Summer is a great time for film and not just because we’re inching closer to Halloween. It seems like this year has been hot with more than just heat, we’ve been sweating with a fever for horror. Audiences have been obsessed with Obsession, lost in the Backrooms and sizzling with Evil Dead Burn. For those recently enamored with the spook and gory, or longtime favorites, you’ll be delighted to know that you don’t have to wait until October to dive headfirst into more delicious genre films. Not only are there big releases in theaters, but there are also film festivals happening everywhere. Among them is the largest genre film festival in North America — Fantasia International Film Festival.
Since its inception in 1996, Fantasia’s mission has been to explore “the diverse realms of genre cinema, creating bridges between the cutting edge and the mainstream.” Now celebrating its 30th edition in Montreal, Canada, the 18-day festival, which runs from July 16 – August 2, showcases features and short films exploring horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and cult cinema. It’s their commitment to spotlight the alternative that has set it apart from other festivals and attracted viewers from all over the world, including us! Last year saw magical films like Mexico’s first feature stop motion film Soy Frankelda (I Am Frankelda), auditory sensation Undertone and a film that made codependency truly look horrific, Together. Celebrating 30 years, we can only imagine what will be available this year. Actually, we don’t have to imagine because the full lineup is available to cruise over.
Here are a few films (of the many) we’re looking forward to seeing this year.
Colony
“I am the only vaccine that can stop this outbreak.” Professor Se-jeong (Gianna Jun) attends a biotech conference to hopefully start looking for a new career in the field. What is supposed to be a simple day of finding a new job turns into blood-soaked terror as she and other survivors are trapped in the building with nowhere to run as a dangerous virus mutates people into infected beings undergoing horrifying transformations. It’s a fight for survival against these mindless, cannibalistic freaks, while struggling to figure out how to end this deadly threat…
I Love Paris
I LOVE PARIS opens with an impromptu MTV CRIBS-style apartment tour. “This,” explains Paris, holding up a plastic horse, “is Rodrigo.” Moments later, she shows the viewer a clay statue in her maximalist apartment. “I got a boner for music,” she tells the camera, as she shows off her creation and his upturned erection and face, paying tribute to the musical gods. The film’s production design has an incredibly catered lived-in feel. Shot in a mockumentary style, I LOVE PARIS is an explosive and vibrant vampire film that is funny, dynamic, and haunting. Avoiding many of the pitfalls of mockumentary, I LOVE PARIS feels real but never loses touch with keeping the audience entertained. The editing style is quick, the compositions thoughtful, and the energy upbeat. Aminata Thiboult, who plays Paris, is an explosive talent; her screen presence is electric, playful, and intense. Her performance is hypnotic.
Nightborn
After much planning and anticipation. Saga (Seidi Haarla, COMPARTMENT NO. 6, ICEBREAKER) and her British husband Jon (Rupert Grint, the HARRY POTTER series, SERVANT) are starting a family. They move from the U.K. to Finland and take residence in the semi-dilapidated house where Saga largely grew up, deep in the forest. Soon, overtaken by energies in the woods, they make passionate love surrounded by an ocean of trees and foliage, and perhaps other things as well. Saga becomes pregnant. When the baby is born, it arrives with an unsettling wail and uncommonly hairy back. It behaves… badly. Never sleeping, refusing to eat, biting, breaking things, and generally tormenting all who engage. Everyone’s response is to blame Saga, accusing her of somehow being a terrible parent with an uncontrollable monster of a baby. A baby who’s becoming increasingly troll-like in appearance. Whose hunger only seems to be satisfied by raw meat or animal blood. Her marriage to Jon begins to crumble as Saga descends ever deeper into a tornado hole of maternal anguish, earthy mud, and milky blood. Have they created an actual monster together?
No Rest for the Wicked
Set against the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the 19th-century Faroe Islands, NO REST FOR THE WICKED, directed by Kasper Kalle, plays out like Céline Sciamma’s breathtaking PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, only if it were a queer Danish vampire film with folk-horror flavours and a definite Gothic undertone. The film’s stark, yet sometimes dreamy and uncanny atmospherics recall the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer or even Robert Eggers, while its full-blooded beating heart is as much an ode to the painful longings of Gothic romance as to the genre’s cruelties and horrors.
Freaks Part II
After writing and directing the sleeper-hit sci-fi indie FREAKS in 2018 and directing the critically acclaimed, record-smashing FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES in 2025, celebrated Canadian filmmakers Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein return to their mutant roots with the hotly anticipated FREAKS PART II. A few years after a traumatic escape, we meet Mary (Amanda Crew, SILICON VALLEY, FREAKS) and her daughter Chloe (Lorelei Olivia Mote, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, RIDDLE OF FIRE) as they live on the road, hiding their powers and identities. They are hunted by the Abnormal Defence Force, paramilitary police that specialize in ruthlessly exterminating “freaks” like them. Mary is fuelled by revenge: to find the ADF officer who killed her first child. That officer is Erica Lang (Lili Taylor, THE CONJURING, OUTER RANGE), who is now a top ADF agent on Mary’s trail. Meanwhile, Mary is trying to control Chloe, now a precocious and powerful tween who is worlds away from the typical comic book hero. Chloe’s impulsive longing for a friend throws her mom’s plans into chaos, as supernatural visions of a mysterious girl lead them into danger and unlock secrets in Mary’s past that have been long buried.
Grotesqqque
GROTESQQQUE is a completely original animation film from the brilliant mind of Atsushi Nishigori, known for his work as the director for THE IDOLM@STER and Darling in the FRANXX and Chief Animation Director behind the smash hit film that sparked a social phenomenon Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. This electrifying film embodies Nishigori’s ambition to create something he is passionate about with as much passion as he wants.
The Mutation
Se-oh, a black man born to two Korean parents for reasons unknown, struggles to care for his ailing mother by taking on degrading jobs. Tired of feeling like a stranger in his homeland because of the reactions to his skin color, he spends everything he has on a luxury suitcase containing his most precious possessions, in the hope of giving it to someone who would agree to accompany him on a road trip across Korea. After his efforts are met with indifference and a few dubious offers, Sora, a gay woman who lost her partner to suicide following a heterosexual marriage forced upon her by her family, offers to join him on his journey. As they travel through majestic landscapes, their memories, sorrows, and hopes intertwine in a gentle cascade of conversations and deeply human experiences, through which these two outsiders may yet make peace with the turbulent lives they have led because of who they are.
Hot Spot
Several years from today, in a society surveilled and controlled by global sentient AI, a private detective, Djonny (Andrzej Konopka, THE THAW, THE LURE), investigates a grisly murder in a refugee camp. There he meets Rana (Noomi Rapace, PROMETHEUS, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), a feared member of a religious sect said by many to be a witch of sorts—a cyber witch, perhaps. Within her rebel group, she may have the power to hack into the system and create severe, existential disruption. As Djonny’s trail of understanding expands, the lives of everyone he’s ever loved will be in danger.
Someone’s Daughter
When the law fails you, who do you turn to? Over a decade ago, Sam (Pascale Bussières, MA VIE EN CINÉMASCOPE, FRONTIÈRES) successfully defended her client Paul (François Arnaud, HEATED RIVALRY, FUCKTOYS, THE BORGIAS) against rape accusations. Years later, the victim’s father kidnaps both the lawyer and his daughter’s alleged assailant, leaving them stranded in the Canadian wilderness with only each other to turn to. It’s a happy reunion for Paul, but the deeper they wander together, the more Sam finds herself questioning what really happened all those years ago and what’s coming for her today. In SOMEONE’S DAUGHTER, director Wiebke von Carolsfeld (THE SAVER, STAY) carefully ponders the morality of her characters and the role of law versus justice, weaving a tense tale of revenge and survival. Against a breathtaking tableau of northern backcountry, the leads deliver solid performances. Bussières’s grounded stoicism plays exquisitely well in contrast to Arnaud, who is as charming as he is chilling.
Buddy
Trapped inside the off-kilter world of a ’90s children’s television show, a young girl (Delaney Quinn, IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU) and her friends fight to escape a bloodthirsty, control-freak dinosaur mascot named Buddy (Keegan-Michael Key, KEANU). This is his world. They’re just (barely—and not always) living in it. Buddy can bend time and space. When wounded, he can heal himself. The show has gone on for years, through generations.
The carefully sculpted worlds of yesteryear’s children’s television, from the most lavish network productions to the regionally produced backyard indies, have always had uncanny energies at their peripheries. Something surreal, absurd, and perhaps unspeakable. BUDDY, the wickedly deranged theatrical feature debut from cult filmmaker Casper Kelly (TOO MANY COOKS, ADULT SWIM YULE LOG), was in part inspired by his own childhood envy of the kids who got to live in the worlds of his favorite children’s shows, before he began to question their presented realities. Did the ever-present protective mascot genuinely have the kids’ best interests at heart? Did the children truly want to be there with him, day after day, for seemingly every waking moment?
Drag
Sisterly love sometimes knows no bounds, but maybe it should? When Little Sister (Lucy DeVito) agrees to play lookout for Big Sister (Lizzy Caplan) while she breaks into some douchebag’s remote house in the woods and steals something for revenge over a major offense, she does so very reluctantly. What if this guy comes back? What if the cops show up? Well, there are worse things that could happen, like Big Sister throwing out her back in the middle of her ill-conceived heist, for one. Which she does. And now poor Little Sister has to not only deal with getting her immobilized sister out of there, but everything gets even more complicated when the douchebag in question (John Stamos!) returns home, and it turns out that this house is remote for a reason. Little Sister sure wishes she were an only child about now. If the two of them make it out of there alive, maybe she will be, because Little Sister will probably kill Big Sister herself after all this.
The Last Temptation of Becky
When we first met Becky (Lulu Wilson, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE) in 2020’s BECKY, she was an angry, grieving teen dealing with her mother’s death, and her father’s new fiancée intruded on their lake house vacation. To make matters worse, escaped Neo-Nazi inmates terrorized them and kill her father, and Becky unleashed her rage in a gory battle. In THE WRATH OF BECKY, she just wanted to live her life in peace, but had to exact more terror and gore on a group of domestic terrorists. This time, Becky’s skill at opening a can of whoop-ass is harnessed by the CIA as a secret weapon of its undercover operations. There’s also a new Nazi in town, General Wilhelm Reuss (Neil Patrick Harris, SUNNY DANCER, GONE GIRL), and he wants to create the Fourth Reich. Insane, you say? You’d be right, and Agent Becky Hooper is exactly the person to take him down. She’s not Becky-with-the-good-hair, this is Becky-with-a-withering-stare, and if you’re a creep, it’ll be the last thing you see! With inventive weapons now improved with U.S. government funds, she sets out to crush Nazi ne’er-do-wells!
The Fox
Set in a parallel reality where animals talk, hustle, swear, and scheme, THE FOX opens with Nick (Jai Courtney, DANGEROUS ANIMALS, THE SUICIDE SQUAD) discovering that his fiancée Kori (Emily Browning, AMERICAN GODS, SLEEPING BEAUTY) is cheating on him. Forced to come to terms with the fact that their relationship has simmered, he’s devastated. All seems hopeless until Nick captures a fox (Olivia Colman, THE FAVOURITE, THE LOBSTER), who offers unconventional marital advice in exchange for being let free. That advice? She tells him of a magic hole that he should push Kori into, with a promise that she’ll emerge a changed woman. One who will adore him unconditionally, and who will never, ever leave. Not exactly a man of depth, Nick thinks it just may be the thing to do, unaware that there may be a bigger plan in play…
The Mouths
There’s a rumor going round about a cursed tree standing in the middle of a supposedly haunted cemetery, deep in the forest. For Shota and his university friends, it’s a chance to tempt fate and give themselves a proper scare by visiting this legendary spot in the dead of night. Once there, their courage immediately falters at the gloomy sight of the place. There is also the abnormally deafening sound of cicadas, which adds to the eerie aspect of the site. Things quickly spiral out of control for the four of them, as one of them, Ann, starts babbling strange words and behaving completely irrationally. They even have to drag her back to the car by force to get back to campus as quickly as possible. The next day, she disappears, and the others are plagued by terrifying visions of a ghostly female figure. Thus begins a waking nightmare in which they will come to regret their reckless expedition. Carelessness can come at a very high price, and the cost will exceed all their expectations.
Cherry and the Virgin
Ami and Ryo have a lot in common. They’re both around 30 years old, and they both draw. Ami is a commercial illustrator, Ryo creates erotic manga. That’s a bit ironic given their other commonality. Smart but socially uneasy, neither of them has ever had sex. Each feeling compelled to correct that, they’ve connected via a dating app. The similarities continue, as each indulges in oversharing and brutal self-criticism, from their first date forward. Awkward, uncertain, confused—in their own weird way, the pair have great chemistry. But will it lead them to the bedroom—and beyond?
Our Effed Up World
Three years ago, Fantasia first screened T-BLOCKERS, Alice Maio Mackay’s oozing homage to Troma and Greg Araki. Since then, audiences have shown up for her films CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS and THE SERPENT’S SKIN. Her style is singular—personal, playful, and strangely wholesome. As disgusting or violent as her work can be, there remains an innocence, an optimistic pleasure and sincere curiosity about people that softens her perspective. With her latest film, OUR EFFED WORLD, Mackay takes inspiration from the alien-invasion genre. As Sheri grapples with the loss of her grandmother, a mysterious entity crashes in the woods. Soon only Sheri and her friends stand between the survival of the world and an alien hunger that will consume us all. Paying homage to films like KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE and the cutesy girl-power vibes of THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, Mackay’s sense of humour is absurd, biting, and fun.
Jim Queen
Thriving, fit, and fabulous. Jim Parfait (voiced by Alex Ramirès, THE VISITOR FROM THE FUTURE, 2022) is the center of the Gay universe in Paris, with adoring fans, lovers, and rivals looking up to him to set trends and vernacular, and establish the ideal male physique. That is, until a new STI hits the clubs and gyms of Paris, infecting only Gay men. Symptoms? Infected men begin to turn heterosexual, losing their muscles, beginning to care about sports, and having a newfound interest in breeding. The STI is known as Heterosis and is the worst thing that could ever happen to Jim. What follows is a raunchy, campy, and unapologetically queer quest to find the cure for this disease. Through infection, Jim Parfait begins to slip from his throne and the insular politics of highly categorized, exclusive Gay communities in Paris is tackled as the real challenge facing LGBTQIA+ liberation.
When You Open the Door
Eriko Katagiri’s WHEN YOU OPEN THE DOOR starts with a dream. A red-headed doll, a steamy glass, and the sounds of summer mix in with a grandfather clock. Miki, a 27-year-old working in an architectural firm, wakes up in her small apartment, pulled out of her sleepy memory. Miki’s world is quiet and strange, but it will soon be interrupted by a transformative experience that will change her forever. Miki’s life, a kind of daze of memory, dream and reality, starts to collapse. As she pieces together what happened to her, she starts to have memories of a wolf bite, but no one believes her. Katagiri’s film tackles feminine isolation and alienation in a unique and powerful way. The film has a languid numbness; a strange rhythm that’s both uncomfortable and infectious. Viewers who allow themselves to be carried into Miki’s mind will soon find themselves pulled into one of the most unique werewolf stories ever put to the big screen.
Insectasy
“I don’t want to make love, I want to be eaten alive.” Sadie’s overwhelmed by the world, her work, her obligations, and her erotic fascination with insects. Angus Silver’s INSECTASY is part homage to the 1970s erotic thrillers, with a touch of creepy-crawly. With an offbeat, dark sense of humour and a violet-casted colour scheme, the film pierces the sterility of contemporary life with the disruptive transgression of eroticism. Featuring dreamy fantasy sequences that interrupt and disrupt Sadie’s life, the film draws us into the sensual and unusual interiority of its characters. The film’s evocative sound design is matched with an incredible score by Tom Cepeda and The Rats that Drink Blood (with additional compositions by Solange Nelles). Its throwback vibes pulse with rhythmic, insect-inspired sounds, and flatter the film’s ASMR, erotic-storytelling voiceover; a fantasy music for a fantasy voice.
Ferine
Excited to explore a new chapter in life, wealthy and influential art collector Irene (Carolyn Bracken, ODDITY, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER) has just adopted a baby through a surrogate arrangement. This exploration will take on unexpectedly darker shapes when a sudden tragedy shatters Irene’s world, grief tearing through her to such paralyzing extremes that primal, violent instincts begin to guide her in ferocious ways. Her path fatefully crosses with Dama (Caroline Goodall, SCHINDLER’S LIST, HOOK), a lavishly wealthy trafficker of exotic predator animals. Dama recognizes that Irene has become a mercurial predator herself. A morbid bond forms between them. Few in the vicinity will be safe.
The festival runs from July 16 to August 2. Find more information about these films and the full lineup from this year’s 30th Fantasia International Film Festival on their website.
Other Articles
No Comment! Be the first one.