Fantasia Fest is a week away and the line up already has us more than excited. Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is an annual film festival founded in 1996 and held primarily in Montreal, Canada. It specializes in genre films, including fantasy, horror, science fiction, and cult cinema, and draws over 100,000 attendees each year. This year will mark the 29th anniversary of the legendary festival.
We decided to conjure up a list of our most anticipated titles at the film festival. Check out the full line up at the official site here but here are some of the titles that have us the most buzzing.
HOLD THE FORT
HOLD THE FORT is an action-packed horror-comedy that follows Lucas and Jenny, a couple thrilled to buy their first home—until they discover it comes with a deadly catch. As dark forces close in, they must fight to survive. HOLD THE FORT is directed by William Bagley (The Murder Podcast) and stars Chris Mayers (Ozark).
A GRAND MOCKERY
Adopting the textures and crackles of 8mm film, with their feature debut A GRAND MOCKERY, co-directors Adam C. Briggs and Sam Dixon dive into Australia’s dark side. Sam Dixon stars as Josie, a troubled man living an ordinary life, whose mental illness deforms and pushes him into an almost ritualistic and increasingly horrific wandering. Grimy, experimental, cursed, and spectacular, the film pulls us through the mundane underbelly of Brisbane into the horrific sublime of the Sunshine Coast.
MOTHER OF FLIES
“One day to die, three days to rise.” Shaken to her core after being diagnosed with cancer, young Mickey (Zelda Adams) turns to necromancy to heal herself after conventional medicine fails to help. Her father, Jake (John Adams), is not a religious man, but any skepticism he might hold takes a backseat to supporting his daughter’s decision. And so, they embark on a journey, driving deep into the woods to meet with a witch who resides there. Her name is Solveig (Toby Poser), and they will be her guests for the transformative days to come. She will guide Mickey through a journey of discovery, ritual, and blood. Solveig is offering her dark magic guidance free of charge. That’s not to say that it will come without costs.
HELLCAT
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, Lena (Dakota Gorman) is finally coming to. Trapped inside a trailer on the move, she’s woozy and unsure how she got there.
INFLUENCERS
We’re in the South of France, and CW is in love. Her girlfriend Diane (Lisa Delamar, SURVIVE) is a French beauty, and they are smitten with each other. Taking off for a weekend getaway to celebrate their first anniversary, the women have been bumped into a smaller room because of a popular British influencer, Charlotte (Georgina Campbell, LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP, BARBARIAN), and CW isn’t happy. Charlotte has taken a liking to the couple and won’t leave them alone. Her shallow, constant commentary irks CW, testing her patience. What will CW do? Does this threaten CW’s relationship? Is this the trigger that sets off her deadly disdain for influencers? Many questions are presented, and the audience is invited to dive into the heart of our favourite hedonistic hacker, where obsession and revenge live rent-free.
Kazakh Scary Tales
“In the world of Kazakh fairy tales there are three rules: All things supernatural are taken from the present. All monsters are desperate spirits. All mysticism has physical causes.”
Cynical cop Birzhan (Kuantai Abdimadi, MOUNTAIN ONION) ventures into the remote village of Karatas to investigate a grisly series of inexplicable events at a maternity hospital. His search leads him straight into the heart of Kazakh folklore through circumstances that bring the mystical into everyday life. Local police are far from helpful. He soon finds himself in the centre of an otherworldly storm of local witchcraft. Birzhan forms an unlikely alliance with Sara (Anna Starchenko, jury-award winner at last summer’s Fantasia for her astonishing performance in STEPPENWOLF and a key star in many of Yerzhanov’s films), a rogue fortune-teller gifted with intuitive occult awareness, in addition to an open police file for car theft, drug trafficking, and vagrancy. As their investigation deepens, it becomes clear that the curse of Albasty, a spirit said to hunt infants, is not merely the stuff of legend.
The Book of Sijjin And Illiyyin
According to the Islamic faith, the Book of Sijjin records all acts of disobedience committed by each individual. However, if this behaviour stems from pious or noble intentions, it will be noted by the angels in the Book of Illiyyin.
Having seen her mother possessed by terrible pain before killing her father when she was a child, Yuli (Yunita Siregar from the popular TV series RATU ADIL) was treated as an outsider, a bastard. Twenty years have passed since then. She is now a servant to a large, wealthy family, but she is still considered an outcast. Constantly scorned, insulted, and even beaten by her employers, she tries to satisfy their demands and whims by holding back the anger and grief she has accumulated over so many years, until one humiliation too many occurs. That’s when she goes into the forest to meet a hermit who practises black magic, to curse the Laras clan, from the youngest to the oldest, who mistreat her in so many ways. Yuli wants them all to die horribly. So she sends after them a most powerful djinn, an entity that is sometimes benevolent but in this case demonic, exhuming the fresh corpse of the Laras’ ancestress and offering it as a sacrifice in a most disturbing ritual. The task must be completed before the body is too decomposed. Let the party begin…
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL
An extraterrestrial intruder, a massive plant-like behemoth called Doral, has taken root on Earth and is wreaking havoc. Toiling away at the eradication of this invasive species are teams of young volunteers with advanced-tech gear, including sullen loner Rita. She awakes one seemingly normal morning, and attends to her regular duties—until Doral suddenly spouts forth a torrent of murderous monsters, and Rita’s life is snuffed out in an instant. The very next instant, she awakes on the same seemingly normal morning…
FIXED
Bull (Adam Devine) is a lovable mutt, and a loyal buddy to his pack, including brawny boxer Rocco (Idris Elba), pretentious dachshund Fetch (Fred Armisen), and neurotic beagle Lucky (Bobby Moynihan). He also has a massive crush on the sexy show dog next door, the Afghan hound Honey (Kathryn Hahn). His pride and joy are his magnificent testicles, at the behest of which he’ll satiate his constant horniness by way of most any household object, though his preference is grandma’s leg. These peccadilloes of his, however, may prove his downfall. Alarmed by indications that a trip to the vet looms in his immediate future, the frantic Bull will do anything to delay the inevitable—or at least unleash his carnal impulses while he still can!
There’s a ton of other movies playing throughout the whole festival. A lot of world premieres and classics. It truly is a celebration of genre and a love letter to the art that is cinema. We will be covering the festival as much as we can throughout its run time so stay tuned. Which film are you most excited to see or hear about at the festival?
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