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If you’ve spent any time in the darker corners of Canadian indie cinema lately, the name Avalon Fast may already have reached you. Whether that is her legal name or the identity she wants the masses to latch onto, honestly, it is a cool name to have. It invites word association: Mention Avalon and most people will think of King Arthur. And, for a particular generation, Morgaine le Fay is a figurehead to remember because of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s novel. That does not necessarily say anything about Fast herself, but after Honeycomb and CAMP, it is hard to unsee when this talent’s works leans on folk horror, witchcraft, and feminine ritual.
After her debut with the former, which focused on all-girl power, and her latest which carries similar themes but with more of a folk bent, I found myself wanting to queue up The Eagles’ “Witchy Woman.” As it played during the incantations near the climax, that personal added texture made the film sing for me rather than drag. Fast prefers to call her style “girl horror,” and when her concepts focus on identity, grief, and reconciliation, what appears on screen does not feel especially supernatural or mysterious at all. That’s unless the people at Bohemian Grove are looking to lodge a complaint.
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