Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 Curtain Raiser
16th July 2024 // Matt Hudson
Having previously covered Fantasia International Film Festival in 2020 and 2023, I can confidently say I love the festival and its eclectic array of offerings. It’s like a cinematic smorgasbord, but with less cheese and more of the meaty stuff. Of course, with such a wide selection, not everything will hit the mark, but Fantasia has consistently nudged me into viewing as many of their choices as possible - and I have no doubt 2024’s version will be no different.
The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its 28th edition between 18th July 2024 to 4th August 202. Located in the heart of beautiful Montreal, Fantasia is a cultural and professional destination point, and since its first edition, the festival’s ever-growing popularity has attracted the attention of the international film industry alongside a legion of attendees from across the world. Every facet of the filmmaking chain is increasingly represented with in-person delegates at the festival: directors, actors, producers, studio representatives, distributors and festival programmers, who get to experience the legendarily enthusiastic, taste-making audience of Fantasia.
Aside from the vast selection of features, shorts, and documentary films, this year’s festival includes intriguing events including:
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Her Horror Legacy: A discussion on women directing horror movies (Moderator: Heidi Honeycutt)
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Drawing Monsters: A ghoulish chat with artist Gary Pullin (Moderator: Justin Langlois)
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FANGORIA presents The COLORS OF THE DARK Podcast live (Hosts: Dr. Rebekah McKendry and Elric Kane // Guest: Chuck Russell)
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Korean Culture Boxes Exhibition
Alongside those, Mike Flanagan will also receive the Cheval Noir career award ahead of his special artist talk on July 21st. Other guests for the event include Elijah Wood, Jamie Campbell-Bower, Chris Jericho, Brittany O’Grady, and Chris Stuckmann whose debut feature Shelby Oaks receives its world premiere at the festival.
The full lineup of special events can be found at https://fantasiafestival.com/en/festival-2024/special-events
Ahead of the start of Fantasia 2024, I have selected a handful of films that caught my eye from the lineup and ones that I am putting forward as my ones to watch. These are selections that I hope to cover, and I hope they blow me away…
WITCHBOARD
Directed by Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Mask, Eraser)
A robbery at the New Orleans Museum of Natural History goes awry, and the object of the theft—a circular “pendulum board” that predates the Ouija by centuries—is discovered by Emily (Madison Iseman, Annabelle Comes Home). She and her fiancé Christian (Aaron Dominguez, Only Murders in the Building) are getting ready to open a restaurant, and at first, Emily thinks the board is simply a mysterious and possibly valuable antique. Then it helps her find a missing engagement ring, and Emily becomes fascinated by the board’s spiritual powers. As she falls under the board’s sway, Christian calls on occult expert Alexander Baptiste (Jamie Campbell Bower, Stranger Things)—who has his own connection to the board’s history and his own dark secrets.
DEAD DEAD FULL DEAD
Directed by Pratul Gaikwad (Feature debut)
Equally inept and scatterbrained, junior police officers Balraam (Yug Italiya) and Zubeida (Monica Chaudhary, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar) make a cute couple, but not the most diligent detectives. Called to a posh apartment tower to investigate a reported murder, the seemingly straightforward case confronting the pair quickly becomes a conundrum that would confuse even Sherlock Holmes. The victim is kitschy astrology influencer Era (Swastika Mukherjee, Dil Bechara), and the prime suspect is her businessman husband Rahul (Ashwin Mushran, Lage Raho Munna Bhai). But suspicion also falls on the bourgeois couple’s nosy neighbour, Mrs. Basanti (Flora Jacob, Jawan), and their sinister household servant, Chhotu (Sachin Vidrohi, Flames). When Era herself returns from the afterlife and starts meddling, matters become even more muddled, and soon enough the question isn’t who killed her... but who didn’t?!
THE SOUL EATER
Directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside, The Deep House, Among the Living)
A pair of quite different investigators arrive in Roquenoir, a town in the French mountains, and wind up approaching the same case from two different directions. Commander Elisabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen, 8 Femmes) has been sent to look into a married couple’s grisly murder, and Captain of the Gendarmerie Franck De Rolan (Paul Hamy, Despite the Night), from the “department of alarming disappearances,” intends to track down a group of missing children. Their missions turn out to be linked, and one of the elements tying them together is “The Soul Eater,” a local bogeyman legend intended to encourage kids not to wander off into the woods. This creature may not be a myth after all, and as strange details about that double killing come to light and more bizarre deaths occur, Guardiano and De Rolan are drawn toward discovering a shocking truth.
CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS
Directed by Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers, Satranic Panic)
With Carnage for Christmas, Mackay trades in purple goop and alien parasites for mistletoe and Santa Claus, in this naughty holiday adventure. When true-crime podcaster and sleuth Lola (Jeremy Moineau) visits her hometown at Christmas for the first time since running away and transitioning, the vengeful ghost of a historical murderer and urban legend seemingly arises to kill again. Lola must solve the case before her community is slaughtered. She’s up against not only a psychotic killer but a town haunted by secrets.
4PM
Directed by Jay Song (The Nightmare, A Friend in Need)
Jung-in (Oh Dal-soo, Oldboy) has been working as a professor his whole life, but he decides to take a break from his job and move into the countryside with his wife Hyun-sook (Jang Young-nam, Project Wolf Hunting). They notice another house in their area, so they leave a note inviting the resident for a visit to their humble abode. As they’re settling into their new home, a man named Yook-nam (Kim Hong-pa, Go Stop Murder) pays them a visit on the first day. However, they notice he starts stopping by their home every day at 4 pm sharp in front of their door. When it’s 6 pm, that’s when he decides to leave. Each visit entails two hours of agonizing, awkward and/or unsettling moments, which drives the couple absolutely crazy. They try to get rid of him, as he becomes more and more unbearable to be around. What started out as a peaceful gathering has become a nightmare for the couple.
CUCKOO
Directed by Tilman Singer (Luz)
The last thing teenager Gretchen (Hunter Schafer, Euphoria) wants is to be taken from her divorced mother’s home in the States and dragged halfway around the world by her father and his new wife. Yet she winds up with Luis (Marton Csokas, The Equalizer), Beth (Jessica Henwick, The Matrix Resurrections) and Beth’s mute preteen daughter Alma (Mila Lieu, Dodger) in the Bavarian Alps, where her dad and stepmom are redesigning a local resort. They’re working for Herr König (Dan Stevens, Abigail), an odd bird who initially comes across as friendly, and gives Gretchen a desk job at his hotel. From her first night on the job, however, unsettling things begin to happen to and around her, particularly random attacks by a freakish, screaming woman—yet Gretchen has no idea just how bizarre and dangerous things are going to get.
BOOKWORM
Directed by Ant Timpson (Come to Daddy)
Eleven-year-old Mildred (Nell Fisher, Evil Dead Rise) is a super-precocious bookworm, wise beyond her years, with no patience for slackers or the generally uninformed. Despite living in stunning New Zealand, she’s being driven mad by a mundane existence, taking refuge in cherished novels where adventures live without limit. A sudden family crisis rattles Mildred’s world, causing her absentee father, Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood, The Lord of the Rings), a washed-up American illusionist, to fly into New Zealand in an attempt to be… helpful? Or even the slightest bit present. You see, Strawn has been an absentee father in the most absolute sense, in that he and Mildred have never once met. Now, he’s there, much to his daughter’s unimpressed annoyance. As a bid at bonding, Strawn agrees to take Mildred out into the New Zealand wilderness for a camping adventure in search of a mythological beast that’s long held her fascination: The Canterbury Panther. A string of increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures unfold. Bonding isn’t always easy!
Additionally, Damian McCarthy's ODDITY will be shown during the festival (August 4th), and I highly recommend it. It comfortably sits in my top five films of the year (as of writing) and was a film I could not stop thinking about for days afterwards. Elric Kane's THE DEAD THING and Isaac Ezban's PÁRVULOS also receive honorary mentions as selections that could be (and sound) very, very good.
Time will tell how these films are received, and there are many more that I could have included on my list. But these are the choices that piqued my interest most and I can not wait for the festival to begin to check them out.
For full information on Fantasia, head to https://fantasiafestival.com/en/
FANTASIA’S MISSION
Since its beginnings, the Fantasia International Film Festival has explored the diverse realms of genre cinema, creating bridges between the cutting edge and the mainstream, and providing a festive but professional environment where emerging artists are given exposure alongside their more established counterparts, both locally and internationally. We showcase the best in Canadian and world cinema, discovering and nurturing exciting new talents and offering a platform through which artists and audiences can connect.
FANTASIA’S VISION
Fantasia’s definition of genre cinema is broad and continually evolving; aligned with the European tradition of ‘genre’ as a challenging and elegant stream of cinema, the festival juxtaposes pop culture with alternative culture, and its distinct programming has enabled Montreal to radiate in the international film community. Renowned worldwide for the boundless energy of its creative team, the festival keeps audiences coming to the theatrical environment, enabling independent artists and distributors to have their work shown in a professional and enthusiastic milieu. While already widely considered to be one of the largest and most influential fantastic film festivals in the world, Fantasia looks forward to expanding on its achievements with more visiting filmmakers, industry attendees, global media impact, original critical writing through a monthly web magazine, and the introduction of a film market that will enable independent media artists to exchange ideas and to connect with patrons and audiences alike.