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It’s true that everyone tells a story from their own perspective. We all bring our own interpretations, biases and points of view into a situation, and those aspects color the way we see things. So what happens when we need to find the truth? When the events are uncontested, but the details and the way they are laid out and interpreted make all the difference?

Making its North American debut at Fantasia Fest, Radik Eshimov’s Burning is a Rasomon-styled tale set in a quiet suburban neighborhood in Kyrgyzstan. The story that we watch is built upon the dust of a tragedy, as we see how three family members...

In space, no one can hear you scream. But on Earth, lots of people can, and that still won’t help you. At least, that’s the case in the new FX series Alien: Earth, created by Noah Hawley (who also helmed the Fargo and Legion series). The first two episodes of Alien: Earth, which aired on August 12, 2025, on FX/Hulu, are shining achievements of gnarly sci-fi horror telling as well as incredible pieces of world-building for a universe many of us have come to know and love over the decades.

The series opens in 2120 (just two years before the events of Alien) on the U.S.S. Maginot, a vessel heading back to Earth after acquiring some very important species samples while on a research mission for Weyland Yutani. Among these species is the Xenomorph, but they also have quite a few other extraterrestrial nightmares on board, too. It’s here,...

A24 has acquired the worldwide rights to The Undertone, a slow-burn liminal horror film from Canada.

Deadline reports that a competitive bidding situation ensued following a splashy premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival last month, resulting in a mid-7-figure deal.

Paranormal podcast host Evy moves into her dying mother’s house to be her primary caregiver. When she receives audio recordings of a young pregnant couple experiencing supernatural noises, she realizes the woman’s story mirrors her own. Each new recording scratches at her sanity, drawing her into a fate she cannot escape.

Nina Kiri (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) stars in the film, which marks the feature debut of writer-director Ian Tuason.

Kris Holden-Ried (“The Umbrella Academy”), Michèle Duquet (The Virgin Suicides), Keana Lyn Bastidas (“The Hardy Boys”), and Jeff Yung (The Shrouds) round out the cast.

Dan Slater for Slaterverse Pictures and Cody Calahan for Black Fawn Films produce.

In the same vein as Attack the Block and Infested comes Michael Middelkoop’s Dutch sci-fi comedy Straight Outta Space. It’s another genre ode to the underprivileged and cast aside, more relevant than ever in today’s billionaire’s club society. Admittedly, Straight Outta Space doesn’t blast into gear like either of the prior mentioned comparisons. Middelkoop’s goofy alien thriller is scrappy in its extraterrestrial representations, going Invasion of the Body Snatchers with a The World’s End vibe. All those favorable comparisons trounce Middelkoop’s execution, but don’t count this watchable sociopolitical vomitron out for some passable entertainment.

The film’s original name, Straatcoaches vs Aliens, refers to best friends Amin (Shahine El-Hamus) and Mitchell (Daniël Kolf). They patrol Schijndrecht, an affordable housing community, as “street coaches” who keep the neighborhood clean and provide aid—but they’re not law enforcement. Amin and Mitchell waste their days away in Schijndrecht,...

Hey kids! Do you wanna watch Don Lee (a.k.a Ma Dong-seok) slap the sh#t out of demonic minions? Look no further than Holy Night: Demon Hunters, the feisty debut of South Korean filmmaker Lim Dae-hee. Lee co-writes an action-packed take on paranormal investigators; imagine if Ed and Lorraine Warren hired a third accomplice who punches evil away. It's the exact kind of heavy-handed horror thrills you'd expect from Don Lee's production company Big Punch Pictures, and while the story runs a bit thin given the greater promise of unholy warfare, Holy Night: Demon Hunters is a frightening and furious-fisted possession tale that'll leave a five-fingered bruise on your face.

Lee stars as Bow, the leader of an "extraordinary" trio of exorcists known as Holy Night. He's the hulking muscle. Sharon (Seohyun of K-pop group Girls Generation) exorcises spirits from human vessels, and Kim Gun documents their exploits.

Allison Brie and Dave Franco have been making rounds in the media as both a couple and coworkers promoting their new film, “Together.” Despite the pair being married, however, this movie is not a romantic comedy, but rather a horror film. We aren’t new to married couples being at the center of scary movies, with Ed and Lorraine Warren in “The Conjuring” and Chris and Rose from “Get Out” being great examples. In “Together,” Tim, played by Dave Franco, and Millie, played by Alison Brie, are a couple who have strong emotional ties to each other and decide to move into a new home.

When we first meet them, we see awkward tension between the two, and as the movie continues, the horrors of their relationship are exacerbated. In an era of therapy speak, the public has become more and more aware of social dynamics and how humans treat each other.

Flush Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival

Flush, Grégory Morin's tragicomic tale of a man trapped in a toilet whose circumstances get worse at every turn, has won the Fantasia audience award for 2025, it was announced today. In second place was Annapurna Sriram's Fucktoys, with third place going to Steve Pink's Terrestrial.

The festival team was proud to announce record-breaking ticket sales, and revealed that next year's event will be held between 16 July and 2 August.

Those winners in full:

Best International Feature Gold: Flush Silver: Fucktoys Bronze (Tie): Terrestrial And The Forbidden City

Best Asian Feature Gold: Burning Silver: Hi-Five Bronze: I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director In Brooklyn

Best Animated Feature Gold: Death Does Not Exist Silver: I Am Frankelda (Dirs. Arturo Ambriz...

The horrors of HOAs extend beyond sneaky fees and harsh regulations in William Bagley’s Hold the Fort. His suburban siege thriller pits buttoned-up community members against hordes of monsters brought forward by a Hellmouth. It’s sillier than, say, a supernatural version of Assault on Precinct 13, as Bagley favors residential yucks over frights. Enemies spawn at random as witches, werewolves, and “kamikaze bats” bash down doors and shatter windows, but overall quality is restricted by low-budget constraints. Don’t expect Cabin in the Woods’ elevator scene, which is proficient in its monster-mashing abilities. More of a creature-of-the-week television show that has no choice but to let the seams show.

Cityboy Lucas (Chris Mayers) and his hipster-presenting wife Jenny (Haley Leary) are the latest residents of the copy-and-paste housing development Gruber Hills. Hoa President Jerry (Julian Smith) gives them a warm welcome, with an invitation to their evening Equinox celebration.

I have been back a day since leaving the final leg of Fantasia, and I quickly started hating everything, everyone, and everywhere that isn't the festival. Feels good to be back to normal.    All throughout the festival, attendees were reminded that they could vote on their favorite features and shorts throughout the event. And this is quite the surprise, French comedy thriller Flush took home gold for Best International Feature. It's good, like really good. The biggest surprise for me during my time at the fest. Hey, you never know what sticks with an audience.    The Best Asian Feature deservedly went to the horror thriller, Burning, with the crowd-pleasing superhero action movie Hi-Five following up with Silver. And Best Canadian Feature went to...

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If there’s one thing I can’t turn down, it’s a new time travel (or time loop) movie. Especially one with spooky ghosts! Haunted Mountains: The Yellow Taboo recently celebrated its International Premiere at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival, which has for years now been my secret weapon in discovering new Asian cinema. Chia-Ying Tsai’s Taiwanese Horror, directing from a screenplay by Wan-Zhen Zou, plays with the time-loop subgenre in ways that make a tired, old plot device interesting and original again, And best of all, it’s loop is under the cruel control of some really shitty ghosts that want nothing more than to watch people suffer...

Sarah Lasry on the set of Hotel Acropole

"What a film. What a filmmaker," were the impactful words Fantasia's Mitch Davis chose to describe French filmmaker Sarah Lasry's short film Hotel Acropole. Rivka (Judith Zins), a pregnant woman, is grieving the loss of her husband. Since his death, she has been afflicted by a wound on her back that will not heal. The day before she plans to scatter his ashes, she checks into Hotel Acropole, where a visitor, Abel (Sébastien Houbani), intrudes on her self-imposed isolation.

The filmmaker backs up Davis' hype by creating space for the audience to enter the film and filter it through their own ideas and experiences. Hotel Acropole can be experienced for its visceral horror and eroticism, as well as philosophical and intellectual themes and ideas. It's a film that works on both a conscious and unconscious level and creeps under our skin...

Single-location storytelling is a challenge in the filmmaking game. But Brock Bodell absolutely rises to the challenge with his first feature. Hellcat is a taut thriller that makes the most of its limited space and small cast. It sets up a story filled with questions and goes about patiently filling in the details in a way that leaves audiences on the edge of their seats.

Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes up in a cramped trailer. She is groggy, with no memory of how she came to be there. Her arm is sporting a rather vicious wound, which has been cleaned and bandaged. The trailer is in motion and as she looks around, trying to get her bearings, the voice of the driver comes over the intercom and urges her to remain calm. He explains that she has been infected with a deadly virus. He is taking her to a doctor who can help.

Writer/director Julie Pacino makes her feature film debut with the lush & surreal psychological thriller I Live Here Now. Shot on a mix of 35mm and 16mm film, this journey through the mind of an aspiring actress is a nightmare odyssey of scarred memories, bad boyfriends, and the cruel standards of the film industry. From a story perspective it’s maybe not the most groundbreaking examination of trauma but it is an undeniable visual feast from start to finish, with a stunning colour palette and a cast of kooky characters.

I Live Here Now stars Lucy Fry (Bright) as Rose, an actress that’s being pushed to the brink of...

In the independent film community, few names are as iconic as Troma Entertainment, the famously scrappy production company behind films like The Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke ‘Em High. The company’s latest film, Occupy Cannes, is a documentary following the Troma Team as they headed to Cannes in 2013 to promote the premiere of Return to Nuke ‘Em High Vol. 1, only to run into opposition from the establishment… and the authorities.

Timed to the film’s 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival world premiere, FandomWire got the opportunity to speak with Occupy Cannes director Lily-Hayes Kaufman and its subjects, legendary Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman and Return to Nuke ‘Em High and Terrifier actress Catherine Corcoran, about the future of independent film in the face of increasing restrictions. Check out the interview here:

Occupy Cannes Interview

FandomWire: The events depicted in Occupy Cannes happened 12 years ago. Why do you think now...

Canada’s creepiest little production studio, Black Fawn Films, have been on a real roll lately. Earlier this year their supernatural Horror from writer/director Chad Archibald It Feeds (a great indie scare fest for fans of Lights Out and Insidious, starring Twilight‘s Ashley Greene) hit theatres after scaring the pants off of everyone at Panic Fest. And now, the hometown team returns to Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival with The Undertone, a slow burn that really delivers the goods and crafts some of the year’s scariest sequences with nothing more than a microphone and your imagination’s ability to totally f*ck you up.

Written and directed by Ian Tuason,...

Radik Eshimov’s Burning is a multi-pov Horror story with nosey neighbors, evil spirits, dead kids, and some really clever camerawork. The movie makes no illusions about its connections to Kurosawa’s Rashomon and instead serves as a modern re-imagining of how we engage with subjectivity. It’s a twisty-turny narrative that strives to provide a few good scares and finds time to talk about the excuses people make to avoid acknowledging domestic abuse.

Looking for a shelter from the rain, a group of neighbours converge on their local corner store and discuss the excitement of the day. One of the houses in their neighbourhood caught fire but there is...

Lurker was previously reviewed by us at the Sundance Film Festival. Having now played Fantasia, Mubi will release it theatrically this month.

Plot: A retail employee (Théodore Pellerin) worms his way into the inner circle of a rising pop star, Oliver (Archie Madekwe) and will do whatever he needs to in order to stay there.

Review: Lurker is exactly the kind of movie I want to see when I hit Sundance. I went in knowing next to nothing about it other than the fact that some folks involved with The Bear had a hand in it. Days before its premiere, it screened for many of the Sundance volunteers, which is usually something they do when they know they have a real winner on their hands.

Sure enough, Lurker is a terrific blend of black comedy and psychological thriller, with it playing out as almost an evil, demented version of Almost Famous.

Indie Filmmaking scream team The Adams Family return to the Fantasia Film Festival with another dose of their unique homemade Folk Horror in Mother of Flies. True to form, Mother of Flies is a punk rock, dark-night-of-the-soul portrait of death and old magic featuring some killer tracks from the family’s band H6llb6nd6r and a cast almost exclusively comprised of the Adams themselves. Some families bicker with each other over glasses of wine and pose for forced-smile photographs at the bottom of grandma’s stairs- The Adams writhe in hand dug graves and throw up blood on camera for the whole world to see which, obviously, is the cooler choice. And we thank them for it.

In Mother of Flies Zelda Adams and John Adams star as the father-daughter duo Mickey & Jake who set out on a road trip to meet a spiritual healer. Mickey‘s cancer...

When supply exceeded demand at the “Fucktoys” merch table, Annapurna Sriram shifted her role at Fantasia Fest from movie star to crowd control. The first-time filmmaker from Nashville is a trained dominatrix who does quadruple-duty in her dazzling feature debut. Sriram directs, writes, produces, and stars in “Fucktoys,” the epic misadventure of a sweetheart sex worker living with a curse in candy-colored Trashtown, USA.

“We bring merch with us everywhere, but when you travel, the weight allowance means you can only pack so much,” Sriram told IndieWire in Montreal. “Last night’s screening was over 600 people, and I had no idea we would sell out. Then, I was down to my last poster.”

Illustrated by Canadian artist Suspiria Vilchez, the “Fucktoys” poster is perfect ‘60s pastiche with just a pinch of modern perversion. A horny riff on “Roman Holiday,” the promo image shows leading lady “AP” (Sriram) straddling an old blue scooter,...

Never fear J-Horror fans because South Korean filmmaker Kim Soo-jin is happily keeping your favourite subgenre alive with his debut feature Noise. Like every golden era J-Horror classic, Noise features unstoppable pissed off ghosts that you can’t reason with, creepy creaky throat sounds (a must!), and unrelating scare sequences that’ll have you hiding under a blanket for safety. If it’s been a while since you’ve had a good scare, be ready for a non-stop Nope fest with spooky sound design and supernatural baddies.

If you’ve ever lived with loud neighbours, you know all about the madness that Joo-young (Lee Sun-bin, Rampant) and her sister Joo-hee (Han Su-ah, Cheer Up) are dealing with in their crumbling apartment building. But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill racket. The noise plaguing the residents of this high rise is driving people absolutely mad. Some even seem possessed by an evil...

In “Anything That Moves” (2025), the bike-strapping Liam (Hal Baum) zips through the city, servicing clients in his line of sex work. He has no qualms about his work, eyeing how to get the most out of his customers. Some of them, played by real-life adult performers, are giddy and desperate for him.

Liam just wings through the city. Through his free-wheeling exploration, we become intimately familiar with the seedy alleys, corners hiding a thrust of secrets and violence, and lust. The city surges within its concealed networks of cops and informers, each wanting to rat out on the accomplices, criminals, and targets. Liam straggles through its web of delusions and manipulations, every step a deceptive lure. He moves lightly, almost invisibly, his services amenable to clients even beyond the sexual. In fact, he works to fulfil their emotional lives, keep up a fantasy of complete, holistic affirmation. There’s so...

One of the weightier genre entries to emerge from Taiwan in recent years, Tsai Chia-ying’s contribution to the Fantasia 2025 line-up is something of a hybrid beast. It draws on the South East Asian tradition in which the name of the genre is taken very literally, to the point of intentionally distressing the audience both viscerally and psychologically, but it also has folk horror aspects and a Korean-style interest in using genre structures to explore the complexities of modern relationships. If the structure that it adopts partway through frustrates you, bear with it, because it’s more complicated than it seems.

We begin with a young men whom we will later learn goes by the name of An-wei (Tsao Yu-ning). He’s wandering through the mist-shrouded forests of the mountainside alone and afraid. There is little light, he’s coughing, and he has almost run out of water. Hearing a voice which seems.

I am currently on the train to Montreal to take up the final leg of Fantasia after Josh and Kurt have had their runs. So before my wi-fi either completely disappears or the motion sickness sets in I will make this brief.    The Adams Family's Mother of Flies became the first American film to win the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film at the festival. Their film also won the Cheval Noir Award for Best Motion Picture Score.   Indonesian director Hadrah Daeing Ratu won the Best Director award for their film The Book of Sijjin and Illyyin and Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson won the Best Screenplay award for their work on the excellent thriller, Terrestrial.    Our coverage of Fantasia continues through to...

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When a married acting couple decides to share the screen in a dysfunctional romantic drama, the prospect of art imitating life creates a discomforting sensation that we’re trapped in our seats, watching a couple’s therapy session we shouldn’t be witnessing. When such a couple decides to turn relationship strife into outright horror, that sense of uncomfortable voyeurism may very well lead the audience to believe they’ve been unwittingly thrust into the role of the couple’s therapist themselves. This is, of course, a vastly simplified reading; functional couples—even famous ones—do, in fact, exist, and sometimes their joint ventures are little more than an expression of their enduring love taking on surprisingly gnarly forms.

Take, for instance, “Together” (2025), the inaugural outing for director Michael Shanks that derives all of its star power from the budding power couple in front of the camera. Starring (and produced...

The 29th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival has presented its juried awards this evening, with Mother of Flies from filmmakers John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser (collectively known as the Adams Family) taking home the festival’s top honor, its Cheval Noir Award for Best Film. The occult thriller was also bestowed with a Cheval Noir Award for Best Motion Picture Score.

Mother of Flies, which World Premiered on July 24th and was acquired by Shudder earlier this month, is the first feature from the United States to win Fantasia‘s Cheval Noir Award for Best Film in the festival’s 29-year history.

Best Director went to Hadrah Daeng Ratu, for her blood-drenched supernatural shocker The Book of Sijjin and Illiyyin, while Best Screenplay was awarded to Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson, for their work on Steve Pink’s Terrestrial.

Alexander Ullom’s It Ends took home...

The 29th Fantasia Fest isn’t over yet, but we already know the big winners in Montreal. On Saturday night, filmmakers and jurors gathered in a theater at Cinéma du Musée to award seven of the competition’s eight categories.

“Mother of Flies” took home the Cheval Noir for Best Film — the first film from the U.S. to achieve this feat — as well as Best Score. The haunting feature was a family affair, from filmmakers and punk band John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser. They’re collectively known as — wait for it — the Adams Family.

“That’s just good marketing,” joked director Pascal Plante, whose film “Red Rooms” won the Cheval Noir in 2023. Plante served as the section’s jury president in 2025, and announced Best Film.

“I want to put my heart up to the mic, so you can hear how fast it’s going right now,” said Zelda Adams,...

A woman wakes up in a moving camper trailer with a strange wound on her arm, unaware how she got there in Hellcat, the feature directorial debut by writer/director Brock Bodell (Ultrasound). That setup gives way to a fast-moving chamber piece that hinges on the element of surprise, specifically designed for audiences to go in knowing as little as possible.

Bodell plays it close to the vest, toying with subgenres and expectations to send viewers on an unexpected horror journey.

The woman plunged into a survival nightmare is Lena (Dakota Gorman), a young woman who’d been camping alone, only to awaken in the camper. It’s an alarming situation that naturally puts Lena on the defensive, especially when the camper’s driver, Clive (Todd Terry), explains over the intercom that he can’t let her go with that gnarly injury on her arm. Clive seems well-intentioned, and his...

Single Location Horror thrives in the independent space and Brock Bodell’s Hellcat is a great example of how much story you can wring out of one small room and a handful of committed performers. Celebrating its World Premiere at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival, Hellcat features less actors than you can count on one hand, with a couple clever uses of voice actors to help fill out its confined world. It’s a tight thriller with a really strong hook, and a paranoid ticking clock that creeps toward disaster with every passing second.

Hellcat stars Dakota Gorman (Natual Disasters) as Lena, who wakes up locked in a moving trailer, with no memory of how she was kidnapped. The Driver hauling the ramshackle airstream trailer down the highway speaks to Lena over an intercom, but nothing he says is very reassuring. He tells her that she has been infected, that her prospects are not good,...

Dive into the cinematic magic of Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort—your budget-friendly Hollywood escape awaits!

The Tl;Dr…

Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort opened January 15, 1999, near Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Features 1,920 rooms with themes from Fantasia to Toy Story, starting at $120 per night.

Offers pools, a food court, and quirky oversized icons—perfect for movie buffs.

Recent 2025 upgrades include Wi-Fi boosts and refreshed rooms.

It’s a star-studded stay with a side of trivia—let’s roll the credits!

What Is the History of All-Star Movies Resort?

Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort debuted on January 15, 1999, as the third in the All-Star series, following Sports and Music. Construction began in the early 1990s, designed by Arquitectonica of Miami, aiming to bring affordable Disney magic to families. It joined the Value Resort lineup, targeting budget-conscious guests with a cinematic twist.

The resort’s history ties to Disney’s late-1990s expansion,...

Several films screening at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival explore the idea that teen girls are not alright, including The Serpent’s Skin, Foreigner, and Lucid.

Read on for my capsule reviews of all three films.

The Serpent’s Skin

Scripted by Alice Maio Mackay and co-writer Benjamin Pahl Robinson, The Serpent’s Skin follows trans girl Anna (Alexander McVicker) as she moves to the big city. There she meets weird, but decent Danny (Jordan Dulieu) and goth tattoo artist Gen (Avalon Fast), sleeping with and befriending both as a dark, serpentine power begins attacking people. Think The Craft meets Scanners.

Mackay’s bold colour scheme, elliptical editing, and counter culture attitude are all present in The Serpent’s Skin, but the narrative moves at a more deliberate pace than her previous films, which allows the characters time to breathe between set pieces.

Featuring genuine chemistry between McVicker and Fast, the return...

Plot: A woman finds herself trapped in a remote hotel where the violent echoes of her past come alive, blurring the lines between her darkest nightmares and the waking world.

Review: You just never know what to expect when the children of famous actors start getting into the film world themselves. Sometimes it’s a disaster, and other times they blossom into great filmmakers of their own. Hailing from Julie Pacino, there’s sure to be a certain spotlight on her finally stepping into the world of feature film. And rather than play it safe, she’s decided to enter the world of surrealist horror. On the surface, it’s a subgenre without answers and more up for interpretation, but it requires a firm vision to pull it off. I Live Here Now rides the line and ultimately is able to accomplish what it’s trying to do.

I Live Here Now...

Rose (Lucy Fry) has always known she cannot have children. The tragic result of a childhood surgery whose trauma embedded itself in her mind as a nightmare, this truth became a major part of her identity. A crucial piece to the puzzle that was her so-called brokenness. This is why she can’t wrap her head around the news when the doctor tells her she’s pregnant. It’s not just the irony that this discovery comes as a result of being ordered to lose three pounds for a potential acting role, but the horrible timing of finally catching a big career break when the opportunity to start a family miraculously manifests. Rose must escape the chaos. She must figure out what she wants. Who she is. Who she can still become.

The debut feature from Julie Pacino, I Live Here Now embraces an unsettling humor from the beginning. There’s the noted,...

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) director Steve Pink returns with the lower key (but still silly) anxiety- fueled thriller Terrestrial. While this new effort does not feature Crispin Glover juggling a chainsaw, it does have reliable funny man Jermaine Fowler using his talents to step into a new role as a slippery and suspicious character hiding a dark secret. Co-starring James Morosini (It’s What’s Inside), Pauline Chalamet (The King of Staten Island), and Edy Modica (Jury Duty), Terrestrial is a quirky thriller about what happens when your friends become hilariously unreliable and unpredictably dangerous.

After college pals Ryan (Morosini), Maddie (Chalamet), and Vic (Modica) receive a worried message from the mother of their mutual friend Allen (Fowler), the group take a quick trip to see him out in Los Angeles. To their surprise, he’s living in a mansion thanks to his unexpected success as a hot-on-the-scene Sci-Fi writer….or so he says.

Slaterverse Pictures and Black Fawn Films have unveiled the atmospheric new trailer and theatrical poster for The Undertone ahead of its sold-out world premiere at Fantasia.

Nina Kiri, Michèle Duquet, and Kris Holden-Ried star.

The Undertone follows the host of an ‘all-things-creepy’ podcast who moves into her dying mother’s house to be her primary caregiver. When she receives audio recordings of a young pregnant couple experiencing paranormal noises, she realizes the woman’s story mirrors her own. Each new recording scratches at her sanity, drawing her into a fate she cannot escape.

The new horror movie marks the feature film debut of writer/director Ian Tuason.

“I think what makes this movie powerful, beyond its elements of horror, is the deep and vulnerable place it came from,” explains star Nina Kiri. “It takes a lot of courage to write something based on a painful and terrifying experience. Ian’s openness,...

There’s no such thing as “too much” in Montreal, but Fantasia Fest is long no matter how you slice it. Running from July 16 to August 3, the annual genre event in Québec celebrates its 29th edition this year — though it used to cover even more of the calendar.

The beloved summer film festival began in 1996 as a means of connecting Canadian cinephiles with cutting-edge films from the Asian market. Back then, audiences had several years of movies to catch up on, but now, Fantasia fuels almost three weeks of programming with stories curated from around the globe.

“Genre” filmmaking covers any highly stylized cinematic work that plays on specific tropes from sci-fi, horror, fantasy — you name it. Fantasia lures all kinds of artistic voices into its purple-hued embrace, presenting its own world premieres alongside top titles that previously played SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca, FrightFest, Sitges, and Overlook. What does well here...

We enter Steve Pink’s Terrestrial with a tour through an opulent home––broken glass on the floor, a blood trail towards the door, and Allen (Jermaine Fowler) sat against the wall in a frozen panic. Before we can even begin to presume what might have occurred, however, we’re whisked to a car inhabited by three of his old college friends: Maddie (Pauline Chalamet), Ryan (James Morosini), and Vic (Edy Modica). En route to see Allen for the first time in years, they’re worried about the state in which they might find him. His mother called in a fright about him potentially being suicidal, so it’s more than a little surprising when he greets them outside his giant mansion with joy.

Our assumption is thus that Samuel Johnson and Connor Diedrich’s script is teasing us with a possible future. A glimpse of what might arise once...

Brothers Rodolfo and Arturo Ambriz, proteges of Pinocchio filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, expand their imaginative, monster-filled world of “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks” into I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first stop-motion animated feature. A young orphaned writer traverses the spooky world she created to face her monsters in a bid to restore the balance between fact and fiction, leading to an epic quest of self-discovery. It’s a gothic fantasy feature whose boundless creativity is matched by ambition, so much so that it can barely contain its dense storytelling.

The recently orphaned and headstrong Francisca Imelda (Mireya Mendoza) is the type of storyteller whose writing is so powerful that it’s breathed life into the nightmarish realm that’s long inhabited by her spooky tales. If only 19th-century publishers were interested in gothic tales of nightmares personified, from a young girl no less.

That doesn’t just erode Francisca’s confidence in reality,...

South Korea’s housing crisis sets the stage for a contemporary haunting in director Kim Soo-jin’s debut feature, Noise, inducing anxious frights with the cacophony of sound from ghosts and crowded apartment complexes alike. It’s the sound design that takes center stage, creating a uniquely aural nightmare for tenants of a particularly noisy building. That fresh angle, along with Lee Je-hui’s genre-bending script, injects enough unpredictability and well-crafted scares to nearly distract from the increasingly overstuffed plot.

Noise‘s cold open signals a very different type of ghost story ahead as it follows Ju-hee (Han Soo-a), a young woman driven to the brink of madness by sound emanating from neighboring apartments. Her frantic scramble to dampen the noise that only she can seemingly hear gets abruptly interrupted by an eerie threat, one that leads to her disappearance, which takes place in broad daylight. The woman’s hearing-impaired sister,...

“Lucid” (2025) brought back my memories of Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon.” Released in 1943, Deren’s 14-minute short follows a woman from the moment she enters a house. Initially, it seems like just a mundane part of her life. Yet, the film quickly turns into what could be her worst nightmare. She peeks out of her window and sees someone, and it evokes something deep within her. Suddenly, she struggles to walk around in a space that looks like a maze. Besides her, we barely notice other figures. Even if no one says a word, we feel deeply for this woman’s yearning for the unknown. We don’t learn any specific details about her, and yet, it puts us closer to what she might be feeling. In parts, the film is a mystery. In parts, it’s a drama, seemingly with no end in sight.

“Lucid” borrows a...

While Hubert Davis celebrates the world premiere of his narrative feature debut the eco-thriller “The Well” on July 21 at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, he is already deep into the post soundmix of his second feature, a theatrical adaptation of the 1986 sports drama “Youngblood.”

Both narrative projects draw on his experience in documentary filmmaking and reorient genre conventions, Davis told Variety ahead of the world premiere of “The Well,” which is programmed in Cheval Noir, Fantasia’s main feature competition.

“The Well” is set in a near-future time of environmental collapse, when resources are scarce, diseases are rampant and isolation is the norm. A family’s safety and loyalties are tested after a wounded man arrives on their doorstep and discovers their hidden source of clean water.

“Several years ago, we were living in a remote place north of Toronto and the idea for ‘The Well’ emerged from the...

On Monday July 21 2025, Travel broadcasts Mysteries of the Unknown!

Operation Fantasia, Miss Major Spy and Writing Cherokee Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Mysteries of the Unknown,” titled “Operation Fantasia, Miss Major Spy and Writing Cherokee,” promises to take viewers on an intriguing journey through the unexpected. This episode, airing soon on Travel, will explore three captivating stories that blend the mysterious with the extraordinary.

In Central Park, glowing creatures have been spotted, sparking curiosity and wonder. These unusual sightings have caught the attention of both locals and experts, leading to questions about what these creatures might be. The episode will delve into the details of these sightings, examining the reactions of those who have encountered these mysterious beings and what they could mean for the park’s ecosystem.

The episode will also feature a star of the stage who is willing to risk it all for the role of a lifetime.

Steve Pink may not be a household name if you aren’t into raunchy sex comedies like his 2010 film “How Tub Time Machine” and its sequel. However, he is someone who helped me discover my taste in American movies through his work as a writer in the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as “Grosse Pointe Blank” and “High Fidelity.” With “Terrestrial,” Pink brings some of his early tendencies, including our obsession with the arts, into the mix, while also serving a genre fare that is occasionally engaging.

Co-written by Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson, Pink’s direction is quick to establish the premise, which mostly centers around the protagonist, Allen (Jermaine Fowler), and his obsession with writer Sj Purcell (Brendan Hunt) and the sci-fi world he has created through his books and the subsequent TV show based on them. Allen is now working on his own sci-fi world; his...

The 2025 edition of Fantasia has just begun and we cannot wait for the next three weeks of international genre cinema that’ll shock, terrify, and entertain. With so many films playing, it’s hard to determine what to make time for in your schedule. But never fear, because we’re here to help by sharing some of our most anticipated titles playing at this year’s festival. It feels impossible to narrow down All of our favorites, but we’re shining a spotlight on those that have particularly caught our genre-loving eyes over here at Dread Central.

Anything That Moves (dir. Alex Phillips)

Fantasia alum Alex Phillips is back, fresh off his debut feature All Jacked Up and Full of Worms with a new perverted tale. And as someone who loves perverted cinema, I simply cannot wait. In his sophomore features pizza boy who has sex for money is swept...

Plot: Follows Lucas and Jenny, who think their life is finally coming together when the couple becomes homeowners. Little do they know that their new house comes with a big catch. Lucas and Jenny soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when they become trapped in a battle between their Homeowners Association and an onslaught of monsters from hell.

Review: As Fantasia 2025 kicks off, I’m happy to say that the first film (for me at least) is a blast. There’s nothing quite like a horror/comedy that is able to simply be fun. Often they can get so wrapped up in trying to be a specific thing, that they lose their identity. And Hold The Fort manages the fun throughout its runtime with over-the-top characters, fun practical effects, and a pacing that keeps things moving a mile a minute. This has a tone that is playful,...

There’s a limit to which we can endure films built around monstrous invasions. William Bagley’s “Hold The Fort” (2025) is painful to sit through, as lazy as ploddingly clumsy. Nothing is propping it up in terms of inventive imaging or scintillating action. In other words, it’s dead on arrival. The film opens with Lucas (Chris Mayers) and Jenny (Haley Leary) moving into their new house. They have dreams and anticipation regarding how their lives will proceed in a change of neighbourhood. Lucas is the more charged of the two; Jenny flinches at the prospect of tackling the community association. She’s cautious about it, but he dismisses her anxieties. Soon, the association’s president, Jerry (Julian Smith), lands at their doorstep. Exuberant and enthused, he insists they attend the equinox party that night. But there’s a caveat.

It turns out the community has a strange portal, connecting directly to hell.

Spanning a massive 18 days in Montreal, Canada, the Fantasia International Film Festival remains one of the biggest genre film festivals in the world. Featuring everything from world premieres of new horror flicks and exciting underground pictures to screenings of some of the buzziest films that have played the festival circuit in the past year, Fantasia is unquestionably one of the most exciting times of the year for any cinephile.

We at FandomWire have gotten the chance to see some of the films that are playing at this year’s Fantasia, and while there are plenty of things we are excited to discover ourselves, here are a few films we’ve already seen that we think deserve your attention:

Death Does Not Exist

Fantasia might be best known as a festival for horror and other genre films, but it also boasts a consistently impressive lineup of animation from around the world.

They’re here! Montreal’s ravenous cinema fans begin their annual midsummer genre feast this week, as the Fantasia International Film Festival opens its 29th edition on July 16 with Ari Aster’s paranoia-fuelled ripsnorter “Eddington.”

Over the next 18 days, Fantasia unspools a head-spinning global selection – 125 features, 200+ shorts – that showcases everywhere fantastic film is and everything it’s doing right now, and hosts Frontières – its vital four-day co-production market and networking event – which nurtures the next wave of talent and narrative ideas.

“Fantasia started as a pure fan-oriented event, and while it has embraced a broader role through the years – building a killer press office, becoming more industry facing with Frontières – it hasn’t lost an ounce of its original mandate and works hard to build direct connections between audiences and filmmakers,” XYZ head of international acquisitions Todd Brown told Variety.

“As a natural consequence, both buyers and sellers have learned...

“Lucid,” a handmade horror film about a frustrated ’90s art punk’s trippy quest for inspiration, first emerged at Fantasia as a participant in Frontières’ 2022 Shorts to Features lab and is returning to Montreal next week fully metamorphosed.

Ahead of the Canadian film’s world premiere on July 21 in the Fantasia International Film Festival’s Septentrion Shadows program, “Lucid” co-directors Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall have shared the trailer in exclusivity with Variety.

“Frontières gave us the chance to test-drive the surreal and handmade tone, sharpen our vision, and connect with a kind, yet brutally honest, community of genre lovers who didn’t flinch when we pitched them a Fried Chicken Monster,” Milligan told Variety last week.

“Making art and indie film is an act of rebellion,” she said. “We had to create this film outside traditional industry structures, and we were able to get through production thanks to an...

The final wave of programming for this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival was announced this afternoon, with the fest running from July 17 through August 3, 2025.

Fantasia 2025 will mark the World Premiere of director Lily-Hayes Kaufman’s documentary Occupy Cannes, which will premiere at the festival on July 31, 2025. The documentary shines a spotlight on Troma’s unique approach to the Cannes Film Festival over the years, spotlighting their most recent effort to sell the film Return to Nuke ‘Em High at the event.

Iconic director Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Team wage a punk-spirited battle championing independent art at Cannes in Occupy Cannes, presented through the lens of Kaufman’s daughters, Director Lily-Hayes Kaufman, Cinematographer Charlotte Kaufman (The Jinx; The Alabama Solution) and Producer Lisbeth Kaufman.

Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Team have been a staple of the Cannes Film Festival since 1974. Renowned for guerrilla tactics and provocative artistry to sell films,...

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 29th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 3, 2025, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée and Bbam! Gallery.

Additionally, Fantasia has announced that it’ll be presenting a Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award to animator and director Genndy Tartakovsky, as well as musical icon Danny Elfman. The festival will also present the Canadian Trailer Blazer Award to actor Sheila McCarthy, and the Denis-Héroux Award to producer Anne-Marie Gélinas. Lloyd Kaufman will also receive the inaugural Indie Maverick Award for his decade-long dedication to the weird, gross, and wild.

The festival website is now live with the complete lineup of over 125 features and 200+ shorts available to be explored. Ticket pre-sales open at 10:00 Am on July 4, 2025.

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