The Fantasia International Film Festival will be kicking off its 29th edition later in just a few days, running from July 16 to August 4, with some wild new movies making their world premiere. Previously described by Oscar winner Quentin Tarantino as “the most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent,” Fantasia is home to some of the most unique movies on the festival circuit with a range that includes movies from every corner of the globe. Some of this year’s offerings that will be present include Ari Aster’s newest film Eddington; plus, Flush, a French thriller about a man “wedged firmly in a toilet,” and Stinker, a sci-fi comedy from Kazakhstan about an alien hiding in the family outhouse. We promise they’re not all about bathrooms, but the library for this year’s Fantasia is exceptoinal.
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As we have previously, ComicBook.com is attending this year’s event and will be bringing you reviews and reactions to a lot of the wild new films from the festival, some of them having their world premiere. Below we’ve put together a list of ten from the many movies on our radar for Fantasia that we’re eager to check out!
1) $POSITIONS
“Local loser Mike, desperate and overwhelmed, turns to crypto to keep from drowning in debt. Instead, he finds himself in a spiral of bad decisions in this darkly comedic tale of addiction and family.”
Favorably compared by RogerEbert.com to a Safdie Brothers movie that met gross-out comedies like Bridesmaids, $POSITIONS seems like a timeless tale of greed set against the backdrop of a a uniquely 2020s ordeal.
Director: Brandon Daley
Cast: Kaylyn Carter, Trevor Dawkins, Vinny Kress, and Michael Kunicki
2) Blazing Fists
“Two teenage hoodlums aim for better lives for themselves, and fighting in the ring is how they’ll get there. A convincing coming-of-age drama with a big heart to balance out the bruises and black eyes.”
Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike, who has two movies at this year’s Fantastia, will bring his adaptation of MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura’s autobiography to the screen. Starring Asakura as himself, the film seems to be a unique departure for Miike.
Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Danhi Kinoshita, Kaname Yoshizawa, Susumu Terajima, Gackt, and Anna Tsuchiya
3) Buffet Infinity
“Channel-surfing becomes a dramatic standoff as TV ads tell the sinister tale of a restaurant taking over an Albertan town.”
Buffet Infinity began its life as a 30 second YouTube video, turning into a feature-length film compared to SCTV and Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job. Having no idea what to really expect is what makes this one immediately appealing.
Director: Simon Glassman
Cast: Kevin Singh, Claire Theobald, and Donovan Workun
4) Every Heavy Thing
“As women are going missing in Oklahoma, an office worker finds his life turned upside down after witnessing something he shouldn’t have in this absurdist dark comedy from Mickey Reece.”
Three years removed from his hilarious Country Gold, indie darling Mickey Reece returns with another comedy film, though one with even more familiar faces than audiences may be used to seeing in his films. Reece steers back into thriller territory this time, making this an easy must watch.
Director: Mickey Reece
Cast: Barbara Crampton, Vera Drew, John Ennis, Josh Fadem, Tipper Newton, and James Urbaniak
5) I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn
“Alone in NYC with no wallet, no cellphone, and no fluency in English, can this day get any worse for fading screen star Shina? Then she meets passionate, low-budget filmmaker Jack.”
Though a rom-com may not seem like Fantasia’s usual cup of tea, I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn appears to be wearing its heart on its sleeve for the medium of film. Featuring filmmakers Larry Fessenden and Lloyd Kaufman, this one seems poised to become a Letterboxed hit.
Director: Kenichi Ugana
Cast: Estevan Muñoz, Katsunari Nakagawa, and Ui MIhara
6) Influencers
“CW is on the prowl again. With the versatility of a chameleon and a spider’s skill in weaving a nasty web, she’ll welcome nasty twists and fatal errors in paradise!”
A follow-up to the 2022 Shudder hit, Influencers will see the return of Cassandra Naud as the elusive and cunning CW. Along for the ride this time is genre favorite Georgina Campbell, having previously become a modern final girl from her work in Barbarian and Lovely, Dark, and Deep, joining an already stellar cast.
Director: Kurtis David Harder
Cast: Georgina Campbell, Lisa Delamar, Cassandra Naud, Emily Tennant, and Jonathan Whitesell
7) Lurker
“When a retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But as the line between friend and fan blurs, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.”
Alex Russell makes his feature film debut as a director and writer, embedding all the tricks he learned from working on the likes of The Bear and Beef into a unique new thriller about the seedy underbelly of people with a courtside seat to fame.
Director: Alex Russell
Cast: Archie Madekwe and Théodore Pellerin
8) OBEX
“Conor’s life takes a turn for the fantastical as he is transported into the video-game world of OBEX, where he must rescue his kidnapped dog and come to terms with the grief buried deep inside himself.”
Having already impressed us with Strawberry Mansion back in 2021, Albert Birney returns with a new kind of film that seems to stand in stark contrast to that genre comedy. Noted as being perfect for fans of Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure Time, and Eraserhead, OBEX sounds like a low-fi cult hit in the making.
Director: Albert Birney
Starring: Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez, and Frank Mosley
9) The School Duel
“In a near-future ‘Free State of Florida,’ where gun control is outlawed and school shootings are at an all-time high, a tormented 13-year old enlists in a deadly, state-sponsored competition.”
This dramatic thriller may be tackling extreme subject matter, but this satire seems primed to surprise, especially by including a fan-favorite The Office star as one of its more sinister characters.
Director: Todd Wiseman Jr
Cast: Kue LawrenceChristina BrucatoOscar Nuñez
10) The Well
“In the near future, resources have run out, and a family must contend with dwindling water supplies, rival camps, and a deadly virus.”
The Well sounds like a genre exercise that utilzies a small scope to tell an intimate story, even with the vast backdrop of a “harrowing, post-apocalyptic time.”
Director: Hubert Davis
Cast: Joanne Boland, Noah Lamanna, Sheila McCarthy, Steven McCarthy, Shailyn Pierre-Dixon
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