Fantastic Fest 23

‘We Are Zombies’ – ‘Turbo Kid’ Filmmakers RKSS Discuss Their Gory Comic Book Adaptation [Interview]

Meagan Navarro Anouk Whissell, Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, François Simard, Interviews, RKSS, We Are Zombies, Yoann-Karl Whissell

The filmmaking trio collectively known as RKSS (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) have not one but two features making their rounds in the festival circuit: mean slasher Wake Up (our review) and charming horror-comedy We Are Zombies (our review). We Are Zombies, an adaptation of Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’ comic book series “The Zombies That Ate the World,” follows three […]

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‘Wake Up’ – ‘Turbo Kid’ Filmmakers Find Inventive Ways to Get Vicious in Mean Slasher [Interview]

Meagan Navarro Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, Interviews, RKSS, Wake Up

The filmmaking trio collectively known as RKSS (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) put their stamp on the slasher subgenre with the brutal Wake Up, which made its World Premiere last week at Fantastic Fest (our review) before heading to Sitges this week. Bloody Disgusting spoke with RKSS after the debut about their slasher with a severe mean streak. Wake […]

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‘There’s Something in the Barn’ Fantastic Fest Review – Evil Elf Comedy Has an Identity Crisis

Trace Thurman Aleksander Kirkwood Brown, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 23, Magnus Martens, Martin Starr, Reviews, There’s Something in the Barn

Christmas horror movies don’t come around too often, but every now and then we get gems like Black Christmas, Gremlins, Rare Exports and Krampus. Magnus Martens‘ evil elf horror comedy There’s Something in the Barn tries to hit that holiday horror comedy sweet spot that falls somewhere between Gremlins and Krampus, but misses the mark on both counts. […]

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‘Totally Killer’ Fantastic Fest Review – Blumhouse’s Time Travel Slasher is Totally Charming

Trace Thurman Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 23, Julie Bowen, Kiernan Shipka, Movies, Nahnatchka Khan, Olivia Holt, Randall Park, Reviews, Totally Killer

When the trailer for Totally Killer was released a few weeks ago, there was a bit of an uproar on social media claiming that the film was ripping off The Final Girls (review). While there are undoubtedly similarities between the two films, Nahnatchka Khan‘s horror comedy has far more in common with something like Christopher Landon’s Happy Death […]

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‘Your Lucky Day’ – Director Dan Brown and Actor Jessica Garza on Intense Hostage Thriller [Interview]

Meagan Navarro Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, Interviews, Movies, Your Lucky Day

An intense hostage situation breaks out on Christmas Eve at a convenience store in writer/director Dan Brown’s feature debut, Your Lucky Day (our review). The propulsive, suspenseful thriller features an ensemble cast, with actor Jessica Garza stealing the entire film as the sympathetic yet primal Ana. Both Brown and Garza spoke with Bloody Disgusting about Your Lucky Day at Fantastic Fest, where […]

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“30 Coins” Fantastic Fest Review – Season 2 Plunges Straight into the Winding Depths of Hell

Meagan Navarro 30 Coins, Álex de la Iglesia, Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, HBO Max, MAX, Reviews, TV

Writer/Director Álex de la Iglesia, co-writing with Jorge Guerricaechevarría, launched a unique biblical horror story in “30 Coins,” unfurling an overarching battle of good versus evil over the powerful set of silver that Judas once received in his betrayal of Jesus. By the inaugural season’s conclusion, the rural town of Pedraza was left devastated, its residents scattered […]

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‘Kill Dolly Kill’ Fantastic Fest Review – A Mixed Bag of Campy Trash

Trace Thurman Amy Vodkahaus, Donna Slash, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 23, Heidi Moore, Kill Dolly Kill, Lloyd Kaufman, Queer Horror, Reviews, Troma, Troma Entertainment

While the theme of Fantastic Fest this year is occultism/Satanic panic, the “junior” theme of the fest could easily be The Wrath of Troma, given that the opening night film of the festival was the long-awaited remake of The Toxic Avenger (review) and the studio is also bringing us Heidi Moore‘s Kill Dolly Kill. It’s a micro-budget film […]

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‘Wake Up’ Fantastic Fest Review – Vicious Slasher Taps into Societal Rage

Meagan Navarro Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, Reviews, RKSS, Wake Up

The filmmaking trio collectively known as RKSS (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) tend to toggle between two distinct tones of horror: infectious, gory horror comedies and mean horror that packs a punch. With two features screening at Fantastic Fest, We Are Zombies showcased the directors’ playful side. At the opposite end of the spectrum lies Wake Up, RKSS’s delightfully mean-spirited […]

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‘The Toxic Avenger’ – Macon Blair on the New Toxie and the Actor Beneath the Makeup [Interview]

Meagan Navarro Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, Interviews, Macon Blair, The Toxic Avenger

Writer/Director Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore) introduces a very different Toxie in his Troma remake, The Toxic Avenger. Here, it’s the downtrodden Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) who’s dunked into the toxic sludge that transforms him into a monstrous crusader against an evil corporation headed by greedy CEO Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon). Blair […]

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‘We Are Zombies’ Fantastic Fest Review – Zombie Comedy Oozes Charm (Among Other Things)

Trace Thurman Anouk Whissell, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 23, François Simard, Movies, Reviews, RKSS, We Are Zombies, Yoann-Karl Whissell

We seem to have run the gamut of the zombie apocalypse film. Like the possession film, it’s getting to be more and more difficult for filmmakers to breathe new life into the sub-genre, with only a few managing to eke out moments of true inspiration. Enter Canadian filmmaking trio RKSS‘ (Turbo Kid, Summer of 84) […]

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‘Wake Up’ Clip – Preview New Horror Movie from ‘Turbo Kid’ and ‘Summer of 84’ Filmmakers

John Squires Fantastic Fest 23, Movies, Wake Up

French Canadian directing trio RKSS are back with Wake Up, which World Premiered at Fantastic Fest over the weekend. Deadline shares a first-look preview clip out of the fest. In Wake Up, which combines a strong timely message with a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse, a group of hot-headed Gen Z activists find themselves brutally hunted […]

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‘Infested’ Fantastic Fest Review – French Creature Feature Is One of the Best Spider Attack Movies in Years

Trace Thurman creature feature, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 23, Finnegan Oldfield, Infested, Reviews, Sébastien Vaniček, Spiders, Théo Christine, Vermin

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a tried and true, serious-in-tone creature feature, or at least one in which the creature in question is a real-world animal and not a fictitious monster. This sub-genre often finds its roots planted firmly in horror comedy or, intentionally or not, camp. So it’s refreshing that Infested (formerly titled Vermin), […]

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‘Your Lucky Day’ Fantastic Fest Review – Propulsive Siege Thriller Takes Aim at Corrupt American Dream

Meagan Navarro Angus Cloud, Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, Reviews, Your Lucky Day

Writer/Director Dan Brown’s feature debut, Your Lucky Day, elevates a simple concept with palpable tension and intense confrontations. A convenient store at Christmastime transforms into a harrowing battleground when a winning lotto ticket emerges, creating an intense thriller filled with surprise escalations and propulsive action. It’s not just the narrative turns and bleak authenticity that makes Your Lucky Day winsome, […]

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‘Pet Sematary: Bloodlines’ Fantastic Fest Review – Prequel Favors Scares Over Story

Meagan Navarro Fantastic Fest 2023, Fantastic Fest 23, Pet Sematary, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Reviews, Stephen King

In Stephen King’s 1983 horror novel Pet Sematary, long-term Ludlow resident Jud Crandall relays some of the town’s lengthy history with the cursed burial ground that resurrects the dead to nightmarish results. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, the prequel to the 2019 remake, explores some of that history without any purpose other than to deliver entertaining jolts and a […]

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‘The Deep Dark’ Fantastic Fest Review – Claustrophobic Thriller Struggles to Maintain Tension

Trace Thurman Amir El Kacem, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 23, mathieu turi, Movies, Reviews, Samuel Le Bihan, The Deep Dark, Thomas Solivérès

Few fears are more universal than claustrophobia. Many of us have probably experienced that twinge of anxiety when elevator doors close behind us, but few of us have likely ever been down in the depths of a coal mine, where the elements at play have a potentially fatal outcome. This fear is what writer/director Mathieu […]

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