Monday, July 22

Fantasia International Film Festival - Opening Weekend Films

 Fantasia International Film Festival
Opening 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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