Tripping the fright fantastic: Fantasia Fest 2018’s must-see films
From July 12th to August 1st the Fantasia Film Festival which will be returning to Montreal, Canada for another showcase of outstanding genre films. The beloved festival Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) once described as ‘the most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent,” has built up a stellar reputation since its inception in 1996 and is now recognized as the largest and most influential event of its kind in North America.
For 2018, the festival will be awarding Joe Dante this years Lifetime Achievement award for his contribution to the genre which has included films like Piranha, The Howling, Innerspace, and The ‘Burbs. However, the festival is also a stellar slate of movies you’re not going to want to miss out on. Here’s ten must-see movies at Fantasia Fest 2018.
Under the Silver Lake
David Robert Mitchell's film focuses on a man (Andrew Garfield) who becomes obsessed with the murder of a billionaire mogul and the disappearance of a girl who he met the night before. Mitchell’s long anticipated follow up to 2014’s It Follows promises to be one not to miss!
Dans La Brume
Daniel Roby’s (White Skin), Dans La Brume ,a large-scale co-production between France and Canada, is Friday nights opening film. The movie stars Romain Duris (Heartbreaker), Olga Kurylenko (Oblivion) and Fantine Harduin (Happy End) as Paris is hit by an earthquake and is then filled with a mysterious toxic gas that seems to come from below ground. A family attempts to survive the massive catastrophe, but first they will have to face the fog.
Tales from the Hood 2
Twenty-three years after Rusty Cundieff’s (Whitewater) groundbreaking/fun horror anthology film Tales from the Hood came out, Cundieff is back (along with Darin Scott) with a sequel produced by Spike Lee. If you haven’t seen the first film, then we can only implore you to do so right away!
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then Bigfoot
Robert Z. Krzykowski’s brillianty titled film gets it world premiere at this years festival. The film stars the legendary Sam Elliot (The Big Lebowski) as an equally legendary American war veteran who is recruited to hunt a mythical creature – after he’s claimed to have killed Hitler. If that isn’t enough to get you interested then you’re probably dead inside.
Playing Hard
Shot over three years, Jean-Simon Chartier’s Playing Hard gives us a sprawling behind-the-scenes window into the high drama, tension, and compromises behind the creation of a blockbuster Ubisoft video game, and the grueling personal tolls the process can take on its creators, both in terms of fractured relationships and mental anguish. It promises to be an engrossing documentary that was a real stand out at the recent Hot Docs festival in Toronto.
Among the Living
Brazilian writer/director, Dennison Ramalho (Ninjas), has made a name for himself over the last 15 years producing some great short films that have been screened at the festival and this year Fantasia will proudly be bringing Brazil’s master of the macabre back to Montreal for the World Premiere of his long-awaited feature debut. Among the Living promises to be a film brimming with grotesque imagination in which a morgue attendant working the night shift in a very large, violent city possesses an occult ability to communicate with cadavers.
Unfriended: Dark Web
Stephen Suscos’s sequel to the 2014 social media based horror flick looks like an edge of your seat, found footage horror movie which, after screening at SXSW earlier in the year then went on to be screened at the Overlook Film Festival where it had a completely different ending. So, who knows maybe there’ll be another completely different ending at this screening too?
The Witch in the Window
Arija Bareikis (The Purge) and Greg Naughton (The Independents) star in Andy Mitton’s (We Go On) much anticipated film about a man who brings his twelve year-old son to rural Vermont to help flip an old farmhouse. But then they encounter the malicious spirit of Lydia, a previous owner who gets stronger with every repair they make. Sounds like the perfect excuse to sit on your ass and do nothing, boys! But sure, keep busting your ass and pissing that ghost off.
Mega Time Squad
Tim Van Dammen's (Deathgasm) feature film sees a small-town hood find an ancient Chinese time-travel device that can help him pull off a heist and start a new life - but can he survive the consequences of tampering with time? With a name like Mega Time Squad, it’s got to be worth finding out!
Boiled Angels: The Trial of Mike Diana
The unbelievable true story of the only U.S. artist convicted of obscenity is explored in the chilling and captivating documentary. Directed by the legendary Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case) and narrated by Dead Kennedys’s Jello Biafra, neither of whom are strangers to censorship struggles themselves, this obsessively well-researched doc features Neil Gaiman, Stephen Bissette and Diana himself. This truly thoughtful account won an Audience Award at NYC’s What The Fest!? and will be surely top of a lot of Fantasia Fest attendees must-see list.
