How would you survive in the harshest climates? The film “Polaris” places its protagonist, a girl named Sumi, into a frozen nightmare. This extreme landscape sets the stage for her rush to freedom and eventual push towards the title’s namesake star, her journey ultimately exposing the young traveler to the benefits of friendship when facing insurmountable odds. A pan-Canadian co-production between the Yukon, Quebec, and Ontario, the project shines a light on the talents of a multi-hyphenate intent on challenging tropes.

Continue reading ‘Polaris’ Trailer: Kirsten Carthew’s Apocalyptic Frozen Wasteland Film Premieres At Fantasia Festival at The Playlist.

“Bull,” the newest effort from director Paul Andrew Williams (“Song For Marion”), fits into the niche category of revenge thriller far better than many other similar offerings. These films aren’t always the most rewatchable, as the heavy subject matter usually leans heavily into some intensely dark territory, with a recurring premise usually surrounding someone emerging from a horrific personal tragedy with a bloodthirsty vendetta against those who’ve done them wrong.

Continue reading ‘Bull’: Paul Andrew Williams’ Revenge Film Packs A Brutalizing Punch [Fantasia Review] at The Playlist.

Hitting theaters next week, David Bruckner’s “The Night House” is a psychological horror with all the dials cranked up to 11, an unsettling exploration of grief and mortality that matches the intensity of that subject matter with brutal jump-scares, nerve-rattling sound design, and enough menacing ambience to keep your stomach in knots.

READ MORE: ‘The Night House’: Rebecca Hall Battles Her Demons, Metaphorical & Otherwise [Sundance Review]

At its center is Beth (Rebecca Hall), a grieving widow who lives alone in the spacious lakeside home her husband had built before his death.

Continue reading David Bruckner On ‘The Night House,’ Being Scared of Rebecca Hall, Rebooting ‘Hellraiser’ & More [Interview] at The Playlist.

Normally, when a panel or discussion is pulled from a festival schedule, it’s due to the project not being completed or maybe some sort of filmmaker squabble with officials from the event. But I would go out on a limb and say the situation that forced Fantasia Fest to pull Neil Marshall’s upcoming Q&A from the event is a first for any festival.

READ MORE: John Carpenter Masterclass Leads Fantasia Fest Third Wave Announcements

According to Deadline, both Marshall and officials at Fantasia have “mutually agreed” to pull a Q&A for “The Reckoning” from the upcoming Canadian film event.

Continue reading Neil Marshall Q&A Pulled From Fantasia Fest After Extortion Allegations Surface at The Playlist.

Fantasia Fest, much like the majority of film festivals in 2020, has been hit pretty hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, instead of canceling or moving forward with a potential in-person festival, Fantasia has decided to go digital this year and has finished announcing its complete lineup.

READ MORE: Fantasia Fest 2020: First Wave Lineup Includes Neil Marshall’s ‘The Reckoning’ & More

And while the previous announcements were headlined by feature films that are premiering (makes sense for a film festival, huh?), the Third Wave announcement is headlined by a special presentation featuring none other than legendary filmmaker, John Carpenter.

Continue reading John Carpenter Masterclass Leads Fantasia Fest Third Wave Announcements at The Playlist.

2020 has been a year of forced evolution for the film industry, thanks in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Theaters have shut down. Films have halted production. And film festivals have been canceled or gone digital. For Fantasia International Film Festival, the upcoming film event focused on international and genre pictures, the choice faced was to either evolve or cancel. And that has led to Fantasia greatly altering its presentation of this year’s selections but still allowing for the event to feature some of the best films from around the world that would have otherwise struggled to receive recognition this year.

Continue reading Fantasia Fest’s Second Wave Lineup Includes Features From Bryan Bertino, Tsutomu Hanabusa & More at The Playlist.

Fantasia International Film Festival finds itself in the unlucky position of being at the end of the summer, when it’s unclear if theaters will be open and big festivals will be able to continue. So, in April, the organization announced that the festival will be a virtual event, following in the footsteps of other film events. And now, we know the first wave of films that will make up this year’s virtual Fantasia Fest.

Continue reading Fantasia Fest 2020: First Wave Lineup Includes Neil Marshall’s ‘The Reckoning’ & More at The Playlist.

Somewhere between “The Most Dangerous Game” and all those artfully designed board games littering Kickstarter lies “Ready or Not.” It’s hard to believe that this is the inaugural Fantasia Film Festival for directorial team Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, collectively credited as Radio Silence. The filmmaking duo previously cut their teeth with segments in “V/H/S” and “Southbound,” as well as making their feature-length debut with “The Devil’s Due.” Making its World Premiere at the Montreal genre festival, “Ready or Not”—with its acidic humor and copious gore—is a tailor-made fit for Fantasia’s famously rowdy audience.

Continue reading ‘Ready Or Not’: Horror Comedy Bloodbath Is An Entertaining If Unambitious Deadly Game Of Hide & Seek [Fantasia Review] at The Playlist.

Daniel Goldhaber‘s “Cam” feels like a great, un-aired episode of Netflix’s acclaimed anthology series “Black Mirror.” Goldhaber’s film is a mysterious dive into the unknown, a dreamy and surreal take on social networking that will make you think twice about not just webcamming, but what someone’s self-worth, and their own identity, might really mean online.

Set against the backdrop of online sex work, “Cam” grips you and doesn’t let go from its very opening scene, as you are thrust into the world of young women who host sexually-explicit shows online.

Continue reading ‘Cam’ Is A Beautifully Twisted Peek Inside The World Of Online Sex Work [Fantasia Review] at The Playlist.

Looking at Dario Argento’s efforts of the past ten years — “The Mother of Tears,” “Giallo” and “Dracula 3D,” each more execrable than the last — one might be led to believe the Italian maestro is doing his utmost to destroy his legacy. And yet, none of these bargain-basement genre flicks are able to tarnish the legacy of his greatest thrillers, their flamboyant style and uncompromising violence no less startling than it was in the ’70s and ‘80s.

Continue reading Restored ‘Suspiria’ Is A Can’t Miss Event & Brand New Experience For Fans [Fantasia Review] at The Playlist.

When Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival was inaugurated in 1996, it was known affectionately as FantAsia, dedicating itself to bringing exposure to the cinemas of China, Japan, South Korea and other countries in the region. The fest still lives up to this initial mandate, but has also expanded its scope to include all kinds of weird and wonderful genres, as well as making room for some higher-profile North American and Canadian premieres.

Continue reading Animated ‘Have A Nice Day’ Is A Cynical, Coens-Esque Crime Saga [Fantasia Review] at The Playlist.

It’s already been a stellar year for queer cinema with “Call Me By Your Name” and “God’s Own Country” making big waves at Sundance and “120 BPM” earning raves at Cannes. Less visible — but taking on no less important of a subject — is Dome Karukoski’s prestige biopic “Tom of Finland,” receiving its Canadian Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival.

Continue reading ‘Tom Of Finland’ Is A Passable, LGBT Prestige Biopic [Fantasia Review] at The Playlist.

Simply put, it’s not an edition of the Fantasia Film Festival without a Takashi Miike flick (or two, or three). One of the sprawling Canadian genre fest’s claims to fame is introducing the director to North American audiences in the 1990s, and Fantasia has since remained loyal to the Japanese maverick, even when the films have questionable commercial appeal to mainstream Western audiences, as is the case with manga adaptation “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I.” Regardless, the film — receiving an opening night berth for its North American Premiere here in Montreal — is candy-colored catnip to the insatiable Fantasia crowd.

Continue reading ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’ Is Candy-Colored Catnip For Takashi Miike Fans [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — John Link (Mel Gibson) might not have much of a life, but it’s the one he’s got. Well past the point where he could charitably be called middle-aged, he’s a divorced ex-con on parole, trying to stay sober, and running a tattoo business out of his trailer located in a small community of life’s outcasts, living in the middle of nowhere in a desert of California. John is trying to stay away from anything resembling trouble as much as he can with the help of his best friend and sponsor Kirby (William H.

Continue reading Mel Gibson Is Enjoyably Growly In The No Frills, B-Movie ‘Blood Father’ [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — “Boy, you guys are in for a disappointment” Kevin Smith quipped, introducing the Canadian Premiere of “Yoga Hosers” at the Fantasia Film Festival this past weekend. Greeted by an extended standing ovation, Smith wiped away tears and was genuinely touched by the reception, mentioning that it rivaled a similar high point in his life when he received a standing ovation at Cannes.

At Sundance this past January, “Yoga Hosers,” a goofy, silly romp about two millennial Canadian teenage girls that face off against evil Bratzis, one-foot-tall Canadian Nazis made out of bratwurst, was met with frosty shrugs, many calling the film a new career-low for Smith.

Continue reading Kevin Smith Brings His “Kids Movie” ‘Yoga Hosers’ To The Fantasia Film Festival at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — Conspiracy theories give order to a chaotic world, and provide reason to events that can often seem incomprehensible. But viewed from a distance, and removed from any political and cultural baggage, they are also just ripping good yarns. And it’s from that remove that writer/director Matt Johnson was inspired to make “Operation Avalanche,” which takes on the fables spun around the Apollo 11 mission, but as he made clear in the Q&A following the film’s Quebec Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, he doesn’t believe for one second the moon landing was faked.

Continue reading ‘Operation Avalanche’ Is Ripping Good Conspiracy Theory Yarn [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho has built his reputation with mature animated films marked by unconventional subject matter, including the Cannes-selected “The King Of Pigs” and “The Fake.” Yeon’s latest animated project “Seoul Station,” making its Canadian Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, tackles arguably more familiar subject matter — a zombie outbreak — even if its path to cinema screens is more unusual.

Continue reading Animated ‘Train To Busan’ Prequel ‘Seoul Station’ Is A Worthy Entry Into The Zombie Canon [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — Michael (Peter Vack) might be the most handsome ghost you’ll see in the movies this year. When he first meets Ruth (Lindsay Burdge) in the guest house of a large Hamptons home, he’s covered head to toe in burlap, and warns her he looks ghoulish underneath, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. However, Michael isn’t there to haunt Ruth — he wants a companion.

Continue reading ‘Lace Crater’ Is A Surprising & Clever Spectrally Transmitted Disease Horror Comedy [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — To make a post-apocalyptic film that deeply resonates, you must truly have a vision that is not only interesting, but is authentic enough to give the audience the nagging feel that the premise could feasibly happen in our society one day. It worked wonders in Alfonso Cuarón‘s now-classic “Children Of Men,” but it faltered in Fernando Meirelles‘ misbegotten “Blindness.”

READ MORE: Mateo Gil’s Sci-Fi ‘Realive’ Can’t Rise Above Genre Tropes To Engage With Bigger Ideas [Review]

In writer-director Claire Carré‘s “Embers,” making its Canadian premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, a global neurological disorder has erased most of the population’s memory.

Continue reading Post-Apocalyptic ‘Embers’ Doesn’t Quite Catch Fire [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — Jackie Chan has had Chris Tucker and Owen Wilson assist him in past buddy-cop comedies. Movies like “Rush Hour” and “Shanghai Noon” were fun to watch, but they always had to rely on the chemistry that Chan would have with his co-star. The screenplays always played to the genre’s conventions, but never had enough material that one might call “original” in them.

Continue reading Even Jackie Chan’s Energy Can’t Save Renny Harlin’s ‘Skiptrace’ With Johnny Knoxville [Review] at The Playlist.

If Troy Duffy were to make a Southern gothic crime drama influenced by Quentin Tarantino and David Gordon Green, the results would veer close to “Let Me Make You A Martyr.” The film, making its World Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, is the sometimes ambitious, if mostly aimless, directorial debut of Corey Asraf and John Swab, and despite the stunning earthy cinematography by Jeff Melanson and a talented cast, most notably the always great Mark Boone Junior and a surprising turn from none other than Marilyn Manson, it’s a restless, flashy and ultimately unpleasant bore, one that spends more time finding its voice than telling a coherent, engaging story.

Continue reading ‘Let Me Make You A Martyr’ Shows Flashes Of Promise In An Otherwise Aimless Thriller [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — The Fantasia Film Festival fulfills many purposes over its three-week span. The event provides international and Canadian debuts for many genre hits from festivals like Sundance and SXSW, as well as serving as a showcase for the best of recent cult cinema from Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, among others. Despite competition from TIFF’s Midnight Madness programming and Fantastic Fest in the fall, Fantasia also secures a handful of key World Premieres, perhaps the most notable recent success being “Unfriended” in 2014 (originally titled “Cybernatural” before its acquisition by Universal).

Continue reading Mateo Gil’s Sci-Fi ‘Realive’ Can’t Rise Above Genre Tropes To Engage With Bigger Ideas [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — We are introduced to Lily Mae Harrington’s overweight and therefore unpopular Jill in Biology class after she and Thomas Mann’s Matt — similarly ridiculed for his eyepatch — are paired up for a dissection by elimination, the two undesirables in the class left without lab partners. She attempts to tell a joke and he reacts, puzzled. She tries again, and gets a similar reaction.

Such is a recurring theme in Ian MacAllister McDonald’s directorial debut “Some Freaks,” making its World Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, which follows a trio of titular misfits and best friends (the third is Ely Henry’s gay Elmo Moss), first in high school as they navigate uncharted waters, wearing their quirks on their sleeves, then in college, as they overcome the things that make them different.

Continue reading A Trio Of Outsiders Step Into A Cycle Of Prejudice In ‘Some Freaks’ [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — In what will undoubtedly be called “Snowpiercer”-with-zombies in countless reviews (well, including this one), director Sang-ho Yeon’s “Train To Busan,” making its North American premiere at Fantasia Film Festival, has a hook that sells the sizzle in a few short words: On a train hurtling across South Korea, passengers must fight to survive against horde of zombies. What that description won’t tell you is that Yeon, making his live-action debut, has neither the thematic depth or visceral chops of Bong Joon-ho and his post-apocalyptic picture.

Continue reading Korean Zombie Thriller ‘Train To Busan’ Needs More Brains [Review] at The Playlist.

MONTREAL — The first thing that you notice about Anna Biller’s “The Love Witch,” making its Canadian Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, is how strikingly beautiful of a movie it is. Shot on 35mm, its look is inspired by 1960s sexploitation and Technicolor melodramas. It is sumptuous in its eye-popping photography filled with relentless color and incredibly impressive and precise costume design.

Its plot of a modern-day witch named Elaine (Samantha Robinson) that relentlessly, but good-hardheartedly, concocts magical spells to get men to fall in love with her, can seem like a throwaway compared to the actual, eye-candy imagery Biller has created.

Continue reading Technicolor Wonder ‘The Love Witch’ May Just Be A New Cult Classic [Review] at The Playlist.