by LORRAINE CARPENTER, RAF KATIGBAK, MALCOLM FRASER and MARK SLUTSKY

Hard to believe it, but this year marks the 10th anniversary of Fantasia, almost certainly the continent’s pre-eminent genre film festival, if not the world’s. Despite (or perhaps because of) its popular appeal, Fantasia’s never gotten much in the way of official recognition or funding, though they’ve finally managed to get a little piece of the government pie this year. That means the fest’s biggest line-up yet, at over 95 films from around the world, and, most enticingly, a program of free outdoor films. Here’s an early look at some of the fest’s highlights.

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Ever wonder how cinematic slashers like Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger can overtake frantically sprinting victims while ambling stiffly behind? Two words: cardio training. These and many other tricks of the serial killer trade are revealed in Behind the Mask, a mockumentary that brings elements of Scream, Spinal Tap and Man Bites Dog together in a funny and chilling way. In a world where Jason and Freddy are real, grad student Taylor Gentry and her crew follow young wannabe murderer Leslie Vernon as he aspires towards his own legend. The film starts off goofy enough, as Vernon walks Gentry through some basics of successful serial killing (picking the virgin/target group, scouting locations, etc.), but eventually the film cleverly switches to a full-throttle slasher flick with enough cameos and self-reflexivity to satisfy even the most discerning po-mo horror fan. (RK)

The Call of Cthulhu

H.P. Lovecraft’s famous tale is brought to vivid life in this beautiful production. The original story is a prime example of Lovecraft’s suggestive, atmospheric prose, redolent of ancient enigmas and unknowable horrors; thus the brilliant idea to film Cthulhu as a black-and-white ’20s-style silent film, which leaves the story’s mysteriousness intact. Clearly a labour of love for director Andrew Leman and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, with impressive visual imagery and a script that fleshes out the story while remaining true to the original vision. Don’t let the fact that this is a silent film scare you off; it’s a very entertaining treat that ought to appeal to horror buffs and classic film fans alike. (MS)

Tokyo Zombie

As in Shaun of the Dead, the buddies in Tokyo Zombie are initially too distracted by their own sorry drama to notice the zombie menace. The film opens with co-workers Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) and Mitsuo (Sho Aikawa) getting caught doing jujitsu on company time. To save his sensei from punishment, the mildly idiotic Fujio kills their boss, forcing the pair to dispose of the body at a popular corpse-dumping spot from which the zombies begin to rise. Matching zombie movie conventions with plenty of twisted sex comedy and brutish feats of stupidity—most of these taking place during the aftermath, in which rich survivors enslave the rabble and entertain themselves with zombie wrestling matches—makes for great goofy entertainment. (LC)

Pusher 3

Criminal life in this Danish gangster flick is so unglamorous, it makes The Sopranos look like a hiphop video. Ageing drug dealer Milo (Zlatko Buric) gets a shipment of what’s supposed to be heroin, but turns out to be ecstasy. He has to move 10,000 pills in one day, cook dinner for his daughter’s 25th birthday party, and squeeze in a couple of NA meetings while he’s at it. Pusher 3 has enough underworld grit and bursts of ultra-violence to satisfy genre fans, but in the true-school European way, director Nicolas Winding Refn takes his sweet time drawing out the details and characterizations. If you prefer bleak, Nordic, existential angst to glib post-Tarantino posturing, this could be your ticket back into the gangster genre. (MF)

Blood Rain

When a boatload of the finest paper, meant as a tribute to the ruler of Korea’s Chosun dynasty, burns in the harbour before setting sail, the scholarly investigator Lee Weon-Gyu is dispatched to the remote island of Donghwa to find out what went wrong. Soon a series of gruesome murders begins that apparently fulfils a ghostly shamanistic prophesy of revenge, and Lee is forced to pit his rational mind against supernatural forces. Slowly he begins to unravel a conspiracy that implicates him in ways he never quite imagined. An excellent period crime thriller with solid performances, brilliant production design and some Korean-style graphic violence that will surely leave a few with the revelation, “So that’s where the term ‘drawn and quartered’ comes from!” (RK)

Citizen Dog

This surreal romantic comedy from Thailand is a real charmer, like Amélie with a little more quirk than cute. Pod and Jin are two country bumpkins working in Bangkok—he’s hapless, lovesick and terrified of growing a tail (as prophesized), she’s got her hands full accumulating obsessive-compulsive habits. The incidental characters, ranging from a zombie motorcycle cabbie to a Chinese princess slumming as a waitress to Pod’s dead grandmother reincarnated as a gecko, provide a colourful backdrop for our spineless boy and neurotic girl heroes. Likewise, the film’s powerful theme song, initially sung by the masses in the streets and buses of Bangkok, Magnolia-style, is a recurring reminder that this is a love story, not just a bizarre series of juicy vignettes. (LC)

The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai

Okay, this is definitely the kind of movie you’ll only see at Fantasia. It’s a Japanese pinku eiga (or “pink film”), which basically translates to softcore porn, albeit with a lot of splooge. But it’s also a gonzo fantastical political satire; Hanai (Emi Kuroda) is a prostitute who turns into a crazy genius after being shot in the head, and she spends most of the film wandering around spouting Chomsky and having sex with strangers. Also, she’s carrying a cloned disembodied finger around with her, which happens to belong to George W. Bush, who appears to her in apparitions. An extremely weird, extremely low-budget (you can even see the strings that control some of the special effects) movie with, unfortunately, some unpleasant female-directed sexual violence. (MS)

Fantasia runs from July 6–24. See www.fantasiafest.com for scheduling details

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