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[Fantasia 2024] When The Dead Thing Involves More Than Just A Fatal Attraction

Be careful in who you ghost here, in this indie horror movie simply known as The Dead Thing.

The Dead Thing Movie Poster — **Played at Fantasia Film Festival 2024 July 26 & 28, 2024**

Alex (Blu Hunt) is a young woman who “would do anything for love.” And when I get this song by Meatloaf stuck in my head, to see what she will and won’t do in The Dead Thing can become fatal. When the question of who Kyle (Ben Smith-Petersen) truly is arises and this woman is trying to break away from him, life will not be like Paradise by the Dashboard Light either.

Had Meat’s music been used, I’d say we got a film to remember. In its current form, the question of what kind of reality Alex is living in is raised. She’s too reliant on her smartphone. As for her obsession with finding this man, whom we learn is dead (by the end of the first act), that’s when the maudlin drama turns into a thriller.

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When That Itsy Bitsy Spider Can Sting Too, Victims Better Seek Help Fast!

Just whether spiders “Sting” or bite depends on the species, but when they’re from outer space, perhaps there’s other aspects to be scared off in this mild tribute to those mutant spider movies from yesteryears!

Sting Blu-ray Cover Well GO USA — **Available on VOD and to purchase on Amazon USA**

Kiah Roache-Turner‘s Sting is one of those movies that combines the best of what Alien represents with the scares from Evil Dead: Rise. That’s because of all the unsettling prospect of coming across a desiccated corpse after a giant spider feasts on a bug. In this film’s case, they are animals and humans! But this isn’t your ordinary arachnid. It’s from space and its bite is lethal, hence this film’s name!

Just how this creature arrived is simple: the meteorite it was inhabiting punctured the rooftop of a building, and where it landed is almost akin to The Day of the Triffids. Although this tiny wonder found a child who says it’s cute, everyone is going to say otherwise, and that’s when the fun begins. Charlotte (Alyla Browne) is none the wiser about its desire to feast, but by the end, she’s able to save the day! When parents are not all that helpful, she’s pretty much on her own.

And to look at who in this tenament will not develop arachnophobia got me eager to see this film through to the end. As for grandma, I have a spoiler after this break…

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Taking Aim at NFTs in Futurama “The One Amigo”

Fans will be pleased Futurama has not lost any of its wit and satire in this latest release. And there’s more crazy stuff still to come on a weekly basis!

Airing Mondays on Hulu

These new episodes of Futurama are taking a deeper aim at today’s modern trends and I’m loving it! Not every season tends to be as this nasty, but when compared to the past, I’m glad what’s examined is technically reverent. This series has always been Matt Groening and David X. Cohen‘s way of critiquing what’s wrong with today’s ills, strange digital norms and everything else in between!

“The One Amigo” pokes at what Non-fungible tokens represent. And to make it all about Bender is hilariously perfect! Not only is this episode able to explain what they are to those who don’t understand tech, but also criticise for whether it’s even transferable.

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Taking A Quick Look at Fantasia’s Short Film Selection, 2024 Edition

What’s offered here is a brief taste of Fantasia’s Short Film programs. There’s 17 different collections that’s still continuing to play. They may well appear at your local film festival next!

Fantasia Film Festival 2024 - Fantasia's Short Film As Montreal’s most beloved genre film festival enters its last week of celebrating an eclectic range of genre cinema, Fantasia’s short film celebration will have me keeping an eye out on these up-and-coming talents! Although I didn’t view everything in this category, what I saw so far is a great way to see what may get dreamed up to become feature length works in the future!

These filmmakers have come up with some fairly cool concepts. The following reviews do not make up a top five list, but are a sampler of what is there. I’m thankful to those who provided me with a screener, and I wish them all the best.

The True Shape of a Daisy

George MacDonald‘s narrative, “The Day Boy and the Night Girl,” provides the foundation for the cinematic The True Shape of a Daisy, and I’m fairly sure no one has ever compiled this tale into a book. This short story is available online.

What’s presented is a faithful adaptation, where we meet a witch named Watho, who would shape Photogen and Nycteris’ environments. True to their namesakes, one would live in perpetual daylight and the other at night. They don’t get to meet until later, and in this anime, they don’t live in enormous rooms. Instead, they are from a world of contrasts. The girl is from a beautiful forest, and the boy lived most of his life in a dark dungeon.

As an anime by Naoki Arata, I hope what she produced is more than just a tease, but an examination of how opposites can get along.

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After Sasquatch Sunset, Perhaps It’s Best Not To Go Camping After All

Some people may prefer to stay indoors and avoid going camping in the Pacific Northwest after watching Sasquatch Sunset lest they want a Bigfoot Encounter!

Sasquatch Sunset Movie Poster I’m sure primatologists and cryptozoologists will say Sasquatch Sunset has the facts wrong. And when there’s no conclusive study, to guess at how they survived for this long is anybody’s game. But if you ask writer/directors Nathan and David Zellner about how their society works, what they offer is a movie designed to gross out rather than provide a proper look at.

The type of movie they made is a comedy of errors. Unlike those looks at Bigfoot culture you see on YouTube or History Channel, where it often feels like a Blair Witch film, what’s presented is very South Park. And the fact that Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, and Christophe Zajac-Denek are convincing enough as hairy apes says something. There’s some humanity to be seen through the eyes, the only thing visible behind all that fur. But as for anything else, to understand this film requires a willingness to put up with these performers being very crude for the camera.

One positive thing I can mention is that it doesn’t intentionally try to scare. Had indigenous lore inspired this work and played more about the role between man and this culture, I’d enjoy this film more. After watching Kryptic (movie review), I’d put my money on this film than this one.

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When Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons Lands At Fantasia 2024…

After Fantasia Film Festival 2024, Google Search says Mantra Warrior is destined to Netflix next!

Every country has a legend, and in Thailand, The Ramakien is one of several epic tales that paint a solid picture of good triumphing over evil. Here, King Rama and Tosakanth are opposites, and when the latter kidnaps the queen because he’s in love with her, this lord will fight back! What’s presented in Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons requires knowing the source material to truly appreciate it; otherwise, what’s presented like a Siamese version of Final Fantasy on steroids.

That’s because of the bold character designs and colour choices used to bring this mythic world to life. I want to compare this work to Gundam because of all the giant robots featured. Even though they look nothing like, the fact they carry oversized weapons with crazy nicknames is enough to make me think that director Veerapatra Jinanavin had this anime in mind!

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