The Fantasia International Film Festival, North America’s largest genre-focused film fest, celebrates its 27th edition from July 20 through August 9, 2023, and The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict’s very own Joseph Perry will be covering it. Fantasia takes place in Montreal, Canada at the Concordia Hall Cinema, with additional screens at the Cinémathèque Québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. Here are four of the features that we here at GBV headquarters find highly exciting, with more information available at https://fantasiafestival.com/en/. Following are official press descriptions, followed in italics by Joseph’s thoughts.
DECADES IN THE MAKING, THE PRIMEVALS WILL SOON LIVE
Fantasia’s world premiere of THE PRIMEVALS represents the culmination of a longtime dream harbored by visual effects wizard David Allen, whose career stretched from 1970’s EQUINOX through Oscar-nominated work on YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, WILLOW and beyond. Allen first conceived THE PRIMEVALS as a vehicle for his stop-motion talents in the 1970s and finally began directing the film in the 1990s under producer and Full Moon Features Founder Charles Band, for whom he’d brought all manner of beasties to life. Sadly, the film’s completion was scuttled by Allen’s death from cancer in 1999 at just 54 years old. For the last many years, Band and longtime Allen associate Chris Endicott (THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR) have worked to see the film to completion, and it emerges at Fantasia as a glorious tribute to the classic films of Ray Harryhausen, with a true sense of adventure and eye-popping stop-motion animation. Special-effects fans will not want to miss this. World Premiere.
You had me at Equinox (1970), one of my all-time favorite independent monster movies, but then you threw in Ray Harryhausen, and that makes The Primevals a can’t-miss for this Monster Kid!
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (Australia) – Dirs: Colin and Cameron Cairnes
A career-best performance by David Dastmalchian headlines this innovative and nightmarish horror treat in which a live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation's living rooms. Accurately hailed by Stephen King as “absolutely brilliant”. Official Selection: SXSW 2023. Overlook 2023. Canadian Premiere.
I have already seen and reviewed this one for Overlook Film Festival (https://gruesomemagazine.com/2023/04/12/review-late-night-with-the-devil-overlook-film-festival-and-now-heeeeeeeres-satan/), and it is on my list of top 10 favorite horror films of 2023. Another viewing of this diabolically good movie? Absolutely yes, please!
SHIN KAMEN RIDER (Japan) – Dir. Hideaki Anno
The masked, motorcycle-riding dark superhero Kamen Rider embarks on a rampage of destruction to stop an evil organization, in Hideaki Anno’s latest tokusatsu reimagining, this time of the enormously popular superhero franchise. Special Screening.
Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and now Shin Kamen Rider! Kamen Rider may not have had the impact that Godzilla and Ultraman have had in the States, but it has a strong tradition in its home market of Japan and other countries, so this is another tokusatsu film to look forward to.
LYCANTHROPIAN CHILLS FROM FROM LARRY FESSENDEN: BLACKOUT
At last, acclaimed horror auteur Larry Fessenden has fulfilled his long-held desire to make a werewolf film, rounding out the triptych begun with his vampire drama HABIT (1997) and FRANKENSTEIN variation DEPRAVED (2019). Fessenden, as always, makes BLACKOUT a very human story as well as a gripping horror show while weaving in his traditional focus on socio-political themes, from his long-held ecological concerns to very modern issues of suspicion and paranoia. Starring Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Marshall Bell, James LeGros, Barbara Crampton and Joe Swanberg. World Premiere.
Who doesn’t love a good werewolf movie? Coming from seasoned indie director Larry Fessenden — and featuring fright-fare favorite Barbara Crampton — this should be an unusual take on the popular subgenre.
Stay tuned to The Good, The Bad, and The Verdict for coverage of The Fantasia International Film Festival as it gets closer.
Comments
Post a Comment
Share your thoughts with us