In Review: Fantastic Fest 2018
And just like that, Fantastic Fest has come and gone. I saw 30 films! Also, I had SOTO’s own Noah Sanders in tow, and I managed to keep him alive! That, my friends, means the festival was a total success. I can’t wait for next year.
Below you’ll find notes on all of the films that I saw. I split it up into four groups – THE BEST, PRETTY GOOD, NOT TERRIBLE NOT GREAT and BAD. Enjoy.
— THE BEST —
Suspiria
Plot: A world renowned dance company takes in a new student from America. As the young woman establishes herself, evil swirls around.
Review: The more I think about Suspiria, the more I fall in love with it. Too bad I’m not sure that it’ll do much for most. The film is long (two and a half hours) and it’s never in a hurry to wrap up, plus it is just an overall brutal affair (there’s one contortion scene that’s very disturbing). It’s wild to think that this is the same Luca Guadagnino that did Call Me By Your Name.
Overlord
Plot: After being dropped into Nazi-occupied France, a group of American soldiers must infiltrate and destroy a communications tower. What they stumble upon during their mission is just not good at all.
Review: Overlord is an absolute blast. It doesn’t ever roll out anything you don’t expect it to, but you won’t care because it’s just such a fun movie. Be sure to see it somewhere with a huge screen and quality sound system.
Hold The Dark
Plot: A wolf expert is asked to go to Alaska to hunt a pack of wolves that recently took a child. Once there, he gets wrapped up in a much more perilous situation than he anticipated.
Review: If you asked me to rank every film I saw at Fantastic Fest, I’d put Hold The Dark in the #1 spot. The latest from Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room) is the definition of gripping and is a total must-see. By the way, this film features the best performance of Alexander Skarsgard’s career – he’s legit menacing in it.
Mid90s
Plot: Set in the 90s, a teenager goes about befriending a group of skater kids. A lot of growing up happens.
Review: Mid90s was by far the most enjoyable movie I saw at Fantastic Fest. Jonah Hill practically transported me back to the 90s with his incredibly endearing directorial debut, and even now – all these days later – I’m still riding a nostalgia high. Hopefully everyone sees this gem.
Destroyer
Plot: Detective Bell has learned that a shady figure from her past has returned to LA. In an attempt to right a wrong that happened 18 yeas ago, she sets out to find him.
Review: Nicole Kidman is a powerhouse in Destroyer, and that’s why you need to go see it. I mean, yes, the rest of the film is great as well (especially if you dig gritty crime dramas), but my oh my is Kidman better than she’s ever been. Just give her that Best Actress award now.
Border
Plot: A border patrol guard is able to sense when people are trying to smuggle in drugs, alcohol and other prohibited items. One day, she meets someone who seems to be able to scramble this special ability of hers.
Review: Border impressed the hell out of me. Its story is tough and heavy, but it’s also something with quite a few moments that are beautiful and uplifting. In a lot of ways it really reminded me of Let The Right One In. Highly recommended stuff here.
The Perfection
Plot: A former cello star is looking to get back into the scene, so she seeks out her mentor. Along the way, she meets his new super-student and ends up barreling down a dark, vengeful path.
Review: Holy moly. The first act of this film is a little slow and I could not at all tell where the story was going (or why I should care), but then bugs get vomited and secrets get revealed and the ride from there is just wildly entertaining and bizarre.
You Might Be The Killer
Plot: A camp counselor is trying to not get hacked up. Why is a murder spree underway? He doesn’t know. Is it actually him doing the killing? Maybe.
Review: My excitement level for You Might Be The Killer wasn’t very high, but I ended up really liking it. The film is very cleverly built on time jumps and self-aware phone convos (the characters use slasher movie knowledge to help themselves), and this does well to keep its thin plot interesting. I also found it to be much funnier than I expected. Whenever this gets to the general public, it could be a hit similar to 2011’s Cabin In The Woods.
Terrified
Plot: There’s a small block of houses where very violent and supernatural things are happening. Some qualified people take a stab at figuring out what’s going on.
Review: If jump scares are not your thing, then I would advise against seeing Terrified. I would also avoid it if you worry that there might be something under your bed or in your closet. Actually, if you’re someone who is easily startled, don’t watch this movie. I had the willies for every moment of it.
The Night Comes For Us
Plot: A Triad badass abruptly decides to turn on his employer in order to save a young girl. This causes a lot of violence.
Review: I wanted all the action from The Night Comes For Us, and it actually delivered! It’s a little long (two hours), but Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais and the rest of the cast kick so much ass in every one of the film’s numerous fight scenes that you don’t really mind when it drags a little – that’s when you get to breathe.
Piercing
Plot: While attempting to carry out a devious plot, a man finds himself in a very surprising situation.
Review: In a lot of ways, Piercing just feels like Nicolas Pesce having some lighthearted fun after doing The Eyes Of My Mother. Does that mean it’s not twisted and brutal? Oh, it definitely is, but this little movie features quite the sense of humor. It’ll be interesting to see where Pesce goes from here.
The Guilty
Plot: After taking a call from a kidnapped woman, a dispatcher goes about doing everything he can to help her. In the process, he comes to terms with some things about himself.
Review: It doesn’t necessarily look like there’s a lot to The Guilty – it’s 85 minutes long and takes place in one room – but there’s a lot of great character work at play throughout it. Also, I really enjoyed how it very patiently disperses information and twists. I was reminded of Tom Hardy’s Locke a lot here.
— PRETTY GOOD —
Bad Times At The El Royale
Plot: A variety of people (all with different goals) happen to simultaneously gather at The El Royale – a hotel that resides half in California and half in Nevada. Things get out of hand.
Review: I know this won’t sound like a ringing endorsement, but I do mean it in a positive way – Drew Goddard’s Bad Times At The El Royale is a poor man’s Tarantino flick. The characters aren’t quite as developed and the dialogue isn’t near as snappy, but still, what Goddard has here is solid entertainment.
Burning
Plot: A young writer rekindles a friendship with a former classmate. At first all is well, but then things start to unravel after she returns from a trip with a mysterious new male companion.
Review: This movie is far too long. Seriously, I think that somewhere around 35 to 40 minutes could be hacked right out of Burning and you wouldn’t even notice. With that being said, I do think it’s a film worth seeing. There’s great characters, a compelling story and a payoff that’s generally worth the wait.
Dog
Plot: After his wife kicks him out of the house, a man goes about adopting the lifestyle of a dog.
Review: Vincent Macaigne is the reason this film works as well as it does. His Jacques Blanchot, the man-going-dog star of the movie, is so lovable and pure that even when the film gets really weird (and it certainly does), you never want to stop rooting for him. If you like movies with a lot of heart, then you should seek Dog out.
School’s Out
Plot: A substitute teacher inherits a class of gifted students. It’s not long before the oddball kids start making him paranoid.
Review: School’s Out is a super solid little French film that constantly keeps you guessing and then goes left just when you think it’s going to go right.
The World Is Yours
Plot: A drug dealer makes a move to get out of the game, but he hits a roadblock when he discovers that his mischievous mother has gambled away all of his savings. This leaves him with no choice but to take on one last job.
Review: Essentially, The World Is Yours is a heartfelt (and funny) coming of age story … with criminals. Big ups to Karim Leklou – he’s a real highlight as Francois, the lovable dolt at the center of the film who just wants to stop dealing drugs and open a Mr. Freeze in North Africa.
Keep An Eye Out
Plot: A cop suspects that a man may know more about a murder than he’s letting on, so he interrogates him.
Review: Quentin Dupieux (Rubber, Wrong Crops) loves to make incredibly absurd and abstract movies, so I figured Keep And Eye Out would be really nutty. Nope. It’s certainly silly and it has an ending that zooms in out of nowhere, but the movie is easily Dupieux’s most accessible effort.
The Unthinkable
Plot: Sweden suddenly finds itself having a rough time. Bombs are going off, people seem to be going crazy, and no one knows what is going on.
Review: I was expecting a full-on disaster film, but The Unthinkable isn’t quite that. Sure, Sweden gets wrecked, but the movie is more of a drama that follows a young man with a large variety of relationship (and personal) issues. I dug this approach, as it provided more weight to all the destruction.
Laika
Plot: It’s 1957, and Laika is a sweet dog who has just been launched into space aboard the Sputnik 2. After crash landing on a little planet, her and her pups go about getting settled.
Review: Laika is a stop-motion musical, and boy is it weird. I sure liked it a lot though. Aside from charming visuals, it features a very sharp sense of humor and a slew of catchy songs (despite the language barrier). Also there’s a somewhat perverted character named Queerneck, and he’s the best.
May The Devil Take You
Plot: A fella makes a deal with the Devil. Unsurprisingly, things go poorly.
Review: It seems like most horror movies these days pick one tactic and focus on that. In other words, they’re only full of jump scares or atmospheric tension or gross-out moments or whatever. May The Devil Take You, however, throws it all into the mix, and I think that’s what makes it memorable. Solid Evil Dead vibes here.
Werewolf
Plot: A bunch of kids are trapped inside an abandoned orphanage. They’d like to leave, but there’s a vicious pack of dogs surrounding the building.
Review: I was expecting Werewolf to have a good bit of action in it, but the film is actually more of a cerebral affair. It works though. The kids here are fresh out of a concentration camp and facing starvation, and their interactions with each other make for an interesting experience.
The Nightshifter
Plot: A man who works at a morgue can talk to dead people. It’s somewhat of a casual activity for him until a corpse informs him that his wife has been seeing some else. This puts him on a bad path.
Review: If you dig horror movies with a good sense of humor and some legit scares, then The Nightshifter is definitely for you. Personally, I found it to be a little long and the ending was more ambiguous than I wanted, but the film is for sure one hell of a ride.
— NOT TERRIBLE NOT GREAT —
Apostle
Plot: After being informed that his sister has been kidnapped (and is being held for ransom) by a cult, a man sets out to save her.
Review: Because Gareth Evans did both of The Raid movies, I went into this expecting to see Dan Stevens beat the shit out of a variety of seedy cult members. This is not what I got. There’s a small bit of action to be had in Apostle, but for the most part it’s a weird thriller with a few too many storylines at play. I wouldn’t call the film a mess, but it’s close to it.
Murder Me, Monster
Plot: Women keep showing up decapitated and violated, so local law enforcement tries to figure out if there’s a serial killer or an actual monster on the loose.
Review: Murder Me, Monster is a well made film and it has an interesting story, but it’s also long, slow and really weird. I wouldn’t seek it out unless you’re a very patient person.
Chained For Life
Plot: Rosenthal and Mabel have been hired to star in a movie because of their looks – he has neurofibromatosis, she’s pretty. Things happen between them while on set.
Review: Chained For Life turned out to be a bit much for me. It starts out fine with its charming look and a wealth of interesting characters, but as the movie within a movie becomes movies within the movie that’s in another movie, I lost interest. Certainly possible I’d dig it more on a second viewing.
Level 16
Plot: Vestalis Academy preps young women for the families that will one day take them in. Or at least that’s what the girls are told.
Review: A few of my pals enjoyed Level 16, but I found it to be a chore. This is mostly because only one of the girls in it is anywhere close to being a good actress. Admittedly though, I’m also just fully burned out anything resembling a YA film.
Holiday
Plot: A young woman goes on vacation with her criminal boyfriend. It turns out to a different experience than she expected.
Review: Holiday is a movie full of unlikable characters doing bad things to each other. I found it be fine overall (it’s well made and features good performances), but I do think it’ll register with most as a love it or hate it kind of thing. There’s just too much of a mixed message in the film for it to land otherwise.
— BAD —
Between Worlds
Plot: A truck driver finds himself in a tough spot when the daughter of his new love gets inhabited by the spirit of his dead wife.
Review: I love zany, B-movie Nic Cage as much as anyone, but Between Worlds is just not good at all. Hell, it’s not even good-bad. This film is slow, poorly shot, nonsensical and loaded with atrocious performances.
The Wind
Plot: A couple in the 1800s live all on their own out in the middle of nowhere. When another couple settle nearby, things start to go off the rails.
Review: I did not like The Wind. I had previously seen it described as The Witch but set on a prairie, and that turned out to not be accurate at all. Of all the movies I saw at the fest, this one was the most boring.
