Fantastic Fest Archives -

VENUS MOVIE REVIEW Directed by Jaume Balagueró (one of the directing team of the fantastic Rec series) Venus may take its inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, but Wright and Chris likened it to Dario Argento’s Three Mothers trilogy. As in, this is the The Mother of All Tears film we wish we had gotten. Lucia is […]

BIRDEMIC 3: SEA EAGLE MOVIE REVIEW We’ve told you about many of the best of the fest movies from this year at Fantastic Fest. Now get ready for the worst one. Although, I guess that’s the point. As you can hear from Chris and Wright in their review, your results may vary as to whether […]

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN MOVIE REVIEW Writer/director Martin McDonagh has reunited with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, the two stars of his wonderful and criminally underseen In Bruges, for this new pitch-black comedy set in a small town during the Irish Civil War. Farrell and Gleeson have been drinking buddies for ages but when one […]

HOLY SPIDER MOVIE REVIEW Wright and Chris return for one last round of (very late) Fantastic Fest reviews, but we had to get these final ones out to you. First up is Holy Spider, based on the true story of an Iranian serial killer who targeted sex workers. The film created a fictional female journalist […]

GIGANTICAST EPISODE 31: SHIN ULTRAMAN Matt and Tessa managed to finagle their way into Fantastic Fest to catch Shin Ultraman! Were they dazzled by the giant silver alien and his monstrous adversaries? NOTE: Apologies for the weird audio early on, all kinds of tech problems these days that should be sorted before the next episode! […]

SICK MOVIE REVIEW Writer Kevin Williamson (Scream) returns to horror with this pandemic-set slasher. Parker (Gideon Adlon) and her best friend Miri (Bethlehem Million) during a break from college, get away together to a fancy rich-parents lake house way away from civilization. It’s 2020 and COVID is in full swing so a little BFF isolation […]

HELLRAISER MOVIE REVIEW In this new reboot (or maybe requel; further installments will tell for sure) Hulu got their hands on the Clive Barker money machine of Hellraiser. Not just fooling around, they got the director of 2021’s indie horror smash The Night House to take the helm. The story this time follows Riley (Odessa […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: UNICORN WARS In this Spanish-French animated film from creator Alberto Vázquez, the world is one ravaged by war. Adorable Care-Bear like Teddy bears have been battling for years inside the Magic Forest with the Unicorns. The story follows a new group of recruits who first suffer through basic training, then are […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING At this point I think I can fairly say that our favorite absurdist weirdo is French director Quentin Dupieux. He came to our attention with his 2010 horror-comedy film Rubber about a sentient tire killing people. From there, it’s just gotten stranger. His latest film, Smoking Causes Coughing, […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: PROJECT WOLF HUNTING This South Korean action horror film begins with a huge cast of extremely dangerous criminals being loaded onto a large freight liner for transport. Although there’s a lot of cops going with them, you know this is gonna turn into Con-Boat at some point. But the thing is, […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: MARVEL’S WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Composer Michael Giacchino steps behind the camera to helm this one-off special adaptation of Marvel’s Werewolf By Night. Filmed in black and white with a very Universal Monster Movie vibe, the story follows a gathering of monster hunters called together to decide who will inherit the powerful […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: BONES AND ALL Maestro Luca Guadagnino made the Suspiria remake and must have decided he dug on the horror thing because he’s back at it again with Bones And All. The story follows Maren (Taylor Russell) an 18 year old girl suddenly on her own because her father just can’t take […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: BLOOD FLOWER This new Malaysian horror film starts off setting your expectations for some seriously dark stuff. And then it doesn’t disappoint throughout, getting more and more ‘they went there’. It follows a teen boy Iqbal who shares psychic abilities with his mother. Their family is paid to deal with various […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: BLOOD RELATIVES Actor Noah Segan jumps behind the camera for the first time (and then back out in front of it) as the writer/director/star of Blood Relatives, a sweet father-daughter road trip bonding movie. Oh, and they’re also vampires. Turns out once long ago, a human lover was taken and a […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: THE MENU Ralph Fiennes is Chef Slowik, a culinary expert so famed he asks the highest of prices to the extremely wealthy to come to a private island resort and be fed an exclusive multi-course meal by him and his sizable crew. Only this time, the entitled rich jerks are gonna […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: SHIN ULTRAMAN Neither Wright nor Chris has much experience with Japan’s giant alien kaiju-fighting robot Ultraman so take this review with that in mind (the super fan review is coming soon with Matt Frank and Tessa Morrison on our Giganticast show). But this reimagining of the tv show hit most of […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: HUNT This new South Korean political action thriller is written, directed, and starring film legend Lee Jung-jae (you probably know him as the main character from Squid Game). Set in South Korea’s turbulent 80s when they were led by an increasingly worsening military dictator, the story follows two higher-ups in the […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: SMILE We got to see the world premiere of this new horror film starring Sosie Bacon (does that mean we’re only one degree away from Kevin now?) at Fantastic Fest. The story follows her as a psychologist who witnesses an extremely distressed patient commit suicide in front of her but not […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: THE ANTARES PARADOX The Antares Paradox is a Spanish sci-fi drama and the debut of director Luis Tinoco who works with actress Andrea Trepat in the role of Alexandra. There’s a few other actors we see in here that she makes video or phone calls to but, it’s largely Trepat’s show […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: DEEP FEAR Sonia and Max are good friends with Henry and as a send-off before he has to go do mandatory military service, they are led by a recent friend Remy on a tour of the abandoned catacombs beneath Paris. When they meet up with the underground explorer and his friends, […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: EVERYONE WILL BURN This Spanish horror film is playing things with a degree of comedy, but playing it with a knowing smirk as it flips aspects of The Omen on its head. Scream Queen legend Macarena Gómez plays Maria, a woman living in a small town who is absolutely not able […]

INFESTATION FANTASTIC FEST 2022: THE OFFERING Nick Blood plays Art, a young husband who is trying to make it work in commercial real estate but it’s not panning out. He returns reluctantly with his wife (Emily Wiseman) to his father’s home where Dad (Allan Corduner) works out of the basement as a mortician. Art’s intent […]

INFESTATION: FANTASTIC FEST 2022: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS Wright and Chris take on their first film of this year’s Fantastic Fest, a road trip movie with a very uptight and mean-spirited gay dwarf and a free-spirited wacky sex worker. She convinces him to give him a ride to Canada so she can make it to the place […]

INFESTATION: FANTASTIC FEST 2021: THE FINAL ROUND With out last, and seriously belated (sorry) look at this year’s Fantastic Fest films, Chris, Drew, Rae, and Neil look at the Palmes D’or winner at this year’s Cannes film festival about a female serial killer who gets impregnated by a car, “Titane”. Then it’s on to the […]

INFESTATION: FANTASTIC FEST 2021 – THE THIRD ROUND Our coverage of this year’s Fantastic Fest continues with Chris, Rae, Neil, Trevor, and Matt discussing: -From the director of the clown horror “Stitches” comes “Let the Wrong One In”, an irreverent horror comedy about what happens with two Irish brothers when one of them starts turning […]