Skip to main content

Festival coverage

Fantasia International Film Festival

11 July – 1 August 2019

Swallow
Swallow

The 23rd edition of the Montreal genre film festival has lots of treats in store, with premières of new horror, science fiction, fantasy and animé films from around the globe. It will open with Hideo Nakata's hotly anticipated return to the Ring series, simply titled Sadako. and include a special tribute to First Blood director Ted Kotcheff.

The festival runs from 11 July to 1 August.

Other years (9)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Phantom Of The Paradise
    Review preview for Phantom Of The Paradise

    Again and again there are elements that will be echoed in later works, mirrors and masks and little friends, split screens and thrills and untimely ends.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music - but an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.
  • Dachra
    Review preview for Dachra

    This is an unusually clever piece of genre cinema which also resonates emotionally.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A group of journalism students discover a hidden tribal society that has cultivated a way of life brimming with ancient practices and beliefs, rituals and blood.
  • Tokyo Ghoul 'S'
    Review preview for Tokyo Ghoul 'S'

    A slice of cannibal horror with a distinctly soapy aftertaste.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    A sketchy ghoul named Gourmet invites a college student named Kaneki to dine with him at a special restaurant where the young man may find himself on the menu.
  • Sator
    Review preview for Sator

    The superimposition of the Sator narrative atop material Graham had already filmed with a different story in mind gives it the depth of folklore and a disjointed aspect which contributes to its disturbing effect.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A malevolent spirit menaces a troubled family.
  • We Are Little Zombies
    Review preview for We Are Little Zombies

    Nagahisa...understands and embraces the complexity of early adolescence, when kids are finding their own way,

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Their parents are dead. They should be sad, but they can't cry. So they form a kick-ass band. This is the story of four 13-year-olds in search of their emotions.
  • House Of Hummingbird
    Review preview for House Of Hummingbird

    House Of Hummingbird centres on a quiet yet never passive performance from Park, who draws us into Eun-hee's world as we watch her absorbing and processing the events going on around her.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    She roams the neighbourhood with her best friend, attempts to fall in love, is sent to the hospital with an unclear diagnosis. Untethered from the wider world, 14-year-old Eun-hee floats through Seoul.
  • Judy And Punch
    Review preview for Judy And Punch

    There's layer upon layer of clever artifice here, yet the result is something that feels fresh and sexy.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Puppeteers Judy and Punch are trying to resurrect their marionette show. The show is a hit due to Judy's superior puppeteering but Punch's driving ambition and penchant for whisky lead to a inevitable tragedy that Judy must avenge.
  • The Wretched
    Review preview for The Wretched

    The tropes it uses are old ones but simplicity works in their favour, adding to the sense that there are uncanny powers at work and that nothing is quite what it seems.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A defiant teenage boy, struggling with his parent's imminent divorce, faces off with a thousand year-old witch, who is living beneath the skin of and posing as the woman next door.
  • 1BR
    Review preview for 1BR

    Marmor resists the temptation to over-explain, yet every time you think you see a way out, some new confounding factor will emerge.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Terror in an apartment complex.
  • Dreamland
    Review preview for Dreamland

    Lavishly staged and shot with dazzling confidence, Dreamland segues easily between these glamorous spaces and the scummy streets and decaying hotel rooms of contemporary noir.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    On the night of the strangest wedding in cinema history, a grotesque gang boss hires a stone cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend.

A–Z of Fantasia International Film Festival 2019 reviews

Features

News