The 29th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival is just around the corner. Hosted in Montreal, Fantasia boasts the title of biggest genre film festival in North America. Fantasia audiences know they can expect weird and wonderful science fiction, fantasy, horror, from the sublime to the absurd.
This year, the Canadian Trailblazer Award will be given to George Mihalka, for 40 years as a filmmaker. Best known for his 1981 slasher MY BLOODY VALENTINE, Fantasia will screen two of Mihalka’s films during the festival, as well as host his master class on July 27. Other featured guests include Anne-Marie Gélinas, Sheila McCarthy, and Danny Elfman.
Screenings will be held July 16-August 3, 2025, in theaters around Montreal, at Concordia University’s Hall, J.A. de Sève and York Cinemas, Cinéma du Musée, Galerie BBAM!, and Reggies Gallery. To purchase tickets, go here.
Without further ado, here’s my baker’s dozen of films I’m looking forward to seeing at Fantasia. All movies are in English, unless indicated otherwise. See you at the movies!
ALL YOU NEED IS KILL!, directed by Kenichiro Akimoto (animated science fiction) [Japanese]
Description: Based on the groundbreaking novel by the same name that was adapted under the title EDGE OF TOMORROW, this animated version stays in the POV of Rita. Fantasia calls it “a visually striking, dynamic, and intense piece of work, with fierce and fluid action, and a look all its own.”Live, die, repeat: While I’m not usually a fan of remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, or requels, I’m a fan of the Cruise-Blunt adaptation and want to explore more animation outside of the Disney-Pixar empire. I’m not usually drawn to animated features in general, but it’s time to be more well-rounded. The animation style in the trailer looks amazing. So for all of these reasons, I’m in. Here’s to being proven wrong.
EVERY HEAVY THING, directed by Mickey Reece (experimental thriller)
Description from Fantasia Fest: With his latest feature, EVERY HEAVY THING, Reece returns with a pitch-black comedy set against the unsettling backdrop of a string of disappearances, with local women vanishing without a trace. The film follows Joe, an unassuming office worker at an online periodical who becomes entangled in a conspiracy after witnessing a murder. As a colleague begins to investigate, Joe struggles to conceal the truth, as his carefully constructed life falls apart.Why I chose it: Mickey Reece shook my world with his humor-laced religious horror AGNES. This film sounds like a mashup of OFFICE SPACE and NORTH BY NORTHWEST, with an ordinary office worker being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the mixed-media format should prove an interesting wrapper to add to that blend.
THE FORBIDDEN CITY, directed by Gabriele Mainetti (martial arts) [Italian/Mandarin]
Description from Fantasia Fest: A place as inviting as Rome is typically not thought of as a "forbidden city" but, like all cities, there is another one beneath it, an underbelly filled with crime and corruption they don't want tourists to see. Marcello thinks he does not live in that part of Rome. He's in the multicultural Piazza Vittorio, filled with restaurants and shops with immigrants from all over. Into Piazza Vittorio comes Mei, who has snuck into Rome from China to search for her missing sister—and Marcello's father. This unlikely duo will soon learn that the forbidden part of Rome keeps secrets it doesn't want uncovered, and they're going to have to fight, and fight hard, to get to the truth.The hype is high: The write up on Fantasia’s website really builds the hype, promising “one of the best movies of 2025”, comparing it to RRR (hey now!), and calling it a “knockout of a movie.” With such bombastic language, how can I resist seeing if the rumors have any grounding? Also, after the conclusion of COBRA KAI, I’m in need of a martial arts fix.
FOREIGNER, directed by Ava Maria Safai (thriller) [English/Persian]
Description from Fantasia Fest: Yasamin, or Yasi, is an Iranian teenager who wants to fit in. 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 and her followers, Emily and Kristen. 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. 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.Get in, losers: It’s definitely the right time for immigrant experience stories told through a horror lens, and the “mean girls” trope is just the ticket to make a film really resonate with contemporary audiences. This sounds deliciously wicked and deeply unsettling.
GOOD BOY, directed by Ben Leonberg (horror)
Description from Fantasia Fest: From the first moment you see him, you know that Indy is a very good boy, as loyal as a dog can be to his human, Todd. Todd has uprooted Indy to his late grandfather's remote house upstate, and before he even sets foot in the house, Indy can sense something's not right. It's not just that the house is in the middle of nowhere and seriously dilapidated, there's something there that Indy can sense that Todd cannot. Indy can only do so much to warn his human (he's a dog, after all), but he's going to protect him with all his heart before what's haunting this house comes for them both. Because Indy is not just a good boy, he may be the bravest and smartest boy of all.What is it, boy?: Oh my heart, this reminds me of the days of my youth enjoying LASSIE re-runs or the 1974 BENJI movie (Benji liked those pudding cups). Who doesn’t want to see a movie about a protective dog keeping his owner from harm? As a bonud: we’ve got another Fantasia appearance for Larry Fassenden, this time playing the role of Todd’s grandfather.
HOSTILE TAKEOVER, directed by George Mihalka (thriller)
Description from Fantasia Fest: Police surround a hydroelectric plant where armed, repressed accountant Eugene Brackin is holding his boss and two colleagues hostage while they all work overtime during the Thanksgiving vacation. The police chief is baffled, as Eugene seems to act without motive or apparent demand. What follows are two days in which the fever of confinement has different effects on each of the protagonists. The chief, for his part, comes under increasing pressure from a well-placed sniper in a nearby building, to end the situation quickly. Eugene and the hostages get to know each other and fraternize, but certain demons will resurface. The end of this modern tale is anyone's guess.Happy Thanksgiving: Every Fantasia, I watch at least one retro feature by the Canadian Trailblazer-selected director. This year, I’m choosing this film that went straight to VHS tape. In fact, there don’t seem to be any trailers available to get a sense of what the tone will be. Also, there are too few movies set during Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday. The film was also released under the title OFFICE PARTY. The mystery deepens.
I LIVE HERE NOW, directed by Julie Pacino (thriller)
Description from Fantasia Fest: Julie Pacino plunges us into a vibrant and nightmarish psychodrama that reverberate with echoes of David Lynch, Dario Argento, and the Coen brothers. Starring Lucy Fry as Rose, a woman haunted by trauma and trapped in a motel where reality unravels, the film blurs the lines between past and present, dream and waking life, all in vibrant 35mm with striking 16 mm inserts. The film pulses with competing anxieties: the pursuit of perfection, the weight of generational trauma, and the invisible fist of capitalism tightening its grip around the necks of its characters. Pacino paints a world that is strange and bewildering, overflowing with dream-like hallucinations.Why I chose it: The cast of Madeline Brewer, Sheryl Lee, and Matt Rife demands immediate attention, plus the concept of a woman trapped in a hotel that becomes a nightmare. I’m ready for the Lynchian daydream to unfold.
JULIET & THE KING, directed by Ashkan Rahgozar (animated musical) [Persian]
Description from Fantasia Fest: Belle Époque Paris, the City of Lights, doesn’t always glitter so brightly for aspiring actress Julie and her comrade Jamal, a Persian emigré playwright. Fortune favors them when his majesty, the Shah of Iran, arrives in France for a diplomatic visit. Julie has talked her way into the lead part in a production of Shakespeare’s famous romantic tragedy, with the Shah in attendance—and he’s smitten the moment he sets eyes on her. His impulsive proposal that Julie and Jamal travel to Tehran to put on the play (with the Shah himself as Romeo) seems like the pair’s big break. Upon arrival, though, they soon find that bringing the Bard’s best-known work to the Persian stage will mean confronting production disasters, cultural chauvinism, palace intrigue, and the raging ire of a very jealous queen dowager and her cabal of court ladies!Why I chose it: This second animated feature earned by attention with the Iranian setting and its promise of a musical treatment. A closer reading of the description almost sounds like an animated rendering of MOULIN ROUGE, despite no mention of star-crossed lovers.
THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH, directed by Yeum Moon-kyoung & Lee Jong-min (comedy) [Korean]
Description from Fantasia Fest: “Due to a critical virus in 2099, all women on Earth are extinct, except for one…” This is how Gu Hanah imagines the beginning of the film she’s planning for school. As she’s pitching her premise, a satirical revenge story against men, in front of her classmates, she doesn’t receive any positive feedback, especially with one of them named Song Cheol saying it’s full of misandry. She doesn’t deny that fact. In the case of Cheol, he lacks authenticity in his storytelling and claims the reason he’s not getting any grants from funding agencies is the lack of female perspective in his script. He suggests they collaborate with one another on his feature, and in return he’ll help get her film made.Why I chose it: This promises a fun dynamic between its characters and B-movie energy. I don’t often choose comedy, but the clever marketing of this film about gender inequality in the film space has me willing to make an exception.
STRAIGHT OUTTA SPACE, directed by Michael Middelkoop (science fiction) [Dutch]
Description from Fantasia Fest: We all know a place like Schijndrecht, one of those makeshift neighborhoods that offer affordable public housing, a few shops, and a sense of community to those who can't afford anything else. Best friends Amin and Mitchell live and work there as Straatcoaches (street coaches), keeping the neighborhood clean and helping the people out. But Schijndrecht is in for some big changes: aliens—the outer-space kind—have taken over, grossly possessing the minds and bodies of the residents of Schijndrecht! Now, with the neighborhood closed off and the fate of their community at risk, these street coaches are going to have to become street fighters to save their homes, their friends, and the world itself.Why I chose it: Films about close-knight communities often warm my heart with their loveable casts of oddball characters and flavorful descriptions of local customs. In this case, the community comes together to fight off aliens. I’m ready to keep the streets clean with Amin and Mitchell.
THE UNDERTONE, directed by Ian Tuason (horror)
Description from Fantasia Fest: What do you do when you have limited time with your dying parent? You wait. And that’s what Evy 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, an unbelievable nightmare unfolds.The deathbed files: Honestly, this is probably my most anticipated film of the festival. Our two main leads have Mulder and Scully energy. And the mashup of PONTYPOOL and HIS THREE DAUGHTERS has me intrigued, as well. Subscribe and watch this movie.
THE WAILING, directed by Pedro Martín-Calero (horror) [Spanish/French]
Description from Fantasia Fest: 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. Brace yourself for one of the scariest films of the year.Across time and space: These film features three women in different decades having a connected experience. Leaning into the trauma that passes on through generations, THE WAILING has a terrifying sound design and eery cinematography.
THE WOMAN, directed by Hwang Wook (thriller) [Korean]
Description from Fantasia Fest: Sun-kyung meets a stranger named Young-hwan for a trade of his secondhand vacuum cleaner, but something is quite not right with him. She brings him a pack of strawberries as a thank-you gift, but he then claims he does not accept gifts from strangers anymore. Out of nowhere, he suddenly changes his mind and goes back to her to retrieve his strawberries. Luckily, her college classmate Ui-jin comes to her rescue just in time, as he also notices his unsettling nature. The next day, a homicide detective calls her saying that Ui-jin has committed suicide that night. She suspects Young-hwan to be involved with his death, and she’s willing to prove he’s guilty of it.Why I chose it: Something isn’t quite right with Young-hwan, but Sun-kyung can’t quite make out what that is. Similarly, we as viewers will be kept in the dark as to what the full truth is of this situation, at least, that’s the vibe I get from the trailer. Some films are all about plot, but others are all about the creepy atmosphere, with the truth hidden just outside of view.
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