Fantasia International Film Festival Film Reviews
Week 2
Sadly, the 29th edition of Fantasia International
Film Festival is coming to close on Sunday.
But I’ve got more films for you to put on your watch list, as well as the big Cheval Noir Award winner, MOTHER OF FLIES.
Grab that popcorn and let’s get started!
MOTHER OF FLIES
Written and Directed by John Adams, Zelda Adams and Toby Poser (The Adams Family)
MOTHER OF FLIES took home Fantasia’s top honor, the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film, the first feature from the United States to win Fantasia’s Cheval Noir Award for Best Film in the festival’s 29-year history.
The film is a haunting, poetic look at death, and a project that hit close to home to The Adams Family and their own experiences battling and surviving cancer.
Shaken to her core after being diagnosed with cancer, young Mickey (Zelda Adams) turns to necromancy to heal herself after conventional medicine fails to help. Her father, Jake (John Adams), is skeptical but his skepticism takes a backseat to support his daughter’s decision.
Solveig (Toby Poser), a witch in the Catskill Mountain forests, guides Mickey through a journey of discovery, ritual, and blood. But what Mickey doesn’t know is Solveig’s past and her relationship with death.
The cinematography is beautiful and the soundtrack only heightens the experience that Mickey goes through with Solvieg.
Solveig’s rituals aren’t for the weak in the stomach and may be a bit triggering for some.
Additionally, the film purposefully shows and tells the parallels between witchcraft and religion.
With the line “One day to die, three days to rise,” many with think of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, when it happens to be the general rule for necromancy. As Solveig’s past gets revealed over the course of the film, religion’s hypocrisy is sharp and poignant.
MOTHER OF FLIES is a film that will hit hard for some viewers; others may not enjoy the folk horror aspect and want something more.
But MOTHER OF FLIES is a stunning feat of storytelling.
Shudder picked up MOTHER OF FLIES so watch for its upcoming release.
The Adams Family also provided Fantasia viewers with a personal note about MOTHER OF FLIES, and it just goes to show how much devotion goes into these indie projects.
FILMMAKERS’ NOTE
The human body has a habit of dying — too soon, too late, often painfully.
As a family whose personal narratives serve as fuel for our imaginations, it was only a matter of time when we faced our stark history - every family’s history, really - with cancer. Beyond the visual conversation about life, death, and the transformative (and sometimes dangerous) powers of belief systems, this film is a bold middle finger raised at our own ugly experiences; to transform pain into something new, resurgent, alive - and yet, inevitably, still brutal.
We had the most wonderful time bending concepts of being alive, being dead, and the liminal realm between the two, which fed our exploration of necromancy in connection with two women who have very intimate relationships with death.
At the crossroads of breath, body, and belief lies magic. Mickey’s body grows death inside of her, and so she desperately believes in a magical cure offered by a witch in the woods. Solveig, slithering between states of raw bone and fully fleshed body, wields her death-magic - but for whom? Behind every trick hides truth; behind all pain waits love.
MOTHER OF FLIES, shot almost entirely in the Catskill Mountain forests we call home, is our fairytale manipulation of the darkly shadowed, yet love-lined pathways between a human life and death.
- The Adams Family
HELLCAT
Written and Directed by Brock Bodell
HELLCAT received a Special Jury Mention in the New Flesh Competition for Best First Feature 2025, and it was well deserved.
And while I want to share my full range of emotions watching this fresh, unique film, the less you know about HELLCAT, the better.
In return you’ll get a high stake, tense film that will leave you guessing and then blow your mind with a surprise ending. It’s one of the top film endings I’ve ever seen.
I predict HELLCAT will be a film that gets talked about in genre circles for years to come. Don’t get left out of that circle!
THE WAILING
Directed by Pedro Martín-Calero
Written by Pedro Martín-Calero and Isabel Peña
THE WAILING is a very different, profound film experience.
The first 5 minutes of the film jolts you and you’re not quite sure what you’ve got yourself into. Then the rest of the story ebbs and flows and builds up to a heartbreaking ending.
Co-scripted by Isabel Peña (THE BEASTS, THE CANDIDATE), THE WAILING was part inspired by the writing of Mariana Enríquez and “is a nightmarish supernatural allegory for the structural violence that continues to permeate society.”
In modern-day Madrid, Andrea’s world is being turned violently upside-down, haunted by a terrifying entity that she can neither see, understand, or explain. Twenty years ago, thousands of miles away, in La Plata, Marie is being tormented by the very same presence. A third woman, Camila, has a gut-wrenching understanding of what’s happening, but nobody will believe her. In their darkest moments, each will hear the same, terrible sound. A ghostly wailing will overwhelm their senses.
THE WAILING is told in chapters from four different female
points of view. They all build up to shocking conclusions but the ride to get
there starts to feel slow during Chapter 2 until you reach the climax of the
film. This slowness makes one of the essential characters feel more flat than
the others.
Additionally, as each story does get wrapped up, I had some lingering questions
as the credits rolled.
For film goers who enjoy slow burns with a shocking reveal, this is a great film to check out.
THE WOMAN
Directed by Hwang Wook
Written by Hwang Wook and Lim Dong-min
THE WOMAN is a fascinating character-driven thriller.
It all starts with an innocent exchange of strawberries and a secondhand appliance. The encounter takes a dark turn for Sun-kyung when it precedes her classmate’s suspicious suicide. She suspects the owner of the vacuum is involved with his death, and she’s willing to prove he’s guilty of it.
It is very hard to like the main character, Sun-kyung. From the beginning, something just feels off.
And that is what makes this psychological story so intriguing to watch. Just as you think you know where the story is going, or you figure out a hidden clue, something happens that you are not prepared for.
Additionally, the commentary on fake news hits hard as the repercussions come to light.
This a great film for character study.
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HAUNTED MOUNTAINS: THE YELLOW TABOO
Directed by Tsai Chia Ying
HAUNTED MOUNTAINS: THE YELLOW TABOO is a layered narrative that explores love, grief, and the emotional burdens we all carry.
Chia Ming and Yu Hsin form a deep bond through hiking, so deep that Chia Ming plans to propose during one such trip. However, the journey does not unfold peacefully. A mysterious force targets Yu Hsin, repeatedly taking her life in horrifying ways. Chia Ming, unfortunately, is trapped in a time-loop and forced to witness her death over and over, yet powerless to stop it. What went wrong? Why Yu Hsin? Everything seems to start from another hiking incident that happened on this very mountain years ago.
HAUNTED MOUNTAINS: THE YELLOW TABOO is inspired by Mountain Gremlins, one of Taiwan’s scariest urban legends from the 1970s involving an evil spirit, wearing a yellow raincoat and bamboo hat, who is said to appear in heavy fog. Those who make eye contact or follow their guidance, often vanish without a trace.
This urban legend is one of Taiwan’s three major supernatural myths. And HAUNTED MOUNTAINS: THE YELLOW TABOO retelling of the myth is both disturbing and heartbreaking.
For in this retelling, spirits don’t just stick around for vengeance and unfinished business.
A layered time-loop story can feel tedious in most films, but HAUNTED MOUNTAINS: THE YELLOW TABOO makes it work, and worth the ride. One of the biggest reasons it works for this film is its ability to show true humanity and the impact of grief differently and effectively in each layer.
This is a sad but well-written story to watch unfold. Stay watching past a few of the credits for a surprise revelation.
FOREIGNER
Written and Directed by Ava Maria Safai
MEAN GIRLS fans, meet FOREIGNER, its bubble-gum horror cousin.
Yasamin (Rose Deghan), or Yasi, is an Iranian teenager who wants to fit in. She lives with her father, Ali (Ashkan Nejati), and her grandmother, Zoreh (Maryam Sadeghi). She’s new to Canada and worries she won't make any friends at her new high school. On her first day, she meets a trio of pastel-clad chirpy girls: “Queen Bee” Rachel (Chloë MacLeod, SUGAR ROT) and her followers, Emily (Victoria Wadell) and Kristen (Talisa Mae Stewart, THE CASKET GIRLS). They are intensely interested in Yasi, having never met an Iranian person before, and their insidious racism pushes her to assimilate into white Canadian culture.
Yasi desperately wants to fit in, so she does whatever it takes to become a 2004 cookie-cutter teen like her new friends and dyes her hair blonde like her late mother and Sarah on her favorite sitcom. But those golden locks aren’t a golden ticket to acceptance. When her fading Iranian identity awakens a dark force within, Yasi becomes defiant to her family, rejects her culture, and threatens to destroy her loved ones and the new life she’s building in Canada.
FOREIGNER starts off like any bubbly, teen movie. Parts even feel similar to MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING.
But as soon as Yasi experiences her first day of school, the vibe quickly shifts and viewers get pulled into an eerie, uneasy world of racism and assimilation. It’s a fresh look into what immigrants are consistently faced with when moving to a different country. It’s especially eye opening as most of the statements or acts may come across as innocent, but they are anything but that.
The best piece of imagery to show this is the box of hair dye Yasi purchases called “Die Blonde.”
FOREIGNER is Ava Maria Safai’s first feature film, and she should be a voice on your radar.
BURNING
Directed by Radik Eshimov
BURNING is a gripping mystery told using a very well-done, thought out Rashomon effect.
In the midst of the chaos of a neighborhood fire, gossip starts in a local convenience store. People are wondering why such tragedy would happen to a family that was already on the brink. A drunk, a neighbor, and his wife each offer a different story. Farida (Kalicha Seydalieva), the mother-in-law, practiced black magic; Asel (Aysanat Edigeeva), the wife, lost her mind; or maybe Marat (Ömürbek Izrailov), the husband, was worn down by life. What went wrong? Perhaps, the fire was lit long before.
Each story changes the main villain behind the fire, but they never feel redundant as each offers new clues into what led to this tragedy.
When you do get to the truth, it’s even darker than expected.
But the real gut punch is the reveal that today’s human nature would rather speculate than get involved to know the truth and make a situation better.
It’s an impactful film about the consequences of our in-actions.
THE UNDERTONE
Written and Directed by Ian Tuason
THE UNDERTONE is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. And it is still lingering under my skin.
What do you do when you have limited time with your dying parent? You wait. And that’s what Evy (Nina Kiri, THE HANDMAID’S TALE, THE HERETICS) does as her mother lies on her deathbed, at home instead of a hospice.
This deathwatch is solitary, but she has The Undertone, a paranormal podcast she co-hosts with her friend Justin, where she’s the resident skeptic to his more open-minded views. They explore “all things creepy,” which helps her concentrate on something other than her mother’s inevitable passing.
When Justin receives an email with ten mysterious audio files from an anonymous sender, the duo listens to them on air. Each recording becomes increasingly sinister, and Justin starts to hear disturbing discoveries with nursery rhymes and weird sounds. As Evy does some personal investigation into the audio files, her mother’s house soon becomes a claustrophobic nightmare.
The build up of tension and anxiety are top-notch in THE UNDERTONE, mainly due to director Ian Tuason’s camerawork and skin-crawling sound design. The viewer never leaves the house. Not even when Evy leaves for one night. My stomach hurt once the credits rolled.
Religion, religious symbols, icons and myths are key to increasing viewers’ anxiety as they go down the rabbit hole with Evy and Justin. Many viewers may have done similar searches in their past – but with far less detrimental consequences.
Mother and child relationship dynamics go deep in THE UNDERTONE, with Evy coming to some devastating conclusions that lead to a climax and ending that completely overwhelms the senses.
There may some lingering questions once you are able to walk away from the film, but it will continue to haunt you in subtle ways.
I haven’t been this shook by a film since PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.
I highly recommend you do not watch alone, and trust me, you won’t want to leave the lights on when you go to bed.
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