Spotlight on Fantasia '25: Our Top 5 Most Anticipated Films

Gav
3 days ago
3 min read

Next week sees Canada's largest and most eclectic genre film festival Fantasia kick off its 29th edition and with it an incredibly stellar line-up of international, acclaimed films that we are super looking forward to checking out. Based in Montreal, the festival has become one of the fastest growing attended and culturally important genre film festivals in the world.

This year's festival will open with a special screening of Ari Aster's highly anticipated 4th feature film 'Eddington' starring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal. The festival will also feature an electrifying triple threat of Takashi Miike films including World Premiere episodes of his manga-anime adaptation 'Nyaight of the Living Cat'. Legendary musician and renowned film composer Danny Elfman will also be receiving the Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award for his dedication and passion in his craft.

Lauded by industry professionals and film fans alike and described by Quentin Tarantino as "The most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent", this year's festival runs from July 16th to August 3rd

For the third year in a row we'll be covering the festival remotely and now that the final wave of films has been revealed, here's some of the top horror and thriller feature films (in no particular order) that we can't wait to see.

Fantasia International Film Festival 2025

REDUX REDUX - Canadian Premiere

We're always a tad partial to a proper revenge flick. But with 'Redux Redux' Emmy Award nominated siblings take vengeance to the multiverse. Some of you might be sick of seeing or hearing the word "multiverse" and that's fully understandable, however the McManus Brothers use parallel universes to explore the deep, dark chasm of grief as our protagonist seeks revenge against the murderer of her child, by any means necessary. Reportedly this film evokes early James Cameron so we are here for it, over and over again. Screening on Tuesday 22nd July.

MOTHER OF FLIES - World Premiere

For any of you that have been following our content over the last few years, then you know that we are huge fans of the Adams Family (John, Zelda, Lulu and Toby Poser) They're the DIY filmmaking family that have carved their name all over indie film festivals for almost a decade. Their latest witchrafty horror film, which was mostly shot in the Catskill Mountain forests where the family reside, is their "fairytale manipulation of the darkly shadowed, yet love-lined pathways between a human life and death." Screening on Thursday 24th July.

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NEW GROUP - North American Premiere

From the writer/director of "one of the most disturbing films" of last year comes a brand new grotesque and anxiety fuelled horror film about a group of students who are seemingly controlled by a brutal and fascist administration. We really enjoyed Yuta Shimotsu's previous film 'Best Wishes to All' and believe that he is definitely an exciting voice in modern horror. Screening on Friday 25th July.

THE UNDERTONE - World Premiere

Exploring the thin veils between life, death and religion, established science fiction author Ian Tuason makes his debut behind the camera for this unsettling, slow burn nightmare that follows podcaster Evy as she attempts to prepare for the inevitable death of her sick Mother by burying herself into her paranormal podcast. But as her Mother gets closer to death, Evy makes some terrifying discoveries. Screening on Sunday 27th July.

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QUEENS OF THE DEAD - International Premiere

We're huge fans of Katy O'Brian. We absolutely loved her in 'Love Lies Bleeding' and so this was always going to be up there on our most anticipated list. It also helps that it is written and directed by a Romero. The "Godfather of the Dead" George A. Romero's daughter Tina makes her feature film directorial debut and takes what her father helped to invent and turns the campiness up to 11. It's a fully modernized version of a zombie invasion. Glam gore and full of diversity. Let's hope she does her Dad proud. Screening on Saturday 2nd August.

Honourable mentions must go to 'Noise', the super tense South Korean "95 minutes of non-stop anxiety" horror film set in an apartment building about neighbours who just can't stop complaining. 'Kazakh Scary Tales' is a fantastical, horror fairytale anthology from the director of 'Steppenwolf' that explores Kazakhstani folk horror with provocative social commentary. And last but not least 'Dog of God' a Latvian animated feature film that is perversely humourous and ultra violent. Reminiscent of the 2021 Shudder original 'The Spine of Night' and 80s classic 'Fire & Ice' .