Fantasia International Film FestivalOpening Weekend Films
The opening weekend of Fantasia International Film Festival
was a success and already left its impression on me.
I’ll start you off with these two appetizing film reviews
and will continue to provide you with a feast of unique film reviews throughout
the next couple weeks.
CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS
Director: Alice Maio Mackay
Writers: Alice Maio Mackay and Benjamin Pahl Robinson
Alice Maio Mackay, (SATRANIC PANIC, T BLOCKERS) presented her sixth feature film CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.
Mackay is known for giving perspective of what it’s like to
fight for your life while being queer and transgender in bigoted towns on the
big screen.
And CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS is no different.
When true-crime podcaster Lola (Jeremy Moineau) visits her
hometown at Christmas for the first time since running away and transitioning,
the vengeful ghost of urban legend, The Toy Maker, arises to kill again.
After her sister’s roommate goes missing and is discovered dismembered,
Lola inserts herself into the situation and decides she must solve the case
before her community is slaughtered.
Unfortunately for Lola, she’s against not only a psychotic
killer, but a town haunted by secrets.
In the opening scene, we see Lola at her best, taking the
lead on her podcast and portraying herself as a subject matter expert when it
comes to true crime. And Moineau does a fantastic job portraying her in that
role.
But as the film goes on, it becomes clear that Lola has too
much story to tell, and she no longer comes off as an expert but a bitchy Nancy
Drew.
Additionally, with having carnage in the film title, there
just wasn’t enough of it. In fact, the coolest carnage scene didn’t occur until
¾ of the way into the film – and at that point as a viewer I wasn’t exactly following
all the back story Lola provided for me to feel invested in these killings, or
her own agenda.
I wanted more of the Toy Maker and got coal instead.
If Mackay had gone more towards a THANKSGIVING-style holiday
gore fest with a simpler story line, I think this film could have left a little
bit better impression on me. It just wasn’t jingling my bells for the
expectations I had.
THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD
Writer/Director: Fábio Powers
I want you to picture your favorite large sword from your
favorite anime. And then I want you find this gem of a genre film, THE OLD MAN
AND THE DEMON SWORD, and rethink which sword you’d want to own.
Inspired by Portuguese legends and a tribute to American
B-movies and tokusatsu, THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD is 63 minutes of pure cheesy
fun.
In the remote village of Pé da Serra in the mountains of
Portugal, we first meet a monk wielding a demonic sword. We quickly learn the sword
and monk made a pact to fight off specific evil threats.
But local town drunk, António da Luz, puts himself in the
middle of the initial fight and soon finds himself wielding the sword next.
Together, António and the sword will have to learn how to
count on one another to fight the encroaching evil.
The overall vibe of this film is very Mystery Science
Theater 3000. It’s low budget, provides hilarious costumed evil spirits and special
effect monsters that look like a CGI mash up of Ray Harryhausen creations. The
coolest of the practical/special effects is by far the demon sword that wants
to own the scenes but is better at being the companion to António.
Most of the scenes are just flat out hilarious - including
one in particular where António takes a bathroom break from training with the sword
only to piss a very large stream of urine that brings a forest spirit to life.
I seriously can’t make this up.
And while you’re laughing at how cheesy it all is, the
dialog between the sword and António is well thought-out and becomes very
heartfelt. We even get deep moments around grief, religion, good vs evil, and
empathy.
You fall for António's charm and root whole-heartedly for him.
Then Powers hits you with a fourth wall surprise that just puts
the cherry on top of such a unique genre film.
This will be a film I have to have to show others after a couple
of rounds. It’s just too much fun not to share.
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