Fantasia 2018--Lifechanger--Justin McConnell (2018)

Drew (Jack Foley in this iteration) gets on with the labor of survival in Justin McConnell's Lifechanger (2018)

One of Fantasia Film Festival's many pleasures is the ability not only to see amazing new horror films, but also see them first.  Fantasia 2018 screened the world premiere of Justin McConnell's thoughtful and gruesome feature Lifechanger, and while I haven't seen the director's other work, this body jumping genre piece really impressed me (and a good chunk of the Fantasia audience that stuck around, full of questions, during the Q & A).

Lifechanger introduces us to Drew in its first moments through the character's voice-over, a remarkably consistent insight into the character as it jumps from person to person through claiming their bodies, and seemingly their memories as well.  Drew has just "taken" Emily Roberts (Elitsa Bako), leaving a rather desiccated corpse double beside it, one of which the body thief will quickly dispose.  So, from the first moments, viewers are introduced to the film's monster, quite sympathetically.  As we know, subjective narration can really align us with characters that commit questionable actions with equally questionable motivations.  Drew states that it takes over people to survive, not with any malicious intent, but out of desperation as its body begins to rot (which creates some nice goopy moments).  Over the course of the film, Drew inhabits a variety of differently gendered bodies, although the film loses some of the subversiveness this gender swapping might entail, by 1) maintaining Drew's voice-over by a distinctly male actor (Bill Oberst Jr.) and 2) by having the character's mission be the single-minded pursuit of melancholy Julia (Lora Burke), with which Drew had a "love connection" with a couple of years ago while inhabiting the body of her husband, Richard, who happened to up-and-disappear shortly after the couple's son died.  Coincidence?  You'll notice that I'm trying to avoid male or female pronouns when discussing Drew, because despite the film's narrative leanings, Drew is definitely "other."

Julia chatting with Rachel aka Drew at the Monarch Lounge

Julia is the very picture of loss, and Drew does whatever it takes to be near her, meeting up at her drinking haunt, The Monarch Lounge, in a variety of bodies/guises.  Drew can either accelerate its bodily decay (by snorting prodigious amounts of blow) or stave it off (through antibiotics), and some of the film's most exciting tensions circle around "the authorities" discovering Drew's "body farm" full of previous incarnations, and hunting down Rachel, who wisely becomes Robert (Jack Foley) just when the police are closing in.  Another bonus is the fact that Rachel was a dental assistant, so she had access to quite a few antibiotics that Drew uses to slow down his decomp while it courts a sadly clueless Julia as her new beau.  Yet, Drew is a monster with a conscience, and it wears the weight of its crimes heavily; when it decides to tell Julia its true nature....well, things don't go quite like it had planned. 

The necessity to change bodies more frequently, for its survival, weighs heavily on Drew

While some people might be put off by the humanizing of Drew, the film's consistent voice-over led to an increased consistency in relation to the performance of a variety of different actors, all who seem to clearly embody Drew, whether housed in a male or female body.  The only thing that really sticks for me, and which the director mentioned frankly in the Q & A, is the "stalking as romance" trope that underlies the majority of the narrative.  While McConnell suggests that the film is an examination of toxic masculinity, I think the film also really compels viewers to hope that Drew can capture Julia's heart, no matter what form it takes.  The film makes it hard to be really critical of Drew--what's a body thief to do if it doesn't want to die, right?

Credit thus goes to both McConnell for writing such well-drawn characters, and for the first-rate performers (many of whom took to the stage at the Q & A) who embodied them.  Lora Burke's Julia is by turns witty and tragic, and always eminently likeable, while Drew's iterations, shackled with its bodily memories, are each utterly unique, but then subtly changed once they transform into Drew.  The fact that the cast pulls off this trick with such agility speaks to both their outstanding talent and McConnell's masterful direction.  I've been careful not to give anything away, but the ending of this film is a doozy--kind of gross, and quite thought-provoking.  I do hope that Lifechanger gets the screenings it deserves.  After theaters and VOD, it would be nice if Netflix or Shudder picked up this gem so that it reaches a larger audience.  Highly recommended!!

Fantasia 2017--78/52--Alexandre Philippe (2017)

Alexandre Philippe's provocative documentary 78/52 (2017) explores Janet Leigh's last moments in Hitchcock's Psycho

For a film that follows in depth a rather brief 52 second scene, Alexandre Philippe's 78/52 is one of the most fascinating investigations of cinema and the horror genre that you will ever see.  Unlike the rather good Room 237, which explores fans' obsessions surrounding Kubrick's The Shining, Philippe's unpacking of the notorious shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho properly pays homage to what might be considered the most seminal film of the horror genre, and one of its most shocking murder set pieces.  Setting the stage by shooting exteriors on the Bates Hotel and house set, the film leaves no aspect of this scene unturned, yet never feels boring, or "over-analyzing" as it unfolds.

Hitch believed that the Casaba melon was most analogous in sound to the flesh bag of the human body

For horror geeks, the film provides a host of pleasures, as many luminaries of horror filmmaking (with only Karyn Kusama as the female representative of the genre) extol the virtues of Psycho, citing its influences, and performing many feats of close textual analysis.  Various Hitchcock experts (all guys) explain how Psycho fits among Hitchcock's oeuvre.  Film editor Walter Murch is one of the most exciting luminaries featured, and he gives you a real blow-by-blow sense of how innovative the film's editing was, while also paying proper respect to Saul Bass's involvement.  Bernard Hermann's score is similarly unpacked and heralded as part of the scene's achievements, and there's a marvelous scene that explains how exactly the sound of a knife penetrating Marion's flesh came into being.  What the film really emphasizes, without diminishing Hitchcock, is that this film, like many, was a collaborative effort by many outrageously talented people, and that its legacy lives on in both classic and contemporary horror works.

The guys from Spectrum wax on about their love of Psycho (particularly Anthony Perkins)

While this film is ostensibly a "talking heads" documentary, it never feels stilted, dry, or stale, as the clips used to flesh out the conversations are well placed, gorgeous to look at, and often revelatory.  I would have liked to see more women interviewed for this film (I counted seven total), and I found this dearth a sad commentary considering that two of the film's producers (present for the Q & A) are women.  Nevertheless, 78/52, funded two years ago during Fantasia's own Frontiere's program, is so beautifully crafted, that I'm super excited for Philippe's next documentary project--an exploration of the infamous chestburster scene from Ridley Scott's Alien.  For lovers of Psycho in particular, and cinema in general, this film is an absolute must-see!

Fantasia 2017--Replace--Norbert Keil

Rebecca Forsythe's Kira commands every frame in Norbert Keil's Replace (2017)

Norbert Keil's body horror extravaganza Replace is one of the most gorgeous films I have ever seen at Fantasia.  Seriously, every single frame was drenched in color, and the settings are glorious, whether a scene takes place in Kira's grunge chic apartment, a dingy (but colorfully-lit) nightclub, or the harsh, but stylish minimalism of Dr. Crober's office.  Like The Neon Demon, Replace is rife with sumptuous imagery that dazzles the eye, and I loved looking at it.  Wow.  At times the film replicated some of the very best giallos that I've seen, and there's a definite Argento look with a Cronenberg vibe.

Kira is understandably disturbed by her body's rapid decay

That said, the film also maintains some similar themes to Winding-Refn's art horror, as it focuses on Kira Mabon (Rebecca Forsythe), a young beauty who mysteriously develops some nasty skin rash where her body starts to decay at a rapid rate.  As this film is a horror film, we get to experience close-up shots with lots of icky sounds as Kira peels the skin right from her body.  The film purports to be a treatise on aging, as Kira's story is interspersed with her voice-over narration outlining her fear and contempt for the aging process.

The mysterious Dr. Crober (Barbara Crampton) may have answers to what's ailing Kira

She is yet another (white, thin) beauty who wants to remain that way forever, and she turns to the mysteriously calm/mad scientist Dr. Rafaela Crober (Barbara Crampton) for help.  Yet Dr. Crober seems to know more than she's letting on, and Kira's inability to remember what happened last week doesn't help matters.

Kira is forced to kill in order to maintain her haunting loveliness

When Kira's bodily deterioration starts to happen too rapidly, and a skin transplant looks to take too long, Kira takes matters into her own hands, and finds replacements for her skin in a series of rather gory and unfortunate murders.  She has become quite the monster.  Still, when we finally get answers to what's happening, the silliness of the film rises to new heights, even if some of the science that inspires the film is grounded in advancements in stem cell research and insights into the aging process.

Sophia (Lucie Aron) is the gorgeous "girl next door" who suddenly falls for Kira

My biggest problem with this film is that it's couched in a quasi-lesbian romance that makes no sense beyond a certain need for gratuitous shots of gorgeous women kissing each other.  I get the appeal (duh), but do we really need to watch monstrous queer women killers YET AGAIN??  Here's another white guy making a film about women and their monstrous desires, and he makes sure that there are as many topless shots of this implausible couple as possible.  It doesn't help that their scenes are shot in such hazy soft-focus with melodramatic music blasting behind them, as if they share some true love amidst the horror.  A critique on the perils of beauty culture and the relationship between femininity and aging?  Not really.

Still, Fantasia has this amazing ability to persuade me to give a film more consideration after I dismiss it for its flaws, chiefly by virtue of listening to the filmmakers talk about their film and the process of making it.  Just as I whispered something about the filmmakers having been totally wasted writing this doozy, Keil and famous genre stalwart and co-writer Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil) made a case for their film and its particular charms.  The person who really charmed me was Stanley, in his outback biker get-up, hair flowing, and sharp intelligence in his eyes, as he waxed on about gene therapy, the perils of aging, and the site of memory (is it in our brains or in our D.N.A.)?   Wow, okay.  He also suggested that the film nodded at vampirism, and I can see it, certainly.  He's incredibly smart and articulate, and I would have loved to talk to him for hours about whatever.

Crampton did research at the Buck Institute for aging for the role

Barbara Crampton was also onstage with her characteristic warmth and wit, and she let on that the role of Dr. Crober was originally intended for a male character.  While I'm delighted that she was chosen for the part, and certainly there needs to be more roles for women, I think it might have been better to have that part played by a man.  The Neon Demon's one saving grace was that it really emphasized how horrible men are in relation to women's beauty, and that they were really the driving force behind women killing themselves (and each other) in order to maintain their attraction and desirability. Crampton's role as a cold-hearted, ambitious mad scientist who ruthlessly capitalizes on women's vulnerability and vanity in order to make scientific discoveries does not do women any favors, and just perpetuates the idea that women are bitches who will destroy each other in order to get ahead.  Nice.

Replace is equal parts beautiful and problematic

So, should you see Replace?  Yes, if only to form your own opinion about the film, and also because it is truly gorgeous to look at.  The ending elicited an epic eye roll from me, the twist is beyond silly and undermines any romance that the film presents, but I'm still thinking about the film, and find its comparisons to The Neon Demon to be notable and important.  While its gender politics are a hot mess, this intriguing film is definitely worth a look.

Fantasia 2017--Animals--Greg Zglinski

Marital strife creates psychotic confusions in Greg Zglinski's Animals/Tiere (2017)

Fantasia rocked my world yesterday with its first of two screenings of Greg Zglinski's Animals (2017), a powerful and disturbing German film that ups the WTF quotient in terms of narrative twists and turns, all through a female character's troubled narration.  I haven't felt this thrilled and pumped about a German film since Fantasia's screening of Goodnight Mommy in 2015.  While I was disappointed that the director wasn't there to talk about his film, it was probably for the best, because I could just imagine some of the questions posed during the Q & A.  What exactly happened during the car accident?  How does Anna's novel relate to the film's events?  What is going on in the locked room in both apartments (a locked room--paging Freud)?  What's up with the suicidal animals (it starts with a goldfish)?  In my estimation, each and every one of these questions only triggers new ones, producing such a myriad of cinematic pleasures, I'm grinning wildly while I write this review.

Anna's combination of paranoia and ennui anchors the film

Ostensibly, the film follows Anna (Birgit Minichmayr), a children's book author embarking on her first grown up novel while vacationing for 6 months with her husband, Nick (Philipp Hochmair), a chef and serial flirt who she believes is undoubtedly cheating on her.  They rent their apartment out to a rather untrustworthy house-sitter named Mischa (Mona Petri) who breaks every rule they give her, and looks strikingly like the woman who lives on the third floor, Andrea (Mona Petri as well), and the woman at the ice cream shop in Vevey (Mona Petri yet again!)  In fact, the doppelgangers here fly fast and furious, and space and time lose all their boundaries.

Chef Nick decides to butcher the sheep he hit with a car (nice that they shaved it first)

Things go decidedly pear-shaped when Anna and Nick, en route to their house in Switzerland, hit a sheep, landing Anna in the hospital with another head injury (she had bashed her head tripping over a skateboard prior to their journey).  All this head trauma makes Anna not only rather unreliable, but forces her to question what is real and what is not at every turn.  Both Anna and Nick have very weird dreams about being killed by the other, and one cannot tell where dream begins and reality ends, or who is actually dreaming, and who is awake, and when.  This type of confusion leads to some pretty darkly humorous moments, with a creepy-looking talking black cat tying the different worlds together. Such FUN!

Mischa wants to find out what's behind the door

Head injuries abound, as Mischa seems to have her own series of mishaps, falling and injuring herself numerous times.  She encounters Andrea's ex, who insists that she is Andrea (hello, same actress), and there's a suicide that happens, or doesn't, and it's not certain when exactly.  Zglinski deliberately dresses Anna and Mischa in similar clothes, in mirrored spaces, experiencing similarly injuries--all to tie the two characters, and both their confusion and curiosity, tightly together.  Then, there's Andrea, who lives on the third floor, or not, and is Anna's alter ego, or not.  The crazy gets upped to eleven when Anna reads her novel (on which she cannot remember working) and it contains characters named Anna, Nick, and Mischa.  What???

Is Nick more than a catalyst for Anna's fantasies/nightmares?

Unsurprisingly, I zeroed in on Anna's rich and confused interior life, and how both her apartment in Germany (traversed primarily by Mischa) and her house in Switzerland, possess mysterious doors behind which lies...???  The film's mysteries keep one constantly guessing.  That's why I'm not sure how to read Nick's character.  Is he just the cheating catalyst for Anna's paranoia, or has he slipped into this film's alternate dimension/timeloop/marital hellhole along with Anna, after the accident?  Or is he really just a fictional character in Anna's twisted novel?  I have very few answers in this first time viewing, and hope beyond hopes that the film gets a strong distributor so that I can watch it again, numerous times, very, very soon.  A masterpiece, but I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from Fantasia.

Fantasia Film Festival 2017--Time to Get Excited!!

The poster for this year festival is pretty magical!

Finally!  We've reached that marvelous time of year when Montreal blossoms into full summer and shows three weeks of the most fantastic films at the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival.  Poring through the listings, as usual I've chosen too many films about which I am excited, and I have to be a little more practical and make some hard choices.  I stood in the epic line at Concordia waiting for the box office to open today, and now, tickets in hand, I'm ready to talk cinema. I have tons of films to discuss, but I have to start with my second favorite film of all time, which is screening on the final day of the festival.

The Kaleidoscopic Phantasmagoria of Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977)

Fantasia is showing the first public screening of Dario Argento's technicolor masterpiece, a remastered 4K version that I've heard about, but never thought I'd be lucky enough to see!  The film follows Suzy Bannion as she attends an ominous European school of dance--one that's full of Witches.  The set pieces of this film are so gorgeous, the imagery so incredibly surreal, if you have not seen this film yet, you are missing out.  It takes my breath away every single time.

The film is the perfect cap to a pretty intense festival, with some really dark films--just the way I like them.  Here are some of the goodies!

Camping will kill you in Damien Power's Killing Ground (2016)

I kind of hate camping.  I grew up in a very rural area, and my sister and I spent a lot of time in nature--a lifetime's worth, in my opinion.  I like cities.  Power's film promises to be another "vacation from hell" horror, where the bourgeois couple (w/kids), out of their element, must fight to keep their family alive.  I'm one of those sick people who likes to see it all go to hell.  This film will be released in the U.S. later in July, but why wait and watch it VOD?

Prom Night and Shrooms from a female perspective in Karen Skloss's The Honor Farm (2017)

As people who read this blog know, I am pretty invested in there being more female directors, especially in the horror genre; so I make it mandatory that I try to see as many woman directed films at Fantasia as I can.  Here's the first, and I have not heard of it, so I'm excited.  The beauty of Fantasia is that they bring the directors in to talk about their films, and Skloss will be around to discuss her coming-of-age horror film that has been touted as "Lynchian."  When Lucy's prom night is less than stellar, she gets persuaded to go to the Honor Farm, an old abandoned prison, and take Shrooms.  What a premise.  The film was co-written by Skloss's teenage daughter, so perhaps this film is only the beginning of a women's horror dynasty!

Kira inadvertently sheds her skin in Norbert Keil's Replace (2017)

In contemporary western culture, a woman's beauty is a treasured commodity, so horror films are a common place to explore female monsters hungry for aesthetic perfection.  Norbert Keil's Replace is yet another male-directed film seemingly trying to comment on how culture makes women into avaricious monsters who will stop at nothing to achieve the highest beauty standards (think The Neon Demon and Starry Eyes).  We'll see how well he does.  Showing something does not necessarily mean you are critiquing it!

Writer/Director/Star Marianna Palka loses it in her latest film Bitch (2017)

Another woman-directed gem at Fantasia--this one follows a woman who undergoes a psychotic break and "assumes the psyche of a vicious dog" as IMDB explains.  Looks like it might be darkly funny and perhaps a bit too real...and I heart Jason Ritter, even if he plays her philandering, no-good husband.

Voyeurism can get you into trouble in Stefan Ruzowitzky's Cold Hell (2016)

I've been hearing about Cold Hell for quite some time, and I feel incredibly lucky that Fantasia is screening it in the big SGWU Hall, where it will get the dazzling display it so richly deserves. Ozge witnesses a serial killer next door, and he sees her looking, and goes after her.  She's no "damsel" though, more a worthy adversary for this misogynist piece of trash.  The film just looks gorgeous.  Check out the trailer here.

A Mashup of Italian Gothic and Giallo on offer in Giordano Giulivi's The LaPlace's Demon (2017)

I think Ariel Estaban Cayer describes this film so perfectly: "Short of bringing Rod Serling back to life, THE LAPLACE’S DEMON – unfolding like an all-time great TWILIGHT ZONE episode directed by Guy Maddin, in turn channeling his inner Mario Bava and Val Lewton – will send you right over the edge, and into a new dimension of terror, madness… and cinematic pleasure."  Indeed, I'm so excited to see this film!  It does look like a cross between The Cat and the Canary with a classic Bava or Freda film, and a dash of The Legacy thrown in for kicks.  And it's in Black and White.  Sold!

Jun-young must escape a deadly time loop in Sun-ho Cho's A Day/Haru (2017)

Two summers ago, Fantasia seemed to be obsessed with time travel, with film such as Infinite Man and The House at the End of Time as two prime examples.  Properly intrigued by the trendiness of the concept, last fall I decided to teach a Puzzle Films class, where we explored all manner of repeating storylines and time loops (a la Looper, Groundhog Day, Source Code).  Call me hooked, but I have to see this new South Korean time loop thriller, AND the director will be on hand to experience what's sure to be thundering applause.

A hallucinatory image from the pagan Eston, an fable November (Rainer Sarnet, 2017)

This Estonian B & W beauty, November, is supposedly based on a popular Estonian novel Rehepapp, which combines "magic, black humor, and romantic love."  After watching the trailer, I really do not ultimately care what it's about, for the film looks utterly gorgeous.  When contemporary filmmakers do black and white, that choice is very deliberate, creating a very specific mood and atmosphere.  The rich and evocative cinematography of this film is enough to convince me--but I am a sucker for a beautiful image.  This film has so many.

Ana Asensio writes, directs, and stars in the harrowing Most Beautiful Island (2017)

Another triple threat woman director arrives at Fantasia with a film that is far too timely--the story of an immigrant woman who comes to the U.S. and struggles to stay above the poverty line.  As the U.S. has become increasingly inhospitable to immigrants, women, and especially immigrant women, Ana Asensio reveals this living nightmare in horrible and revelatory detail.  I'm going to miss her discussion at Fantasia because I'm going to see A Day.  I'm torn!!

Depraved fantasies reign in Gabriela Amaral Almeida's Brazilian Thriller Friendly Beast (2016)

Some of the most exciting work I've seen at Fantasia can come from films of which I know nothing, debut features by directors (sometimes women) just bursting with talent.  Sarah Adina Smith's The Midnight Swim (2014) immediately comes to mind.  That film was revelatory, and she continues to make strong, compelling work.  So I'm enthusiastic for Brazilian director Almeida's debut feature, Friendly Beast, and she will be there to talk about her film.  Love all the Q & As!

Noelle seduces with malevolence in M.F.A.(2017), Natalia Leite's take on the Rape-Revenge thriller

You'd have to be living under a rock to miss that the U.S. has a rich and varied rape culture, and that sexual assault statistics do not begin to describe the realities of the physical and emotional violence perpetrated on women.  I think that's why the horror genre can be so satisfying for female spectators--it gives us a safe space to experience fear, violence, and sometimes, vengeance.  More than any other genre, in horror, women fight back.  While the genre has its share of women monsters, the ones with which we can sympathize are often the most powerful and persuasive.  Natalia Leite will be at Fantasia to talk about her film, and I'm sure she'll address some of these issues.

Nothing like Horror for the Holidays in in Chris Peckover's Better Watch Out (2016)

I love a good holiday horror film.  Last year's Tales of Halloween (2016) was a pretty fun anthology that premiered at Fantasia, but Halloween is the typical holiday for horror.  Xmas is supposed to be about family, giving, community--so violating those precious experiences is that much more horribly satisfying.  My favorite Holiday horror movie is Rare Exports, but I'm willing to try out other options.  This Aussie film has a dumb adolescent boy crushing on an older girl (his babysitter), and I guess we're supposed to find that charming, but I'm still trying to get over the abject creepiness of Crazy, Stupid, Love and it's deranged babysitter crush.  Ugh.  Despite that premise, its been touted as a mashup of Home Alone and Funny Games, and I certainly love the latter, so I'll give it a shot.

Okay, I'm on the fence about these next two films playing at the exact same time in different theaters.  As I said, I have to make the hard choices.  First up, Takashi Shimizu, of Ju-on fame, has a new film with scary ghost children, and he really knows how to do scary ghost kids.

Not just one scary ghost kid, but a passel of them in Takashi Shimizu's Innocent Curse (2017)

The trailer has some pretty cool imagery as it intimates a creepy pied piper story, and the kid's homework: BRING DEATH TO ADULTS!  This kind of sh** happens when you piss kids off. Looks super fun.  The competing films are two female directed exploitation films--A Double Feature and a World Premiere:

Latina women tearing it up in Jenna Cavelle's Blood Heist (2017)

 

An all-female biker gang delivers expected violence in Melanie Aitkenhead's Blood on Wheels/Blood Ride (2017)

I teach a cult and exploitation film class and I'm always searching for female directors.  We've got Doris Wishman....and that's mostly it.  Stephanie Rothman a little bit, Roberta Findlay, maybe.  So two women directors premiering their films at Fantasia--awesome!  Here's the catch: both are produced by James Franco.  You might have heard of him, right?  The multi-degreed, multi-hyphenate cinematic "auteur?"  I'm not a fan of his, to put it nicely.  The question is: are these films going to be groundbreaking, or are we looking at female wannabee Grindhouse or Machete films; films that do women no favors whatsoever.  I guess these films will test the "female gaze" at work, and I'm super-intrigued.  But Ghost kids!!  What to do?

Moscow gets its own destructive alien fantasy film with Fedor Bondarchuk's Attraction (2017)

I saw a trailer for this gonzo Russian alien film nearly a year ago, and I never forgot it.  Now the film is playing at Fantasia at a blink and you'll miss it afternoon screening, so I encourage everyone to GO!! The trailer is super intense, and the alien ships lay waste to Moscow beautifully.  I do have a soft spot for aliens blowing sh** up, but I still think the way to go (in case of alien invasion) is the "peace-loving" exceedingly smart Arrival (2016).  Loved that film, but excited about this one too.

Right wing fu**wits turn the U.S. into an even more dangerous place in Bushwick (2017)

As you may likely know, the political climate in the U.S. right now is acutely polarized, with both sides vehemently opposing the other.  The country is filled with depressed people mainlining drugs and alcohol, and a bunch of sore winners endlessly tweeting that the Declaration of Independence is just some "liberal propaganda."  Cognitive Dissonance abounds as some of us cannot even comprehend the mindset of some others of us.  So imagine this turn of events leading to a rather logical conclusion, and some of the Southern states attempt to secede, starting a new civil war.  Fiction or Premonition?  I just have to see Bushwick, if only to prepare for our inevitable future.

Majestic natural beauty meets animal rights eco-horror in Agnsieska Holland's Spoor/Pokot (2017)

Agnieska Holland is one of the most brilliant women directors on the planet (see her early work like Europa, Europa, and Olivier, Olivier for starters), and she's been really busy with television work (as women directors are wont to do between their far too few films).  So imagine my heart-stopping thrill when I saw that her latest film, Spoor, would be making its North American debut at Fantasia!  As per usual, the trailer reveals a film that is equal parts poetic and mysterious.  She is such a talented artist, and this film will certainly showcase her gifts.  And nature fights back!!

Haunted men amongst haunting imagery in The Endless (2017)

Anyone into horror knows Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.  Their debut feature Resolution (2012) put them on the map, and their follow-up, Spring (2014) solidified their cred.  I'm embarrassed to say that despite knowing all about their films, I've yet to see one.  To remedy that, I'll be watching their latest The Endless (2017), which focuses on two men returning to an ominous cult from which they escaped years ago.  Fascinating, and they'll be at Fantasia in person!

The rampaging monster of Dick Maas's Prey/Prooi (2016)

The Dutch horror film Prey (2016) has a killer lion in it.  Do I really need to say more?  Watch the trailer and you'll be convinced.  A giant lion chases a famed lion hunter who is stuck in a motorized wheelchair (the hunter only has one leg--coincidence?)  OMG this film is going to be tons of fun!

I haven't listed all the films that I want to see, but these films are the definites, with still some decisions up in the air.  Stay tuned for my coverage of the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival and all its wonders!!