The Fantasia Film Festival is set to open with the North American debut of Hideo Nakata’s Sadako, the Japanese horror icon’s return to his Ringu franchise.
North America’s largest genre film fest, which on Thursday unveiled its final lineup, also announced a special screening of the upcoming Fox Searchlight horror film Ready of Not, starring Samara Weaving (Mayhem). Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the pic also features Mark O’Brien, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny and Andie MacDowell.
Fantasia also has booked world premieres for the Alex Essoe-starrer Homewrecker from director Zack Gayne; the Filipino monster movie Mystery of the Night, helmed by Adolfo Alix Jr.; the Southern neo-gothic Blood on Her Name, a debut feature from director Matthew Pope and starring Bethany Anne Lind, Will Patton and Elisabeth Rohm; and Japanese helmer Hirotaka Adachi’s horror pic Stare.
There also will be North American premieres for writer-director-producer Kimo Stamboel’s video-game-to-movie adaptation Dreadout and Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium, which bowed in Cannes.
Elsewhere, Fantasia will honor Ted Kotcheff, director of First Blood, the first chapter in Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo franchise, with its inaugural Canadian Trailblazer Award.
The event, which is set to run July 11-Aug. 1 in Montreal, earlier unveiled world premieres for the Liam Hemsworth-starring action thriller Killerman, directed by Malik Bader; Bobby Miller’s Critters Attack!, starring Dee Wallace and Tashiana Washington; Harold Holscher’s 8, a horror film that hinges on African folklore and mythology; and Brett and Drew Pierce’s witchcraft drama The Wretched, starring John-Paul Howard and Piper Curda.
