Tag Archives: Black Eyed Susan

Review: Black Eyed Susan — Fantasia Festival 2024

Black Eyed Susan is screening as part of the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs from July 18 to August 4.


Scooter McCrae could be described as an underground filmmaker. His three features have all been made on shoestring budgets and have provocatively challenged conventions. I remain a neophyte to McCrae’s work (I promise I will watch Sixteen Tongues very soon, but I didn’t have time to catch up with it ahead of this review). At the same time, I imagine I will see similar themes and moods to Black Eyed Susan present in his earlier films.

In the film, a man with a history of alcohol dependency and aggressive outbursts, Derek (Damien Maffei), is hired by an acquaintance to work at an artificial intelligence development company. The technology the company wants to push to market, and which Derek is tasked with testing, is a highly realistic Continue reading Review: Black Eyed Susan — Fantasia Festival 2024

2024 Fantasia Film Festival Program Preview

It’s time again for the Fantasia International Film Festival. I really enjoy writing about the Montreal-based festival, whose films span multiple genres and celebrate the diversity that the term “genre film” has to offer. As per usual, I want to outline a few titles of interest being featured at this year’s festival.

Fantasia will hold its 28th edition from July 18 to August 4.

Frankie Freako (dir. Steven Kostanski)

Steven Kostanski’s Psycho Goreman was a clever play on a children’s fantasy film (not a children’s film, to be clear). The genre riffs Kostanski has been involved in have Continue reading 2024 Fantasia Film Festival Program Preview