Returning to celebrate its 28th year, the Fantasia International Film Festival will run from July 18th to August 4th. As a preview, here are my choices for 8 films to see at this year's festival.
1. Azrael (Canadian Premiere)
Set in the post-apocalypse, a mute cult of religious fanatics hunt down Azrael (Samara Weaving) who previously escaped their captivity. After being recaptured, the young woman discovers that she is to be sacrificed to appease an ancient evil lurking within the forest, and fights savagely to ensure survival. Director E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) and screenwriter Simon Barrett (The Guest, You're Next) craft a vicious revenge story free of dialogue across the 85-minute runtime, which is set to be a feature worth watching.
2. Bookworm (World Premiere)
Following his impressive feature debut, Come To Daddy, director Ant Timpson makes his follow-up with another parent/child adventure starring Elijah Wood. Let's see if there are any references to Michael Heseltine this time around. The story follows young Mildred (Nell Fisher) finding her world shaken when her mother lands in the hospital. Arriving to look after her is Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood), Mildred's absentee father and washed-up magician. In an attempt at bonding, Strawn takes his bookish daughter camping in the New Zealand wilderness on a quest to search for the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
3. Carnage For Christmas (Montreal Premiere)
It may only be July, but Christmas set horror can be enjoyed all year round, as evidenced from this latest work by prolific director Alice Maio Mackay. The story follows a true-crime podcaster and sleuth visiting her hometown for the first time since transitioning, only to find the vengeful ghost of a historical murderer has seemingly risen to kill again. It's a race against time to solve the case before the community is slaughtered, although it becomes clear that the town is haunted by secrets.
4. Hell Hole (World Premiere)
Returning for their latest feature after the impressive works Hellbender and Where The Devil Roams, The Adams Family make their latest World Premiere at Fantasia. Set in the desolate Siberian wilderness, a U.S.-led fracking crew uncover a dormant monster gestating within a centuries-old French soldier. When the monster is awakened and exposed in its most dangerously fragile state, it tears through the men on the grounds in search of a new womb. With the promise of "an indie rock’n’roll monster movie hell-bent on delivering a slimy good time", this is one to put on your radar.
5. The Missing (Canadian Premiere)
While he may lead a rather typical life as an animator, Eric (Carlo Aquino) is notably missing a mouth. After receiving a call from his mother (Dolly De Leon) to check up on his missing uncle, Eric discovers that his uncle has been dead for several days. What follows blends illusion and reality, as a resurfaced childhood memory coincides with an alien returning to Eric's life to whisk him away from Earth. Director Carl Joseph Papa uses digitally rotoscoped animation to bring alive this story of a young man finding his voice while remembering what robbed him of his voice in the first place.
6. Oddity (Quebec Premiere)
Following on from the unsettling Caveat, Damian McCarthy's follow-up feature promises to deliver another terrifying experience. The story follows blind medium Darcy (Carolyn Bracken), who runs an antique shop to secretly collect cursed items. With her occult abilities, and the otherwordly help of a wooden mannequin, Darcy begins to decipher terrible secrets about her twin sister's unsolved murder. What unfolds is a fact-finding mission of supernatural retribution, opening doorways into pure horror with imaginative concepts that threaten to shred your nerves.
7. Timestalker (Canadian Premiere)
Ever since making the excellent Prevenge while heavily pregnant, hopes have been high for Alice Lowe to make her sophomore feature as writer/director. Those prayers have been answered with this tale of romantic reincarnation set across centuries, driven by Agnes (Alice Lowe) as she keeps dying while meeting the presumed love of her life (Aneurin Barnard).
8. Wake Up (Canadian Premiere)
Filmmaking collective RKSS return with their latest feature, where social activism meets confined terrors for a thrilling and gleefully mean-spirited experience. Within an IKEA-style furniture store, a group of young activists hide away until the shop closes for the night. Their intentions are to vandalize the store in protest of the environmental damage committed by the brand, although they did not account for the shop to have a security guard passionate about primitive hunting. As the trapped activists are stalked through the night, the violence and terror leaves the store ready to change its name to Die-KIA.
Fantasia 2024 runs from July 18th to August 4th
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