Fantasia International Film Festival

Fantasia ’17 Review: Better not miss “BETTER WATCH OUT”

You BETTER WATCH OUT, all right, because Chris Peckover’s holiday anti-cheer horror film, which just played Montreal’s Fantasia festival ahead of its U.S. theatrical/digital debut October 6, will surprise and scare you for the entirety of its running time. This is no simplistic SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT-style slasher flick, but a very clever and consistently suspenseful film that announces Peckover (whose previous genre outing, UNDOCUMENTED, explored a very different milieu) as a crafty and assured talent.

Fantasia International Film Festival

Fantasia/Frontières Exclusive: NSFW concept video and comments for Glass Eye Pix’s THE RESTORATION AT GRAYSON MANOR

Of the 20 feature-film pitches presented during a lengthy session at the Frontières International Co-Production Market at Montreal’s current Fantasia festival, one was especially attention-grabbing. Glass Eye Pix topper Larry Fessenden, director Glenn McQuaid and screenwriter Clay McLeod Chapman offered a vivid combination of animation and live action to sell potential financiers on their project THE RESTORATION AT GRAYSON MANOR, and the latter teaser (which is extremely NSFW) can be seen here

Fantasia International Film Festival

Fantasia ’17 Exclusive: Synapse Films’ Don May Jr. talks the 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA

In the midst of the many new international genre features being screened at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, one of the most significant and anticipated premieres is that of a 40-year-old horror landmark—as it has never been seen before. Synapse Films’ new 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA screens this Wednesday night, August 2 (details here), and RUE MORGUE got an exclusive chat with the company’s Don May Jr. about the details of this long-in-the-works project.

Fantasia International Film Festival

Fantasia ’17: A few words with actress Alex Essoe about Simon Rumley’s FASHIONISTA

Making its Canadian premiere at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival tomorrow, July 29, FASHIONISTA is the latest trip into the darkest parts of the psyche by filmmaker Simon Rumley (RED WHITE & BLUE, JOHNNY FRANK GARRETT’S LAST WORD). One of its co-stars is new to the Rumleyverse but no stranger to twisted cinema: Alex Essoe, who broke onto the genre scene in a big way with STARRY EYES and spoke with RUE MORGUE about her FASHIONISTA gig.

Fantasia International Film Festival

Fantasia ’17 Review: The short films of Small Gauge Trauma reveal hidden horrors

The Small Gauge Trauma short-film showcase is one of the highlights of the Fantasia International Film Festival for many of its regulars. This year’s lineup, encompassing nine works from seven countries, was in keeping with programmer Mitch Davis’ vision to present innovative horror experimentation as only the short form can deliver. In the past, he has exposed some of the form’s most visceral examples, and this year the emphasis was a little different, if no less impressive.