by “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Czar

Fantasia International Film Festival runs until August 9th in Montreal, Quebec. Tickets are available HERE.

Skin Deep
Directed by Alex Schaad
Written by Dimitrij Schaad, Alex Schaad
Starring Mala Emde, Jonas Dassler, Thomas Wodianka

Similar to something like The Lobster (2015), Alex Schaad’s Skin Deep takes a science fictional conceit and uses it to examine very common concerns. When couple Leyla and Tristan (Mala Emde and Jonas Dassler respectively) visit a secretive island commune to try out the body-swapping technology offered there, they’re forced to reexamine not just their relationship, or their places in it, but themselves and each other as people.

Skin Deep is a profoundly affecting examination of empathy and love. The old maxim about walking a mile in another’s shoes is meant to give us a concept of empathy and what Skin Deep does is give us a deeper level to contemplate: What if you could walk that proverbial mile in another person’s body? Imagine how much deeper you could learn to love them.

Hundreds of Beavers
Directed by Mike Cheslik, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
Written by Mike Cheslik
Starring Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Olivia Graves, Wes Tank

A few years back, I was lucky enough to see The Lake Michigan Monster, a silent sci-fi monster movie epic made with a love of 1950s b-movies and the aesthetic of a Saturday morning kids’ show. It’s an absolute blast, so when I heard that the same creative group were behind Hundreds of Beavers, I was beside myself with anticipation.

When a former applejack distiller (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) is forced to live off of the land, he falls in love with the local trader’s daughter (Olivia Graves) and will have to defeat the titular amount of semi-aquatic rodents to win her hand. And he’ll do so in the style of a (nearly) silent film with healthy doses of Looney Tunes, Sid & Marty Krofft and just a pinch of Jackass. The film falls firmly into both the So Dumb It’s Genius and So Smart It’s Hilarious categories and I can not recommend it enough.

With Love and a Major Organ
Directed by Kim Albright
Written by Julia Lederer
Starring Anna Maguire, Hamza Haq, Veena Sood

Another in the illustrious history of science fiction being used to examine human nature, With Love and a Major Organ takes place in a near future (or possibly alternate now) where most people use an app to make all of their major life decisions. Most people that is, aside from painter Anabel (Anna Maguire) who fully embraces the chaos and messiness of being truly human, until a string of bad fortune and heartbreak drives her to remove her own heart - which, it should be noted, is just a thing that a person can do here.

Yes, it’s a strange world. One that asks the audience to buy into a lot of odd conceits, but beneath them is a truly touching film that creatively visualizes emotional states and examines numerous aspects of love: not only love for yourself and others, but also the dangers of never opening yourself up to love for fear of being hurt. With Love and a Major Organ is quirky, which can turn some people off, but for those willing to commit, it’s a unique and moving experience.

Where the Devil Roams
Directed by the Adams family
Written by the Adams family
Starring Toby Poser, John Adams, Zelda Adams

The follow up to Hellbender from mother/father/daughter writing/directing/starring collective the Adams family, Where the Devil Roams follows circus performers Maggie (Toby Poser), Seven (John Adams), and their daughter Eve (Zelda Adams) as they try to make ends meet in a raggedy sideshow traveling from town to town through Depression-era America.

Driven to increasingly extreme ends by a combination of desperation and Maggie’s own violent tendencies, the family set themselves on a path to their own dismantling and eventual reassembly via supernatural means. From the grainy feel of the entire carny aesthetic to the occult tensions bubbling under the surface as the family leave a trail of bodies in their wake, this one, as the kids say, is all about the spooky vibe.