By Eric Ortiz (@EricOrtizG)
The 28th edition of the Montreal-based Fantasia International Film Festival is around the corner, as it kicks off next Thursday, July 18. Fantasia is certainly a massive festival, this year lasting until August 4. For this curtain-raiser, I delved into its overwhelming and very diverse program and picked the 10 features that attracted me the most. I omitted the movies that I’ve already covered at other festivals, in particular RKSS’s terrific Wake Up (2023), the Hong Kong actioner Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024), and Carlota Pereda’s fantasy horror The Chapel (La ermita, 2023).
4PM (2024)
Given that South Koreans truly know how to craft a good thriller, on paper Jay Song’s 4PM stands out in a program chock-full of Korean genre movies. 4PM follows a couple in their new countryside home, where each day at 4 p.m. a neighbor pays them a two-hour visit, a situation that’s sure to get creepier.
Bookworm (2024)
Fantasia 2024’s opening film is Bookworm, Ant Timpson’s second directorial effort. Like Come to Daddy (2019), Bookworm also stars Elijah Wood. It promises to be an entertaining adventure about a father-daughter relationship and a mythological panther.
Brush of the God (Kaminofude, 2024)
Keizo Murase is a 88-year-old veteran who has worked for kaiju films as a suits maker and creature sculptor, since the late 1950s. His credits include Godzilla and Gamera flicks. Now, Brush of the God is Murase’s directorial debut, which certainly evokes classic kaiju cinema.
Devil Times Five (1974)
Like all great festivals, Fantasia isn’t just about new stuff but also about rediscovering older genre pictures. Devil Times Five was once Quentin Tarantino’s recommendation for Halloween and it’s part of the creepy/killer kids horror subgenre. Fantasia will debut the new 4K restoration by Vinegar Syndrome.
Ghost Cat Anzu (Bakeneko Anzu-chan, 2024)
This anime movie, directed by Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, had its world premiere at Cannes’ Quinzaine des Cinéastes and since then it has been compared to Hayao Miyazaki’s work. It’s a coming-of-age story that follows the peculiar relationship between a girl and a ghost cat.
Hollywood 90028 (1973)
Another pick from the Fantasia Retro section, this one an obscure American film from the 1970s, directed by Christina Hornisher and recently restored in 4K by Grindhouse Releasing. It deals with a serial killer and the pornography industry. According to the Fantasia blurb, Hollywood 90028 has Ti West and Arkasha Stevenson’s seal of approval.
Rita (2024)
I really dug how Jayro Bustamente blended a folk tale with the real-life genocide of indigenous people in Guatemala, in La Llorona (2019). The fantasy-drama Rita is his first feature since then. It follows a 13-year-old girl (played by Giuliana Santa Cruz) and it’s based on another factual tragedy: the Guatemalan orphanage fire that killed 41 girls in 2017.
The Avenging Eagle (Leng xue shi san ying, 1978)
More from the Fantasia Retro section! The Avenging Eagle is a Shaw Brothers martial arts classic, directed by Sun Chung, whom Tarantino called the “Kubrick of Shaw Brothers” and one of the greatest filmmakers of the “old school Kung Fu film era.” Fantasia is premiering the “new restoration of the fully uncut film,” which will be featured in Arrow Video’s upcoming Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray set (to be released on November 25).
The Beast Within (2024)
A new addition to the werewolf subgenre, starring Kit (Jon Snow) Harington. The trailer shows Harington as a family man who deals with the werewolf curse, while his infant daughter (Caoilinn Springall) becomes more and more aware of this scary reality.
The Soul Eater (Le mangeur d’âmes, 2024)
This one intrigued me since it premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Not just because it’s directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside), but also because it was referred by a critic I respect, Leonardo Goi, as a horror movie “where the monster isn’t a metaphor and genre thrills aren’t sacrificed to peddle some profound message.” Bring it on!