Fantasia, North America’s top film festival celebrating all things genre, is putting together the lineup for its 14th annual edition, which takes place July 8-27 in Montreal. While the full list of over 100 films being featured won’t be announced for a month or so, the organizers have revealed a few exciting special events that will be part of the fun.

Of most interest to fright fans is the international premiere of NEVERMORE: AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE, the acclaimed one-man stage play in which Jeffrey Combs portrays the legendary author under the direction of longtime collaborator Stuart Gordon. The original production debuted at Los Angeles’ Steve Allen Theater last July, and saw its originally intended four-week run extended to nearly six months due to popular demand. In addition to staging the show, Gordon and Combs will also be on hand for a 25th-anniversary screening of an uncut 35mm of their classic RE-ANIMATOR.

A man responsible for equally outrageous genre fare, director Ken Russell, will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at a special “Devil’s Night” presentation also including a rare 35mm showing of his 1971 shocker THE DEVILS. The man behind the likes of ALTERED STATES, THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM and GOTHIC will be in Montreal for a week and further celebrated with a lengthy retrospective of his work, divided between the city’s Cinematheque Quebecoise and Cinema Du Parc.

Veteran animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman will also have Lifetime Achievement Awards bestowed upon them, and Fantasia will additionally host a special presentation of the newly restored, uncut version (over 25 minutes longer) of Fritz Lang’s science-fiction classic METROPOLIS at the 3,000-seat Wilfred Pelletier Theatre on Wednesday, July 28. Internationally renowned silent-film composer Gabriel Thibaudeau is writing a new score for this edition, and will perform it on the night with a live 13-piece orchestra.

There’s lots more excitement to come, so keep your eyes here for further Fantasia updates, and see the event’s official website here.

 

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