empire in the Fourth Century, to the Salem witch trials in New England in the 17th...
Fantasia 2023 Review: NEW LIFE, Debut Horror Thriller Forever Linked to Our Current Times
Jessica is on the run and Elsa is dead set on finding her. With a group of techno wizards supporting her Elsa sticks to the backcountry and rural roads, confident that Jessica is trying to stay out of sight. Jessica...
Fantasia 2023 Review: VINCENT MUST DIE, A Black Comedy About Getting Beaten Up By Strangers
Have you ever come across a person who, while they may make absolutely zero impact on your day, still has a face you just want to punch? That’s Vincent (Karim Leklou), a passionless, personality-free office worker who is having the...
Fantasia 2023 Review: KILLING ROMANCE, An Exuberant Slapstick Genre-Bender With A Lot On Its Mind
Killing Romance is an ebullient explosion of poppy music and poppier visuals that is a guaranteed crowd pleaser from Lee Won-suk, director of popular indie charmer How to Use Guys with Secret Tips. Already a massive hit in its native...
Fantasia 2023 Review: RAGING GRACE, An Immigrant Housekeeper Faces A Domestic Nightmare With Her Daughter
Debutante director Paris Zarcilla delivers a fiery first feature in Raging Grace, the story of an immigrant woman who takes a much needed service job in the wrong house. Starring Max Eigenmann as Joy and Jaeden Paige Boadilla as her...
Friday One Sheet: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS
This Jack Davis-inspired poster for Hundreds of Beavers may or may not have the literal "hundreds" on display; you can count, if you like. Either way, it gives the sense of scale and tone of the film's climactic finale. Illustrated...
Fantasia 2023 Review: WITH LOVE AND A MAJOR ORGAN Is One From The Heart, Whatever Shape Yours Takes
What if when we talked about giving someone our heart, we actually meant it? First time feature filmmaker Kim Albright and writer Julia Lederer explore what happens when our innermost feelings, good and bad, manifest physically in With Love and...
Fantasia 2023 Review: BABY ASSASSINS 2 BABIES, A Breathtaking Action Comedy Franchise Continues
One might be forgiven for being a bit confused at the opening of Sakamoto Yugo's Baby Assassins 2 Babies. There are indeed a pair of scrappy young killers casually approaching a murder for hire gig, they do handle it in...
Fantasia 2023 Review: THE TASTER, Harbinger of a Bold New Voice
Some time in the near future, the climate crisis, and the resulting extreme water and food shortages, have put Europe into a state of war. What little healthy land that remains lies along Danube Delta in Romania which is hotly...
Fantasia 2023 Review: DEVILS, Body Swapping Film with a Few Too Many Twists
Devils is director Kim Jae-hoon’s high concept, body swapping, ultra-violent, twist-upon-twist-y feature debut and it is a fun ride, but that may not be enough for some more discerning film fans. Buckets of blood and savage violence drench the film...
Fantasia 2023 Review: HOME INVASION, On the Tyranny of Technology and Surveillance
Greame Arnfield really, really does not like the Ring. No, not the infamous J-Horror film or its American remake, but rather the video doorbell company that turned the humble little button that goes ding-dong, into the “smart doorbell,” a cloud...
Fantasia 2023 Review: LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP, These Woods Have Promises To Keep
The ancient trees in Arvores National Park sway menacingly in Teresa Sutherland’s Lovely, Dark, and Deep, a story of grief, a search for redemption, and a past that won’t let go. Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) plays Lennon, a woman with a...
Fantasia 2023 Review: THE SACRIFICE GAME, Jenn Wexler's Second Horror Flick Delivers Horror, Gore, Terrific Young Leads
In an isolated girl’s school in the early ’70s, lonely new girl, Samantha finds out that she and the very strange and reclusive Clara will have to spend their Christmas break in their near-deserted school with the young teacher, Rose...
Fantasia 2023 Review: RIVER, Laughs and Thinking About the Future, Two Minutes at a Time
In the wintry valley town of Kibune, Japan, we will find the Fujiya Inn. There we find one of the waitresses, Mikoto. They are sent to the basement to do a quick inventory count when Mikito steps out back where...
Fantasia 2023 Review: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS, Triumph of Escalating Sight Gags
Hundreds of Beavers has been tearing up the festival circuit for months now, scooping prizes and rapidly building a rabid cult following. And with damn good reason. If you have even the slightest love for slap stick comedy and goofball...
Fantasia 2023 Review: HIPPO, A Hilariously Disturbing Suburban Nightmare
An unusual family lives an unusual life in Mark H. Rapaport’s Hippo, one of the stranger films playing at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival. Rapaport drops us into a suburban dystopic home where society’s rules don’t seem to apply, and...
Fantasia 2023 Review: BLACKOUT, Fessenden's Wolf Man Delivers
Indie horror icon Larry Fessenden is back in the director’s chair with Blackout, a film about the pain of addition and becoming something you don’t want to be. Having tackled vampires in 1995’s Habit and Frankenstein’s monster in 2019’s Depraved,...
Fantasia 2023 Review: APORIA Is Not Your Typical Time Traveller
Jared Moshé’s latest film, Aporia, is a fascinating paradox: A time travel story where the characters do not time travel. It is a sober, and quite emotional ‘what if’ and ‘if then’ take on parenting. The psychological cause and effect...
Fantasia 2023 Review: FEMME, A Most Dangerous Queer Relationship
Jules is a celebrated and loved drag artist in London. One night they are the victim of a horrific homophobic attack that nearly destroys their life and career. Broken, Jules no longer performs and spends their days playing video games...
