FanTasia 2009: Report #1

After a long flight on my part and a far longer drive for both of us, Scott Weinberg and I have finally arrived in Montréal for the FanTasia International Film Festival (their thirteenth, our first). The genre-heavy festival lasts for nearly three weeks; alas, we've but one to spare, so without much further ado, here's a look at what I've seen already and what I hope to see before Scott tips his own hand with a title or two to recommend.

Of the features playing, I can highly recommend Michael Paul Stephenson's Troll 2 doc, Best Worst Movie; the Aussie revenge thriller, The Horseman (not to be confused with the barely-seen Dennis Quaid vehicle,Horsemen); and Paul Solet's beautifully bloody baby horror, Grace. Those looking for something a bit stranger might end up being a bit more fond of Black and The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle than I was, though I also seemed more easily pleased by the Nazi zombies of Dead Snow than most, so I guess it all balances out. My enthusiasm for the ultra-kitschy likes of Alien Trespass and Lesbian Vampire Killers, not to mention the admittedly boundary-pushing Deadgirl, is all a bit less than what's already been mentioned, so let's just leave those at that.

Shorts-wise: The Horribly Slow Murder with the Inefficient Weapon exhausts its own concept to very amusing extremes, Hirsute offers a fairly clever take on time travel, Rite provokes squirming as much as thought, and Western Spaghetti is a lightweight display in stop-motion animation. Speaking of stop-motion, I can only admit to being psyched for one particular short here at FanTasia, and this is going off the title alone -- Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee, from the makers of Bumblebee Beats Optimus Prime (also playing this year).

Knowing that I've already missed out on some of these and will be missing out on others, I must say that I'm nonetheless looking forward to the following:

• The stealthily subversive online antics of 8th Wonderland
• The acclaimed Korean serial killer thriller that is The Chaser
• The kids-gone-berserk slaughter of The Children
• The deliberate supernatual mystery behind The Eclipse
• The grave-robbing horror-comedy that is I Sell the Dead
• The French zombie shenanigans of Mutants
• Park Chan-Wook's reported return to form with Thirst
• Michael Doughtery's hardly seen but highly loved Trick 'r Treat
• The apparently charmingly roughhewn Yesterday

And here's what Scott has to declare...

Well, you already know I love Best Worst Movie enough to allow them to use my horribly ugly image in the film, and my affections for Grace and The Horseman are well-known (at least to Will and my Twitter pals), but I've also been impressed by FanTasia flicks Must Love Death, Left Bank, I Sell the Dead, The Children, Blood River, The Chaser, and Rough Cut. But since I'm presently on a "movie watching deadline" (as in, I have a bunch of "jury" films I have to catch), I must run right now. Again, thanks to FanTasia for inviting us up. Will and I drove about eight hours to get here, and I highly doubt that we're going to regret the long journey.