Fantasia’s Day 3 opened with a quiet screening of the Australian shark thriller THE REEF. I had no expectations, but being a fan of aquatic beasties, I made the effort to get out of the house early—read: in festival mode, anything before 3 p.m. is early—and drag my already (!) sleep-deprived ass to the theater.

Fantasia “crowd-pleasers” are all about the formula and ATTACK THE BLOCK revitalizes the alien invasion narrative admirably (see “Fantasia Day 2, Part One”). DEADBALL, on the other hand, is a prime example of a well-worn recipe that, while offering a few thrills, Fantasia audiences have inevitably been growing tired of. 

Today, I was reminded of how some films are just tailor-made for a Fantasia crowd. I can see how that is often understood pejoratively, and usually implicates excess with very little substance, but I believe there are two kinds of these films. The bad “crowd-pleaser” often dabbles in excesses of what genre audiences want to see, while ignoring that there needs to be meat for it to be bleeding. Such films tend to show a limited understanding of their genre’s formula, as well as exhibit a bare-bones simplification of their audience’s desires, while the good “crowd” films usually find a way to masterfully balance premium storytelling with perfect knowledge (and occasional subversion!) of genre tropes, mixed with a healthy dose of bombastic entertainment. ATTACK THE BLOCK and preceding Canadian short film THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM are of the latter category, offering perfect contrast with DEADBALL, which was also playing that evening and will be tackled in Part Two of this write-up.

Following the wonderful RED STATE, I spent the next half-hour debating whether to see Tsui Hark’s investigative kung-fu film DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME or Trent Haaga’s indie CHOP. As a fan of all cinematic genres and cycles, Fantasia poses a real problem: while there is definitive logic to the fact that both films should be programmed against each other, no one can blame me for wanting to see everything. In keeping with my devotion to all things bloody and horrifying (and the fact that it was a shorter film, thus allowing me more time to attend the after-party!), I went with the latter.

Fantasia 2011 kicked off in full force yesterday, with the hotly anticipated Canadian premiere of Kevin Smith’s RED STATE. I had spent the day finishing off various writing assignments, unable the shake the anxiety that reading the fine print of my press pass - which read “[this pass] is not valid for the Opening and Closing films” - had stirred within me. I was already devising sneaky schemes in my head as to how I was going to get in – and turn this blog into more exciting read in the process! – but I quickly learned, in my first hours as a journalist, that seeing your name on “the list” does feel good. After Fantasia programmer extraordinaire, Mitch Davis, introduced me to the expectedly impressive Udo Kier, who was casually wandering the Hall Theater entrance, I found my way in like a kid in a candy shop  (every year, the same feeling) and sat in the back with my longtime DJ friends, Iddle Matt and Angelica from CJLO, who always spin awesome tunes between the screenings.

Once a year, my body starts buzzing with anticipation, my mind theorizing as to what films will be playing, what guests will attend and what discoveries I will be making, until the Fantasia film festival program is inevitably revealed and expectedly blows my brain to bits. What follows is excitement akin to the one that comes with packing your bag and knowing that in the morning, you will be taking a plane to a wonderful and exotic place, where nothing will matter but the journey at hand.