Fantasia 2023 Reviews: Blackout, Lovely, Dark, and Deep, and The Becomers

The 27th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is in full swing and ComicBook.com is covering this year's events and the many genre films making their world premiere. We're kicking things off with some quick-fire reviews for three of the first films to premiere, ranging from a werewolf movie, Larry Fessenden's Blackout, to an atmospheric horror film in the forest, Lovely, Dark, and Deep, and to the quirky sci-fi parody The Becomers. Here are three quick reviews for some of the films from this year's Fantasia.

Blackout

Indie favorite Larry Fessenden digs into the long-awaited horror subgenre that fans have been waiting for him to tackle, the werewolf movie. While many fans may come at this wondering how it will compare to his 1997 cult vampire movie Habit, the stark differences between the two are perhaps what best define it. Since Habit was a film that embodied a specific scene in New York City, Fessenden pushes Blackout to the inverse in almost every way, setting the film in a small rural town while making the lead its monster rather than the victim of it.

Alex Hurt stars as Charley Barrett, an artist trying to reconcile his life with a former girlfriend, whose father just happens to be employing racist scare tactics to continue his local building projects. Horror fans will quickly note the name of the town, Talbot Falls, as a callout to Lon Chaney Jr.'s character from Universal Studios' 1941 classic The Wolf Man. It happens early enough that one might think they're in for a slew of werewolf Easter eggs, but luckily this is more of a guiding light than the start of everyone pointing at the screen like Leonardo DiCaprio.

As Blackout unfolds, not only does it become clear that Charley is a wolfman like in that classic movie, but that Fessenden's take on the material is a modern reinvention of that specific story. How does a man with a life in front of him grapple with his unconscious actions and becoming the thing that tears apart his community? Bodies continue to pile up, and the film never shies away from continuing to dip its toes into the same stylistic areas that director George Waggner did with The Wolf Man.

This is where Blackout stretches itself a little too thin, however. If it was just about Charley grappling with his actions and dissecting the idea of a wolfman in a modern context, that could be enough, but Blackout has more on its mind. The subplot about a racist developer trying to drive out his enemies from the town is a clear commentary on modern politics in more ways than one, but in the end, it takes away from the film more than it adds additional layers to it. Classic horror fans will like what they see, though, along with anyone that has an affinity for Fessenden's style. By giving itself two giant pastures of narrative to explore, however, each with their own respective themes, the movie bites off more than it can chew.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Lovely, Dark, and Deep

Fresh off starring in 2022's Barbarian, actor Georgina Campbell returns to horror with another stylistic movie with wild houses and social isolation. Written and directed by Teresa Sutherland, Campbell stars as Lennon, a young woman who has finally achieved her dream of becoming a park ranger in the isolated corner of a major national park, one where people continue to go missing and are never to be seen again. What becomes clear as the movie continues, however, is that the woods aren't the only thing hiding something and that Lennon's secrets will come to reckon with what is lying within the trees.

It's nearly impossible for a movie that is set in the mountains and forest to do much about how it will be compared to The Blair Witch Project, but with Lovely, Dark, and Deep, Sutherland seems to know this comparison will be made and employs the imagery in ways that continue to keep you guessing, while still harkening back to the woods-tromping horror that fans have seen before. Unlike the films in that series, though, Sutherland's movie takes big swings with nearly every act change, redefining itself into a new kind of horror movie every 30 minutes. What begins as a movie about the isolation and uncertainty of the woods gives way for a different type of horror in the second act and then something even more strange in the third.

These changes would be easier on the audience if they actually lent themselves to a larger resolution on what is going on in the film. Naturally, it's fine for movies to leave certain things of the plot a mystery, the unknown will always leave a larger footprint than a full explanation, but by expounding on what's going on in these woods without offering a resolution keeps the whole thing from feeling wholly satisfying. That said, there is plenty of tense, moody filmmaking throughout, so if woodsy horror vibes are your bag, this could work.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

The Becomers

Writer-director Zach Clark's latest is a hilarious sci-fi romp. Central to the story are body-swapping aliens, who land on Earth and do their best to blend in while stealing the faces of humans and seeking out their mates. Trouble for them, of course, is that they happen to come to Earth during the politically volatile moments of the initial coronavirus pandemic. It's difficult enough for an alien to navigate the nuance of human life, but then when you add the uncertainty of a worldwide pandemic and the lingering threat of terrorism from disgruntled sects, it's even more difficult.

Though the larger relationship of the aliens is defined by narration in the movie, provided by Sparks' leadsinger Russell Mael, the film is anchored thanks to its performances. Actor Isabel Alamin is the host for the lead alien for the opening act of the movie, doing some heavy lifting as the being learning to speak our language while also working to understand the social constructs in place, as well as how they've been redefined by the pandemic. A shift occurs later, wherein Molly Punk takes over as the lead alien (it will happen again with actor Keith Kelly as well), but all three do great work by bringing to life a being that is in the wrong body.

The built-in humor of The Becomers is not only present in how they try to blend in with life on Earth and with other humans, but the fact that they find themselves in some of the wildest possible scenarios, ones that aren't actually that far-fetched in a modern context. Clark's script is not only hilarious, he brings a visual flair to the entire thing that adds depth to the storytelling, always making you question what you might be seeing and where potential threats might linger. It's a hoot, and fans of indie films that make big swings are going to be excited by it.

Rating: 4 out of 5