fantasia film festival

The other day Horror Squad's own Mike Bracken brought us an updated trailer, courtesy of Twitch, for the brutal-lookin' flick A Serbian Film. If you haven't watched the trailer yet, I highly suggest you do so. It's incredibly brutal, and incredibly not safe for work, what with all the blood, nudity, and rough sex involved. But what do you expect in a movie about a porn star whose return to porn has an added bonus of murder and mayhem?

A Serbian Film will be making an appearance at SXSW this month, but for those who unable to make it you'll have another chance only a few months later. Horror Squad just got word that Srdjan Spasojevic's debut flick will be screened with two other Serbian films as part of Fantasia Film Festival's 2010's "Subversive Serbia" block of programming this July in Montreal.

Shining a spotlight on "the blistering new wave of confrontational and edgy Serbian cinema," this series will also include the films The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, directed by Mladen Djordjevic, and Tears for Sale, which was co-written by Aleksandar Radivojevic, who also wrote A Serbian Film. Fantasia co-director Mitch David had this to say about the films:

"The voices emerging from the new wave of independent Serbian cinema are some of the rawest and most daring of any we've ever encountered" said Fantasia co-director Mitch Davis. "This is smart, confrontational filmmaking with astounding elements of shock, armed with the intelligence and the urgency to back it up. In particular, A Serbian Film and Porno Gang are, to my mind, the Clockwork Oranges of our generation. They push boundaries in ways that cinema rarely has the courage to do, and they're two of the most transgressive films I've ever seen. We can't wait to see them come to life in front of an audience here."

Power Kids (Thailand): So it's been over two decades since Die Hard made the movie pitch infinitely more efficient, and far by it from me to botch tradition, because this flick is basically Die Hard in a hospital... only with four ass-kicking kids going up against terrorists instead of one intrepid adult cop. Did I mention that they're after the donor heart for their youngest brother's emergency surgery? The kids, I mean, not the terrorists (they're there for the U.S. Ambassador, natch). And kick ass, they do, while taking a fair share of licks in return. Power Kids feels like it was made in the spirit of a Saturday matinee and was meant for kids of all ages, despite all the close-range semi-automatic fire and sepia-toned war flashbacks (not to mention the occasional f-bomb from the boorish American), but if the idea of some moppets Muay Thai-ing their way through bad guy after bad guy sounds good to you, I struggle to think that this would disappoint.

Watch the video after the jump

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.

Here's a festival line-up to make any genre fan drool. Dread Central has the complete schedule up for Montreal's Fantasia 2009 (July 9- 29th), and it's huge -- so huge that the festival is playing for an extra two days to have room for all the goodness.

The festival kicks off with Takashi Miike's Yatterman, and then will play host to several
several North American and world premieres, such as Park Chan-Wook's Thirst, including The Children, Deadgirl, Mutants, Dream, and Hells, and such buzzed about titles such as Grace, Orphan, The Horseman , Lesbian Vampire Killers, and The Eclipse, starring one of my favorite Irish actors, Ciarán Hinds, who won an award for his performance at the Tribeca Film Festival.

As if that wasn't exciting enough for a lot of fans, two very long delayed movies will also be getting their due: Michael Dougherty's long lusted after Trick 'R Treat and Glenn McQuiad's I Sell the Dead, with everyone's favorite hobbit, Dominic Monaghan.

If the list is too overwhelming for you, and you don't know just which ones to pick, why not let Horror Squad's Scott Weinberg be your guide? He recommends the the following: (Hi all!) Not to play favorites, but the films I've seen, I'd most vehemently recommend Grace, The Horseman, The Children, and (of course) Best Worst Movie! But the Fantasia staff has put together a stellar line-up, so right now I'm focused on what I haven't seen!