Fantasia Film Festival

Among the first images you see in Niles Atallah’s odd but entrancing Animalia Paradoxa is a screen with the lines, “The mass extinction crept up unheard. Death’s dominion began without a word.” An ominous yet …

One of my favorite movies of the last year is Hundreds of Beavers, a live-action, Looney Tunes-esque comedy about a drunken lumberjack fighting, well… I think you get the picture. It’s one of the few …

Editor’s note: A previous draft of this review for Mad Cats included the pun, “It’s not purrfect.” We apologize for even considering such a bad pun. We’ll do better in the future.   A movie …

If there’s one thing to take away from New Life, it’s that John Rosman knows how to structure a screenplay. Rosman’s debut is the special kind of film that withholds just the right amount of …

One of my toxic traits is that I love a good single-location thriller. There’s something about being trapped in a life-threatening situation with one character that always pulls me in. Are they hurt? Are they …

In a time when so many big-budget blockbuster hopefuls are prepackaged as the start of an entire universe of films before they arrive in theaters, it’s nearly impossible for someone like yours truly to imagine …

Hundreds of Beavers. Amazing title. No notes. The content of the film itself? Shockingly little notes there too! Hundreds of Beavers is the epitome of a film festival discovery: a wildly creative, handmade project that …

Sophie (Judy Greer) is reeling after her husband Mal (Edi Gathegi) tragically died in a drunk driving incident eight months ago. Mal was a scientist, and shared that love with their daughter Riley (Faithe Herman); …

Compared to other festivals, I’ve always had a loving appreciation for the Fantasia Film Festival as a platform for hard genre films from all over the globe. Chances are that if you watch enough films …

Agnes slides neatly into the subgenre of ‘nun horror’ with the likes of, you guessed it, The Nun. However, Agnes prides itself on building tension rather than being full of jump scares. When you’re placed …

So many pandemic-set films since the beginning of COVID-19 are about the immediacy of it. The near-instantaneous feeling that everything has changed without the time to possibly reckon with what’s happened. Kelsey Egan’s Glasshouse takes …

The Last Thing Mary Saw is a 19th-century folk story, centered around sin and suspicion. We are introduced to Mary (Stefanie Scott) as she is blindfolded in a dark, candle-lit room. This is at the …

Almost every conceivable trigger warning is in effect for Rob Jabbaz’s pandemic horror movie, The Sadness. Saying the film isn’t afraid to “go there” is probably the biggest understatement of Fantasia 2021 — it’s undoubtedly the …

Matthew Gray Gubler is a modern-day icon in the eyes of many. King Knight has been long-awaited by both fans of his and director Richard Bates Jr. It’s slightly dark, yet reassuringly humorous. It’s everything …

A mysterious social experiment brings a group of eccentric strangers together to compete for a prize. It’s the synopsis for many low-budget thrillers and dark comedies. And somehow, Stanleyville feels almost entirely divorced from the subgenre. You’ve …

Through extremely stylized Art Deco sets, and cinematography comparable to Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Tiong Bahru Social Club is an extraordinary watch. Straight from Singapore’s own Bee Thiam Tan, we are thrown into a …

The PR machine for the film industry can sometimes be a nightmare as directors, actors, and others associated with a project do whatever they can to hype it up. After a while, the insane comparisons …

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair captures the essence of online culture. Hints of Eighth Grade, Nerve, and Unfriended are all combined to make an anxious 86 minutes. Despite its parallels to those few …

So many films present a dystopian future by isolating one particularly destructive idea and playing out its disastrous societal effects. Whatever the cause for the decline of civilization — whether it’s alien invasions, dictatorships, or …

At this point, we should pay attention anytime Shudder picks up a horror movie out of a festival. Or, when they pick up a film in general, for that matter. The service’s original programming is …

Right off the bat, Minor Premise has one of the better science fiction premises you’ll see. Ethan (Sathya Sridharan), a reclusive doctor hoping to continue and surpass his father’s legacy, is making an update to …

Quinn Armstrong’s Survival Skills has proved to be an audience favorite at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival. A parody of police training videos of the 1980s,  Armstrong’s film delves deeper into the outmoded teachings of these …

A renowned philosopher and swordsman of the early Edo period, the life of Miyamoto Musashi has been told onscreen countless times since the late 1920s. Most notably in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy, where the legendary …

If you name your movie, “The Travelling Cat Chronicles”, you immediately have my attention. Just think of all the possibilities for a movie with that title! (Also, cats!!!) Although, the actual material isn’t as zany …