Fantastic Fest, the largest genre festival in the country, celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. While the fest has changed here and there over the years, one thing has remained the same: the excellent programming. Among all the new fare and premieres, there’s an extensive selection of repertory and restoration screenings for genre fans who appreciate revisiting classics or discovering new favorites. This year’s restorations were delightful, from a long-awaited release of an obscure masterpiece, sexploitation fun, and arthouse slashers.
Here’s a breakdown of all the restorations showcased at this year’s Fantastic Fest:
Angel’s Egg (dir. Mamoru Oshii)
Mamoru Oshii’s masterpiece has been difficult to find in a high-quality format for years now, but thanks to G-Kids, a 4K restoration is finally here. The story of a girl who protects an egg and the man she bonds with over the course of the film is anything but simple, despite its surface-level premise. With biblical allusions, stunning frames that evoke woodcuts by the likes of Doré and Dürer, and a surrealist sensibility, Angel’s Egg is unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Bride of Re-Animator (dir. Brian Yuzna)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a mad scientist tries to play God, angers his best friend, and then tries to make up for it by building this friend a new, undead bride. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) are at it again in the Brian Yuzna-directed sequel to the iconic Re-Animator. The 4K restoration helps the goofy and goopy sequel jump off the screen, with bottles of the sickeningly brat-green reagent glowing, and every foul abomination in West’s lab looking perfectly gristly and goopy.
Before the Fall (dir. F. Javier Gutierrez)
Apocalyptic visions have never looked so good. In Before the Fall, the Earth is about to meet its demise within 72 hours. We follow Ale (Víctor Clavijo) as he decides to wait for the end of the world by getting drunk and staying in with his mom at their home. These plans are upended when his estranged brother’s children come to the house, and he’s forced to protect them from an escaped child killer. The 4k makes the heat from the film’s sizzle off the screen and complements the tactile work of director F. Javier Gutierrez.
Dildo Heaven (dir. Doris Wishman)
There are many ways you could describe sexploitation master Doris Wishman’s last film, but delightful is the first word that comes to mind for this writer. Wishman tells a story of three friends who are all trying to seduce their respective bosses with more charm in the first few minutes of its runtime than most sex comedies today have at all. The 2K digital restoration from Muscle Distribution lets us know early on that no AI upscaling was involved in the restoration process (thank goodness), and gives the DigiBeata captured footage a crispness that helps the film’s dreamy energy shine.
Freaked (dir. Alex Winter and Tom Stern)
Few, if any, Hollywood comedies have been as silly, as unrelentingly ’90s as Alex Winter’s Freaked. Misunderstood and feared by studio execs when it was released (it only played in two screens in the U.S.), Freaked is a dark comedy with a 1990s punk sensibility. When actor Ricky Coogin (Alex Winter) decides to travel to South America to become a spokesperson for the chemical compound “Zygrot 24,” he gets more than he bargains for. With a soundtrack from experimental rock band Butthole Surfers, an uncredited (and inspired) turn from Keanu Reeves as Ortiz “The Dog Boy,” and extensive claymation in its opening sequence, it’s a playfully weird skewering of fame. The 4K restoration from Drafthouse Films looks pristine, with every practical effect and visual gag hitting perfectly!
Folies Meurtrières (dir. Antoine Pellisier)
Gore maestro Antoine Pellisier’s first feature, shot on dreamy Super 8 footage, seems simple at first glance: a killer hunting down beautiful women and creating their demise in the most gruesome ways possible. Yet among all the gore and gristle, there’s a cool, dream-like sensibility to the entire film. Dripping with fake blood and viscera, Folies Meurtrières could have been another gory classic (and an entertaining one at that), but the beautifully composed shots, excellent sound design, and incredible soundtrack make it stand apart. It has an ethereal arthouse atmosphere with a gorehound heart. The restoration from Bleeding Skull makes every beautiful piece of film grain and scratch stick out, adding to the charm of it all.
Hide and Go Shriek (dir. Skip Schoolnik)
A mostly by-the-numbers slasher, director Skip Schoolnik’s debut feature has some visual delights that make its 4K restoration from Terror Vision worth seeking out. Eight teenagers fresh out of high school decide to spend the night partying in a furniture store after hours to celebrate their turn into the real world. What they’re not suspecting is a killer who is in the store joining in on their game of hide and seek.
Categorized: Reviews
