Montreal’s Fantasia film festival is well underway with tons of genre screenings running till July 28, and we’ve got some more exclusive pics (by festival photographer Isabelle Stephen) after the jump!

At last week’s opening night attraction THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE (the Disney film opens today), star Jay Baruchel (KNOCKED UP, TROPIC THUNDER, SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE), a local Montreal boy made good, confessed his love for Fantasia. He told THE GAZETTE: “I have posters on my wall from Fantasia ’96. I’ve been going since the thing started and this was my favorite thing. This is what I look forward to in the summer. Fantasia is for me. It’s the only festival I ever went to as a fan.”

Winds up Baruchel is not only a big genre buff, but he grew up reading Fango! On the eve of his big movie opening and TONIGHT SHOW appearance last night, he wrote us: “I have been such a fan of your magazines for so bloody long, and they have in large part spurred me on to do what I want to do. I’ve committed my life to horror, and Fango has a lot to do with it… PS: I f**king loved the articles Stephen King wrote in Fango. King is both mine and my mother’s favorite author of all time and getting to see him in my favorite magazine was a huge thrill.”

 

In other Fantasia tidbits, splatter pioneer Herschell Gordon Lewis dropped us a line about his Montreal appearance last weekend for the world debut of the documentary HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS: THE GODFATHER OF GORE (see previous item here). Lewis says, “The show went terrific! If the South gonna rise ag’in, I can too.”

Lewis also gave Fango an update on his latest directorial effort, about a bloody game show: “THE UH-OH SHOW moves splatter films into another plateau, in which if my intention translates into viewer acceptance, this type of movie literally blends with ‘conventional’ movies. That means a huge expansion of the viewer-base. Those who have seen early cuts seem to justify my enthusiasm.”

This week’s Fantasia highlights include such international terrors as OUTCAST, HEARTLESS, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, POSSESSED, A SERBIAN FILM, MIL MASCARAS VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED and THE NEIGHBOR ZOMBIE, as well as the stage production of NEVERMORE: AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE, starring Jeffrey Combs. See the Fantasia website for more details. This weekend Fango chiefs Chris Alexander, Tony Timpone and Michael Gingold will descend on Fantasia, so watch for more scoops.

 

 

 

 

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