Festivals - Fantasia 2020 : Restoration Premieres

By Mulder, 06 august 2020

The Fantasia International Film Festival will launch its 24th edition next month as an exciting virtual event composed of scheduled live screenings, program library, panels, and workshops, taking place from August 20th to September 2nd, 2020. The festival will be accessible across Canada, geo-locked to the country, and will maintain unique film admittance quantities in line with the cinema experience. The Fantasia Film Festival announces today a massive new assortment of feature films for its 24th edition, along with details on scheduled panels, talks, tributes, and special events.

No way home (Restoration World Premiere)
Fans of hard-hitting genre cinema will know Buddy Giovinazzo from his blistering backyard debut Combat Shock, released in the late 80s. His hotly anticipated but still-underground follow-up, No way home, boasted a trio of amazing emerging talent of the era: Tim Roth, James Russo, and Deborah Kara Unger. For the first time since its criminally brief run in cinemas, it will soon be possible to see No way home as intended, in all its ruthless glory, thanks to Severin Films and their new 4K restoration from original negatives.

Sting of death (Restoration World Premiere)
A mad marine biologist sneaks off to an underwater lab, transforms himself into a mutant half-man-half-jellyfish, and attacks college kids with his Sting of Death! Why? Because he’s in love! Maverick filmmaker Bill Grefé’s kitsch classic Sting of death (1966) – a poverty row take on The Creature of the Black Lagoonshot deep in the Florida everglades – emerges from the watery depths of cinema history in a stunning new 2K restoration from the original 35mm negative, courtesy of the aquatic horror connoisseurs at Arrow Video.

Day of the Beast (Restoration World Premiere)
In between his cult hit debut Accion Mutante and proudly transgressive Peridita Durango, writer/director Álex de la Iglesia delivered Day of the Beast, which remains one of the best horror comedies of our time and turned Santiago Segura into a domestic megastar. Winner of 6 Goya Awards including Best Director – and a Fantasia audience award back in the day – now restored in 4K from the original negative by Severin Films.

Laurin (Restoration Canadian Premiere)
Robert Sigl’s 1989 feature debut horror fable Laurin largely remained a curio outside of its native West Germany, with North American audiences having to wait until recently to experience its twisted, dreamy pleasures. The quasi-giallo won Sigl (School’s out, Lexx) numerous accolades at European festivals, and offers up an entrancing mix of pre-Guillermo del Toro childhood innocence and adult horror, breathtakingly lensed by Nyika Jancsó. Fantasia is proud to present the long-overdue Canadian Premiere of this gorgeous 4K restoration.

(Source : press release)