It’s that glorious time of year again, when we plunge both feet first into the extraordinary, weird, and sometimes grotesque world of the Fantasia International Film Festival. Our preview will be a little different this time, and we will give you a glimpse of both feature films and short films that are being shown at the festival.
The first post will cover the key features to look out for. I have stayed clear of the big film titles, as most people will already be all up in their business. So, going in mostly blind and having a good nosey around the selections this year, here are 18 films you should look out for! Of course, there are dozens more you should also see!
All You Need Is Kill
An extraterrestrial intruder, a massive, plant-like behemoth known as 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 awakens one seemingly normal morning and attends to her regular duties until Doral suddenly spouts forth a torrent of murderous monsters. Rita’s life is snuffed out in an instant. The very next instant, she awakens on the same seemingly normal morning…
Some of you may already know what this title is referencing in the live-action world. However, this anime is a direct adaptation of the novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which has an English-language adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, titled… Edge of Tomorrow. Only this time, we are seeing the events of the story through Rita’s eyes, so the film flips the perspective on us, and it should be something very much worth catching.
Désolé, Pardon, Je m’excuse
Office worker Ella has a peculiar obsession: she’s addicted to watching torture videos. But just watching isn’t cutting it anymore. Tired of being a voyeur, Ella wants in on the action. Fuelled by delusion and undeterred by her lovesick boss, Ella jumps headfirst into making her torture fantasy a grim reality. But things take an unexpected turn when her first “victim” turns out to be eager for death, completely ruining the thrill she was chasing.
If there is one thing I love about Fantasia, it’s that you get a synopsis like this and automatically know you’re going to watch it. It is just out there in that perfect, weird, and wonderful bracket that you can’t help yourself. This one looks daft and a good bit of fun, and sometimes that’s all you need in a film.
Flush
Middle-aged coke fiend Luc is having a pretty terrible night. Having gone to confront his ex at the club where she works, determined to somehow win back her love, one thing leads to another, and he soon finds himself wedged firmly in a toilet, effectively trapping him in a bathroom stall. Trapped, we should mention, with a heap of coke that he stole from the bar’s resident dealer. He’s soon found, setting off an increasingly crazy series of circumstances that veer from the hilarious to the intensely grotesque as Luc’s world is assailed from every conceivable direction in a bizarre race against time that will have you gasping.
Speaking of a synopsis that just stands out like a glorious thumb, this one is spectacular. You know right away that this is a film that is going to be 82 minutes of nonstop madness. Set in real-time, Flush is a film that is going to have a lot of people talking.
Foreigner
Yasamin, or Yasi, is an Iranian teenager who wants to fit in. She lives with her father, Ali, and her grandmother, Zoreh. She’s new to Canada and worries she won’t make any friends at her new high school. On her first day, she meets a trio of pastel-clad, chirpy girls: “Queen Bee” Rachel and her followers, Emily and Kristen. Yasi desperately wants to fit in, so she does whatever it takes to become a 2004 cookie-cutter teen like her new friends, and dyes her hair blonde like her late mother and Sarah on her favourite sitcom. When her fading Iranian identity awakens a dark force within, Yasi becomes defiant to her family, rejects her culture, and threatens to destroy her loved ones and the new life she’s building in Canada.
This looks like one of those films where you know as little as possible going in and just let the story take over. We seem to be getting a coming-of-age story with the additional theme of not losing your cultural identity just to fit in. This is a teen horror with a lot of substance.
Funky Forest: The First Contact
If you look at them just right, the most mundane elements of daily life can seem utterly bizarre. Conversely, the strangest, most inexplicable things can seem perfectly ordinary. That’s the inverted logic behind 2005’s FUNKY FOREST, a sprawling omnibus of the obvious and the oddball, the casual and the completely insane.
Fantasia brings back the oldies, but the goodies each year, and this is no different with Funky Forest: The First Contact. It’s a fantastically strange little film that will have you engaged and bemused in equal parts.
Fucktoys
The story follows AP, a sex worker living in “Trashtown,” who discovers she’s been cursed. To survive, she must raise $1000 to pay a medium who might be able to lift it. So begins her quest, absurd, grotesque, and glittering, with a parade of characters, sexual misadventures, and unexpected acts of tenderness leading her through a distorted dreamscape version of Louisiana.
A film shot in 16mm, yes, give me these all day, every day. This is the debut film from Annapurna Sriram, and it promises to be a blast once it hits the screens. We can discuss people doing 80 homages, but until they convey the vibe that is done here, they are not worth talking about or listening to. It could easily be the sleeper hit of the festival.
Good Boy
From the first moment you see him, you know that Indy (playing himself) is a very good boy, as loyal as a dog can be to his human, Todd. Todd has uprooted Indy to his late grandfather’s remote house upstate, and before he even sets foot in the house, Indy can sense something’s not right. It’s not just that the house is in the middle of nowhere and seriously dilapidated; there’s something there that Indy can sense that Todd cannot. And what Indy sees is a mysterious presence that draws his suspicions while also drawing him in. Indy can only do so much to warn his human (he’s a dog, after all), but he’s going to protect him with all his heart before what’s haunting this house comes for them both.
There isn’t really much more that needs to be said about this one. A film where the family dog senses something supernatural and we follow his journey, no brainer for a list like this. There will be no early death for the family pet in this supernatural horror, that’s for sure.
HellCat
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, Lena is finally coming to. Trapped inside a trailer on the move, she’s woozy and unsure how she got there or how she got that mysterious wound. The voice of a stranger named Clive tells Lena that she’s been infected. He’s taking her to see a specialist named Dr. Janekowski, who can help her, as long as she stays calm and inside the trailer. Of course, Lena doesn’t trust this man and tries to escape, but he does his best to make her understand that he’s here to help her.
You are not going to get a lot of gore in this one, and sometimes that is okay. You will get terror, though, and plenty of it. Brock Bodell has gone for scares in this one, and if a journey of someone potentially losing themselves to something unknown doesn’t scare you, then you are stronger than I.
I Am Frankelda
Recently orphaned and rebellious by nature, Francisca Imelda finds consolation in her solitary pastime, writing tales of fear and fantasy. The words she scribbles, however, are more than just a balm for her hurting heart. They are the connective tissue linking the real world we recognise around us to another one. Just as day needs night and light needs shadow, the 19th-century Mexico where she resides exists in parallel to a world of fiction, imagination, dreams… and nightmares.
The first stop-motion animation from Mexico was always going to pique my interest. From the buzz surrounding I Am Frankelda, this film is almost certainly going to warrant your attention. We have a film that is for lovers of stop-motion and those who enjoy a movie where the fantastical gets to shine.
Influencers
The last time we saw CW, she was left stranded on a remote Thai island as Madison escaped in a boat. Now we’re in the South of France, and CW is in love. Her girlfriend, Diane, is a French beauty, and they are deeply 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, and CW isn’t happy.
I quite enjoyed Influencer when it was released in 2022. It had a lot going for it and was one of those films where the twists actually worked. So, finding out the sequel is on the lineup makes it an easy choice, and one I know I will not miss out on – and you shouldn’t either.
To get caught up, the first film, Influencer, is now available on Shudder.
New Group
Young Ai is a shy, anxious student who struggles to express her emotions. It has to be said that her extremely strict high school leaves no room for creativity or the assertion of the slightest divergent individuality. Then a fellow student plants himself on all fours in the middle of the school’s soccer field without warning, and refuses to budge. The next day, two others joined him to form the beginning of a human pyramid, motionless and silent. When the headmaster calls everyone together and instructs them to take part in this disturbing gymnastic formation, violently beating up the dissidents, new student Yu drags Ai away to escape this nightmarish scene and avoid being swallowed up by this new group imposed by an increasingly fascistic and brutal administration.
The image above alone almost sold me; the synopsis was the cherry on top. If you are not scared by a group of teenage schoolkids forming a gymnastic pyramid and chasing you down a hallway, then I have no idea what to tell you. This is an immediate, immediate yes from me.
Queens of the Dead
It’s Easter in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and a different kind of resurrection is at hand. Dre is putting on a warehouse drag show, trying to deal with her lead performer’s last-minute cancellation, among other problems. One that she never could have imagined is a zombie apocalypse breaking out in her neighbourhood, which besieges her and her team. At the same time, her wife, Lizzy, a nurse at a local hospital, tries to dodge the flesh-eating hordes and get across town to Dre.
Katy O’Brien cannot do much wrong, and if what I have read about her performance in Queens of the Dead is correct, then we are onto another sure-fire winner here. From Tina Romero (yes, that Romero), you know this is going to be faithful to the zombie genre. Do not miss out on this one.
Redux Redux
Desperate to avenge her daughter’s murder by any means necessary, Irene Kelly journeys through parallel dimensions to repeatedly track down and annihilate her killer. Deliverance by any kind of weapon. Every kind of weapon. All she can do is stab, shoot, and maim with a rage that’s devouring her, yet gives her singular purpose and meaning even as it threatens to corrode her humanity beyond any possible point of return.
A grim, but fresh take on the time-travel story. If you had nothing left to live for after the murder of your child, and somehow had the access to inter-dimensional travel, wouldn’t you go around eliminating the fucker that did it?
Sham
Passionate about his work as a primary school teacher, Seiichi is highly regarded by both pupils and parents. So dedicated is he that he visits Ritsuko, a mother who demands a meeting at her home long after school hours. They discuss a multitude of topics, including Takuto’s American origins, his hyperactive attention deficit disorder, and his tendency to bully his classmates. This awkward conversation and a few exaggerated reprimands reach such Dantean proportions that Siichi’s superiors force him to make a public apology. Once the admission is made, the sensationalist media machine and a gigantic trial will ruin his career and make his life a living hell of humiliation and harassment.
A new Takashi Miike film is always welcome, but surprisingly, the first of this year’s releases is a courtroom drama. Didn’t have that on your bingo card, I bet. What we get here is a film that tells its story through a multitude of perspectives, leaving the audience with a lot to ponder.
Stinker
Three strangers with nothing in common—Sadyk, a homeless old man with a death wish, Nadya, a cold-faced shopkeeper, and an alien hiding in the outhouse and desperate to return to its planet—cross paths in a godforsaken corner of Kazakhstan. This wildly mismatched trio isn’t headed for the typical alien-vs-human showdown, though. Instead, with the help of a kind and curious granddaughter, they begin to open up to one another, offer support, and ultimately find healing in each other.
We dander over to Kazakhstan next for this black comedy sci-fi. Who doesn’t love a story about intergalactic weirdos finding a kinship with one another? I imagine this will be ET if ET found Elliot when Elliot was an adult and a bit of a loser. It should be a good bit of fun.
Stuntman
Washed-up stunt director Lee Sam (Wei Tung) is struggling to find his way in a changing industry to the point he is taking up security guard jobs for his physiotherapy clients. When he is approached to help an old friend film his last action film, he risks the already-strained relationship with his estranged daughter, Cherry (Cecilia Choi), to redeem himself in the eyes of his peers.
Stuntman is a wonderful homage and an absolute treat for fans of Hong Kong cinema. Stuntman is unapologetic in its love for the genre, while also showcasing the struggles the genre faced, and, most importantly, the dangers and toil that these fantastic performers endure. It’s a powerful reminder of the risks these performers take, and it’s well worth your time to watch this love letter.
Sugar Rot
When an ice-cream man brutally assaults punk girl Candy, she becomes the host of a mutant fetus, and her body begins to transform into ice cream. Featuring music from Pet Blessings, Dayglo Abortions, and Daddy Issues, SUGAR ROT channels the anarchic spirit of punk to tell a fiercely feminist story about autonomy, capitalism, and pleasure. With its cathartic cartoon gore and biting satire of anti-feminist rhetoric, it’s a bold and sticky scream of rebellion.
Described as a punk rock horror that will get mightily close to the line of being too much, Sugar Rot looks like it will take that exploitation ball and run with it as far as it can. The aim of their game here is to make you as uncomfortable as possible.
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake
It’s the summer of 2001, and Argentina is on the verge of exploding. A recent outbreak of violence has left the country in a powder-keg state. Economic disaster is hitting hard, with rolling blackouts amplifying a hellish sense of instability, and tempers are on a hair trigger. In the midst of this, best friends Natalia, Mariela, and Josefina have just finished high school. They share everything, including an all-consuming crush on Diego, a cherished friend since their childhoods, whom they’ve each begun to see in a markedly different light. And now, an older, more worldly friend appears, also with designs on their beau. With witchcraft in her family roots, Natalia turns towards sinister incantations to give herself an upper hand in a suddenly competitive playing field for whom she believes to be the love of her life, betraying friendships, family, and herself.
After travelling around the festival circuit this year, one sentiment has remained true: Dolores Oliverio gives one hell of a performance as a girl who forces herself to become more sexualised to get what she wants. The Virgin of the Quarry Lake has that undercurrent of intense sexuality and a need to be wanted running through it and with a great touch of supernatural elements, this should be a good watch.
Well thats all! Come back later tomorrow where we break down a few short films you should catch and keep an eye out for during the festival! Until then!
