The Fantasia International Film Festival announced its first wave of films for its 22nd anniversary. The festival will occur at the Concordia Hall Cinema, Cinémathèque québécoise, and McCord Museum in Montreal from July 12 to August 1. The full schedule of films will be released in early July.
Among the special events is a director spotlight on Shinsuke Sato. This will include the international premiere of Bleach (based on the manga of the same name), Canadian premiere of Inuyashiki, and Quebec premiere of I Am A Hero. Legendary director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) will be awarded the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award, in addition to being present at the screening of Nightmare Cinema, of which he is one of five directors.
Passes will be available for sale on www.fantasiafestival.com after the full lineup has been announced.
Learn more about the films announced below.
[customfont1]Nightmare Cinema (Opening Night)[/customfont1]
USA – Dirs: Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Alejandro Brugues, Ryuhei Kitamura, David Slade
World Premiere of Cinelou Films’ hotly-anticipated anthology Nightmare Cinema, featuring segments by Joe Dante (Gremlins), Mick Garris (The Stand), Alejandro Bruges (Juan of the Dead), Ryûhei Kitamura (Versus), and David Slade (30 Days of Night) with a cast that includes Mickey Rourke, Richard Chamberlain, Adam Godley, Belinda Balasko, Elizabeth Reaser, and Annabeth Gish. All five filmmakers in attendance.
[customfont1]Unfriended: Dark Web (International Premiere, Friday the 13th Screening)[/customfont1]
USA – Dir: Stephen Susco
In 2014, Fantasia World Premiered the cutting-edge independent horror breakout Unfriended under its original title, Cybernatural, to significant acclaim, leading to the film’s acquisition by Blumhouse and Universal. Now, four years later, the festival will showcase the International Premiere of Unfriended: Dark Web, a wholly unique – and deeply unsettling – standalone sequel that launched at SXSW this past March.
[customfont1]The Witch in the Window (World Premiere)[/customfont1]
USA – Dir: Andy Mitton
Stunningly scripted and performed, The Witch in the Window is a gripping paranormal chiller about a divorced father taking his 12-year-old son to rural Vermont to help him with a fixer-upper farmhouse – a farmhouse whose previous owner, however deceased she may be, has never left the premises.
[customfont1]Cam (World Premiere)[/customfont1]
USA – Dir: Danny Goldhaber
Key among this year’s most exciting discoveries is Isa Mazzei and Danny Goldhaber’s CAM, a surrealistic thriller set in the world of webcam erotica in which an ambitious young camgirl (“The Handmaid Tale”’s Madeline Brewer) discovers that she’s inexplicably been replaced on her site with an exact replica of herself – a replica that knows personal things only she could know, and is considerably less guarded about privacy.
[customfont1]Mega Time Squad (World Premiere)[/customfont1]
New Zealand – Dir: Tim van Dammen
Bursting with comic invention and absurdist scenarios, Mega Time Squad is New Zealand writer/director Tim van Dammen’s oddball sophomore feature, a wildly entertaining sci-fi tale about a two-bit criminal stumbling upon an ancient time-travel device.
[customfont1]Last Child (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
South Korea – Dir: Dong-seok Shin
After Sung-cheol and Mi-sook lose their teenage boy, who drowns saving fellow student Ki-hyun, their lives collapse. When Sung-cheol takes Ki-hyun under his wing, things improve rapidly, but truth always rises to the surface, causing the dynamic between the trio of scorched souls to change drastically.
[customfont1]Our House (World Premiere)[/customfont1]
Canada – Dir: Anthony Scott Burns
Fantasia will be channeling the World Premiere of the Canadian paranormal chiller Our House, a tight, engrossing remake of the clever 2010 indie Ghost from the Machine (itself having world premiered at Fantasia under its original title Phasma Ex Machina)
[customfont1]Buffalo Boys (World Premiere)[/customfont1]
Indonesia – Dir: Mike Wiluan
When all seems lost in a small town overrun by colonialist violence, two revenge-seeking brothers arrive, meting out bloody justice that leaps effortlessly between brutal Western gunslinging and stylized Eastern swordplay. Buffalo Boys is a virtual who’s who of Indonesia’s finest action and stunt talent that will knock your skull through the back of the cinema.
[customfont1]Under the Silver Lake[/customfont1]
USA – Dir: David Robert Mitchell
David Robert Mitchell’s much-anticipated follow-up to It Follows! Fresh off the Croisette, Mitchell’s latest is, much like his previous take on horror, a playful exercise in genre-bending; an L.A.-set, sun-soaked noir-comedy.
[customfont1]Luz (North American Premiere)[/customfont1]
Germany – Dir: Tilman Singer
A first feature heralding a bold new talent in genre, Luz recalls the best of ’70s arthouse and Euro-horror (Zulawski, Fulci, and even Fassbinder come to mind), without ever giving way to pastiche or citation. Instead, Luz is a mise-en-scène tour-de-force; an experimental subversion of the familiar possession narrative by way of avant-garde theatre – even shot in scope on gorgeous 16mm!
[customfont1]Madeline’s Madeline (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
USA – Dir: Josephine Decker
An essential film about the search for one’s identity, the problematics of appropriation, cultural or otherwise, and the treacherous process of creating art from lived experience, Decker’s latest is an intensely gripping work, set in and around New York’s experimental theater scene, and unfolds in the mode of an edge-of-your-seat psychodrama. Much like her previous work, Madeline’s Madeline further blurs the boundaries between introspective arthouse and genre mechanics.
[customfont1]Hanagatami (Quebec Premiere)[/customfont1]
Japan – Dir: Nobuhiko Obayashi
Diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer at the time of production (from which the filmmaker has since miraculously recovered), Obayashi has gone back to his first feature script, and directed a new film in the style, and with the vitality, of his beloved 1977 cult film House (Hausu) – in what amounts here to an exaltedly stylized epic; a boldly experimental paean to youth, memory, and the resistance of the human spirit; and a dreamy narrative blending fantasy, horror, and melodrama at the brink of World War II.
[customfont1]Anna and the Apocalypse (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
UK – Dir: John McPhail
A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash, and sing their way to survival, facing hellish snowmen, an undead Santa, and bloodthirsty elves in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. Official Selection: Fantastic Fest 2017. Winner: Midnight X-Treme Best Feature, Sitges 2017.
[customfont1]The Dark (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
Austria / Canada – Dir: Justin P. Lange
An undead teenage girl befriends a blind boy that she meets in a forest she haunts and hunts in. Both have been victims of unimaginable abuse, and each finds solace in the other. There may be a chance of light at the end of their tunnel, but it will come with a body count. Official Selection: Tribeca Film Festival 2018, Fantaspoa 2018.
[customfont1]The Field Guide to Evil (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
Various – Dirs: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala, Peter Strickland, Ashim Ahluwalia, Agnieszka Smoczynska, Katrin Gebbe, Can Evrenol, Calvin Reeder, Yannis Veslemes
They are known as myths, lore, and folktales. Created to give logic to mankind’s darkest fears, these stories laid the foundation for what we now know as the horror genre. This anthology film overflows with striking visions from Austria, Greece, India, Norway, Poland, Turkey, the UK, and the USA, each directed by their country’s leading genre auteurs. Official Selection: SXSW 2018.
[customfont1]Knuckleball (Quebec Premiere)[/customfont1]
Canada – Dir: Michael Peterson
Turbo Kid stars Munro Chambers and Michael Ironside headline this dead serious surprise from the director of Lloyd the Conqueror. Knuckleball reminds you that there’s nothing quite like chilly Canadian landscapes filled with deadly intentions to bring a chill up your spine. Official Selection: Cinequest 2018, Calgary Underground Film Festival 2018.
[customfont1]The Outlaws (Quebec Premiere)[/customfont1]
South Korea – Dir: Kang Yun-sung
Anyone who saw Train to Busan remembers the huge, zombie-punching badass who stole the show – and now, Don Lee is back to kick more ass in this gritty action thriller! When a Korean-Chinese gang war lead by the cruel Jang Chen (POONGSAN’s Yoon Kye-sang) starts tearing his district apart, Detective Ma Seok-do must calm things down and protect his community – by redecorating rooms with gangsters faces! Extremely funny and entertaining, THE OUTLAWS is the ultimate gift for all 1990’s Stallone film fans! Official Selection, Dubai International Film Festival, Macao International Film Festival.
[customfont1]Parallel (North American Premiere)[/customfont1]
Canada/USA – Dir. Isaac Ezban
From BRON Studios division The Realm comes the English language debut of award-winning Mexican science-fiction wunderkind Isaac Ezban (The Incident, The Similars), Parallel is a fantasy work without – well, let’s avoid the obvious title-derived pun! A clever sci-fi film that smashes through the multiverse, starring Aml Ameen, Martin Wallström, Georgia King, Mark O´Brien, and Kathleen Quinlan, featuring stunning visuals from cinematographer Karim Hussain… This year, get ready for a movie that is out of this universe! Official Selection: Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2018.
[customfont1]Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
USA/UK – Dirs: Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund
Thomas Lennon, Udo Kier, Barbara Crampton, Nelson Franklin, and Charlene Yi star in this utterly crazy reimagining of Charles Band classic’s franchise about homicidal puppets created by a Nazi occultist. Filled with crazed gore, The Littlest Reich is scripted with heaps of wit and cruelty by none other than Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 director S. Craig Zahler! Official Selection: Overlook Film Festival 2018, Fantaspoa 2018.
[customfont1]The Ranger (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
USA – Dir: Jenn Wexler
The directorial debut of Most Beautiful Island producer Jenn Weller (and a project born out of Frontiers, Fantasia’s co-production market), The Ranger offers a modern take on survivalist horror that both celebrates and subverts slasher tropes – with equal parts humor, glitter, and gore – and a punk soundtrack to literally die for. Official Selection: SXSW 2018, Chattanooga Film Festival 2018, Fantaspoa 2018.
[customfont1]Rokuroku: The Promise of the Witch (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
Japan – Dir: Yudai Yamaguchi
Those peculiar spirits of Japanese folklore, the yokai, are back on the big screen, but this time, with a creepy horrific twist! Rokuroku is a delightful omnibus of episodic spook-outs from two luminaries of Japanese genre film, Yudai Yamaguchi (Cromartie High) and Keita Amemiya (Zeiram). Official Selection: Busan International Film Festival 2017.
[customfont1]Satan’s Slaves (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
Indonesia / South Korea – Dir. Joko Anwar
A record-breaking box-office hit upon release, Joko Anwar’s affectionate remake of 1980’s Pengabdi Setan is one of horror cinema’s recent triumphs: an atmospheric, expertly-shot roller-coaster ride of a haunted house film, inspired as much by Indonesian folklore as by retro genre classics. Official Selection: Rotterdam Film Festival 2018. Winner: Feature Jury Prize, Overlook Film Festival 2018.
[customfont1]Tigers Are Not Afraid (Quebec Premiere)[/customfont1]
Mexico – Dir: Issa López
A dark fairytale about a gang of children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war, Tigers Are Not Afraid is the winner of 23 awards (and counting!) on the international festival circuit, and ranks among the great genre works of our time. Guillermo del Toro was so enraptured by it that he’s signed up to produce a film with its gifted director. Official Selection: Fantastic Fest 2017, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2018.
[customfont1]Wilderness: Part 1 and Part 2 (Canadian Premiere)[/customfont1]
Japan – Dir: Yoshiyuki Kishi
In a near-future where Japanese society has collapsed and terrorist attacks frequently hit Tokyo, two drastically different men – cocky and aggressive Shinji and stuttering, shy Kenji – will try to find their place in this world through boxing. Widely considered one of the best Japanese films of 2017, Wilderness is a sensitive drama, beautifully depicting male friendship as a visceral sports drama in the tradition of RAGING BULL or Crying Fist. Giving masterful performances, Gintama’s Masaki Suda was named Best Lead Actor at the Japan Academy Prizes and Yang Ik-june, who grabbed two awards at Fantasia 2009 for Breathless, won Best Supporting Actor at the Asian Film Awards. Official Selection, Busan International Film Festival 2017.