PopHorror Let's Get Scared
It’s summertime! The heat outside is sweltering, the A/C is on, and the lights are down to keep cool. What better time to watch a movie? Thankfully we’re not alone in thinking that; our friends over at Fantasia Film Festival had the exact same idea!
As always, Fantasia is a wonderful summertime exploration of genre films past and present; and this year is no different. We wanted to bring you, our loyal audience, a quick look at the movies we’re most excited about at this year’s festival!
Azrael, dir E.L. Katz
From the director of Cheap Thrills, Azrael is being propped up strongly by its concept and setting. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where no one speaks, Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) is the titular Azrael, working with Kenan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, FEMME) to escape a pack of mute religious fanatics attempting to sacrifice them to something in the woods. Knowing the directorial skills of Katz from Cheap Thrills and the writing of Simon Barrett (You’re Next, The Guest), this promises to be a solid mix of a visceral and exciting viewing.
Black Eyed Susan, dir Scooter McCrae
Described on the website as “like a twisted Wizard of Oz story,” Black Eyed Susan appears to be an intriguingly dark modern science fiction movie, blending the dark kink of a Cronenberg film with the ethical questions that arise alongside AI development. What happens when you build an artificially intelligent robot to enjoy the dark and punishing sides of BDSM? This has a lot of promise as a thoughtful yet nasty feature. With the additional information that the film was shot on Super 16, we’re sure the grit will be palpable in both visual and story contextuality.
Cuckoo, dir Tilman Singer
Perhaps the most commercially recognizable to horror fans of the fest (hell, we saw a trailer for it at Longlegs just last weekend), Cuckoo nonetheless looks fantastic. From The Guest to Cabinet of Curiosities to this year’s Godzilla x Kong, Dan Stevens has proven time and again he excels in genre films where he gets to play up character eccentricity. From what we’ve seen in trailers and early synopses, he will be playing a subtly menacing hotel owner employing protagonist Gretchen (Hunter Schafer, Euphoria) while she is being haunted by a bizarre, shrieking mystery woman. We’re certain if Singer sat back and let either of these wonderful stars have some wiggle room for improvisation, this will be a gripping ride with room for fun here and there.
Frankie Freako, dir Steven Kostanski
Did you see Psycho Goreman? Did you like Psycho Goreman? (We did. Check out our review of the film here, as well as our interview with the director here.) Kostanski nails perverting the iconography of Saturday morning cartoons and 90s anime there, so his next film going for a Dr Suess meets the Ghoulies vibes? Sold. No further questions, your honor, just let us get a ticket.
The Old Man and the Demon Sword, dir Fabio Powers
Finally, dipping our toes slightly out of the horror realm, our final addition to this year’s biggest hypes: The Old Man and the Demon Sword. If follow our reviews, it’s no secret we are fans of both low budget genre films as well as tokusatsu. So when Fantasia’s own website promotes a film as Kamen Rider meets Evil Dead, we don’t need much more prodding. We’re going to go check it out. It’s only enhanced when we read that it gets what attracts people to toku, idealistic fantasy and a willingness to go along with that, and a classic good vs evil narrative. With much early buzz about the lead, Antonio da Luz’s performance, we have sincere excitement to check out this film.
All this being said, these are only the beginning of our picks this year. Fantasia 2024 is looking to be a blast this year, with creature features like Scared Shitless (starring GTA V’s own Trevor, Steven Ogg) alongside Monty Python-esque comedies like Timestalker and the directorial debut of popular YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann, Shelby Oaks; this will be one hell of a year, with a little something for everyone.
