Every summer, the Fantasia International Film Festival, held in Montreal, Canada, offers some of the most interesting genre films of the year. This year’s fest will take place from July 16-August 3. The line-up contains plenty of features that we can’t wait to watch and review, including the return of well-known directors like Takashi Miiki and Ari Aster, to feature debuts heralding fresh voices. Here are five films worth noting.
Eddington
Ari Aster’s latest feature, Eddington, is the opening night film. From A24, the film is a modern western starring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal. The leads star as candidates in a heated mayoral race. The film already screened at Cannes and generally received positive reviews. Though the film isn’t straight up horror like Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommer, this film is definitely on our radar.
Takashi Miike Triple Threat
Audition and Ichi the Killer director Takashi Miike is a perennial favorite at Fantasia. In 2016, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award. The genre-bending Japanese director has not one but three titles screening at the fest this year, Nyaight of the Living Cat, Blazing Fists, and Sham. The first film adapts the manga written by Hawkman and drawn by Mecha-Roots. Its premise pertains to a virus sweeping the globe, causing anyone who touches a cat to become one themselves. Blazing Fists tells the tale of two teens, hoping to improve their lives, while fighting in the ring. Sham, inspired by a true story, follows the legal battle of a teacher falsely accused of violence against a student.
Kazakh Scary Tales
Director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Kazazkh’s Scary Tales is described as occult horror, following a cop (Kuantai Abdimadi) who ventures into a remote village to investigate gruesome and inexplicable events. This leads the cop into a terrifying world of witchcraft and death. The film, which includes regional folklore, sounds like one hair-raising experience. Kazakh Scary Tales was initially created as an anthology series for streaming. However, it was deemed too frightening by focus groups. Fantasia will present the first three episodes as a complete narrative feature.
Terrestrial
Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink ventures into sci-fi territory with Terrestrial, a reunion film starring Jeramine Fowler as the organizer of a college reunion that goes wrong when sudden dangers threaten him and his friends. It’ll be interesting to see how Pink handles the jump from comedy to sci-fi.
I Live Here Now
Julie Pacino, daughter of Al Pacino, makes her directorial debut with I Live Here Now. The film follows a young woman, trapped in a motel and forced to face her own trauma. The psychodrama is being described by festival organizers as Lynchian. Color us intrigued.
