Legions (2022) FANTASPOA 2022

 

I love Legions.

No- I really love Legions. I mean when was the last time that you saw a horror film that made you misty in the best possible way?

This is the story of a shaman who has been locked up in an asylum. He shuffles through his day hanging out with the other patients and spinning stories of his adventures. His daughter’s boyfriend is working to get him out. Things take a dark turn when a red moon like the one under which his daughter was born is predicted. This coincides with a visit with a young woman who brings a warning that a certain demon is planning to sacrifice his daughter. The shaman has to get out of the hospital and restore his daughters faith.

Demonic horror meets with a family drama to become one of the most wonderful surprises of the year. This is a magical film that is not only suspenseful but funny, and surprisingly deeply moving. In all seriousness the end of this film made me get misty for the best possible reasons. I don’t know when that happened in a horror film.

What makes the film work as well as it does is that it refuses to do what you expect. First in an age when effects and jump scares are the norm, Legions leans back into the characters. This a film where the people are the reason the film exists. Yes there is blood and gore, but they aren’t the reason we are here. We’re here for the journey of the characters.

More importantly the film refuses to follow the modern rules of horror. There isn’t a scare every X number of minutes. The film isn’t a series of gotchas. What I love is the film ends and there is no last minute dark turn at the end just because. The humor is gentle and not cruel. And as I said above the film insists on having characters we care about wandering around. No one is expendable so it hurts when someone dies.

What an absolute delight.

This is a truly great film on so many levels, I can’t say enough good about it.

Finding films like this is why I love Fantaspoa

Highly recommended, especially if you hate modern cookie cutter horror.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com.

Phantom Summer (2022) Fantaspoa 2022

While they are trying to locate a missing friend two friends stumble upon a an opera that was supposedly written in blood and will bring about the end of the world if performed.

Mannered horror fantasy is going to work for some people and not for others. Put me in the second group because the films tone never worked for me. While there is something to the story of the lost friend and potentially demonic work the film seems more interested in things other than generating suspense and terror. I kept waiting for it generate something so that it would finally  connect to me but it never did.

Its a miss with a plot line that I’d like to see redone by a different director.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com.

Subject (2022) Fantaspoa 2022

My hands are tied in talking about this film. While I could really discuss it and its wonders I would spoil the twists and turns that lie at the end of the film. While I know pretty much everyone who reviews the film will spoil it, I can’t do so. I had a blast watching the plot twist and having my eyes go wide and as the turns made me talk to the screen.

The plot of the film has a writer going to an isolated house in an isolated village to work on his next book. Not long after he gets there weird things begin happening and turns begin appearing. Something is happening in the house, in the village and in the story he is writing.

The best thing I can say is this the kind of thing I could imagine Neil Gaiman would turn into a best selling novel. Its not so much a horror film but a fantasy film and a meditation on creation. While this may not thrill those at Fantaspoa who are looking for hardcore horror, those who are looking for a clever respite from the insanity are going to be absolutely delighted.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com.

Upurga (2022) Fantaspoa 2022

 

Reeling from a past tragedy a rafting guide tags along with his sister and her friends when they go into the forest to shoot a video. Picking up a local inspector who warns them never to leave the river to enter the forest, they do just that and things begin to go wrong and primal.

I’ve delayed reviewing UPURGA because I couldn’t figure out what I thought of the film. I wanted to try and see it a second time before I wrote it up. I watched the film the other night  a second time and to be honest I still don’t know what I think of it.

This is a gorgeous looking film. It is a film that feels real. We are in the forest and on the river with the characters. Its one of the very few films I’ve ever seen where I had no sense of there being a crew just out of the frame. This film feels like we are in the middle of nowhere. Frankly this is exactly the sort of film that should be in the running for an Oscar because it’s cinematography is a key component to the story telling process. Sadly films like this get pushed aside for films that have beautiful vistas or compelling images like in Bladerunner 2049.

My uncertainty with the film comes from the narrative. This is a film that echoes several other horror films, and or fairy tales where we are warned not to stray from the path. Madness lurks in the darkness and we should never investigate it. While the film has moments and genuinely generates more than it’s share of creepy fearful moments, I’m not sure it all hangs together. Something seems off, even allowing for the fact that there is a kind of dream logic operating here, something seems off.

In a weird way this film reminded me of a film called YELLOWBRICKROAD about a supposed haunted trail in New England.  When I first saw the film I was overwhelmed by the theatrical experience and wicked sound design, however when I saw the film again I found that the narrative didn’t hold together. It did a few things that seemed to go against its own internal logic, I could see how the director moved things to make the film go how he wanted it to, and not the way the characters and situations were heading. I have that same feeling in regard to UPURGA. Its not really fatal, but I can’t not unseen the hand of the director manipulating things.

Worth a look for what works, but I’m not sure you’ll be satisfied.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com

Holy Shit (2022) Fantaspoa2022

 

If you want to see a nifty comedic thriller and can completely shut off your mind, then ‘s film is for you. This is a crazy ass film about a guy who wakes up in a Porta-Potty that is in a worksite that is about to be dynamited. It’s off color and frequently over the top film that will have you laughing and wincing as the tension grows.

And as long as you do not think about the logic of it all it’s a fantastic thrill ride.

The key is at no point can you think about what is happening because as soon as you do the film begins to fold in on itself.

The problem with the film  is that once the film starts to explain how our hero ended up trapped in the toilet things begin to break apart. The turns of the plot make no sense even with in the frame work of the film. Clearly director Lukas Rinker wanted to go for a raucous reaction from his audience but he pushed things too far. Where the film’s logic begins to break  about half way in, the film completely collapses as any sort of real narrative in the final 15 minutes when things go for over the top gross humor instead making sense. Its literal shit covered comedy with a villain so unbelievably cartoony that he would  have been bounced from the stage in the mustache turning days of melodrama.

Don’t get me I watched to the end, laughing all the way, but I was disappointed that the cleverness of the first half lessens as the film goes on to the end.

This is gonna be best with a large audience. Otherwise this is a pass

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com

Preman (2022) FANTASPOA 2022

A deaf gangster soldier must fight his way out of a small village with his son when the gang murders a friend. 

This is an intense and one of a kind action film. One part action film, one part suspense drama and one part character study, this is film that puts us into the head of are hero. The film moves us in and out of the the psyche by showing us what he sees and more importantly what he doesn't hear. Time and again the soundtrack drops out. It forces us to focus. Honestly I want to go back and rewatch the film and figure out how the soundtrack drives the film.

Its also a film that makes us feel the violence. There is a visceral quality. Its dirty and ugly. Yes the blood doesn't always look real, but it feels real. It feels painful in ways we don't normally experience in the movies.

This is a killer film. It gloriously doesn't behave like most film I've seen. 

Expect this film to show up at festivals over the next few months.

This film screened as part of Fantaspoa 2022. For more information on the festival, please visit www.fantaspoa.com.