Beginning Thursday, fans of horror, fantasy, manga, cinematic oddities and unclassifiable films will gather in downtown Montreal for the 27the Edition of the Fantasia Festival. Where to start Something to see? The newspaper offers you his 10 program favourites.
The red rooms
The Red Rooms Photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
After receiving critical acclaim at its world premiere in the Czech Republic, The Red Rooms finally returns to cinemas. Filmmaker Pascal Plante will also be there on the opening night of the festival to present his latest project, a thriller in which two young women become obsessed with the work of a serial killer in a hypermedia process.
- Thursday, July 20 at the Hall Theater at Concordia University
Richelieu
Richelieu Photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
For his very first feature film, filmmaker Pier-Philippe Chevigny takes us into the world of temporary farm workers. Marc-André Grondin plays the boss of a food processing plant whose over-directions lead to tensions with a young translator in his employ. We’re promised a chilling drama in Richelieu that lifts the veil on the lackluster reality of these foreign workers… In short, a topic at the cutting edge.
- Friday, August 4th at the Cinema du Musée
We are zombies
We Are Zombies photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
After causing a stir there in 2015 with their Turbo Kid, Quebec collective Roadkill Superstars (RKSS) will close the Fantasia Festival with the world premiere of their third feature film: We Are Zombies. This film adaptation of the comic The zombies who ate the world by Jerry Frissen invites moviegoers to immerse themselves in a world where humans try to coexist with a horde of harmless zombies. The result is likely equal parts black humor and hemoglobin.
- Wednesday, August 9 at the Hall Theater of Concordia University
sympathy for the devil
sympathy for the devil. Photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
Nicolas Cage has definitely resigned himself to making a name for himself in genre cinema. Today, the one we saw recently in the hugely successful Renfield, Mandy and À Train d’enfer takes on the role of a mysterious passenger, showing all his colors to the man being forced to transport him against his will becomes. The American actor may have canceled his participation in the festival due to the actors’ strike in Hollywood, but the screening will go ahead.
- Saturday, July 22 at the Hall Theater at Concordia University
talk to me
“Talk to Me,” photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
His screenings at international festivals caused a stir around “Talk to Me”, the first film by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou. Often dubbed the scariest movie of the year, the film follows a group of friends who are able to summon spirits with the help of an embalmed hand. And of course nothing will go as planned. It’s high on our must-have list for its premise and accompanying echoes.
- Sunday, July 23 at the Hall Theater of Concordia University
tiger stripes
Tiger Stripes Photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
We eagerly await the North American premiere of Tiger Stripes, the film that won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu approaches coming of age with a feminist approach… and a healthy dose of body horror. The first images point to a feature film in the same vein as the now classic – even cult films – Grave and Ginger Snaps.
- Monday, July 24 at the Hall Theater at Concordia University
stay online
stay online Photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
Shot in the midst of the Russian invasion, this Ukrainian feature film risks being particularly poignant and relevant. In the spirit of Searching and Missing, which uses computer screens to bury his intrigues, Stay Online lets us follow Katya, a Kiev resident who will do whatever it takes to help a little boy find his missing parents.
- Saturday July 22nd and Monday July 24th at the Salle JA in Sève
eight eyes
Eight Eyes photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
A few days before the world premiere, “Eight Eyes” is still surrounded by a great mystery; A trailer has not yet been released for this film, which has been flanked by epithets such as “shocking”, “morbid” and “visually unimaginable”. “Your eyes could liquefy in their sockets,” even promises the Fantasia website. Will it be as subversive as the very twisted A Serbian Film, a work that rocked the festival in the summer of 2010? The answer in a few days…
- Friday 4th August and Sunday 6th August at the Salle JA De Sève
The Sacrifice Game
The Sacrifice Game photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
Mena Massoud, Gus Kenworthy, Olivia Scott Welch and Madison Baines star in The Sacrifice Game, a horror film shot entirely in Montreal last year. Jenn Wexler’s second feature film takes us back to the early 1970s and features two college students whose Christmas vacation is disrupted by a gang of violent intruders arriving on their deserted campus. We can already feel a divine scent of Black Christmas (the original, of course) embalming this projection.
- Friday, July 28 at the Hall Theater of Concordia University
Suitable meat
Eligible Flesh photo courtesy of Fantasia Festival
Horror legend Barbara Crampton (“At the Gates of the Beyond,” “Re-Animator”) stars in this feature film about a psychiatrist who becomes obsessed with one of her young patients. Featuring a team assembled to pay homage to the late Stuart Gordon, “Suitable Flesh” uses the codes of film noir and thriller to tell its storyline full of black humor and peppered with a healthy dose of hemoglobin. That promises!
- Saturday, August 5 at the Hall Theater of Concordia University
The Fantasia Festival runs until August 9th. For the full schedule: fantasiafestival.com