The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024), which our own Eric Ortiz called “one of the year’s best genre movies” after its Cannes premiere, has a brand new trailer. Starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, The Substance is about an aging Hollywood actress who decides to use the titular substance to be young again through another body. This sci-fi horror film will screen at FrightFest and TIFF, before heading to theaters on September 19 (in Mexico) and September 20 (in the U.S. and Canada). It’ll eventually be available to stream on Mubi.
Frankie Freako (2024) got a trailer ahead of its U.S. theatrical release (scheduled for October 4, via Shout! Studios). Directed by Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman, Leprechaun Returns), Frankie Freako looks like a fun old-school horror comedy about a yuppie (Conor Sweeney) with a perfect life who, wanting to party, gets involved with a bunch of gremlins from another dimension.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Azrael (2024) promises to be a survival movie in which a young woman (Samara Weaving) faces a cult and a demon. Azrael was directed by E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) and written by Simon Barrett (You’re Next, The Guest). Presented by IFC Films and Shudder, it’ll arrive in U.S. theaters on September 27. You can watch here its official trailer.
In addition to Max and Sam Eggers’ The Front Room (2024) and Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man (2024), another upcoming A24 genre movie is Y2K (2024). Its first trailer was released yesterday and judging from it, the Jonah Hill-produced Y2K will be a horror comedy, something like Superbad (2007) meets This Is the End (2013). It follows a couple of teens (Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison) during a party, where one of them is trying to make out with the girl he likes (Rachel Zegler). However, the setting is New Year’s Eve, 1999 and in no time all of them will face the “computer apocalypse.” Y2K lands in U.S. cinemas on December 6.
Andalusian director F. Javier Gutiérrez announced that his latest film, the rural thriller/folk horror tale The Wait (La espera, 2023), will stream on the French horror platform Shadowz from August 30.
The official synopsis of The Wait says that it’s about “Eladio, who has been hired to watch over the hunting grounds of Don Francisco’s estate, somewhere in rural Spain. After three years of service, Don Carlos – Don Francisco’s second in command – offers him a bribe to add an additional three stands to the property. Eladio initially hesitates, but his wife eventually convinces him to take the money. Eladio’s greed has unfortunate consequences that drag his entire family to perdition.”
Festivals
The Austin-based Fantastic Fest announced the full lineup for its upcoming 2024 edition (September 19-26). It’s a packed program that includes high-profile genre movies like Damien Leone’s slasher Terrifier 3 (2024), Natalie Erika James’ Apartment 7A (2024) – which is a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby (1968) –, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s thriller Cloud (2024), Nacho Vigalondo’s sci-fi romance Daniela Forever (2024), Alexandre Aja’s survival thriller Never Let Go (2024), and the horror anthology V/H/S/Beyond (2024).
Alexandre O. Philippe’s Chain Reactions (2024) and Jon Spira’s The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee (2024) are among the selected documentaries. Sean Baker’s Palm d’Or winning film Anora (2024), though not really a genre piece, will also screen at Fantastic Fest. You can check out the full festival lineup here.
Variety published an article about the success of the latest Locarno Pro, the industry platform at the Locarno Film Festival. The good news for the genre cinema world is that several of the deals that were closed at the 2024 Locarno Pro involved movies with genre elements, including: the Irish folk horror film Fréwaka (2024), the sci-fi flick Electric Child (2024), and the crime comedy Sew Torn (2024).
In addition, the 2024 Open Doors Projects Hub selection featured genre projects like the vampire story Caribbean Fever (Fiebre Caribe), the sci-fi effort UFOs in the Tropic (Ovnis el en Trópico), the horror tale The Periphery, and The Return of the Last Mochica Warrior (Huaco retrato) – which blends “video games with film” –.
Home video
Guillermo del Toro’s Cold War era fantasy The Shape of Water (2017) – which won the Oscar for Best Picture – is now joining the prestigious Criterion Collection. Del Toro’s riff on Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) will be released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on November 26. Criterion’s two-disc edition includes a new talk between del Toro and David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Greek Knight) and a making-of documentary, among other extras. Del Toro’s Cronos (1992), The Devil’s Backbone (El espinazo del diablo, 2001), Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno, 2006) and Pinocchio (2022) are also part of the Criterion Collection.