Fantasia International Film Festival Top Picks Part 4

We are back with part four of our top picks for Fantasia International Film Festival – you can check out the other entries –

Check Them Out Here

From the 4 parts I’ve written and the films I have talked about, part 4 is definitely my favourite of the lists so far. Let’s get to it.

THE PARAGON

The Paragon sounds like a lot of fun. The story of a hit-and-run survivor who lost everything after his accident. The only thing keeping him alive is the thought of getting revenge on the man driving the Toyota Corolla who left him for dead. How can he find this man? Well, that’s easy, become a psychic and locate him through the power of telelocation. .

PARLUVOS

I’ve heard nothing but great things about Parluvos, so, horror fans, listen up! This is a New Mexican horror film by director Isaac Ezban and it shall have its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival.

It is set in a near dystopian future after some sort of viral outbreak has wiped out a lot of the population. This all began with 3 brothers living in a remote cabin who were keeping a deadly secret in their basement. Fantasia says: “A poignant nightmare with shades of inspiration from GOODNIGHT MOMMY, A QUIET PLACE, LORD OF THE FLIES” – sign me up!

PENALTY LOOP

Penalty Loop sounds like Groundhog Day spliced with some hardcore murder mystery. It focuses on a man called Jun who is mourning the loss of his girlfriend that was murdered. Jun is angered by the state of law enforcement and decides to kill the murderer himself. After committing the perfect crime, Jun wakes the next day to find he is stuck in a hellish time loop and must repeat the same murderous crime every day until he finds out what’s going on.

RITA

Being described by Fantasia International Film Festival as having a similar visual style to the early works of Guillermo Del Toro. From director/writer Jayro Bustamante who gave us the Mexican horror hit LA LLORONA.

Rita arrives at an overcrowded all-girl correctional facility. The girls there tell Rita about a prophecy, about someone who will come and free them from the horrendous treatment they all endure and let the outside world know what’s going on.

The film’s press statement also says that this is inspired by a tragic real-life event where 41 young women burned to death in a Guatemalan orphanage in 2017.

THE ROUND-UP: PUNISHMENT

Ma Dong-seok is back again with his mighty bitch-slaps. The Roundup Punishment is the new instalment of the hugely popular franchise that is showing no signs of slowing down.

This time, the big man joins a team in the cybercrime division to take on some of South Korea’s worst criminals who are running an illegal gambling outfit.

These are always a tremendous amount of fun. Don Lee’s screen presence is terrifying yet he is able to deliver on the comedy side of things too. What a guy!

A SAMURAI IN TIME

A Samurai In Time is a new Japanese science fiction comedy flick about a samurai who is somehow transported into the future. Not only has he been thrown into the future, but he is also thrown right in the middle of a period drama TV production. The production team have no idea where he came out of but one thing’s for sure, they are hiring him because of his samurai swordsmanship…what could go wrong?

SCARED SHITLESS

A plumber and his germaphobic son attend a job at a large apartment building. One of the residents in this building is a scientist and he has brought his top-secret work home…an unknown live specimen. When an explosion destroys the scientist’s apartment, it unleashes this tentacled live specimen which starts to feed off of the residents of the building. Now, plumber and son must rise to become the heroes they never thought they could be.

The Void director/special FX maestro Steven Kostanski is the man in charge of the FX department., Expect Scared Shitless to be very icky…and very, very smelly!

SELF DRIVER

Self Driver follows an office worker who was recently made redundant. He has no choice but to take a Ride Share job to try and make ends meet no matter how hard he tries, the bill keeps piling up. One of his passengers then tells him of a well-paid job with an immediate start. He has to pick up passengers, take them where they need to go, and let them do what needs to be done. When the anonymous passenger has completed what he/she needs to do, the driver is paid. There is one rule though: You must not talk to the passenger…no matter what they do.

SHELBY OAKS

I have a lot of respect for Chris Stuckmann. The guy has come a long way and now we get to see a different side to the popular YouTube movie critic.

Shelby Oaks looks to be in the found footage sub-genre and follows a woman who agrees to let a documentary film crew document her every move as she searches for her missing sister who disappeared near a deserted town in Ohio called Shelby Oaks.

World premiere and also the debut of Stuckmann. It’s produced by filmmaker Mike Flanagan.

THE SOUL EATER

The Soul Eater has been on Moviehooker’s watchlist for some time and has featured on one of my recent lists. Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury who gave the wonderful French shocker Inside return with The Soul Eater.

Set in a French mountain town The Soul Eater follows two detectives assigned to two different

cases in the same town. One detective is investigating the brutal murder of a married couple and the other is investigating the disappearance of a group of children. There is one thing that connects these cases that rings the two detectives together: a boogeyman-like legend known to the locals as The Soul Eater.

STEPPENWOLF

Set in the future where the landscapes are now wastelands, lawlessness rules over law and trusting someone almost means certain death. A hysterical woman runs into a police station screaming that her son is missing. She catches the attention of a psychopathic ex-detective turned interrogator who decides to take on the case for a lump sum of money. Things take a personal twist when he finds out the boy he is searching for is in the hands of the man who murdered his family.

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