I’m very grateful that I had the chance to cover the Fantasia Film Festival again for Horror Buzz. Instead of sharing every single review, I just wanted to post some of my favorites/highlights from the fest.

Witchboard

It’s been decades since Chuck Russell directed a horror movie. He made a name for himself with Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (probably the fan favorite NOES sequel) and The Blob remake, before going onto direct major, major Hollywood productions, including The Mask and The Scorpion King.

His return to the horror genre is a reimagining of the 80s cult classic Witchboard. This film feels very cinematic in scope and would do well with a wider theatrical release. Like Russell’s other work, it has some impressive practical effects and a solid performance by Madison Iseman, who plays Emily. She comes across the board, which has powerful, supernatural effects on her. Also of note is James Campbell Bower’s performance as Alexander Baptiste, a nefarious villain. Bower is best known as Vecna in Stranger Things, and he certainly plays a villain well.

You can read my interview with Russell and the cast, as well as my review of the film.

Cuckoo

By far, Cuckoo was my most anticipated film at Fantasia this year. Simply put, NEON, its distributor, has been putting out some of the most interesting films as of late. Longlegs is a prime example. Cuckoo is freakin’ BONKERS. Not everything in the plot makes sense, but boy, is it atmospheric as hell.

Hunter Schafer turns in one heck of a performance as the grief-stricken Gretchen. Her character evolves from a wounded and moody teen to a switchblade-wielding, kickass final girl. This is contrasted with Dan Stevens’ absolutely bloodcurdling, flute-playing antagonist, Herr Konig.

Cuckoo will have a wider theatrical release on Aug. 9. Until then, read my review.

Chainsaws Were Singing

This may be my favorite film from the fest. Chainsaws Were Singing is an Estonian horror musical that’s nearly two hours long. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Oh, and it’s a love story. I don’t want to say much more than that, but whenever this gets a wider release, whatever that may look like, give it a chance! It’ll worm its way into your heart. If you want to learn more, check out my review.

The Soul Eater

French directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury made names for themselves with 2007’s Inside, an unrelenting and punishing gem from the New French Extremity movement. Since then, everything they’ve made since has been so different. They never recreate the same film. Their last movie, for instance, The Deep House, was an underwater haunted house flick.

Their latest, The Soul Eater, is a bleak police procedural movie. It’s a slow burn with a few harrowing crime scenes sprinkled throughout, all leading to an absolutely bleak ending. Because Amazon Studios is listed in the opening credits, I assume the film will wind up on Prime Video. Give it a watch if that’s the case. Check out my review in the meantime.

Darkest Miram

Even though Charlie Kaufman is listed as an executive producer, this is really nothing like any of his films, or a Spike Jonze movie, for that matter. Darkest Miriam follows a quirky librarian, Miriam (Britt Lower), who falls in love with an artist/cab driver, Janko (Tom Mercier). Oh, and she has nicknames for all of the library patrons and eventually feels like she’s being stalked.

I can’t understate how creative the storytelling is in this film, from the “incident reports” Miriam files that give insight into her world, to the threatening letters she finds in library books. This is such an odd, endearing, slice-of-life movie with a great performance by Lower who says so much through body language and facial expressions. Check out my review.