Loud and Clear Reviews’ list of 10 films to watch at the 2024 Fantasia Film Festival, from anticipated world premieres to promising movies and indie gems!
The 2024 Fantasia Film Festival is about to begin, and here’s a list of films to watch in Montréal this year! This 28th edition will take place on July 18 – August 4, 2024, with 120 features and 10 shorts. It will open and close with two World Premieres – Ant Timpson’s Bookworm and André Forcier’s Ababouiné – screened at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, and other theaters in the city. Judging by the incredible line-up, there will be plenty of fantastic movies that you don’t want to miss.
2024 will be Loud and Clear Reviews’ first year covering the festival, and our writers Emma Vine and Maxance Vincent, who will be there, made a list of 10 films to watch. Keep scrolling for their recommendations for Fantasia 2024! They are in alphabetical order and with plots, cast, and all the information you need about the movies. Keep an eye on the site for our Fantasia reviews and follow us on our socials for updates:
1. 4PM
FANTASIA: SELECTION 2024
Director: Jay Song
Writer: Kim Hae-gon
Country: South Korea
Derived from Amélie Nothomb’s 1995 book “The Stranger Next Door,” 4 PM follows a couple who move to the country for a more relaxed lifestyle. However, they are soon introduced to their neighbor, who becomes somewhat of a nuisance and proceeds to visit the pair at the same time each day. As the interactions between the couple and their newly acquired visitor continue, they can’t help but wonder what this mysterious individual’s intentions are. South Korea is known for producing edge-of-your-seat, character-driven psychological thrillers, and Jay Song’s latest feature sounds like a gripping, thrilling experience full of twists and turns that is destined to be a crowd-pleaser. (Emma Vine)
2. ABABOONED (ABABOUINÉ)
CLOSING FILM
Director: André Forcier
Writers: Jean Boileau, André Forcier, Laurie Perron
Country: Canada
With such a diverse filmography, ranging from the minimalist drama Bar Salon, the black comedy L’eau chaude, l’eau frette to the eclectic The United States of Albert, André Forcier has pioneered what Québec cinema should achieve, formally and aesthetically, while always making us think of our own identity within the decidedly unique, yet poetic stories he has told for over fifty years. With Ababooned (Ababouiné), Forcier seeks to question Québec’s past relationship between church and state in the Maurice Duplessis era, treating a conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and a team of baseball players. The film will act as the closing picture of the festival, with Forcier set to receive this year’s Denis Héroux Award for his exceptional contribution in the development of genre cinema within Québec.
Érik Canuel, who passed away earlier last month, will also receive the Denis Héroux Award posthumously after an incredible career of helming genre films in the province, which includes one of the most successful Canadian movies of all time, Bon Cop, Bad Cop. Canuel made his last Fantasia appearance at the 2023 festival, alongside filmmakers Yves Simoneau, Roger Cantin, Éric Tessier, and Miryam Bouchard, at a roundtable discussion on the evolution of genre cinema in Québec since the creation of the ARRQ (Association des Réalisateurs et Réalisatrices du Québec). (Maxance Vincent)
3. CONFESSION
CHEVAL NOIR
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita
Writers: Shuji Yuki, Ryo Takada
Country: Japan
Nobuhiro Yamashita has been quite a busy filmmaker, with an impressive three features premiering at Fantasia this year. Among the titles is Confession, a two-hander thriller featuring two close friends who spend the weekend away together to honor their pal who passed away many years prior. However, things take a drastic turn when one of the pair confesses to murder after sustaining an injury that he believes will end his life. Yamashita’s talent and ability to embrace so many different genres with such ease and precision puts a mind-bending thriller such as Confession high on the must-see Fantasia festival list. (Emma Vine)
4. THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO (2024)
CHEVAL NOIR
Directors: Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière
Writers: Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière
Country: France
After a rapturous premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and a subsequent successful run in French cinemas as the highest-grossing movie of the year (so far), The Count of Monte-Cristo will soon be released in North American cinemas, and what better way to prepare for its run with a Canadian premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival. The 3-hour epic received incredible praise from critics and audiences alike, with a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing. Starring Pierre Niney and Anaïs Demoustier, this readaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ story is set to make quite the storm at Fantasia and in Québec theatres, where it will be released on August 16. (Maxance Vincent)
5. HANU-MAN
FANTASIA: SELECTION 2024
Director: Prasanth Varma
Writer: Scriptsville (Story by: Prasanth Varma)
Country: India
Telugu cinema has had quite the year, with the release of Kalki 2898 AD, which has quickly become the highest-grossing Indian film of the year and set new records in its home country and worldwide. Canada, unfortunately, does not get as many Telugu movies as Bollywood productions due to criminal activity that has deterred major chains from releasing several films in the country. However, Fantasia will be bringing one of the most popular Tollywood films of the year to Montreal with Prasanth Varma’s Hanu-Man, which is “guaranteed to make the crowd go ape” as it tells the story of a petty thief who inadvertently becomes a superhero after finding a gem that gives him larger-than-life powers. (Maxance Vincent)
6. HOUSE OF SAYURI
FANTASIA: SELECTION 2024
Director: Koji Shiraishi
Writers: Mari Asato, Rensuke Oshikiri, Koji Shiraishi
Country: Japan
If Noroi: The Curse taught us anything, it’s how great director Koji Shiraishi is at creating terrifying imagery and haunting horror elements that bury under your skin and fester. His latest feature, House of Sayuri, follows the Kamikis family, who move to a house in the countryside. However, they appear to have an evil entity in their newly acquired, not-so-humble abode, as the ghost of a girl begins to haunt them. Though there are many haunted house stories out there, Shiraishi’s ability to build uncomfortable tension and a suffocating atmosphere makes his stylistic approach standout, and should get horror fans excited for House of Sayuri. (Emma Vine)
7. HUNTING DAZE (JOUR DE CHASSE)
LES FANTASTIQUES WEEK-ENDS DU CINÉMA QUÉBÉCOIS
Director: Annick Blanc
Writer: Annick Blanc
Country: Canada
It’s a great sign when a Québéc film premieres internationally and generates substantial buzz before even setting foot in the province, as was the case with Monia Chokri’s The Nature of Love (Simple Comme Sylvain) at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. It is also the case with Annick Blanc’s Hunting Daze (Jour de chasse), which had its world premiere at SXSW this year and received rave reviews. Before its release in cinemas this August, the thriller drama is set to shock Fantasia audiences at the festival, as it tells the story of a sex worker who begins to bond with a group of boys during a hunting trip after being left stranded by her boss. The film looks like it will contain another incredible performance from Nahéma Ricci, who blew audiences away in 2019 with her breakthrough titular role in Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone. (Maxance Vincent)
8. IN OUR BLOOD
CHEVAL NOIR
Director: Pedro Kos
Writer: Mallory Westfall
Country: USA
The found footage sub-genre has become widely popular in horror for its ability to immerse viewers in a story brimming with authenticity and suspense. And what better way to instill dread and infuse realism into the narrative than to have a real-life documentary filmmaker aboard to make it even more believable? Pedro Kos’ In Our Blood tells the story of Emily, a filmmaker developing a documentary that explores the process of her reestablishing a relationship with her mother, whom she hasn’t been in contact with for many years.
After the pair meet, Emily’s mother suddenly vanishes, leaving her daughter to pick up the pieces and unravel what led to her disappearance. Kos is no stranger to the festival circuit, as his documentary Bending the Arc, which he co-directed with Kief Davidson, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. We can’t wait to see what his mysterious, intriguing new narrative feature film In Our Blood has in store. (Emma Vine)
9. THE KILLERS
FANTASIA: SELECTION 2024
Directors: Kim Jong-kwan, Roh Deaok, Chang Hang-jun, Lee Myung-Se
Writers: Roh Deok, Chang Hang-jun, Kim Jong-kwan, Lee Myung-Se
Country: South Korea
As soon as I read the premise of The Killers, I couldn’t wait to see it. This is not only because South Korean films are among my favorites, but also because I was intrigued to see how four directors teaming up to produce an anthology film full of varying ideas, styles, and narrative approaches would fit together and what the end result would be. Each of the four stories in The Killers centers around murder-for-hire plots, and the film’s trailer exudes serious Hollywood gangster vibes, alongside captivating cinematography that heightens the feature’s allure. (Emma Vine)
10. SHELBY OAKS
FANTASIA: SELECTION 2024
Director: Chris Stuckmann
Writer: Chris Stuckmann (Story by: Chris Stuckmann and Samantha Elizabeth)
Country: United States
Arguably the biggest movie of this year’s edition of the festival, Shelby Oaks is YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann’s highly anticipated feature-length directorial debut. The movie was executive produced by Mike Flanagan, who will receive this year’s career award. Its production was made possible due to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign which made it the most-funded horror project on the platform after raising over $1 million from backers at the end of March 2022. Starring Camille Sullivan, Michael Beach, and Keith David, the film focuses on the mystery surrounding Riley Brennan’s disappearance and the quest for truth her sister Mia (Sullivan) sets out to uncover, which proves much darker than she ever thought… (Maxance Vincent)
2024 FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL, MORE FILMS TO WATCH:
- The A-Frame, Calvin Reeder
- Baby Assassins Nice Days, Yugo Sakamoto
- The Beast Within, Alexander J. Farrell
- Bookworm, Ant Timpson
- Cuckoo, Tilman Singer
- Darkest Miriam, Naomi Jaye
- Frankie Freako, Steven Kostanski
- From My Cold, Dead Hands, Javier Horcajada
- Ghost Cat Anzu, Yōko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita
- Haze, Matthew Fifer
- Oddity, Damian McCarthy
- Tatsumi, Hiroshi Shoji
- The Roundup: Punishment, Heo Myeong Haeng
- The Tenants, Eunkyoung Yoon
- Witchboard, Chuck Russell
The 2024 Fantasia Film Festival will take place on July 18 – August 4, 2024. Read the rest of our film festival coverage and come back soon for our reviews!
