Joel (Dakota Daulby) has a lot going for him. He works in the construction industry and has a healthy relationship with his partner Taylor (Christie Burke), his mother Lucy (Maxim Roy), and his grandmother (France Castel). But there’s one thing that just keeps getting in the way: his father, Bodo (Emmanuel Bilodeau), who has been…
Fantasia 2026 Review: Insectasy
Insectasy had its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival yesterday and I would’ve loved to have been in the room when it screened. Not only as a witness to everyone’s reactions, but also as a participant. Writer and director Angus Silver wastes no time dropping his audience into the bizarre and sensual world he’s…
Fantasia 2026 Review: Ancestral Beasts
If you’ve ever suffered from a severe mental health condition, you may have viewed it as an uncontrollable force that lives inside you. But what if it externalised itself into a real presence that lurked in the shadows, an extension of yourself that forced you to confront your intergenerational trauma? Tim Riedel’s Ancestral Beasts, which…
Fantasia 2026: Most Anticipated Films
Fantasia International Film Festival is just one week away from hosting its 30th edition, running 16 July through 2 August, in Montreal, Canada. Known for its rich, weird, and transgressive genre cinema, the festival is set to screen over 100 feature films across the horror, sci-fi, action, and fantasy genres, including a selection of classic…
Review: Voicemails for Isabelle
I am convinced that there is no stronger bond than the one between two sisters, which the opening of Voicemails for Isabelle captures perfectly. Isabelle (Iris Everly, then Ciara Bravo) has missed out on many common life experiences due to having cystic fibrosis, which means she lives vicariously through her sister Jill (Alice Comer, then…
Raindance 2026 Review: Shadows of Willow Cabin
In the opening of Joe Fria’s debut feature, Shadows of Willow Cabin, Albert (Bryan Bellomo) heads to his family cabin to spend five days with Devon (John Brodsky), a man he exchanged sexually charged messages with on a dating app. Albert is a high school English teacher with a wife and teenage son who is…
Raindance 2026 Review: Modem
As a tricky situation unfolds at work, Michael (Josh Burdett) escapes to a beautiful house in the Swedish countryside with his family, which consists of wife Johanna (Amanda Renberg), their two year old son Stig, and teenage daughter Nora (Nika Tallroth) from Johanna’s previous relationship. Nora is the first to notice that there’s no signal,…
Raindance 2026 Review: Corporate Retreat
It’s that time of year where the employees of billion dollar company, Immaculate Pond Technologies, are sent on their annual corporate retreat to partake in team building exercises — something they all truly cannot be bothered with. The characters are introduced to us with style: a freeze frame with yellow text telling us who they…
Raindance 2026 REview: The Devil Whispered My Name
Set in rural Argentina, five teenagers celebrate graduating from school by performing an ayahuasca ritual in the woods. In the morning, Carla (Bianca Mitnik) finds her best friend Maria (Mia Cavo) dead by the water, covered in blood and marked by an unusual symbol. Ten years later, Carla (now played by Clara Kovacic) followed her…
Raindance 2026 Review: Serena
Chris Sadowsky (Steven Strait) used to be a rock star, but now he’s a loser who earns money by making personalised songs for children’s birthdays via Fiverr. A recovering alcoholic, Chris is struggling to make a new song, all while his pregnant wife Vicki (María Gabriela González) works as a waitress. The couple are three…