As part of our coverage of the 2025 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival, we're pleased to also offer up brief thoughts on a selection of titles that were offered to us but were requested to be kept as these brief capsule write-ups.
The Serpent's Skin by Alice Maio Mackay
A woman must use her supernatural abilities to save her town from a demon-possessed friend of hers.
This was a rather enjoyable genre effort with a lot to like. The main setup, which provides a great central romance between the characters, allows the reader to quickly get to know each one, setting this up incredibly well. It also paints the central series of relationships, displayed with a fun, central core, as they hang out together. With some great action in the series of encounters taking place with the possessed individual going around killing others and a fun, experimental visual aesthetic to hide its low-budget limitations, there’s quite a lot to like here, over the main issue in the lack of knowledge about the demonic entity, with hardly anything given about it. That’s due to the pacing more than anything, without much time devoted to it in favor of their relationship, but overall, there’s not a lot to hold it back.
Foreigner by Ava Marie Safai
A teen tries to fit in with a group of girls at the expense of her heritage, triggering a demonic spirit to follow her.
Overall, this was a generally strong and impressive feature. The in-depth setup provides a strong grounding of her situation, not just at home, to understand where her parents are coming from, which contrasts nicely with her desire to fit in with the high-school girls who are attempting to ingrain her in their clique. That leads nicely into the final half, where we get all the explanations for everything, complete with some solid action and psychological torture that has a lot to like here. The pacing is a little slow with a lot of family drama at the expense of horror, and it comes off a bit cheesy in places, but otherwise, there’s not much to dislike here.
Lucid by Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Femdall
A tortured artist looking for a way to get past her creative block descends into a hellhole of drug use and wild experimentation.
Overall, this was a pretty frustrating effort with a lot to like and dislike. The main point here is that both factors are involved with the positive and negative features here, involving the central mission to understand her unraveling mental state, as this drives the film forward incredibly well. The more she gets into the hallucinogenic and otherworldly state of the candy as a means of overcoming her artist’s block, the more unhinged and unraveled she becomes, which helps to keep this one not only intriguing as she fights her way out of it, but also filled to the brim with inventive and creative depictions of her spiraling out. The problem is this is overlong, glacially paced, and doesn’t allow for the easiest resolutions to everything, especially when its obvious low-budget limitations are front and center.
Le Tour de France by John Hollands
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Two cyclists compete in a grueling race across Canada.
Overall, this was a genuinely hilarious short with a lot to like. The zany storyline explored here is fun and silly enough with how the evolution of the rivalry develops throughout the race, with how everything plays out with each one trying to get the upperhand. That plays out in an immensely clever and unique way with the wild filmmaking style, with a series of unconventional tactics, edits, overlays, and composition work, making everything feel far more off-kilter than expected and bringing about a series of genuinely exciting scenes. With these making for some great laughs as well, this was a fairly strong and enjoyable short.
Headcase by Spencer Zimmerman
A woman is stalked by the disembodied head of a hit-and-run accident victim.
This was a genuinely solid and enjoyable short. The genuinely silly scenario, given a lot to like with its wild setup, offers a great starting point for the absurdist scenarios that come together the deeper she finds herself falling. The quest for stardom and her sense of entitlement make for a great contrast against the increasingly bizarre comments he makes about what's going on as the whole thing spirals out of control. The different effects to pull everything off match the crazy tone and atmosphere perfectly, making everything quite a lot of fun.
This review is part of our coverage of the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival. Click the banner below to check out our reviews and interviews from the festival:
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