FANTASIA 2015—ANGUISH

Anguish (2015, USA, dir. Sonny Mallhi)—The most visceral achievement of Sonny Mallhi’s directorial debut Anguish (2015) is its nerve-wracking sound design, imaginatively executed by Sonic Magic, a near textbook example of the vital importance of sound for a horror film to have full impact. But that’s just one accomplishment among many in the World Premiere of Mallhi’s fresh, riveting approach towards the now-cliché exorcism film.

What starts out as a study of mental illness among adolescents slowly morphs into a jarring tale of spiritual possession. Please notice I did not say demonic possession, because that’s the pivotal difference in Mallhi’s filmic strategy, whose research into the subject revealed therapeutic systems of spirit release, in contrast to patristic Catholic approaches of ritual exorcism that often causes harm (if not death) to the possessed individual, precisely for maligning and mishandling the possessing spirit as demonic.

Allegedly based on true events, and actual statistics of the number of adolescents suffering from mental illness, Mallhi—producer of The Strangers (2008) and At the Devil’s Door (2014)—takes over the helm to create not only a harrowing but admirably compassionate tale of 16-year-old Tess (in a powerhouse performance by Ryan Simpkins, 15 at the time of filming) who has been struggling with a personality disorder since the age of 5 that has confounded all the medical specialists approached by her mother Jessica (Annika Marks), who, alone, is barely coping as hospital bills mount while her husband is deployed to the Mideast. Jessica hopes that moving to a small town in a pastoral setting might calm things down, unaware that a recent tragedy has left Sarah (Karina Logue), the local book shop owner, bereft of her daughter Lucy (Amberley Gridley) in a sudden, horrific accident. World Premiere. IMDb.

Two mothers, two daughters, cross and exchange lives as Lucy seeks closure before passing on. This female-centric narrative offers remedial critique to the male-dominated worlds of medicine and religion who eagerly prescribe drugs and exorcism to take care of Tess’s problem. That the two mothers take it upon themselves to work this out between themselves sets the audience up for an evening at the threshold to the dead with lost spirits known and unknown passing through Tess. “I want people to look beyond their comfort zone,” Mallhi asserts, and he has achieved a discomforting, frequently terrifying, experience at the intersection of mental illness and spiritual possession. Anguish will predictably walk away as one of the horror discoveries of Fantasia.

 
Anguish from Festival Fantasia on Vimeo.

FANTASIA 2015—GOODNIGHT MOMMY / A HARD DAY / BØRNING

Goodnight Mommy / Ich seh, Ich seh (2014, Austria, dirs. Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala)—The horror genre has made me completely distrust corn fields. The minute Goodnight Mommy starts with nine-year-old twin brothers Elias and Lukas (played by the eponymous Schwarz brothers) playing hide-and-seek in the corn fields that flank their lonely country house—with woods stretching off to the distance on the other side—my skin began to crawl. The expansive landscape felt claustrophobic and insular, a trap.

Then I began to calm down as the truly adorable Elias and Lukas are shown jumping up and down on a trampoline in the rain, running through the woods, catching big beetles for their bug collection, saving a stray cat from an ossuary, and sharing whispered secrets by flashlight underneath their bedcovers. But then there’s the problem of mother. She’s returned home from the hospital with extensive facial surgery, her head wrapped in bandages, her eyes swollen and bloodshot, and she’s different than before, short on patience, stern, changing all the house rules and not for the better. Elias and Lukas begin to wonder: Is she really their mother? And set out to test her.

Produced by Ulrich Seidl, it’s to be expected that Goodnight Mommy will transform into a dark, existential struggle for identity and fundamental trust—what Fantasia programmer Mitch Davis describes “as a profoundly disturbing work of macabre beauty and black poetics, of unspeakable horror and scorching psychological hurt” —proving yet again that no one can hurt you as much as your own family. IMDb.

At Variety, Peter Debruge says Austrian newcomers Franz and Fiala have created an "elegantly stylized, thoroughly unnerving attempt to creep the heck out of arthouse horror fans" and "a home-invasion scenario where the aggressors lived there all along." David Rooney's bottom line at The Hollywood Reporter: "Even Joan Crawford didn't have these kinds of parenting problems." Both liken the film to Michael Haneke's Funny Games (1997). Rooney adds that "this insidious tale of a mother-son bond gone haywire is squirm-inducing stuff" and has "cult potential stamped all over it." At The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw likewise references Haneke, and includes Jessica Hausner's Hotel (2004) as a comparison. His main critique: "Perhaps a more unassuming genre director would have tightened this movie's cables a little, so that it had more tension and less revulsion. At all events, it delivers some nasty shocks."


Goodnight Mommy - Trailer from Films Distribution on Vimeo.
 

A Hard Day / Kkeutkkaji Ganda (2014, South Korea, dir. Kim Seong-hun)—As synopsized by Fantasia: “Homicide detective Ko Gun-su is having a hard day. His mother has just died, and he and his colleagues are being investigated by the internal affairs over bribery charges. Then on his way to his mother's funeral, he drives recklessly and commits a fatal hit and run. He tries to cover-up the accident by hiding the man's corpse in his deceased mother's coffin. But someone has been watching all along, and Gun-su gets a mysterious call from a person claiming that he was the sole witness to the crime, who now begins to blackmail him." Official site. IMDb. Wikipedia.

In his program capsule, Nicolas Archambault promises that A Hard Day "contains everything that contemporary Korean cinema is reputed for, including intense chase scenes, strikingly realistic tussles, biting dark humor, corrupt anti-heroes and glorious production values. No wonder this instant classic received a standing ovation from the notoriously difficult Cannes crowd. If the film is largely carried upon the shoulders of actors Lee Sun-kyun (Our Sunhi, 2013) and Cho Jin-woong (Hwayi: A Monster Boy, 2013), dead-set in an intense duel, it is Kim Seong-hun's impeccable direction and bullet-speed script that steal the show, marking him as one of the most promising emerging Korean filmmakers."

At Variety, Maggie Lee states that Seong-hun handles "a taut yet elaborately plotted narrative with poise, control and near-faultless technical execution." At The Hollywood Reporter, Stephen Dalton claims A Hard Day provided Cannes "a masterclass in throat-squeezing, stomach-knotting suspense" and a narrative "full of smart surprises and darkly funny lurches." Catching the film at the recent San Francisco International Film Festival, Tony An enthuses at Ynot At the Movies: "The film's sense of humor is simply irresistible."

I haven’t much more to add other than that this is all absolutely true. A thoroughly rousing, crowd-pleasing cat-and-mouse chase that will leave you gasping and laughing in the same breath, if you haven’t already fallen off the edge of your seat.

Børning (2014, Norway, dir. Hallvard Bræin)—Another film to buckle in for (it’s the law, afterall) is this formulaic car race that guffaws its way across the length of Norway, offering some spectacular views of the countryside underneath the roar of engines and screeching wheels. Fantasia claims Børning is "faster than Cannonball Run and funnier than Smokey and the Bandit", and it certainly boasts its share of speed and telegraphed jokes, sleek cars and hot babes, but I really wish there would have been a hunk or two to distract me from the obvious and the cloying sentimentality of a father trying to communicate with his estranged daughter. North American Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

FANTASIA 2015—DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN / WE ARE STILL HERE

Director's Commentary—Terror Of Frankenstein (USA, dir. Tim Kirk)—This “mockumentary” of sorts sports a brilliant concept, albeit unevenly executed. I dozed off now and again because listening to two old men recount memories, however intriguingly morbid, has a certain lulling effect, and—truth be told—I’m not a huge fan of listening to director’s commentaries on DVDs and Blu-Rays, though I know diehard fans who devour such things for every bit of trivia they can access about a movie.

Kirk advances the notion of an unreliable narrator by providing an unreliable commentary to an all-but-forgotten—yet authentic—Frankenstein film, Calvin Floyd’s Terror of Frankenstein (1977). Fans of the previously eccentric cinephilia demonstrated by helmer Kirk and producer Rodney Ascher (Room 237 and The Nightmare) will have no trouble taking to this film’s metatextual approach. While offering an opportunity to take a look at Floyd’s original film, the “commentary” is the real movie here, heard not seen, which recounts a series of grisly murders allegedly associated with the making of the film by a serial murderer who’s a member of the cast. Can you guess who? In a way, it’s a MacGuffin, as what is most entertaining about Director’s Commentary is its droll sense of humor, replete with throwaway lines that hardly offer time to laugh—think MST2K spliced with Masterpiece Theater. Director’s Commentary likewise takes a wry punch at the way momentary nostalgic interest in a film can breed financial exploitation. Equally clever, and with a tip of the hat to Room 237, the spirit of Kubrick is conjured yet again, this time as the lead actor of Terror of Frankenstein, Leon Vitali (featured in Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut) revisits his role as Victor Frankenstein to acerbic effect. One can almost imagine him shrieking, “It’s alive … again!!” International Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.


Terror of Frankenstein Director's commentary from Festival Fantasia on Vimeo.

We Are Still Here (USA, dir. Ted Geoghegan)—I’m only two days into the festival, but I’m going to be hard-pressed to find anything as satisfying as Ted Geoghegan’s directorial debut. Long-time fans of Fantasia know Ted as one of the festival’s hardest working publicists, so there was a real sense of keeping it in the family and rooting for the home team at the one-off screening of We Are Still Here’s Canadian premiere. I look forward to transcribing the lively Q&A.

But for now, let’s focus on my immediate satisfaction. I’ve long been hard-pressed to justify to more “serious” movie fans my unflinching passion for the horror genre. No other genre (when done well) achieves the catharsis I crave from watching sci-fi, horror and dark thrillers (accounting for my continued presence at Fantasia over the years). Without playing it for irony, We Are Still Here succeeds as a meticulously enamored homage to the giallo films of Lucio Fulci, specifically The House By the Cemetery (1981)—several characters in We Are Still Here are, in fact, unapologetically named after characters or people associated with Fulci’s film—yet Geoghegan retains a distinctly unique contemporary pace and directorial signature. Pacing and balance set We Are Still Here apart from so much of that ill-behaved step-child—the horror-comedy genre hybrid—which rarely works for me, even as it seems to be the kneejerk indulgence of fledgling genre filmmakers. If I laugh at a horror film, I want it to be out of nervous relief (catharsis in action), and not because I’m making fun of the genre or holding myself above it.

Pacing and balance determine the pitch of a film. I knew Geoghegan had the pitch perfect when a flashlight beam streaking across a cellar wall made me shriek and flinch. And then I laughed, because I had been terrified by something so simple, which meant I was being expertly set up. Send me to a psychiatrist and pay the invoice if this concerns you. The film’s atmosphere is beautifully established through Karim Hussain’s widescreen cinematography: an early scene shows snowy plains whipped by wind into whirling snowdevils, which presages disquietude to come. Wintry isolation brackets the embered spirits of We Are Still Here, creating an elemental tug-of-war between snow and fire.

In the cold, wintry fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every 30 years—and demands a sacrifice. As Dave Alexander describes in the program capsule: "The spirits in We Are Still Here aren't simply content to slam doors and lurk in shadows. They're out for blood—and get plenty, literally painting the walls crimson." And don’t misunderstand me, there is plenty of intentional humor in We Are Still Here that succeeds on its own merits, particularly the performance of Larry Fessenden as the pot-smoking husband of a clairvoyant wife. His characterization has a touch of Jack Nicholson’s in The Shining; demonic, by way of demented.  Barbara Crampton provides the film’s emotional center as the grieving mother unable to let go of her dead son’s spirit. IMDb. Facebook

At Variety, my SFFCC colleague Dennis Harvey is less enthused: "Ted Geoghegan's feature directing debut somewhat awkwardly straddles straight-up horror and tongue-in-cheek homage, its humor seldom foregrounded yet still sufficiently omnipresent to somewhat undermine the scares. ...Even the occasional gaps in narrative and character logic make sense in the context of homage—particularly to Fulci, but also to such cultish U.S. indie horror films of the era as Let's Scare Jessica to Death. Of course, viewers with a shallower genre viewing history to draw on will simply fault We Are Still Here as being corny and careless."

At The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck's bottom line is that We Are Still Here "plays like an old ABC TV 'Movie of the Week'—and that's a compliment." Scheck adds: "Showcasing juicy performances by its actors who tear into their stock roles with admirable conviction," he gives "special props for the casting of 79-year-old Monte Markham in a role in which the veteran character actor truly sinks his teeth."

At Twitch, Peter Martin states: "We Are Still Here does not reinvent the horror wheel, but it respects the genre enough to know when it's time to grease that wheel with a little blood—OK, a lot—and more than a few welcome surprises. It manages to do all that with an authentic spirit, whether it's being quiet and unsettling or jolting and savage." Martin likewise praises cinematographer Karim Hussain, "who captures the beauty and terror of the story's many daytime settings, putting the lie to the idea that horror only comes out at night."

FANTASIA 2015—SLUMLORD / OBSERVANCE

The horrific hazards of surveillance—whether this side of the lens or that—is the connective trope between the World Premieres of Slumlord (2015) and Observance (2015) at the 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival (Fantasia). Whether one believes that evil enters through the eye as a witness to atrocity, or that the voyeuristic eye itself commits atrocity, the eye becomes the fulcrum through which these criminal processes are understood.

In Peter Marra's survey of the slasher film genre " 'Strange Pleasure': 1940s Proto-Slasher Cinema" (recently published in Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces Of A Lost Decade, edited by Mario Degiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé, and Kristopher Woofter, Lexington Books), Maara outlines the formulas strategically used to position audiences in relationship to onscreen antagonists, notably "the emphasis on a psychologically motivated human killer who functions unrecognizably in normalized society and elicits audience sympathy; the distinct association made by the film between its audience and the killer's perspective, specifically through the use of point of view shots…." (2014:27) Whether we "understand" Norman Bates' voyeuristic compulsions in Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) and, thereby, ameliorate his pathology, Hitchcock nonetheless frames Norman's pathology in a stunning detail of his eye looking through a peephole at Marion Crane; the light from the other room illuminating his eyeball. It's his eye, what he sees, his motivated perspective on the world, that becomes the signifier of evil foreshadowed.

Slumlord (2015, USA, dir. Victor Zarcoff)—The McManus Brothers Kevin and Matthew brought their directorial feature debut Funeral Kings to Fantasia in 2010 (to considerable acclaim), and have upped their game this year as producers for newcomer Victor Zarcoff's Slumlord, a study in terror that—Fantasia says—modernizes both Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) for our digital era. I would argue it's actually Hitchcock's Psycho that's at play here as so much of the film focuses on the jaundiced eyes of Gerald (the titular slumlord creepily portrayed by Neville Archambault) and his obsessive watching. The peephole in the wall has been updated to installed fiberoptics, but the act of voyeurism, and its calculated intentions, remain the same.

Simon Laperrière observes in his program capsule that "the suspense of this hyperrealist thriller slyly unfolds, ascending to unbearable heights of anxiety. Neville Archambault portrays Gerald [the slumlord] with an intensity that instills fear from his very first appearance on screen. The narrative juxtaposition of home invasion and gripping conjugal drama is done to perfection."

In an eleventh hour effort to save their crumbling marriage, Claire (Brianne Moncrief) and Ryan (PJ McCabe) move into a new home hoping for a fresh start. "Intimacy counts for naught", Laperrière notes, as—unbeknownst to them—their creepy landlord is methodically calculating their behavior via hidden surveillance cameras; an act not as uncommon as one might think. Statistics indicate that there are now thousands of cases of landlords spying on their tenants. The acting ensemble is tight, but what intrigues me is how their character flaws in a way serve to justify their landlord's actions. Claire is manipulative and needy, Ryan is a philanderer and a liar, and his love interest Hannah (Sarah Baldwin) is a bit of a stalker herself. They almost deserve to be spied upon and they're literally asking for their comeuppance. "Wonderfully acted by a cast straight out of a Tobe Hooper film," Fantasia asserts, "this domestic nightmare builds suffocating tension by exposing the fragility of our intimacy in today's world." World Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

 
Slumlord Trailer (2015) Fantasia Film Festival from McManus on Vimeo.

Observance (Australia, dir. Joseph Sims-Dennett)—The eye returns in Joseph Sims-Dennett's Observance (and is featured prominently in the film's poster). Our protagonist Parker (Lindsay Farris) arrives to his new job, undeniably handsome but noticeably harried. He's been asked by a client to observe a beautiful woman Tinneal (Stephanie King), to take photos of her from across the street, and to record her daily actions. Although he's not too keen on the assignment, he desperately needs money. Thus begins this perplexing tale of a man manipulated by forces beyond his control incriminated into a ritual act he hardly comprehends. Purposely enigmatic, it's difficult to know what's going on in Observance (do you always understand your nightmares?), and don't expect any kind of meaningful resolution wrapped up in a neat bow. With sufficient interest, this film warrants a second watch and considerable afterthought to comprehend what's just been seen; but, despite its (at times annoying) obfuscations, it offers significant scares, and a stylized descent into madness reminiscent of the films of Roman Polanski. Filmed in an admittedly disorganized 11 days, the film's true creative feat lies in Charles Ivory's layered, evocative editing, which melds a haunted past with a doomed present, juggling the diabolic with the quotidian, and instilling mounting dread as an unnamed, unknown menace begins to manipulate events. High marks to actor Farris who I could watch for hours, even spitting black goo into a bathroom sink. Observance may not be so much about a woman being observed, as we're first led to believe, as it is about noting an important ritual moment of insinuated black magic. World Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.

 
Observance from Festival Fantasia on Vimeo.

FANTASIA 2015—THE SECOND WAVE

The 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival (Fantasia), presented by Ubisoft and Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada, will soon be stunning Montreal with three weeks of cinematic ingenuity from July 14 until August 4, 2015. Fantasia's complete lineup of programming and special events have been revealed, and to help me shape my schedule, here's a quick preview of some of the Second Wave announcements. Synopses courtesy of Fantasia.

Anguish (USA, dir. Sonny Mallhi)—The directorial debut of Sonny Mallhi, producer of such singular horror works as The Strangers and At the Devil’s Door. Anguish is a frightening and emotionally resonant film that offers supernatural explanations for debilitating adolescent mental illness, featuring a powerhouse lead performance by Ryan Simpkins (A Single Man). World Premiere. IMDb.

Ava's Possessions (USA, dir. Jordan Galland)—Ava is recovering from demonic possession. With no memory of the past month, she is forced to attend a Spirit Possessions Anonymous support group. Ava's life was hijacked by a demon, now it's time to get it back in this horror farce from the creator of Fantasia favorite Alter Egos. Official Selection: SXSW. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

Nicholas Bell at Ioncinema doesn't feel Ava's Possessions is entirely successful, but does commend the impressive "look of the film, often awash in a neon glow, enhanced superbly by a great score from Sean Lennon." Rob Hunter concurs at FilmSchoolRejects, stating: "Ava's Possessions isn't a bad film by any stretch, but it's frustrating to watch it plod along while an abundance of promise sits just outside of the frame."

Bite (Canada, dir. Chad Archibald)—The team behind such Canadian horror breakouts at The Drownsman, Anti-Social, Septic Man and Ejecta are back with a brand new monster, a lot of flair and a heck of a strong cringe factor. World Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.

Børning (Norway, dir. Hallvard Bræin)—Roy is mad about cars and is soon challenged in an illegal race across the length of Norway. Fasten your seatbelts (well, it's the law!) for an old-fashioned action-packed car race flick, faster than Cannonball Run and funnier than Smokey and the Bandit! North American Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

Bridgend (Denmark, dir. Jeppe Rønde)—Teenage Sara arrives with her single father to a small village in the Welsh valley of Bridgend County, which is haunted by suicides amongst its young inhabitants. She falls dangerously in love with one of the troubled boys while her dad as the new town policeman tries to solve the mystery. This powerful, shattering film (a recent Tribeca Film Festival award winner for Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Editing) is based on true events. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Facebook [Danish].

Guy Lodge praises at Variety: "Already heady stuff as a social document, Bridgend doesn't exactly tread lightly as a mood piece: The exquisite drabness of its images combine to formidably stern effect with its heavy-weather sound design and the expert electronic-orchestral aggression of French producer Mondkopf's score. This is ripped-from-the-headlines cinema reformulated as real-world horror film, with a shivery stylistic nod to the crime drama of Rønde's homeland. Even when the director pushes too far … the film's formal severity feels appropriately claustrophobic—another form of authority closing in on the light."

In complete opposition, Neil Young of The Hollywood Reporter criticizes: "A textbook example of how not to turn real-life headlines into big-screen drama, Jeppe Rønde's Bridgend is a toxic combination of the laughable and the reprehensible. A Danish production entirely shot and set in the Welsh area where more than 75 people—mostly teenagers and young adults—have committed suicide since 2009, it's a horribly misjudged fictional-feature debut from acclaimed documentarian Jeppe Rønde. The presence of Game of Thrones' Hannah Murray in the central role may yield box-office interest in receptive territories, but otherwise this is a picture too clumsy for adults, too glum for juniors."

Bunny the Killer Thing (Finland, dir. Joonas Makkonen)—You've surely seen the jaw-dropping trailer by now, or at the least, heard a breathless account of it. Nothing can prepare for the lunacy of the actual film. Oh, Finland. Winner of the Madness Award for Best Film at the 2015 Nocturna Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival. North American Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.

Cherry Tree (Ireland, dir. David Keating)—David Keating burst onto the international genre cinema scene with his chilling 2010 occult horror film Wakewood. Now, he's returned, re-teaming with screenwriter Brendan McCarthy (who, as a producer, was also behind Let Us Prey and this year's Sundance hit The Hallow) to deliver a demonic tale of desperate good intentions gone horribly, horribly bad. World Premiere. Official site. IMDb.

Cop Car (USA, dir. Jon Watts)—A pair of kids stumble across an unoccupied cop car, hop in and take it on a joyride across town, setting in motion a tense game of cat and mouse between them and a particularly corrupt and distinctly homicidal police officer (Kevin Bacon). Official Selection Sundance, Edinburgh International Film Festival. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Wikipedia. Facebook.

Variety's Peter DeBruge labels Jon Watts' Cop Car "B-movie gold" in this "tight, easily marketable genre exercise that pushes its lean premise and all-around disrespect for authority to entertaining extremes, taking wicked delight in imagining what might happen if two 10-year-olds were to stumble upon an abandoned police cruiser and take it for a joyride." Todd McCarthy is less enthused at The Hollywood Reporter, and finds the film "seriously imagination-challenged", wasteful of its "decent premise."

Crimson Whale / Hwa-san-go-rae (South Korea, dir. Park Hye-mi)—A tough, empathic little marvel of science-fantasy without illusions, simple yet satisfyingly solid in its design and execution, Crimson Whale marks Park Hye-mi as an important new talent in Korean animation. Canadian premiere.

Cruel (France, dir. Eric Cherrière)—For years, timid Pierre Tardieu has been brutally slaughtering men and women without ever getting caught. The time to obtain his long due recognition has come. Crime novelist Eric Cherrière takes us on a dark journey into the disturbed mind of a serial killer. Canadian Premiere. IMDb.

At The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth Kerr considers Cruel "a meticulously crafted and mesmerizing deconstruction of the mind of a murderer" that is "violent without being needlessly explicit and curious without being sensational." She adds: "Moody, esoteric, thought-provoking and, not surprisingly literary, writer-director Cherrière is more interested in examining his main character's inner life and twisted motivation than assigning blame or making statements of condemnation."

The Dark Below (USA, dir. Douglas Schulze)—In this visually stunning, dialogue-free, experimental thriller set on Michigan's wintry frozen Great Lakes, a brutish serial killer imprisons his still-living latest victim in the watery depths. Thus begins a uniquely chilling story of survival and shocking revelation. This accomplished experiment in narrative storytelling tears every convention apart. You haven't seen anything like it. Co-starring Veronica Cartwright. World Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

Dark Places (UK / France / USA, dir. Gilles Paquet-Brenner)—Fantasia will be presenting a special screening of Gilles Paquet-Brenner's stylish adaptation of Gillian Flynn's mystery thriller Dark Places, which reunites Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult following their appearance together in a certain innocuous Australian road movie. The film's impressive cast also features Christina Hendricks, Chloë Grace Moretz and Tye Sheridan. IMDb. Wikipedia. Facebook.

At Variety, Peter DeBruge makes it clear that Gillian Flynn's second bigscreen adaptation (after Gone Girl) is a "more routine Kansas-set chiller", with Charlize Theron as its damaged-goods heroine. "As heroines go," DeBruge writes, "it's refreshing to get one as complex as this: When psychologically scarred female characters do turn up in thrillers, they're usually little more than shivering victims who set a group of male cops in motion, but here, Libby does her own detective work, while [Christina] Hendricks lends star power to the flashback scenes." Jordan Mintzer's bottom line at The Hollywood Reporter: "A strongly cast, slickly made screen adaptation with more plot than profundity."

Director's Commentary—Terror Of Frankenstein (USA, dir. Tim Kirk)—A new lesson in cinephilia eccentricity brought to you by the team behind Room 237 and The Nightmare. While recording a commentary track, the director and the screenwriter of a forgotten—but authentic—Frankenstein movie recall a tragedy that occurred on set, a brutal crime that continues to terrify its witnesses decades after the fact. International Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.

At Bloody Disgusting, Patrick Cooper writes: "Trust me when I say you've never seen anything like Director's Commentary: The Terror of Frankenstein. Like he did (as a producer) with Room 237, director Tim Kirk gets the audience to watch a film in a whole new context—warping our sense of what we're seeing on screen by placing a commentary over it that explores the horrific incidents during the making of the film and years after it wrapped. By presenting a sincere account of fictional events surrounding a real film, Kirk and his team completely break down the definition of 'meta' to create a truly unique experience that will probably leave a lot of people's heads sore from all the scratching."

German Angst (Germany Dir: Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski, and Andreas Marschall)—Three of German Cinema's most ferocious underground talents have united to assault the screen with a deathly triptych of tales set against the evolving backdrop of Berlin. Featuring Jörg Buttgereit's return to narrative filmmaking after a 22-year hiatus. Official Selection: Rotterdam International Film Festival. North American Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.

At Twitch, Ard Vijn cautions that viewers approach German Angst with a tough stomach, patience, and a thick skin. At Cineuropa, Thomas Humphrey frames that "the films in German Angst make a touching homage to the Buttgereit world view. They're full of the gore that many of his fans will be longing for. But they're also full of the critical slashes that more discerning viewers will be seeking."

The Hallow / The Woods (UK, dir. Corin Hardy)—A family who moves into a remote millhouse in Ireland unwittingly enter a fight for survival with pale-skinned demonic entities living in the foreboding woods. Superb practical monster FX buoys this intensely scary film, perhaps the best creature feature out of the UK since The Descent. Official Selection: Sundance, Seattle International Film Festival. Canadian Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Wikipedia.

At Variety, Geoff Berkshire writes: "It takes time for The Hallow to get rolling, but once it reaches a bang-up final act, genre fans could walk out clamoring for a sequel." At The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney adds: "As first films go, this one is visually energized, dynamically paced and discerning in its cine-literate references. It's also a kickass calling card for Hardy as he moves on to bigger projects."

Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory / Haruko chôjô genshô kenkyûjo (Japan, dir. Lisa Takeba)—One day, as Haruko is zapping, her television unexpectedly transforms into a beautiful, shirtless, TV-headed stud! Welcome to Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory, a personal and inventive vision signaling Takeba as Japan's new Queen of Quirk. Official Selection: Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Yubari. Canadian Premiere. IMDb.

At Twitch, Ard Vijn complains that Haruko's Paranormal Laboratory "drowns in quirk", though conceding "a fun time was had by most" at the film's Rotterdam screening.

He Never Died (Canada, dir. Jason Krawczyk)—Punk icon / author / spoken-word master Henry Rollins stars as a mild-mannered reluctant cannibal who tries to keep to himself yet ends up targeted by the mob. Co-starring Kate Greenhouse (a Fantasia award-winner for The Dark Hours). Official Selection: SXSW. International Premiere. IMDb. Wikipedia. Facebook.

At Fangoria, Michael Gingold writes: "The casting of Henry Rollins as an age-old cannibal promises an angry bloodbath, but the surprise and delight of He Never Died is how much deadpan humor the star and the movie have to offer … a terrific against-type showcase for Rollins, using his established persona and intimidating appearance to create automatic expectations that it then playfully subverts." At Nerdist, Scott Weinberg characterizes Rollins as "a force of nature" and adds: "While Rollins' performance is excellent throughout all of He Never Died, the true surprise here is writer / director Jason Krawczyk and his fascinating, funny, and consistently entertaining movie."

Hostile (France, dir. Nathan Ambrosioni)—One of the most talked about horror works at the Cannes Film Market this year, Hostile marks the impressive debut of 14-year-old director Nathan Ambrosioni. A TV show host answers the call of a mother terrified of her two adopted daughters. What starts with the familiar slowly builds into a poignant horror tale. International Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

The Invitation (USA, dir. Karyn Kusama)—One of the smartest, scariest and most engrossing genre films in recent years, The Invitation is a masterpiece of ingeniously calculated, character-driven horror storytelling. Karyn Kusama is back, and she's never been better. Official Selection: SXSW. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Wikipedia.

At Variety, Justin Chang writes: "This teasingly effective thriller represents director Karyn Kusama's strongest work in years." At Twitch, Peter Martin remarks: "The sincerity and craft on display notwithstanding, the movie achieves a limited, unsettling level, and then stops right there."

Ju-On: The Final Curse (Japan, dir. Masayuki Ochiai)—Directly following last year's Ju-On: The Beginning of the End, this harrowing conclusion of Director Masayuki Ochiai's reboot of J-Horror's most beloved franchise generously brings all the goodies expected from fans. Prepare to squirm, screech and shudder because Toshio and Kayoko are determined to finish business with panache. International Premiere. Official site [Japanese]. IMDb. Wikipedia.

Manson Family Vacation (USA, dir. J. Davis)—Two mismatched brothers tour Hollywood's notorious Charles Manson murder sites. One is a devoted family man and the other is devoted to The Family (yeah, that one!). When the bickering duo takes an eventful road trip, get ready for a hilarious (and kinda creepy!) "Odd Couple meets Helter Skelter" movie, produced by indie faves the Duplass Brothers. Official Selection: SXSW. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

At Variety, Justin Chang describes J. Davis' Manson Family Vacation as a "slender but engaging seriocomedy" supported "in no small part by his two lead actors, who are wholly convincing as two men whose bond is ultimately far thicker, and deeper, than blood; Phillips is particularly good, sporting a scraggly beard, a mischief-making grin, and a mad-scientist twinkle in his piercing blue eyes that can seem menacing and affectionate by turns. It's a measure of the film's dramatic balance as well as its emotional integrity that both of these men will wind up eliciting the viewer's sympathy and scorn at different points, so that by the end of Manson Family Vacation, we have arrived alongside them at a crucial point of transition and understanding—not the most surprising destination, perhaps, but one that feels entirely earned." At The Hollywood Reporter, John DeFore says the film is "funny and modestly charming" and adds: "Far less sensationalistic or cutesy-provocative than its title suggests, the film borrows its subject's infamy to add gravity to some family drama but does so in a good-hearted way."

The Master Plan / Jönssonligan—Den perfekta stöten (Sweden, dir. Alain Darborg)—In this action / heist / revenge comedy, Charles Ingvar Jönsson (a character popular in Swedish films since the early '80s) gathers three seemingly incompatible criminals to take vengeance upon the slippery creeps who killed his beloved uncle. North American Premiere. IMDb. Wikipedia.

Meathead Goes Hog Wild (USA, dirs. Kevin Cline, Zach Harris, Sean Pierce)—Don't let the quirky title fool you, this is a visceral, heartfelt and violently confrontational slice of urban hell and personal apocalypse, detailing a young man's breakdown over the course of a single terrible night in one of America's most segregated cities. Think a socially conscious Falling Down by way of Combat Shock. World Premiere. IMDb.

Monty Python: The Meaning Of Live (UK, dir. Roger Graef, James Rogan)—This love letter to Python fans goes behind the scenes of last summer's record-setting live reunion and final tour of the Beatles of Comedy. Graef and Rogan interview all the surviving Pythons and special friends, plus chart the group's history on stage. Dead parrot included! Official Selection: Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs. Quebec Premiere. Official site. IMDb.

At Variety, Dennis Harvey writes: "Gold for fans, though unlikely to mean much to anyone else, The Meaning of Live chronicles the reunion of surviving Monty Python's Flying Circus members as the famed comedy troupe plays its first live shows in 34 years. … Their pleasure in each others' company is infectious, though any viewers previously unfamiliar with the absurdist material are likely to wonder just what all the fuss is about." John DeFore's bottom line at The Hollywood Reporter: "An unrevealing but enjoyable doc for fans." DeFore adds: "Prep scenes are interspersed with footage from the many previous live events and tours, with tales from the road balanced against the ever-present concern the group had about carrying on past the point where they had something new to contribute."

The Nutcracker 3D / Nutcracker Fantasy (Japan, dir. Sebastian Masuda)—Sanrio's 1979 stop-motion holiday movie, remixed, revamped, and rebooted by Sebastian Masuda, Harajuku's "Godfather of kawaii." A deliciously psychedelic pop-art phantasmagoria of super-sweet, candy-colored cool. North American premiere. IMDb. Wikipedia.

On the White Planet / Chang-baek-han eol-gul-deul (South Korea, dir. Hur Bum-wook)—A brooding existential nightmare unfolding within a densely detailed landscape of surreal biological monstrosity, animator Hur Bum-wook's award-winning debut feature is an intense and troubling tale of violence and vulnerability, hope and despair. Winner of the Grand Prix award for Best Feature Film at the Holland Animation Film Festival 2015. Canadian premiere. IMDb.

Remake, Remix, Rip-Off: About Copy Culture & Turkish Pop Cinema (Turkey / Germany, dir. Cem Kaya)—Turkey in the 1960s-'70s churned out more movies than possibly any other country, often without a single page of original material! Get ready for bizarro Turkish knockoffs of E.T., Dracula, The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist, Rambo, Superman, Star Trek and more, informatively chronicled in this thorough and uproarious documentary. Official Selection: Locarno Film Festival. North American Premiere. Official site. IMDb.

At Variety, Peter DeBruge writes: "Raucous, rowdy and regrettably scatter-brained, Cem Kaya's side-splitting essay film Remake, Remix, Rip-off marks a noble albeit disorganized effort to convey the appeal of vintage Turkish pop cinema to the world at large. As with the sensory-overload Ozploitation docu Not Quite Hollywood, admission is worth it for the clips alone." At The Hollywood Reporter, Neil Young agrees a re-edit is required. At Indiewire, Jessica Kiang responds more as a fan: "Kaya spent seven years making his film, and the breadth of his knowledge of his subject (he is the son of Turkish immigrant parents who grew up watching these films as VHS bootlegs that found a huge expat audience in Germany) and his affection for its excesses is palpable. Despite all the illegality, Yeşilçam embodied a kind of innocence that is pretty much gone from this changing world, but Remake, Remix, Rip Off, while it may bite off a little more than it can comfortably chew, stands a wonderfully fond, funny memorial to a lovably outlaw national film industry and the cowboys, pirates, and celluloid bandits who populated it."

The Royal Tailor / Sang-eui-won (South Korea, dir. Lee Won-suk)—A potent period drama embroidered with wit and wise insights, The Royal Tailor has its high-spirited mirth and heartbreaking tragedy sewn together masterfully. A great script, a great cast—and a truly wondrous array of magnificent garments! Official Selection: Udine, NYAFF. Canadian premiere. IMDb. Wikipedia.

At Twitch, Pierce Conran deems the project uneven: "The first hour, with its ample humor, snappy editing and strong tempo, is a breeze and Lee manages to up the stakes very smoothly when the relationship dynamics of the story begin to shift and intensify. The problem comes a little ways into the second hour, when the plots thickens further, ushering in a darker tone that no longer affords any space to the chicanery and levity of the preceding sequences."

Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen / Ryûzô to 7 nin no kobun tachi (Japan, dir. Takeshi Kitano)—Coming immediately after his Outrage saga, Takeshi Kitano's hilarious crime story stars screen legend Tatsuya Fuji (In the Realm of the Senses) as a retired yakuza who realizes that the only way to break the monotony of his daily life is by reuniting with his old gang. This is a funny and heartfelt meditation on growing old that only the master of Japanese cinema could deliver. International Premiere. Official site [Japanese]. IMDb. Wikipedia.

At The Japan Times, Mark Schilling praises Tatsuya Fuji's lead performance: "Though looking every one of his 74 real-life years, Fuji brings a volatile energy to proceedings that would otherwise be merely absurd ... when he starts raging against the dying of the light, look out for flying debris—and prepare to laugh."

Scherzo Diabolico (Mexico / USA, dir. Adrián García Bogliano)—The director of Late Phases, Here Comes the Devil and Cold Sweat is back, re-teaming with Francisco Barreiro to deliver a savage black comedy / thriller that will leave audiences breathless. Official Selection: Tribeca Film Festival, Stanley Film Festival. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

At Fangoria, Madeleine Koestner writes: "There's a fine line between being darkly humorous and downright disturbing, and Scherzo Diabolico tiptoes along it like a tightrope. Viewers with leanings toward the sadistic side of cinema might find themselves laughing out loud (full disclosure: I did), but most probably won't find much of the film to be a humorous matter; it gets dark. Very, very dark. The narrative heads in directions that may seem a little more familiar than in some of Bogliano's other sagas, but as he has done so well many times before, the writer / director completely subverts your expectations by the end. The tale traverses an insane path, and although a certain amount of logic might get left behind, it stays true to its own twisted morals and fable-esque reality." Patrick Cooper concurs at Bloody Disgusting: "Like his other films, Scherzo Diabolico sees Bogliano savoring the chance to subvert genre expectations. Revenge films are always in style and many of them are painfully formulaic. You won't find any of that here. Bogliano's story begins with what appears to be a kidnapping plot and then proceeds to sucker punch the audience's moral compass into a bleeding pulp."

The Shamer's Daughter / Skammerens datter (Denmark, dir. Kenneth Kainz)—A captivating medieval fantasy from Denmark, directed by Kenneth Kainz (Parterapi) and scripted by the great Anders Thomas Jensen (Adam's Apples, Brothers, After the Wedding), The Shamer's Daughter tells the tale of a young girl who has inherited her mother's supernatural ability to make people ashamed of themselves by staring into their souls. International Premiere. Official site. IMDb.

Socialphobia / So-syeol-po-bi-a (South Korea, dir. Hong Seok-jae)—Social media has scary consequences for two police-tech students and an Internet troll in this masterfully executed first feature film by Hong Seok-jae. Filled with stunning twists and keenly constructed characters, Socialphobia ranks among the best independent Korean films in recent years. Winner of the NETPAC and DGK Awards at the Busan Film Festival. Quebec Premiere. IMDb.

At Twitch, Pierce Conran headlines that Socialphobia "effectively blends social agenda and genre tropes." As an intriguing qualification, however, he notes: "From an aesthetic standpoint, the film suffers from its onscreen representation of the many social media messages that litter the frame. Like many other contemporary filmmakers, Hong has trouble coming up with an effective way of showing these messages. While he refrains from close-up shots of people's phone screens as they type, the way the messages pop up on the screen with a ping on the soundtrack soon becomes distracting."

Some Kind of Hate (USA, dir. Adam Egypt Mortimer)—Ronen Rubinstein, Grace Phipps, Sierra McCormick and Noah Segan star in a bloody tale of a bullied teen sentenced to a juvenile delinquent camp that happens to be haunted by the murderous spirit of a victim of bullying. Official Selection: Stanley Film Festival. Canadian Premiere. IMDb. Facebook.

In his rave Fangoria review, Ken W. Hanley keenly observes that "the rise in supernatural horror coincided with the retroactive vilification of the slasher archetype" and that Some Kind of Hate arrives as the long-awaited "adrenaline shot to the dying heart of the slasher." Evan Dickson interviews Mortimer for Collider.

She Who Must Burn (Canada, dir. Larry Kent)—Director Larry Kent (The Bitter Ash, High, The Hamster Cage), Canada's first underground filmmaker, has been making uncompromising works for 52-years. Now, he has made his first full-on horror film, a harrowing tale of organizers of a Planned Parenthood clinic under violent attack by fanatical evangelists. World Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Facebook.

Slumlord (USA, dir. Victor Zarcoff)—Directed by newcomer Victor Zarcoff and produced by the team behind the acclaimed Funeral Kings (Fantasia 2010), this study in terror brings Rear Window to the digital era. A young couple slowly fall apart, unbeknownst that their creepy landlord is scrupulously watching them through hidden surveillance cameras. Wonderfully acted by a cast straight out of a Tobe Hooper film, this domestic nightmare builds suffocating tension by exposing the fragility of our intimacy in today's world. IMDb. Facebook.

Synchronicity (USA, dir. Jacob Gentry)—The long awaited solo feature debut from Jacob Gentry, co-director of The Signal, Synchronicity is, in a word, brilliant. Chad Mcknight, AJ Bowen, Brianne Davis and Michael Ironside star in this individualistic and astonishing sci-fi Noir about a physicist who folds time, travelling into the past to prevent the theft of his invention. World Premiere. IMDb.

The Taking (UK, dir. Dominic Brunt)—Two financially struggling independent businesswomen fall prey to a brutal money lender in this hard-hitting, vicious and socially conscious thriller that balances gripping drama and ferocious shock value to powerful effect. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Official Selection: Leeds Film Festival. International Premiere. IMDb.

At The Digital Fix, Spike Marshall writes: "Desperation is a terrible thing and you only need to watch a handful of prime time adverts to see how prevalent it is in society. Payday loans, PPI claims, and low interest rate credit cards are everywhere and prey on the weak and needy. As such The Taking which focuses on two market stall holders fight to survive after running afoul of a loan shark feels exceptionally timely." Further: "Whilst The Taking isn't a horror movie like Brunt's début feature Before Dawn it uses a lot of the language and style of the genre. Nearly every character in the film is either aggressor or victim and the film uses vignettes dotted throughout the first act to slowly ratchet up the tension." At Flickering Myth, Gary Collinson encourages: "A strong second feature from Dominic Brunt, The Taking should go from strength to strength, considering its strong debut at Leeds International Film Festival this year. A foreboding thriller obviously influenced by the best in the genre, it's an assault on the senses that no movie fan should be without."

Therapy For A Vampire / Der Vampir auf der Couch (Austria, dir. David Rühm)—In 1930s Vienna, an infamous vampire count turns to none other than noted psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to help him deal with various romantic entanglements. This delightful and sumptuously produced horror comedy evokes the Hammer Gothics of yore and Polanski's classic Fearless Vampire Killers. A must for old-school fangbangers! Official Selection: Zurich Film Festival. Canadian Premiere. Official site. IMDb.

At EyeforFilm, Luke Shaw writes: "You wouldn't expect to find any kind of feminist message in a supernatural comedy set in 1911 Vienna, but Therapy For A Vampire manages it without detriment to its main premises. …It's hard to wrinkle your nose at a kitsch vampire comedy that doesn't rely on base humor to get its giggles."

Traders (Ireland, dirs. Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy)—A freshly unemployed worker from an asset management firm creates a website on the dark web, designed to appeal specifically to the financially obliterated. "Better than suicide", it promises. 'Trading.' One of the most blackly subversive social satires to antagonize the screen in years, Traders is smart, violent, empathetic and angry. The feature debut of Irish filmmaking team Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy, starring Killian Scott (Calvary), John Bradley (Game of Thrones), Nika McGuigan (Philomena) and Barry Keoghan (’71). International Premiere. IMDb.

Wild City / Bou Chau Mai Sing (Hong Kong, dir. Ringo Lam)—It's been a long wait, but the dark god of hard-edged Hong Kong cinema is back. Alongside John Woo and Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam was key in defining the spirit of HK film in the late '80s. Now, after a 12-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, he's ready to show the world once again what happens when high-octane action and a hard-knock social conscience collide. Centerpiece Presentation. Canadian Premiere. Official site. IMDb. Wikipedia. Facebook.

For Film Comment, Grady Hendrix and Hiroshi Fukazawa interview Ringo Lam on the set of Wild City.