#absentia 2011

[fanofspooky]

Scream Queen - Katie Parker

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

SUMMARY: Tricia, a woman whose husband went missing seven years ago, learns about a mysterious tunnel which could be the cause of several disappearances including her husband.

[beeapocalypse]

forever unsure on how to draw these guys

[invincible-selfxmade-punk]

Have you ever watched a movie that was so good you never wanted to see it again because you did not think the second or third time could ever top the first?

That's the way it was with the movie Absentia. But after all this time, I'm about to watch it again just because there is little else on that either I haven't seen or that I truly want to see.

[flanaganhorror]

ABSENTIA (2011) dir. Mike Flanagan

[eluviannaa]

For October, 31 days of Lovecraft movies:

- The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

- The Lighthouse (2019)

- Dagon (2001)

- Color Out of Space (2019)

- In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

- The Dunwich Horror (1970)

- The Void (2016)

- Underwater (2020)

- The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)

- The Mist (2007)

- The Endless (2017)

- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

- Annihilation (2018)

- The Last Winter (2006)

- Prince of Darkness (1987)

- Resolution (2012)

- Spring (2014)

- The Borderlands (2013)

- Absentia (2011)

- A Dark Song (2016)

- Possession (1981)

- They Remain (2018)

- The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

- Possum (2018)

- The Ritual (2017)

- The House by the Cemetery (1981)

- The Resurrected (1991)

- Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

- The Innkeepers (2011)

- The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015)

- The Endless (2017)

[leiflitter]

I've figured out the You’re Almost Home Timeline so for the gang who care about the passage of time it's under the cut.

Firstly, I have chosen to totally ignore the gravestone dates because of Reasons, including "okay look I started writing this when it wasn't on streaming and this is mostly so it makes sense to me" and "time is an illusion I just need to know this so I can say what year it'll be on NYE". Felix has a January birthday in my little canon and nobody can stop me.

So let's go!

2007

Felix is in Expensive Rehab Facility until Christmas. Sir James and Lady Elspeth have pulled a lot of strings to make sure that Felix's accident won't impact him in any way, shape or form. This mostly means getting him an expensive tutor and essentially permission to submit all of his work online. No need for tutorials because he's had a hard time and is a very special boy. Felix takes this chance to essentially do as much work while he's stuck in the facility as he can because there's fuck all else to do, and he's being made to quit smoking so he's mad about that. Farleigh's back as if he never left, and Venetia is being an absolute rock.

Oliver returns to Oxford, makes contact with the Student Counselling Services, and throws himself into studying so hard it hurts. He needs to distract himself. They allow him to switch tutors and move to a different dorm where he turns into a studying hermit. If he sees any of the Alpha Hotties, he hides. He becomes invisible again, even more than before. His new tutor helps him switch to an accelerated degree program.

2008

Felix turns 21 and does the Spring and Summer terms. His parents decide to go on a tour of Europe to celebrate Felix getting back on the horse. They also know he's going to graduate, because the Special Little Boy measures are in place for him so all he has to really do is log on to Moodle and submit one of his pre-written essays every so often. He's burned a few bridges because he's being very twattish. Felix decides to sack off Christmas term and heads to Bali in late July/early August. Sir James has made sure he has internet access, so what's the point of even being in Oxford? He meets Lucia, who is 18 and on her Gap Year. Because it's the end of the summer, there aren't many options, so Felix sticks with her. Harry is part of the group from maybe like... week three? Luckily, Lucia is on a cleanse, so although they're partying, she isn't drinking or indulging in anything else. In November, Lu gets food poisoning- or so they think, until the doctor Felix hauls her to gives them the news. Felix contacts his parents in a hurry, and they are flown back to the UK and subjected to a major parental conference. Felix proposes to Lu at a Catton Christmas party.

Oliver graduates early. He doesn't go home for the holidays, saying he needs to keep studying. He decides on teaching because it won't be sustainable to be a student forever. His tutor is a major help; he's from Newcastle, although you wouldn't know it because his accent has long since faded and has taken Oliver under his wing. He remains Oliver's main advisor throughout his studies and is probably the reason he gets the job- he's keeping an eye on him so he knows there'll be a Northern Lad Professor once he eventually retires. They're not exactly friends, but there's a lot of mutual respect there.

2009

Felix turns 22 and marries Lu shortly after. He briefly returns to Oxford, but mostly to make sure he graduates. Harry is born in on the 10th of April and he gets his degree in absentia. Lu gets pregnant with Ru maybe a little too soon afterwards, and Rufus is born prematurely on the 27th of November. Oopsie.

2010

Oliver gets his Masters degree in english literature.

2011

Sir James dies of a heart attack in May.

2013

Ellie is born on the 1st of August. Felix gets a vasectomy.

2014

Oliver gets his PhD. His thesis was titled "Narrative Accessibility and Diversity within Academia".

2015

Lady Elspeth passes away in her sleep.

Then a bit of a time jump until

2020

Oliver is finally an associate professor after being in postdoc for 6 years.

Farleigh finally hits on a startup that works- a designer resale app that offers item verification for an add-on fee. It's wildly successful, mostly because he's been hobnobbing in America hardcore and is getting a ton of celebrity endorsements.

2025

Venetia is diagnosed with lung cancer.

2026

Venetia passes away. Felix is bereft.

Harry gets her A level results and Oxford place, despite being 17- Lucia, having not got a degree herself, is adamant that her children be highly educated as fast as possible... and Harry will turn 18 in her first year anyway. Harry doesn't mind this, as she has a fake ID and cannot wait to be away from boring boarding schools.

Oliver Quick receives an email notifying him that, amongst others, he will be tutoring Harriet Catton.

And then Felix Catton walks into his office, and they proceed to go bonkers.

[cinemphatic]

October Watchlist 2024

🎃 Happy Halloween! 🎃

Fear Street: 1994 (2021) Fear Street: 1978 (2021) Fear Street: 1666 (2021) Oddity (2024) The Houses October Built (2011) Grave Encounters (2011) Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) The Hitcher (1986) The Stepfather (1987) The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) The Quiet Family (1998) Men (2022) The Dead Don't Die (2019) One Missed Call (2003) Vampire's Kiss (1988) Rabid (1977) The Unknown (1927) Cuckoo (2024) The Brood (1979) Stereo (Tile 3B of a CAEE Educational Mosaic) (1969) Hour of the Wolf (1968) V/H/S/Beyond (2024) MaXXXine (2024) Frankenstein (1931) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Phantom of the Paradise (1974) Creep (2014) Sisters (1972) Lisa Frankenstein (2024) The Loved Ones (2009) An American Werewolf in London (1981) Absentia (2011) Fright Night (1985) Baby Blood (1990)

[beardedmrbean]

Former brigadier general Mohammed Hamo, 65, who lives in Sweden, is accused of "aiding and abetting" war crimes and could get a life jail sentence. 

The war between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and armed opposition groups, including Islamic State, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.

It has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged Syria's economy and infrastructure. 

Wearing a dark blue shirt, jeans and sneakers, Hamo listened carefully and took notes as prosecutor Karolina Wieslander read out the charges.

Wieslander said Hamo had contributed -- through "advice and action" -- to the Syrian army's warfare, which "systematically included attacks carried out in violation of the principles of distinction, caution and proportionality." 

"The warfare was thus indiscriminate," Wieslander told the court.

The charges concern the period of January 1 to July 20, 2012. The trial is expected to last until late May.

'Disproportionate'

The prosecutor said the Syrian army's "widespread air and ground attacks"  caused damage "at a scale that was disproportionate in view of the concrete and immediate general military advantages that could be expected to be achieved." 

In his role as brigadier general and head of an armament division, Hamo allegedly helped coordinate and supply arms to units.

Hamo's lawyer, Mari Kilman, told the court her client denied criminal responsibility.

"In any case he has not had the intent towards the main charge, that indiscriminate warfare would be carried out by others," Kilman said.

Kilman said the officer could not be held liable for the actions "as he had acted in a military context and had to follow orders."

Hamo also denied all individual charges and argued that Syrian law should be applied.

Several plaintiffs are to testify at the trial, including Syrians from cities that were attacked and a British photographer who was injured during one strike.

'Complete impunity'

"The attacks in and around Homs and Hama in 2012 resulted in widespread civilian harm and an immense destruction of civilian properties," Aida Samani, senior legal advisor at rights group Civil Rights Defenders, told AFP.

"The same conduct has been repeated systematically by the Syrian army in other cities across Syria with complete impunity."

This trial will be the first in Europe "to address these types of indiscriminate attacks by the Syrian army", according to Samani, who added that it "will be the first opportunity for victims of the attacks to have their voices heard in an independent court".

Hamo is the highest-ranking military official to go on trial in Europe, though other countries have tried to bring charges against more senior members.

In March, Swiss prosecutors charged Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad, with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, it remains unlikely Rifaat al-Assad – who recently returned to Syria after 37 years in exile – will show up for the trial, for which a date has yet to be set.

Swiss law allows for trials in absentia under certain conditions.

In November, France issued an international arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad, accusing him of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes over chemical attacks in 2013.

Three other international warrants were also issued for the arrests of Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher, the de-facto chief of the army's elite Fourth Division and two generals.

In January 2022, a German court sentenced former colonel Anwar Raslan to life jail for crimes against humanity. This was the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria and was hailed by victims as a victory for justice.

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Top Poll Records Last updated 22nd July 2024.

Most votes: The Blair Witch Project (1999) - 3,139 votes Least votes: Absentia (2011) - 54 votes

Most "Have seen" by number of votes: Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - 1,752 votes out of 2,493 votes Most "Have seen" by percentage: Coraline (2009) - 89.41% out of 1,228 votes Least "Have seen" by number of votes: Zibahkhana (2007) - 0 out of 444 votes Least "Have seen" by percentage: Zibahkhana (2007) - 0% out of 444 votes

Most "Haven't seen" by number of votes: The Blair Witch Project (1999) - 1,436 out of 1,638 votes Most "Haven't seen" by percentage: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) - 79.1% out of 611 votes Least "Haven't seen" by number of votes: Absentia (2011) - 14 out of 54 votes Least "Haven't seen" by percentage: Playdurizm (2020) - 3.97% out of 755 votes

Most "Haven't heard of" by number of votes: Blue Monkey (1987) - 1,611 out of 1,361 votes Most "Haven't heard of" by percentage: Playdurizm (2020) - 95.5% out of 755 votes Least "Haven't heard of" by number of votes: Coraline (2009) - 1 out of 1,228 votes Least "Haven't heard of" by percentage: Coraline (2009) - 0.08% out of 1,228 votes

Vote results 1-100 | 101-200 / 201-300 / 301-400 / 401-500 501-600 / 601-700 / 701-800 / 801-900 / 901-1000 1001-1100 / 1101-1200 / 1201-1300 / 1301-1400 / 1401-1500 1501-1600 / 1601-1700 / 1701-1800 / 1801-1900

[thewarmestplacetohide]

i've recently been getting into lovecraft & cosmic horror as a genre & was wondering if you had film recs? i can't seem to find many cosmic horror movies & am wondering if that's bc it's hard to film?

i would argue that there aren't that many good cosmic horror films for a couple reasons.

mainly, while it has been written for a long time, it has not been a genre that the greater public has been super aware of until the past few decades. but, also, it is hard to film a lot of elements of cosmic horror--namely, the incomprehensibility that often accompanies it.

my top cosmic horror films list would be:

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

From Beyond (1986)

The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Absentia (2011)

Coherence (2013)

Southbound (2015)

The Endless (2017)

Annihilation (2018)

Color Out of Space (2019)

The Block Island Sound (2020)

Glorious (2022)

there's also A Cure for Wellness (2016), which isn't that great of a film, but has some really awesome visuals and a few neat cosmic horror ideas.

[myhumaninteractionsafterall]

Oct. in Film

Forgot to post my halloween doings. Only made it to 85 horror films and a few ere not actually horror films once I got into them.

8 is old so you probably already know how great it is. 23 was great fun. 37 and 40 were both good. I was told 50 was bad, but I actually highly recommend it. 58 was fun and a little different than I expected. 61 was good as was 63. 62 was kind of silly but I enjoyed it. And 65 was maybe the best one (plus it makes fetch happen at the end). 71 may become a new favorite series if they make follow ups. 79 was good and I had forgotten about the first movie in the series. I may watch both of those together next year.

Absentia (2011)

Alone in the Dark (1982)

The Amusement Park (1975)

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)

Anything for Jackson (2020)

Appendage (2023)

Baby Ruby (2022)

Barbarian (2022)

The Beyond (1981)

The Blackening (2022)

Bones and All (2022)

The Boogeyman (2023)

Cam (2018)

Children of the Corn (2020)

The Cleansing Hour (2019)

Cobweb (2023)

Dashcam (2021)

The Deadly Spawn (1983)

Deliver Us (2023)

The Devil on Trial (2023)

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Elevator Game (2023)

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)

Gerald's Game (2017)

Gorgo (1961)

Grave Encounters 2 (2012)

Gretel & Hansel (2020)

Haunt (2019)

Haunted Mansion (2023)

The Haunting of Julia (1977)

Haxan (1922)

The Hidden (1987)

His House (2020)

Hush (2016)

Influencer (2022)

The Invitation (2022)

It Lives Inside (2023)

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Little Bone Lodge (2023)

Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)

Malum (2023)

Maniac Cop (1988)

Maniac Cop 2 (1990)

Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1992)

Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

Missing (2023)

Night of the Hunted (2023)

No One Will Save You (2023)

Nocebo (2022)

The Nun II (2023)

Older Gods (2023)

The Passenger (2023)

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023)

The Puppetman (2023)

The Relic (1997)

Saw X (2023)

Scare Package (2019)

Scary Stories (2018)

Seance (2021)

Sick (2022)

Slaxx (2020)

The Sleepless Unrest: The Real Conjuring Home (2021)

Slotherhouse (2023)

Smile (2022)

Spree (2020)

The Stylist (2020)

Superhost (2021)

Tales of the Uncanny (2020)

Talk to Me (2022)

There's Something Wrong with the Children (2023)

Totally Killer (2023)

Unseen (2023)

Unwelcome (2022)

VHS 85 (2023)

Vicious Fun (2020)

Werewolf of London (1935)

The Wrath of Becky (2023)

We Have a Ghost (2023)

A Wounded Fawn (2022)

Wilkolak (2018)

Wrong Turn (2021)

Yogen (2004)

Zombie Girl: The Movie (2009)

[bearkunin]

The Russian State and the Russian Far Right

The recent arrest of Igor Girkin feels like a good excuse to muse about the Russian far right and its relationship with the Russian state.

For those not in the know, Igor Girkin is a war criminal, Russian ultranationalist, prominent military blogger, and has been calling for total mobilisation of Russian society against Ukraine. He was a leader of Donbas separatists in 2014, and took credit for downing an aircraft which turned out to be the civilian MH17. 298 people were killed, including 193 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 27 Australians. A Dutch Criminal investigation found Girkin among the guilty and sentenced him to life in absentia.

This is not why Girkin has been arrested.

Girkin has been arrested by the Russian state on charges of "extremism", related to his consistent criticism of the Russian state for not being aggressive or punitive enough in its conduct against Ukraine. In the week before his arrest, Girkin called for Putin to be replaced.

"The country cannot survive another six years of this cowardly mediocrity at the helm" Girkin, on Putin.

Despite Russia being increasingly viewed as extremist and fascist, there remains a long history of official state persecution of the extreme right, and it is important to examine this to understand Russian fascism.

Far Right Groups Repressed

There's a long list of Russian far right groups and only one slighter shorter of those banned, disbanded or persecuted. The infamous National Bolshevik Party (subject of many online memes, especially in althistory circles) is banned and it's key leaders have been persecuted by the security services.

National Bolsheviks Protesting with Flairs

The fairly prominent National Republican Party of Russia dissolved following the arrest of its leader. The various iterations of Pamyat faced repression, arrests and were infiltrated by the security services. Slavic Union, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and Northern Brotherhood were both banned, and their leaders jailed (Dmitry Dyomushkin, Alexander Potkin and Anton Mukhchev respectively). Russian Image, which tried to establish itself as an establishment-friendly far-right movement, after a period of some success, still suffered a similar fate. Individuals, such as the infamous Aleksandr Dugin, turn out to be less "Putin's Rasputin" and are instead purged from their university positions for extremism. (See my long post disputing Dugin's influence here).

Left to Right: Georgy Borovikov, Vladimir Kvachkov, Dmitry Dyomushkin at an ultranationalist march in 2011. All subsequently faced heavy jail time.

Members of minor groups like like National Revival Path of Russian Patriotism (NVSRP), the United Russian National Party (ERNP), the Astrakhan National Movement, National Socialism/White Power (NS/WP), the Sakhalin Tactical Nationalists Club, Militant Organisation of Russian Nationalists (BORN), and Youth Organisation Rus have all been arrested by the security forces.

Members of the Sakhalin Tactical Nationalists Club in a bizarre 2018 New Years Greeting Video.

Even more "establishment" figures on the right suffer political hamstrings. Dmitri Rogozin was banned for running from office for extremist language and his independent political aspirations repeatedly frustrated by the State, before he "came into the fold" so to speak as a firm Putin supporter. Firebrands like Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov found themselves pushed out of politics altogether.

Non-Ideological Fascism?

It would be fairly easy to cast this off as typical far-right infighting: the People's Judean Front vs. the Judean People's Front. However, that would ignore a well-documented history of Russian state conservatism and moderation (relatively) in the face of right wing radicalism and in other affairs.

Ultra-nationalism is less-so promoted as "managed." The Russo-Georgian War can be viewed in terms of a classic security dilemma. The annexation of Crimea can be explained through standard realist narratives, and was broadly opportunistic, and not part of a grand long-term plan. In the 2000s, "Eurasianism" was evaluated as "the dog that did not bark" and Putin considered a "vigorous 'joiner'" and on the "bandwagon" of the international order. In the mid-2010s, journalists were eulogising the death of the Russian far right. Russian society, far from being sublimated into a fascistic death cult, has been anesthetized by weaponised apathy. The state utilises strategic relativism, embraces hypocrisy and has "no values and no truth."

Yet, it seems hard to reconcile this "realism" and intentional "apathy" with the aggressive expansionist war against Ukraine, with the explicitly maximalist aim of eradicating an independent Ukrainian nationhood, and the surge in militarist, patriot propaganda on display. When I lived in Kazan, scenes like this at the mall were absolutely not normal:

Clearly, something has changed.

So the question is, how did we get from Point A to Point B: weaponised apathy to mobilised fascism? Or how far between these two points are we really? Or how can both coincide at once? I have further thoughts on this, but this post is already too long so I better cut it off here.

[mariacallous]

A court in Minsk has sentenced the chairman of the Belarusian human rights center Viasna, Ales Bialiatski, to 10 years in a strict regime colony. This news was reported by Viasna itself.

Bialiatski and other defendants in the case – deputy chairman of Viasna Valentin Stefanovich, Viasna lawyer and coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” Vladimir Labkovich, human rights activist Dmitry Solovyov – were all found guilty of cash smuggling and financing protests.

Stefanovich received nine years in a strict regime colony, while Labkovich received seven years in a strict regime colony. Solovyov was convicted in absentia and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Bialiatski, Stefanovich, and Labkovich were arrested in July 2021. They were first charged with tax evasion, but the case was later dropped, and the human rights activists were charged again. According to the investigation, in 2016-2021 they transported at least €201 thousand and $54 thousand from Lithuania to Belarus, as well as financing protests in Belarus in 2020-2021. In particular, financing refers to the payment of fines, the work of lawyers, and providing food in detention centers for those detained because of the protests.

The human rights activists pleaded not guilty. The prosecution asked for them to serve nine to 12 years in jail.

In 2011, Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for tax evasion. The investigation considered the money that “Viasna” spent on helping people to be Bialiatski’s personal income, from which he did not pay taxes. Bialiatski was released in 2014.

In October 2022, Ales Bialiatski, together with the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Viasna is the largest human rights organization in Belarus. After the elections and the 2020 protests, Viasna documented violations by the security forces. The also helped detainees and torture victims. The organization follows political cases in one way or another related to 2020, which are still ongoing in Belarus.

[billymaysofficial]

Shutter Island (2010)

The Machinist (2004)

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Black Swan (2010)

Memento (2000)

The Flock (2007)

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Anamorph (2007)

Martyrs (2008)

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The 6th Sense (1999)

Side Effects (2013)

Sinister (2012)

Extracted (2012)

Red Lights (2012)

Sleep Tight (2011)

Absentia (2011)

I Saw The Devil (2010)

Frozen (2010)

Orphan (2009)

The Killing Room (2009)

The Broken (2008)

Awake (2007)

Inside (2007)

Mr.Brooks (2007)

Vacancy (2007)

Zodiac (2007)

Bug (2006)

Dark Water (2005)

White Noise (2005)

Hard Candy (2005)

Secret Window (2004)

Saw (2004)

Saw II (2005)

Saw III (2006)

Saw IV (2007)

Saw V (2008)

Saw VI (2009)

Saw 3D (2010)

Stoker (2013)

Frailty (2001)

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Identity (2003)

Mindhunters (2004)

Triangle (2009)

Spider (2002)

Flight Plan (2005)

Unknown (2011)

The Jacket (2005)

Stay (2005)

Seven (1995)

Tell No One (2006)

Das Experiment (2006)

Angel Heart (1987)

The Uninvited (2009)

In Dreams (1999)

The Gift (2000)

Primal Fear (1996)

Deception (2008)

The Invisible (2007)

Arlington Road (1999)

Phone Booth (2002)

The Fourth Kind (2009)

Insomnia (2002)

[justapillowpetpanda]

Fantasia Festival 2024: Horror, Mike Flanagan & More!

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma du Musée, Théâtre Plaza, and BBAM! Gallery. The festival website is now live with over 125 features and 200+ shorts available to be explored. Ticket pre-sales are now open. Plenty of excellent horror films and shorts are headed for audiences at the 28th Fantasia Festival. Let's examine some of the stories being told this year.

Mike Flanagan 2024 Career Achievement Award

For his imaginative and heartfelt horror visions; boundary-breaking achievements in making soulful, character-driven genre television commercially viable without compromises; and the extraordinary work he’s done in popularizing landmark authors to a new generation, Fantasia will be awarding their 2024 Cheval Noir career award to U.S. filmmaker Mike Flanagan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN1kyOUm8uk Flanagan is an artist Fantasia has adored since his first visit to the festival for the Canadian premiere of his haunting 2011 indie debut ABSENTIA, a foundational feature that contains all the core elements that have come to define the artist’s work: a unique perspective on occult possibilities, engrossing slow-burn storytelling approaches, inventively cinematic aesthetics, and above all else - deeply compassionate horror narratives built on agonizingly personal themes of loss. These elements have been consistent throughout his career, regardless of whether the work is a standalone creation or an adaptation of classic literature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UV8vmWXlY While it may strike some as odd to bestow an achievement award to an artist who’s almost certainly not yet reached a mid-career place, Flanagan has been so extraordinarily prolific and consistently brilliant in his output that the filmmaker has already accomplished several lifetimes of creation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_P8WCbhC6s Beyond being one of the most inspired storytelling voices of his generation, Mike Flanagan is a bona fide, culture-shifting master of horror, having changed the landscape of the genre since emerging on the scene in 2011. Since then, Flanagan has brought audiences such modern classics as OCULUS (2013), HUSH (2016), BEFORE I WAKE (2016), OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL (2016), GERALD’S GAME (2017), and DOCTOR SLEEP (2019), as well as the Netflix miniseries events The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), The Midnight Club (2022), and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). His next feature is the forthcoming Stephen King adaptation THE LIFE OF CHUCK (2024), starring Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

More Horror Arriving at Fantasia Festival

IN OUR BLOOD A perfectly calculated, slow-burn nightmare that opens with the feel of an indie doc and gradually evolves into something uniquely sinister, IN OUR BLOOD is the narrative feature debut of Oscar-nominated documentarian Pedro Kos (REBEL HEARTS, LEAD ME HOME). Nothing is as it seems when filmmaker Emily Wyland (a phenomenal Brittany O’Grady of HBO’s White Lotus) teams up with cinematographer Danny (E. J. Bonilla, FX’s The Old Man) to shoot an intimate documentary about reuniting with her mother (Alanna Ubach, HBO’s Euphoria) after a decade apart. When her mother suddenly goes missing, Emily and Danny must piece together increasingly disturbing clues, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

4PM  Inspired by the book “The Stranger Next Door” from critically acclaimed Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb, 4PM is a riveting psychological thriller from director Jay Song (THE NIGHTMARE) drenched in silent tension. Jeong-in (OLDBOY’s Oh Dal-su), is taking a break from his life as a teacher in his new countryside house when a written invitation to a neighbor (Jang Yeong-nam, PROJECT WOLF HUNTING) turns into a nightmare of excruciatingly awkward visits every day at 4PM.

FRANKIE FREAKO! After the success of PSYCHO GOREMAN, FX artist and director Steven Kostanski hits back with the zany, over-the-top FRANKIE FREAKO! Starring Conor Sweeney and Adam Brooks of Astron-6 fame, the film follows a nerdy man who just isn’t cool. In an attempt to impress his wife and boss, he’s lured by a 1-900 TV ad to party with a strange little creature called Frankie Freako. All hell breaks loose when Conor calls and Frankie and his two friends wreak interdimensional havoc in Conor’s life.

BLACK EYED SUSAN  It’s been 21 long years since Scooter McCrae (SHATTER DEAD) released a new feature, and he’s lost none of his smart, transgressive bite. Desperate for work, Derek (Damian Maffei, THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT) accepts a job at a shady tech start-up, working intimately with Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thälker in a powerful debut role), a bleeding-edge BDSM sex doll meant to receive and appreciate sexual punishment as an integral part of her evolving AI. Shot on Super 16, BLACK EYED SUSAN counterbalances its dark, vulgar core with a surprisingly tender vulnerability, creating a lo-fi science-fiction landscape infused with surprising fragility, as legendary Italian composer Fabio Frizzi (THE BEYOND, ZOMBIE) lends the picture a lush, atmospheric backdrop.

CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING A true DIY passion project from Estonian filmmaker Sander Maran, CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING is a zany, blood-soaked musical about lovers split up by a chainsaw-wielding killer. Over a decade in the making, Saran not only directed but wrote, scored, shot, and edited this colorful murder-fest that’s part gory horror movie and part ridiculous musical. The camerawork is inventive, the editing slapstick, and the tone truly absurdist. Most importantly, though, the songs are incredibly catchy, with Sander clearly deeply indebted to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL and Frank Oz’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

STEPPENWOLF  A bleakly pulverizing action thriller from celebrated Kazakh maverick Adilkhan Yerzhanov (THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD, THE OWNERS) and Oscar nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky (LEVIATHAN), STEPPENWOLF explodes off the screen with tension that will singe the flesh from your bones. Like a Kazakh MAD MAX directed by John Ford - or perhaps, THE SEARCHERS directed by George Miller - with a touch of Herman Hesse and classic samurai tales, STEPPENWOLF reinvents the codes of its inspirations with jolting doses of post-Soviet nihilism and morbid black humor. A desperate mother (Anna Starchenko, NARTAI) teams up with a psychopathic ex-cop (Berik Aitzhanov, GOLIATH, THE ASSAULT) to find her son who’s gone missing in a landscape consumed by riots and death.

HOUSE OF SAYURI Legendary J-horror director Koji Shiraishi (NOROI: THE CURSE) brings the genre to new levels of fun with HOUSE OF SAYURI. A vengeful ghost disseminates a family until a counterattack from a bold grandma brings a startling new dynamic into the house.

THE PARAGON Former Power Rangers director Michael Duignan’s utterly mad feature debut, THE PARAGON, electrifies with hilarity and trippy psychedelic visuals, delivers in the spirit of inspired low-budget New Zealand filmmaking that harkens back to early Peter Jackson. After experiencing a hit and run, an angry ex-tennis coach named Dutch (Benedict Wall, SHADOW IN THE CLOUD) embarks on a psychic training course to find the driver and get revenge. Alongside his witchy psychic coach Lyra (Florence Noble), Dutch must decide between being a victim of his fate or a slave to otherworldly evil in this spectacularly entertaining fantasy comedy where revenge becomes a cosmic experience. Co-starring an especially nuts Jonny Brugh (WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS).

THE CHAPEL The stunning sophomore feature from award-winning director Carlota Pereda (PIGGY), THE CHAPEL marks the fantastic return of atmospheric, character-driven supernatural Spanish horror. Emma (Maia Zaitegi) wants to learn how to communicate with the spirit of a little girl who has spent centuries trapped inside a chapel. She tries to convince Carol (THE ORPHANAGE’s Belen Rueda), a cynical and fake medium, to help her in the hopes that contacting the spirit may help her to remain close to her dying mother after she passes. What Carol doesn’t suspect is that Emma really does have “the gift” and, if she keeps on trying to use it without her guidance, she will be putting her young life at terrifying risk.

Pictured: Hunter Schafer, Credit: Neon CUCKOO A seventeen-year-old girl (Hunter Schafer, HBO’s Euphoria) is forced to move with her family to a resort where things are not what they seem in this astonishing mix of mix of domestic tension, body horror, and perverse science from the gifted director of LUZ. Co-starring Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, and Jan Bluthardt.

THE TENANTS  In a dystopian Seoul, office worker Shin-dong, threatened with eviction, rents out his bathroom to an eccentric couple whose strange behavior quickly escalates into a waking nightmare. A rising talent in the indie horror scene, writer-director Yoon Eun-kyoung creates a unique blend of soft science fiction, Kafkaesque absurdism, and dark comedy to highlight Korea’s very real social inequality problems. 

Special Book Launch - 'I Spit on Your Celluloid'

Source: Fantasia Festival HEIDI HONEYCUTT’S I SPIT ON YOUR CELLULOID: THE HISTORY OF WOMEN DIRECTING HORROR MOVIES (Headpress Books) Friday July 26, 5:15PM, Cinema J.A. DeSeve A legendary curator, historian, and critic, author Heidi Honeycutt co-founded the Etheria film Festival and has written for a vast number of publications and outlets, from Filmmaker, Ms. Magazine, Moviemaker, and Indiewire to Bloody Disgusting and Rue Morgue. Fantasia is hosting the World Premiere book launch of Honeycutt’s “I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies” (Headpress Books), a comprehensive 20-years-in-the-making work that covers the evolution of women in horror cinema from 1896 to the present day. The official book launch will be taking place with a special screening of Christina Hornisher’s once-thought-lost 1974 horror gem HOLLYWOOD 90028. Honeycutt will introduce the screening and advance copies of the book will be available for sale and signing.

Short Horror Films at Fantasia Festival 2024

ARE YOU AFRAID OF FANTASIA? 2024 Like the popular Canadian television series ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? (1992-1996), this program is an international collection of horrific short films, many with comedic bite, and some dead serious. Amygdala (Sweden, dir. Oskar Johansson, Canadian Premiere) Coléoptère (France, dir. Martin Gouzou, Canadian Premiere) Dark Signals (USA, dir. Izzy Lee, Canadian Premiere) Hold Up (USA, dir. Ori Guendelman, World Premiere) Howl at the Dead (USA, dir. Gregg Bishop, Canadian Premiere) Monster Party (Canada, dir. Amara Burnett, World Premiere) Ouch! (USA, dir. Zach Kornfeld, International Premiere) Roger is a Serial Killer (USA, dir. Don Swaynos, International Premiere) Save Me (China, dir. Liu Di , International Premiere) Tinkerhell (United States of America, Noah Sterling, World Premiere) Read the full article