A little while ago, Full House alum and current Christian lunatic Candace Cameron Bure said on her podcast that watching horror is “opening up a portal. Like, if you’re watching this, or you’re playing this video game, or whatever, that’s a portal that could let stuff inside our home.”
She’s right.
Horror and boundary-pushing art whether it’s in the form of a movie, a video game, a TV series, or written fiction gives us an outlet for our fear and anxieties. And for your horror-loving pals here at BBP, they fill space that displaces, at least for a few hours, the many, many real horrors in our world. We willingly let this “stuff” in, just as we did with Dave Coulier’s “Uncle Joey” on Full House. Because the alternative is even scarier.
One of our favourite sources for this “stuff” and Canada’s longest-running and eclectic good times, the Fantasia International Film Festival returns for its 29th year to Montreal, Quebec from July 16 through August 3, 2025. Programmed with some of the wildest genre films from around the world, Fantasia Fest has begun revealing which titles they will be presenting this year. Biff Bam Pop!’s Jeffery X Martin and Sachin Hingoo will be covering Fantasia Fest as much as humanly possible from our relative remote locations. Here are the movies they are the most excited about watching.
Influencers (Kurtis David Harder, 2025)
JXM: I wasn’t expecting a sequel to 2022’s Influencer. But Kurtis David Harder back behind the camera and Cassandra Naud returning as the ever-scheming in survival mode CW, Influencers promises to continue the social media shenanigans. The original was a pleasant dark surprise for me. Hopefully, Influencers will prove that vein isn’t tapped and gives us some twisted shocks.
SH: Influencer culture is a pretty rich vein to mine for horror, and Kurtis David Harder unexpectedly struck gold, or at least something special, with Influencer (2022). I have no evidence that that film walked in the dark Thai-set underbelly of the rich and beautiful so that the newest season of The White Lotus could run, but the vibes certainly match up. A return from the mysterious CW and the sharply-crafted script from the first Influencer is promise enough for me to be all in on Influencers.
Anything That Moves (Alex Phillips, 2025)
JXM: A serial killer’s activities ruin the good time of a sex worker and bike courier named Liam in Anything That Moves, the latest movie from Alex Phillips (All Jacked Up and Full of Worms). Touted as a “surreal take on the erotic thriller,” Anything That Moves features appearances by Ginger Lynn Allen and Nina Hartley and, if you know who they are, you’re probably close to my age. This modern spin on naughty movies has my nose open, and I can’t wait to check it out.
Hellcat (Brock Bodell, 2025)
SH: Taut and full of tension, Brock Bodell’s debut feature Hellcat looks to be one of the sleeper hits of the festival lineup. When Lena (Dakota Gorman) wakes up in a moving trailer with a wound of unknown origins and driver that might be benevolent or a deranged conspiracy nut, it kicks off a twisted road trip that’s sure to deliver some dread. I’ve been hearing buzz about this one for some time, and I can’t wait to see what it has in store for us.
Mother of Flies (Zelda Adams, John Adams, Toby Poser, 2025)
JXM: Something about the work of The Adams Family resonates with me. I haven’t missed one of their films yet (Hellbender may wind up being a low-fi classic in the future), and I have every intention of checking out Mother of Flies. I’m not sure what it’s about, but the description includes the word “necromancy.” An Adams Family movie about raising the dead? That’s all I need to hear.
I Live Here Now (Julie Pacino, 2025)
SH: A dingy, motel-set surreal psychological thriller about unexpected pregnancy and shot on traditional 16mm and 35mm film? Sign me right up. And a supporting cast that features both the wonderful Madeline Brewer and Laura Palmer herself, Sheryl Lee? I’ll be first in line for this nightmarish bottle story from one of the most promising directorial voices in the festival.
Kazakh Scary Tales (Adilkhan Yerzhanov, 2025)
JXM: A folk horror anthology from director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (The Owners), Kazakh Scary Tales is about a baby-eating spirit named Albasty. Gross. Gimme. Kazakh Scary Tales was, according to the description, “produced as an anthology series for a domestic streamer but deemed too frightening by focus groups.” Again: gimme. Fantasia will present the first three episodes of Kazakh Scary Tales and I need them in my eyeballs.
Buffet Infinity (Simon Glassman, 2025)
JXM: Simon Glassman’s debut feature, Buffet Infinity, has elements that pique my curiosity. Corporate expansion and feuding restaurants. A sinkhole. Insurance. Throw in a cult for good measure. It sounds weird and absurd, which means it was probably made for me. I’m ready for a barrage of weirdness.
SH: I’ve been thinking a lot about Buffet Infinity since it seems like the sort of bizarro take on corporate branding like you might find from Omega Mart, Local 58, and one of my favourite shorts, Robin Comisar’s Great Choice (2017). Presented as a series of segments on the local TV station in Westridge County, Alberta , anything and everything is possible as we watch a small town descend into chaos. Check out the official website for, ahem, a little taste.
I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn (Kenichi Ugana, 2025)
SH: Kenichi Ugana’s been on a roll lately, with his outstanding short film Visitors, and his punk rock odyssey The Gesuidouz playing to huge audiences over the last year. The already prolific director is back with his newest film in which “Screen star Shina Mizuhara has lost her passion for filmmaking and is now a rude and cynical mean machine. She decides to travel to New York with her perfect boyfriend who dumps her on arrival, leaving Shina without her wallet and cellphone. Speaking only Japanese, she meets Jack, a passionate z-grade director. He and his crew will convince her to star in their next film.” I Fell in Love… seems to switch gears from horror to more of a blood-soaked romance, and after having seen two horror films from Ugana that both had an unexpectedly emotionally rich core, I think he understands the assignment.
A Bunch of Takashi Miike Projects
SH: A man who doesn’t know the meaning of either the terms “minimalism” or “a reasonable amount of movies to bring to a film festival,” 2016 Fantasia Festival Lifetime Achievement Award winner Takashi Miike has packed three separate titles in his overhead bin to showcase at Fantasia this year, and not one of them is like any other.
Blazing Fists is a coming-of-age story about a pair of juvenile delinquents that throw it all into the MMA ring in an effort to find their way out of the cycle of crime. This is said to be a more subdued effort for the usually ostentatious Miike’s first sports drama, but I still expect there to be plenty of over-the-top flavour to remind us that this is still a Miike joint. And with a cast that includes j-pop superstar GACKT, and a couple of Miike mainstays, I’m ready to take this one to the mat.
Sham is another departure for the prolific Miike as he delves into a tense courtroom thriller about a disgraced teacher who is accused of tarnishing a child’s reputation. Could the court of public opinion and a board of directors be as terrifying as a vengeful yakuza or a masked murderer?
And finally, Nyaight of the Living Cat is the first four episodes of the Hawkman manga that sees an epidemic of cat transformations all over the world where even touching a cat turns you into one! Miike executive directs the cuddliest animated nightmare in this year’s lineup.
We’ve only scratched the surface on the many, many delights that Fantasia has in store for us this year, but rest assured that there is something for every single taste you can imagine. Maybe even for our pal, Candace.
The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 29th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 16 through August 3, 2025, returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montreal’s Cinéma du Musée. For the very latest in up-to-date information on this year’s screenings and events, please follow the Fantasia International Film Festival on Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram. And don’t forget to keep those beady eyes on Biff Bam Pop for our coverage!
