Orion (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Orion starts with a prophecy to which the film comes back a few times, a prophecy about a virgin mother giving birth to a child who will become a tree and about a traveler who will change the course of things. The movie starts with the traveler seemingly going from place to place aimlessly and the virgin mother giving birth only for the magician to plan her baby to her dismay. She wants to leave but has little hope for survival, until the traveler comes upon their door in need of shelter and food and the magician decides to take him in for the night, and then commences the long process of saving her and himself from the magician who, according to rumors, cannot be killed. All of this happens in a desolate wasteland after what looks to have been an apocalypse.

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Tales of Halloween (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Emilie Black

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

10 tales, 11 filmmakers, tons of mayhem and fun, Tales of Halloween is set one Halloween night in a suburb where all kinds of scary, funny, spooky things go down. In this anthology, the near-perfection radio host talking us from story to story, played by Adrienne Barbeau in a part so close to her role in The Fog, one could think it was the very same character which is most likely very intentional. The 10 short stories contained here vary widely from urban legend come to life to revenge story to alien invasion to neighborhood battles and everything in between. The Decalogue of stories all connect at one point or another through characters passing into other stories or by location choices.

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Excess Flesh (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Jill moved to Los Angeles to start her career and now lives with her friend Jennifer who she has known for a while. Jill is a bit of a shut in, not finding work, slowly falling into depression. Jennifer is a working model and a party girl who is obnoxious and mean to Jill. Jill keeps trying to get Jennifer to pay attention to her, to be her friend, but Jennifer has better things to do. Jill just wants her friend as she knew her, understanding and supportive. Jennifer is being anything but. As things escalate, Jennifer becomes flat out abusive, sleeps with the man Jill was interested in, and treats Jill like a lesser person in general. The more Jill does to be liked, the less Jennifer respects her. That is until Jill cracks, she breaks down mentally, and goes batshit insane. She chains Jennifer in her room and tortures her more sadistically as her insanity reaches new levels.

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I Am Thor (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Are you familiar with the 80’s metal band THOR? Yes? No? Do you need some inspiration to never give up? Of course you do! Then you need to see the documentary about Jon Mickl Thor and his band called I Am Thor. It follows his attempt at a comeback over many years though the losses and the wins, the failures and the accomplishments the man was put through and got while keeping his dream of rocking alive. In this documentary, the history of Jon Mickl Thor and eventually of the band THOR is shown in clips and through retellings by the lead singer and those close to him. It’s at times uplifting, at times infuriating, touching and inspiring.

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Deathgasm (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Horror and metal have gone hand in hand for as long as they both have been around. Many horror movies have metal soundtracks; many metal bands have horror videos. Deathgasm takes this and turns it to 11 as it follows Brodie’s new life after he moves to his aunt and uncle’s house. As Brodie tries to survive at his new school, he makes friends with 2 Dungeons & Dragons players who only get the bullying Brodie receives at the hands of his cousin to become worse. After a period of torment, Brodie finds a music store and there, in the metal section, meets Zakk and the two of them start a metal band and quickly become blood brothers. The duo wanting to have a successful band go looking for the most metal song ever and find it in an old man’s possession which leads to them stealing it and bringing it back to band so they can play it together. However, when they do play it badly with Dion and Giles, instead of getting power and fortune, they awaken a nasty evil and the whole town quickly becomes possessed, except for the quartet and the pretty girl Brodie has his eye on. As the last bastion of humanity, only they can save us all and restore peace in their town. The process is fun and bloody, the film knowing when to amp the comedy and got for full effect.

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A Christmas Horror Story [Fantasia Film Festival] (2015)

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

In the town of Bailey Downs, strange things are afoot on this Christmas Eve. Surely, it must be the Holiday Spirit, that good feeling most people get around the end of the year making them want to be nice, to be generous, to be… Or maybe it’s something much darker as this eve is bloody and filled with mayhem of all kinds, something akin to what one would expect on Krampusnacht.

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Synchronicity (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 2, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Jacob Gentry’s “Synchronicity” is the kind of film I really do enjoy. It’s non-linear, it has a taste of noir within it, and it’s filled with existentialist themes about parallel worlds and wormholes that dare to challenge its audience. “Synchronicity” is the kind of challenging fiction that will spark conversations among its audience and leave them pondering on the bigger questions that it poses right through to the end. I didn’t quite understand what was happening in the film for the first half, but Gentry really brings all of the narrative together making what seems like a scattershot series of events feel like one giant master plan. It’s a film in the tradition of “Memento” sparking brilliant visuals and a vivid world where nothing is ever really what it seems.

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