Fantasia Fest Review Round-up for 2021 Horror Movies Hellbender, The Righteous, and More
The 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is coming to a close this week and to [...]
The 25th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is coming to a close this week and to mark the occasion of our coverage ComicBook.com presents quick-fire reviews for a ton of the horror movies we saw during this year's event. Ranging from the truly depraved and disgusting (Taiwan's zombie movie The Sadness) to the quieter and more contemplative (the black-and-white religious drama The Righteous), we did our best to hit the highlights and watch as many titles as were possible to see in the near three week span that Fantasia ran this year. Here are eleven mini reviews for some of the horror offerings from the festival!
Agnes
Though perhaps never what the audience expects, Agnes makes for a very rich, moving, surprising, and often funny feature. Those hoping to find the next cheap scare a la The Last Exorcism or something bombastic like The Exorcism of Emily Rose will not find it here, but Agnes has more to offer as a meditation and as an exercise in patience than any other movie that treads into this type of narrative. It's not going to be for everyone, but it will have something to say for all that follow it.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Coming Home In The Dark
James Ashcroft's New Zealand thriller plays out like Funny Games on wheels as we see the destructive path of its lead psychos carrying on in their twisted game against suburban victims. At it's core premise, it's a film so clever it makes you wonder why no one has done it before. Its material is bolstered by tremendous cinematography, focusing on the isolation of the areas and living in the night, but also the lack of music elevates it further. Coming Home in the Dark has a very grim view of the world, indulging in a deeply nihilistic journey, and maybe he's right to feel the ways that he does.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Hellbender
The ultimate collaboration from writer/director/star trio the Adams family, Hellbender tells the story of a young woman realizing her family members are witches. Wicked imagery abounds in this one, with shots and sequences that feel like living album covers, which builds on top of the already tremendous original music heard from the film's in-context band. A gnarly low-key effect of a key emerging from skin is perhaps its most interesting visual trick, but some moments of hokey CG give up the ghost in the finale. Lead Zelda Adams does tremendous work thoughout, outshining even her own family members that star opposite.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Hotel Poseidon
Belgian director Stef Lernous' film is perhaps too structured to fully be a "Lynchian" experience, but it's the closest thing I've seen to Twin Peaks: The Return in terms of its balancing act across absurd comedy, drama, and unexpected dread-horror. Hypochondriacs, introverts, and germaphobes beware, this film's bold and inventive production design and cinematography make for an outrageously disgusting viewing experience. This film builds and builds to a final act that is just as likely to cause gagging as it will entertain, but it's never not doing something interesting or bizarre.
Rating: 4 out of 5
The Last Thing Mary Saw
With period, folk horror, there is always the risk of a story being near-alien for cell-phone savvy audiences, but scary is scary and it doesn't matter if your characters know what texting or paved roads are, and The Last Thing Mary Saw is scary. Like The Witch before it, writer/director Edoardo Vitaletti's new film feels steeped in a specific time and oozes atmosphere at every turn. If The Last Thing Mary Saw was being touted across the country like its A24 cousin, it would already be on the radars of the masses, but that it can exist underneath that and may arrive as a surprise to audiences will only lend to its powerful and tense build-up.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Martyrs Lane
Writer/director Ruth Platt brings a new voice to the "grief as horror" subgenre that has been given new life in recent years, producing a ghost story that keeps you guessing while maintaining its spooky air throughout. There are jump-scares abound in this one, so there may be more startling than actual scariness, but its tender ending more than makes up for what's mostly a pretty tame and traditional effort as a horror piece. Young actress Kiera Thompson is given a lot to do as the film's lead and does great work, especially when paired with another fresh face, Sienna Sayer, who plays the mysterious specter at her window.
Rating: 3 out of 5
On the 3rd Day
This Argentinian spin on the vampire myth brings unique new life to the mythology but gets too wrapped up in its structural ideas to be satisfying on the whole. There's a flair to this that feels like the Hammer films of yore, evoking a mood of mystery throughout. Director Daniel De la Vega hones in on specific imagery to elevate the storytelling and plant the clues of where the narrative is going and creating a visual language that's never dull. On the Third Day is an ambitious swing that always feels off as an entire piece, though, even if its creature design is tremendous the pacing never comes together in a satisfying way.
Rating: 2 out of 5
The Righteous
The Righteous has so much going on within its character dynamics and shocking third act that creates layers in its storytelling. The tragedy of this movie is a lot of what makes The Righteous so amazing are the qualities that make it nearly toxic to a mainstream audience: it's black and white, largely a metaphor, mostly just actors talking, and there are no CGI effects at the forefront. Those willing to take the journey will come out the other side surprised. It doesn't matter if you want to approach this from the surface level of the narrative or if you want to dig into the religious subtexts of it or if you want to ponder the implications of O'Brien's role, there will be something there that is rewarding to any viewer.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The Sadness
The Sadness won't climb the mountain of the best zombie movies, but it will find an audience with gorehounds eager to test their mettle and see if their stomach can handle the truly depraved and gruesome effects that are to be found. It's a film that feels like it's still competing with the French extreme movement and the torture movies of the 2000s, with lots of gore (plenty of it gross) and not a lot else. Those with a weak stomach shouldn't even think about taking the trip.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Newcomer Anna Cobb brings an energy and pathos to their first major film role that makes them look like a pro. Though the nine-minute, uninterrupted opening shot and some of the creepy beats that follow might have you prepared for something akin to Host, We're All Going to the World's Fair is more in the line of a meditative experience, basking in the blurred lines of what is real and what isn't for the terminally online. Isolation is among the many universal themes that World's Fair offers, but its quiet pondering on the self-imposed loneliness of people seeking connections on the internet make it nearly timeless.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Wonderful Paradise
Like the absurd, Japanese cousin of Aronofsky's Mother!, Wonderful Paradise builds up at every moment and you will almost never be able to guess what happens in any given scene. For some, this unique take on its structure may be rewarding, and sometimes it is, but that its roadmap is non-existent can also be incredibly frustrating. There's what feels like free-form jazz going on here as it flip flops between comedy, drama, horror, musical, and a mix of any of those at any given moment. By the end, I felt like Arrested Development's Michael Bluth opening up a bag with "Dead Pigeon, Do Not Eat" on it that I found in the refrigerator; I don't know what I expected.
Rating: 2 out of 5
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