Fantasia Gets Bigger, Better and Bloodier

Fantasia, North America’s largest genre film festival, is back and bigger than ever for its 14th edition, which kicks off in Montreal on July 8th with the Canadian premiere of Disney’s The Sorceror’s Apprentice and bows out a full three weeks later with another Canadian premiere, the Sundance and SXSW hit Tucker & Dale Vs Evil, a horror film satire that has had audiences spilling their guts with laughter. In between, the festival has amassed a slew of genre and Asian films that are sure to please festival regulars as well as newcomers alike.

It’s tempting to accuse the fest of going Hollywood with the Disney film as its opener (last year they have the North American premiere for Tarantino’s Basterds), but it’s actually fitting for The Sorceror’s Apprentice to have its Canadian premiere in a festival setting in star and local hero Jay Baruchel’s hometown. Baruchel will be in attendance for a Q&A at the screening. And speaking of geeky-looking actors, the fest will also showcase the Cdn preem for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (starring Michael Cera). And a festival in its 14th year and growing bigger with each passing summer is bound to attract the attention of the marketing departments of some of the larger and medium sized distributors. And that’s fine, because the larger-profile screenings help Fantasia continue to focus on the more independent and quirky fare that its core audience devours with abandon. And there’s plenty of that in store for genre lovers this year, as this opening press conference video featuring the fest’s always exuberant head programmer Mitch Davis demonstrates.

The festival will feature many premieres, including world premieres of director Steven R. Monroe’s remake of the rape revenge classic I Spit on Your Grave and cult superstar Frank Hennenlotter’s documentary about the king of grindhouse, Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore, as well as the North American and Canadian premieres of Severance and Triangle director Christopher Smith’s Black Death and The Descent director Neil Marshall’s period epic Centurion, respectively. All four films’ directors will be in attendance, as will H.G. Lewis himself.

Premieres are nice, but a key characteristic of Fantasia in the past is how the festival’s programmers were able to look at the films they had on tap and managed to group a bunch of them into themes. This year is no different. Renowned director Ken Russell will be on hand to receive a lifetime achievement award at a screening of his 1971 film The Devils, and as a bonus the local cinematheque will show some rare prints of pics in his filmography. Along with Russell’s classic, we are blessed with the spotlight theme of ‘Between Death and The Devil‘, which includes such fare as Smith’s Black Death and the Eli Roth-produced The Last Exorcism from Lionsgate. Out of left field comes a second spotlight theme at this year’s fest, ‘Subversive Sebia‘, which focuses on the transgressive and politically-charged flimmaking scene in that country. Featuring older entries like 1982’s Variola Vera and more modern fare like director Srdjan Spasovic’s acclaimed A Serbian Film and the sociologically poignant The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, this spotlight also includes An Introduction to Serbian Horror Cinema, a multimedia presentation and panel discussion about the small but remarkable contribution of the country to the horror pantheon that includes many of the directors and producers of the films being presented at the fest this year.

As mentioned above, titles from last year’s TIFF, this year’s Sundance (Park City at Midnight items) and SXSW festivals are embedded in this edition. Magnolia/Magnet Releasing’s top acquisitions guy Tom Quinn will be a juror member at the fest and along with Cannes tire serial killer film Rubber, he is bringing [Rec] 2, Down Terrace and the previously mentioned film from Neil Marshall’s Centurion. The fest has programmed a double bill of Mesrine – the two-parter crime thriller starring Vincent Cassel receives an earlier Canadian launch date than Music Box’s release in the U.S.   

Also on hand to collect a lifetime achievement award will be animation masters Don Bluth and Gary Goldman (The Secret Of Nimh, An American Tail, The Land Before Time). The two will also preside obver a roundtable discussion about the current state of animated cinema. The festival has never been solely about the films, though, and this year’s edition is no exception. Some special events include a gala evening at Montreal’s famous Place des Arts on July 28th, where a fully restored copy of Fritz Lang’s 1927 Metropolis, featuring an added 25 minutes of recently discovered footage, will be screened accompanied by a 13-piece orchestra performing a new score for the film by internationally renowned composer Gabriel Thibaudeau.  Steven Severin, co-founder of legendary musical act Siouxsie and the Banshees, will present an avant-garde musical event set to the images from Jean Cocteau’s 1930 surreal Blood of a Poet. Never ones to be outdone by anybody, director Stuart Gordon and actor Jeffrey Combs will be on hand to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Re-Animator with a special screening of the film and a two-night-only performance of the critically-acclaimed and audience-approved one man show Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe.  Combs has garnered rave reviews for his portrayal of the troubled master of the macabre, and festival-goers will be treated to the international premiere of the play.  Gordon will also preside over  Adapting H.P. Lovecraft for the Screen: A Master Class, which is being presented by the newly-minted Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, a Montreal-based organization that offers a variety of theory and production-based workshops for youth aged 14-29.  This one promises to be intimate, as the room it is being held in seats only 50 people.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg, folks. If ever there was a reason for genre fans to head to Montreal for a three-week summer vacation, this year’s 14th annual edition of the Fantasia Festival is it. See you there! Check out the exhaustive selection on the official website.