As with every year, 2024’s Fantasia International Film Festival is poised to host some breakout films. This annual event is a longstanding destination for genre filmmakers to submit their frights and thrills for public consideration.
 
We here at the Straight Chilling podcast are greatly anticipating our chance to attend virtually for the second year running. The successes of the 2023 event are still fresh in mind, such as Andrew Bowser’s madcap ‘Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls,’ Rachel Lambert’s quiet character study ‘Sometimes I Think About Dying’ and Jared Moshe’s regret-fueled timebender ‘Aporia,’ among others.
 
So as we enter 2024, we’re digging through the available horror films to take bets on our top 5 most anticipated new films at Fantasia, in no specific order.
 
Shelby Oaks (Chris Stuckman)
  • The long anticipated feature film debut from YouTube personality Chris Stuckman is just around the corner. In Shelby Oaks a desperate woman searches for her long lost sister and begins to realize the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real. With Keith David involved this is definitely one to keep an eye on.
Hell Hole (Toby Poser & John Adams)
  • The latest film from the Adams family (Hellbender, Where the Devil Roams) sounds like their most ambitious film to date. An American led fracking crew uncovers a frozen and preserved Napoleonic soldier whose body hosts a parasitic monster.
Azrael (E.L. Katz)
  • Written by Simon Barrett (You’re Next), starring Samara Weaving (Ready or Not), and directed by E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills), this boasts a genre’s who’s who and won’t disappoint. In a hellish world where nobody speaks, a young woman is being chased by a cult through the woods. This kinetic film requires no dialogue to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Oddity (Damian McCarthy)
  • In McCarthy’s follow up to ‘Caveat’ he explores the haunted house sub-genre in a very unique way. A young woman’s mysterious death leads her twin sister to investigate an isolated farm house. Expect a delightfully tense film with some new ideas and well earned scares.
Black Eyed Susan (Scooter McCrae)
  • The second independently produced feature film from boutique blu-ray distributor Vinegar Syndrome. In this sci-fi/horror, Derek (Damian Maffei) takes a job developing an AI sex doll named Susan. Along the way he tests the boundaries of his own sexual gratification while being confronted with humanity’s uncertain future. What could possibly go wrong?
These are just a handful of the promising films programmed at Fantasia this year. Feel free to reach out and let us know what you’re most looking forward to watching, and as always, Keep Chilling.