We've been given a chance to cover a couple of films for the 2023 edition of the Fantaspoa Film Festival and are pleased to provide brief thoughts on each of the films we were able to cover for the screenings:
Logger (Steffen Geypens)-
A Belgian fantasy-tinged genre effort, about a logger who discovers a brutally-mutilated body in the forest that sends him into a catatonic state and gets the unexpected help of Death herself, is generally enjoyable if wholly confusing overall. The majority of this is based on the admittedly impressive visual imagery conjured here, making using hypnotic scenery and camera tricks to show off the otherworldly atmosphere present in the various vignettes featured. It's basically where all the genre elements come from here as the ideas on display aren't that horrific or scary, instead featuring a creepy idea but not doing anything with it as the main purpose is on the metaphorical nature of the visuals being presented. That gives this a wandering tone that loses focus quite easily as the shifting narrative to different characters stumbling upon the situation and getting caught up in everything is somewhat jarring that causes a lot of the narrative qualities to undo the goodwill established by its immersive visual sense and intriguing concept.
Minore (Konstantinos Koutsoliotas)-
This Greek monster movie/fantasy comedy effort, about a ragtag group of individuals in a seaside Greek port who have to unite against their differences and save the town when mysterious creatures invade the area, has a lot to like about it. The idea of this one going through its paces while keeping a comedic, light-hearted tone here with the various interactions present with the kooky cast of characters that have some highly enjoyable sequences. There's more than enough comedy to be had here before the monsters arrive that once they do, the addition of this series of strange characters now being forced to combat the equally-weird creatures that emerge on the scene which mixes comedy and Horror-creature action for a genuinely fun time here, especially with the highly-effective effects-work used for the creatures to continue everything. This does have some minor issues in the overlong running time which is quite dragging and feels as though there's way too much going on for this type of film and some trimming really could've been beneficial to this one, but otherwise, there's not much to dislike with this one.
Onimanji (Yoshihiro Nishimura)-
A wild Japanese ninja effort, about a resurrected samurai who joins forces with a couple of workers at an assassin-for-hire company to perform a series of tasks for his boss while fending off a series of confrontations with agents from a rival company, has quite a lot to like here. Knowing the creative crew here will be the most important factor here with the film's exploits coming mainly from the core group of backstage talent featured with the simple story simply being a means of introducing a never-ending series of wacky practical gore effects. The carnage and blood-splatter that's on display in the various confrontations with the ninja battles and martial arts fights that manage to highlight a series of fluid kung-fu choreography that provides the type of wild splatter effects featuring the kind of concepts that are normally found in their previous work. It's quite obvious how low-budget this all is and doesn't really do much to hide that factor but beyond that, there's not a whole lot to dislike here.
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