By Sarah Musnicky
For genre film fest lovers, the Fantasia Film Festival is the fest to watch. It literally has everything: adventure, romance, sci-fi, and—most especially—horror. This year’s line-up is bursting at the seams with various horror, with some blurring the borders between genres. From cursed alcohol shenanigans to Serbian fracking to tackling real-world tragedies, the selections this year at Fantasia Film Festival run the gamut of both fun and thoughtful viewing opportunities.
This year, the Fantasia Film Festival offers something for everyone, making it harder for me to narrow down our top choices. With all that said, in alphabetical order, here are our top five horror and/or genre films world premiering at the Fantasia Film Festival for you to put on your watch list.
BLACK EYED SUSAN
Writer/director Scooter McCrae returns with arguably one of the most provocative films out of Fantasia Film Festival. BLACK EYED SUSAN grapples with themes surrounding impulsive desires, how we change when there are no consequences, and more, making this dark sci-fi film something that will have viewers questioning themselves and its protagonist, Derek (Damian Maffei), from beginning to end.
HELL HOLE
Guess who's back? Back again! It's the Adams Family with their latest horror film, HELL HOLE. Diving deep into environmental horror surrounding fracking (honestly, a mostly untapped territory for horror, methinks), the Adams Family takes us to the Serbian wilderness, where newly awakened parasitic creatures yearn for a way out of the mines and into the world. Having its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival, viewers won't have to wait long until release as it'll be up on Shudder at the end of August.
MASH VILLE
MASH VILLE may be the oddest selection on our list, but the promise of genre-bending is too powerful not to include it. Director Hwang Wook blends the action, comedy, and horror-thriller genres together to create something that may be completely brilliant or too ambitious for its own good. Frankly, that prospect alone is enough to excite.
RITA
Ever since writer/director Jayro Bustamente's hauntingly tragic La Llorona (2019), he's been placed permanently on our radar. With the arrival of RITA, Bustamente shines a spotlight on the abusive and exploitative nature of the orphanage system, taking inspiration from the tragic 2017 orphanage fire that took the lives of so many. Already picked up by Shudder, viewers can expect to see the film on the service November 22nd.
SHELBY OAKS
While the plot itself may feel familiar, the talent and production team behind SHELBY OAKS is nothing to sniff at. Considered one of the most highly-anticipated feature debuts after its hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, YouTube creator Chris Stuckmann teams up with Paper Street Pictures and Intrepid Pictures to bring this heartfelt haunted horror to Fantasia audiences.
Part of what makes Fantasia Film Festival so great is that regardless of genre, viewers will find something to glom onto. While our top picks may not be yours, no one can deny that there is much to view at this year's festival. Make sure to check out Fantasia Film Festival's entire slate of movies. Be on the lookout for our reviews, too, as we get ready to dive into this fest.
The Fantasia Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma du Musée, Théâtre Plaza, and BBAM! Gallery.
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