Fantasia 2026: 15 Movies To See

Every year I scale back a little more and a little more on reviews and movie coverage. At this point, I barely cover wide, mainstream releases, and I’ve scaled film festival coverage down to a bare minimum. But like clockwork, when this time of year rolls around, I can’t escape the allure of Fantasia. 

Fantasia 2025: 10 Movies To See

It’s time once again for one of our favorite events of the year, Fantasia Fest, also known as the world’s largest genre film festival. Running from Wednesday, July 16 through Sunday, August 3, the schedule is, as always, bursting at the seams with all manner of horror, action, sci-fi, and other assorted cinematic goodness.

Fantasia 2023: 10 Films To Check Out

Wait, it’s been a year already? I guess that’s what happens when time loses all meaning. The good news, however, is that since a year has passed it’s already time for the 2023 installment of the Fantasia Film Festival in ye olde Montreal.

The BoneBat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival Is Almost A Damn Teenager!

This is the place where I was going to make a crack about how it’s spring and of course what we really want to do is spend a beautiful weekend day sitting in the dark watching horror movies with a bunch of like-minded weirdos. But the weather in Seattle has been utter trash, so you don’t have anything better to do than attend the BoneBat Comedy of Horrors Film Festival.

The Bone Bat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival Returns For 2022, Weird And Wild As Ever

Well, it’s that time of year again in Seattle. Spring is in full swing, the weather’s getting better, so what other decision is there than to spend a (potentially) gorgeous day inside in a dark-ass movie theater watching horror movies? If that sounds like a damn fine time, the Bone Bat Comedy of Horrors film festival is back for their first in-person gathering since, you know, the world came to a screeching halt…for some reason that escapes me at the moment. (Just kidding, it was a global plague.)

Fantasia Film Festival 2021: 11 Movies You Must See

With the proliferation of COVID-19 vaccines and at least some people caring enough about their fellow humans to take it, in-person events like film festivals have made a comeback. [Editor’s Note: Hopefully this holds, but it looks like we’re going backwards.] Not all, however. Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival is sticking to the virtual model for 2021. I usually cover the fest remote, so this isn’t much of a change from the norm for me. Regardless of the platform, the fest has yet again assembled an eclectic, weird-as-hell program, and we have some suggestions of things you might want to check out.

'Dons Of Disco' (2018) Movie Review

When you hear the phrase “lip-synching scandal,” you can be forgiven for immediately thinking of Milli Vanilli. That’s obviously the highest profile incident, but it’s also not the only public kerfuffle about pop sensations not singing their own songs. Jonathan Sutak’s new documentary, Dons of Disco, rectifies that situation, diving deep into the epic—and I do mean epic, as things get truly nuts along the way—saga of Italian singer Den Harrow.

The BoneBat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival Is Moving Online For Now

COVID-19 has laid waste to the movie industry. Hell, it basically cancelled movies big and small for the foreseeable future, both theatrical releases as well as production. Film festivals have also felt impact. SXSW was straight-up cancelled, Cannes was pushed and seems likely to pull the plug entirely, and the North Bend Film Festival moved from August to October, among others. In our own backyard, one of our annual favorite events, the BoneBat Comedy of Horrors Film Festival, was also bumped back until this all blows over. In the meantime, however, they’ve got something for you, no matter where you live.

'Monos' (2019) Movie Review

This is an updated version of an earlier review.

High atop a remote mountain, a cadre of eight teenagers with names like Rambo, Smurf, Boom Boom, and Swede, armed with automatic weapons, guard a prisoner and keep watch over a milk cow. A faction of a mysterious group known only as The Organization, this adolescent guerilla squad, left to their own devices, breaks down as loyalties shift and allegiances falter, and their crumbling structure and sanity build towards violence.

Fantasia Festival 2019: 6 Films We've Already Seen

For the first time I have the opportunity to cover the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. Well, sort of. I’m covering it remotely, which is cool in one regard, because, comprised almost entirely of genre movies, it skews right into my wheelhouse. It’s one of the big film festivals I’ve most wanted to check out in my time on this beat, and while I won’t get to be there, boots on the ground, to hang out with a bunch of fine folks in person, I still have the chance to check out a ton of movies I’m rather jazzed to watch.

BoneBat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival 9: Zombies, Vampires, Metal Girls, And Murder Squirrels

Sure, it’s spring, but the Seattle weather edged towards the crappy side. So there weren’t any pangs of guilt about lawns left un-mowed or yard work left un-yard worked this past Saturday. And that’s good, because I wasn’t going to do that shit anyway. Nope. Instead, I hunkered down all day, and part of the night, in a dark movie theater with a few hundred like-minded weirdo horror enthusiasts for the ninth—I can’t believe it’s nine—BoneBat Comedy of Horrors Film Festival.

Check Out The BoneBat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival 2019 Lineup

It’s that time of year again. That time where, in Seattle anyway, a bunch of like-minded horror enthusiast weirdos spend 12 hours of a (possibly) lovely spring weekend day hunkered down inside like mole folk; drinking beer; and watching a ridiculous amount of strange, twisted, and otherwise warped movies. Yes, you guessed it, it’s the annual BoneBat Comedy of HorrorsFilm Festival.

Slamdance 2019: 'Behind The Bullet' (2019) Movie Review

Gun violence is an epidemic in this country. Scarcely a day goes by where we don’t hear about a shooting of one sort or another. Mass firearm killings have become so common, they scarcely make a blip in the current news cycle. What does it take to pull the trigger? And what impact does that have have once you do? These are the questions Heidi Yewman’s new documentary, Behind the Bullet, seeks to answer. 

Slamdance 2019: 'The Vast Of Night' (2019) Movie Review

Fans of classic Twilight Zones may want to put Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night on their radar. The throwback sci-fi mystery filters that moody, atmospheric vibe through a nostalgic Amblin lens. While it lacks much forward propulsion and true tension, it’s a lovely, sure-handed film that brims with charm and potential, even if unrealized.

Slamdance 2019: 'The Drone' (2019) Movie Review

If you anticipate a certain level of absurdity in a horror-comedy from the guys most known for writing and directing a movie called Zombeavers, you’re not wrong. And if you lament the current lack of campy, 1980s style technology-run-amok sci-fi-horror in the vein of Chopping Mall or Night Vision, Jordan Rubin’s The Drone has your back.

Slamdance 2019: 'Beats' (2019) Movie Review

One-night-that-changes-everything is a familiar cinematic narrative, especially in the lives of young people. Not the most original set up, there are reasons filmmakers and storytellers keep coming back to this particular well. Many people who’ve survived adolescence have had this type of experience, a transformative moment where you make a choice, where you can go one way or another, and where, afterwards, nothing is ever quite the same. Maybe it’s not always as dramatic as movies portray it, but when you’ve lived on that precipice between childhood and adulthood, searching for some nebulous thing you can’t quite define, it’s easy to relate.

Slamdance 2019: 'Memphis '69' (2019) Movie Review

Concert movies are a documentary staple, from classics like Woodstock and The Last Waltz to modern takes like Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids. They provide a contained narrative window that can service various other storylines. And there’s usually killer music. Joe LaMattina’s Memphis ‘69 fits solidly in this tradition, and is a must-see for fans of Tennessee blues and soul, though it also has more on its mind.

Slamdance 2019: 'Lost Holiday' (2019) Movie Review

All kinds of wacky shenanigans and general mayhem happen over the holidays as old friends, now scattered to winds, return to their former homes, see faces they haven’t seen in years, revisit old haunts and wounds, and take stock of their lives. In the case of Michael Kerry Matthews and Thomas Matthews’ microbudget mumblecore noir, LostHoliday, this set up includes becoming amateur detectives and trying to solve a kidnapping.

Slamdance 2019: 'The Professional: A Stevie Blatz Story' (2018) Movie Review

Documentaries take many forms. They play with constraints and push the bounds of what the genre can do, shine a light on injustice or hidden histories, examine fascinating stories, and much more. Then there are those about wing-nuts, singular weirdos who stand out for one reason or another. It’s into this latter category that Daniel Labarbera’s The Professional: A Stevie Blatz Story falls. Straightforward subject-driven pieces like this are only as interesting as their the people they focus on, and in Stevie Blatz, Labarbara found a fascinating front man.

10 Slamdance 2019 Films You Need To See

We’re somehow already deep into January 2019. I don’t know how that happened, but I do know that means the year in film festivals is about to kick off in earnest. Most well-known is obviously Sundance—it is, after all, the big daddy of indie film—which starts this week. But it’s not the only one. Also this weekend, and also in Park City, Utah, we’ve got Slamdance, the radical response to the over-corporatization and exclusivity of Sundance.