As our Fantasia Fest coverage winds down, here’s a double-bill of two new films from actor Munro Chambers, who came to prominence back in 2015 with a little film called Turbo Kid. His latest films see the actor embrace both ends of the character spectrum: hero and villain. Or do they? HARPOON Stars: Munro Chambers, […]
Stars: Yu Toyama, Ikkei Watanabe, Sakura Enomoto, Ryo Ushimaru, Naoki Goto | Written by Koichiro Oyama, Fumiya Yasumoto | Directed by Koichiro Oyama This Japanese drama from first-time director Koichiro Oyama, with a screenplay from Oyama himself and Fumiya Yasumoto, is a mean-spirited little indie that took me by surprise throughout its close to 2-hour […]
Stars: Kong Hyo-jin, Kim Sung-oh, Kim Ye-won | Written by Park Jeong-hee, Lee Kwon | Directed by Lee Kwon Back in 2012 I was blown away by Jaume Balagueró’s Sleep Tight, which screened as part of that years Frightfest; and now comes Door Lock, a Korean remake of Balagueró’s film. Although this is a remake […]
Stars: Bryan Craig, Tommy Flanagan, Sean Patrick Flannery, George Kosturos, Allison Paige | Written by Carl Morris, Shaun Piccinino | Directed by Shaun Piccinino A fictional sequel to an semi-autobiographical original, American Fighter is an interesting proposition for a film and, at least in cinematic terms, shares a lot in common with the classic martial […]
Stars: Alex Essoe, Precious Chong, Kris Siddiqi | Written by Precious Chong, Alex Essoe, Zach Gayne | Directed by Zach Gayne It may come as a surprise that a movie about two women meeting at a yoga class, which then escalates to one of them refusing to let the other leave their house, is actually […]
Stars: Daniel Long, Beulah Peters, Ryland Tews, Wayne Tews, Erick West | Written by Ryland Tews, Mike Cheslik | Directed by Ryland Brickson Cole Tews Lake Michigan Monster is a title that screams SyFy Original to sit alongside Sharknado and Lavantula. Although there are some similarities between this and those ridiculous (and mostly fun) movies, […]
Stars: Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jakobson, Morad Khatchadorian, Brandy Lietmanen | Written and Directed by Johannes Nyholm After recently re-discovering my fondness for movies that are about people dealing with grief, I seem to have almost accidentally watched quite a few, and the oddly titled Koko-Di Koko-Da can be included in this […]
Stars: Takayuki Yamada, Takeru Satoh, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Takuzo Kubikukuri, Kei Ishibashi | Written by Kousuke Mukai | Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita I definitely do have a love for films are not only original but very strange as well. From the killer tyre movie Rubber, to the one-off brilliance of Swiss Army Man, to food that […]
Stars: Michael Daniel, Rachel Johnson, Aurora Lowe, Gabe Nicholson, June Peterson, Wendy Taylor | Written and Directed by Jordan Graham In very basic terms, Sator could be described as either a ‘cabin in the woods’-style horror movie or even a ghost story but both of these short sub genre descriptions would be pretty far off […]
Stars: Eduardo Gomes, Dinho Lima Flor, Julio Machado, Nina Medeiros, Clara Moura, Luciana Paes, Rafael Raposo | Written and Directed by Gabriela Amaral Almeida Dalva (Nina Medeiros), nine years old, plays in the dirt of her backyard. She has buried her doll here. In a disadvantaged neighbourhood of São Paulo, she lives with her aunt […]
Stars: Chris April, Inge Beckmann, Garth Breytenbach, Keita Luna, Tshamano Sebe | Written and Directed by Harold Holscher After suffering a crippling bankruptcy William Zeil returns to his old family farm that he inherited from his father, bringing with him his wife Sarah and their young adopted daughter, Mary, hoping for a fresh start. They […]
Stars: Arielle Dombasle, Nicolas Ker, Asia Argento, Michel Fau, Theo Hakola, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Christian Louboutin | Written by Arielle Dombasle, Florian Bernas, Jacques Fieschi, Nicolas Ker | Directed by Arielle Dombasle Apparently something of a well-renown socialite in France, I admit I’d never heard of singer turned actress turned director Arielle Dombasle, yet after watching […]
Stars: Marika Engelhardt, Tim Hopper, Kate Arrington, Audrey Francis, Tony Fitzpatrick, James Vincent Meredith, Ty Olwin, Robert T. Cunningham, Alex Moss, Raven Whitley, Genevieve Venjohnson | Written and Directed by Jennifer Reeder The disappearance of a female teenager in a small rural town in America starts an almost domino effect of problems for the people […]
Stars: Caitlin Halderman, Jefri Nichol, Marsha Aruan, Ciccio Manassero, Susan Sameh, Irsyadillah, Cathy Natafitria Fakandi, Salvita Decorte | Written and Directed by Kimo Stamboel What feels like a very long time ago now, I played this amazingly brilliant and actually creepy horror survival game on the Playstation 2 called Fatal Frame. It made you walk […]
Stars: Dong-seok Ma, Mu-Yeol Kim, Sung-kyu Kim | Written and Directed by Lee Won-tae Korean thriller The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil, hot off the press from its debut premiere at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, hit Fantasia 2019 as a Quebec premiere. The film earned relatively positive reviews all round from several critics and […]
Starring, Written and Directed by Gints Zilbalodis An dialogue-free seventy five minute animated movie entirely created by one guy from Latvia might not seem like the outline for any film to get made, let alone watch. But that is the exact description of Away and it is a fascinating piece of work. The directors story […]
Stars: Evan Daves, Jillian Mueller, Katelyn Pearce, Peter Reznikoff, Larry Saperstein, Glenn Stott, Robbie Tann | Written by Matt Black, Laurence Vannicelli | Directed by Keola Racela Two of my all-time favourite horror films are Michele Soavi’s Stagefright (1987), which sees a group of stage actors locked in the theater for a rehearsal of their […]
Features: Al Adamson, Ken Adamson, Stevee Ashlock, Ewing ‘Lucky’ Brown, John ‘Bud’ Cardos, Greydon Clark, Robert Dix, Guadalupe Garcia, Gary Graver, Marilyn Joi, Gary Kent, Samuel M. Sherman, Russ Tamblyn, Zandor Vorkov, Vilmos Zsigmond | Written and Directed by David Gregory Documentaries chronicling cinemas past are nothing new, but it seems that since the debut […]
Stars: Lauren Canny, Bryan Batt, Nora-Jane Noone, Cooper Andrews, Pollyanna McIntosh, John Spud McConnell, Geraldine Singer, Maddie Nichols, Mackenzie Michelle Graham, Jeff Pope, Eugenie Bonderant, Sabrina Gennarino, Thomas Francis Murphy | Written and Directed by Pollyanna McIntosh When I first heard about Darlin’ I was immediately interested in seeing it. Why? Well… Pollyanna McIntosh is […]
