GHOST GAME
Jill Gevargizian (Aka Jill Sixx) brings us her sophomore feature, GHOST GAME. A group of internet thrill seekers bounces from house to house, playing pranks on the owners, all while stealthily spending as many nights there as possible. Laura convinces her new boyfriend to join her at the notorious Halton House, a place with a horrific past.
The mixed visual approach engages us with reenactments, surveillance footage, Travel Channel-esque ghost story TV spots, and DP Justin Brooks’s immersive real-time cinematography. The FX team does an excellent job.
I have mad love for The Stylist, so it’s no surprise that GHOST GAME entertained the hell out of me. I’ve been following the film since its inception since I’m “internet friends” with Jill and cast member Emily Bennett (Alone With You). As broad as the horror community is, it’s also incredibly small, in the best way. Ps-in case you already didn’t know, they both rule. Genre filmmaking from a femme-centric lens hits differently.
Speaking of Emily, her performance as a protective mother is drastically different from her previous roles. Meg is life-weary as they arrive at the new house. Watching Bennett navigate Meg’s arc is oh-so-satisfying. She is securing her spot as a Scream Queen.
As an Autism Parent, Vienna Maas does a lovely job portraying Sam, a child on the spectrum. Writer Adam Cesare handles it with such care. I genuinely appreciated both the delicate touch and the representation, so cheers.
Sam Lukowski is Laura’s hyper-aggressive Ghost Game partner, Adrian. Lukowski’s toxic masculinity seeps from his pores. His demise is welcome. Zaen Haidar is her boyfriend, Vin. His performance improves as the plot thickens and the character grows a pair.
Aidan Hughes is hands down one of the best players in this ensemble. His chameleon shifting is bone-chilling. Kia Dorsey gives Laura a fearless passion. She begs your attention in the morally grey area she exists in. She effortlessly leads this large cast, and I look forward to whatever comes next. Casting directors, get your eyes on her ASAP.
GHOST GAME combines three separate storylines to create an increasingly tense buildup. To be clear, this is not a found footage film, it’s a screen life clout film told from a way more intriguing angle. It’s a solid watch for Spooky Season.
GHOST GAME Trailer:
Epic Pictures’ specialty horror label DREAD presents GHOST GAME, following a couple’s internet challenge that turns fatal as they trespass into a haunted house, facing sinister evils lurking within its walls. GHOST GAME will have a limited theatrical run beginning October 18, and on October 22 the film will be available to rent or purchase on video-on-demand (VOD). The film will be available on Blu-ray beginning December 10.
GHOST GAME is the second directorial feature from Jill Gevargizian, best known for her feature debut THE STYLIST, which developed from an award-winning short film of the same title and debuted in 2020 from Arrow Video. GHOST GAME premiered at Panic Fest 2024 where Gevargizian won the audience award for Best Director.
Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald says, “Jill’s debut film THE STYLIST was nothing short of transformative, a truly one-of-a-kind experience. So, I knew she’d infuse GHOST GAME with her signature spine-tingling brilliance. Her vision is as daring as it is haunting, and we can’t wait for audiences to be utterly captivated by this electrifying DREAD original.”
“It was a dream to tackle two iconic horror sub-genres at once: a home invasion thriller mixed with a classic haunted house film.” says director Jill Gevargizian. “GHOST GAME is the kind of film that keeps you on your toes, peeling back layer after layer until the very last frame.”
The official synopsis for the film reads: As part of an internet challenge to live undetected in a stranger’s home, a daring couple target an infamous haunted house and endure a series of chilling incidents as they witness a family descending into madness.
GHOST GAME is directed by Jill Gevargizian (The Stylist) and written by Adam Cesare (Last Night at Terrace Lanes). Starring Kia Dorsey (The Man in the Guesthouse, Secrets in the Building, A Date with Deception), Zaen Haidar, Michael C. Williams (The Blair Witch Project), Emily Bennett (Shelby Oaks, Alone With You), Sam Lukowski (Satanic Hispanics), and Vienna Maas (The Stylist). Produced by Eduardo Sanchez (The Jester, Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, Queen of the South), Carlo Glorioso (Satanic Hispanics, V/H/S/2, The Jester), Corey Okouchi (The Jester, Butterfly Kisses, Ninjas vs. Monsters) and Jamie Nash (V/H/S/2, Satanic Hispanics).
About Epic Pictures Group
Founded in 2007, Epic Pictures is an independent content studio with the mission of delivering the best-in-class genre entertainment “for fans, by fans.” Epic Pictures produces, finances, and distributes approximately twenty-thirty independent genre films a year. In 2013, the company established Epic Pictures Releasing which is its US focused distribution division. In 2017, Epic Pictures acquired the world’s most popular horror website, Dread Central, and launched its unique horror label, Dread, followed by its AVOD channel, DreadTV. In 2019, Epic Pictures started the horror gaming site, DreadXP, with a focus on editorial, reviews, podcasts, and original streaming content. In 2020, DreadXP began a video game production and publishing division in collaboration with some of the most innovative developers in the independent gaming space.
Stories from staff, families, and residents tell tales of daily transgressions that build over time, ranging from laundry, food choice, incontinence care, medication changes, falls, and worker burnout due to understaffing. The film utilizes beautiful, childlike drawings as transitions and storytelling devices. Cell phone videos of neglect will break your heart. Photos of resulting abuse may take your breath away.
Then COVID-19 and 2020 made things so much worse. Once their failures are exposed, the government protects nursing homes from lawsuits sighting the pandemic and loss of workers. In each case, once regulations appear, they apply only to staff and never to the corporations behind the individual homes. These workers are the essential piece of the puzzle between a new standard of care and honoring their relentless efforts to do the right thing. The film delves into racism, the reductive overview of the profession, the label “women’s work,” and how simple changes would make all the difference.
The corporate lawyers use vile tactics to diminish their role, often attacking the family members with shaming language. Melissa explains this by giving her clients mock cross-examination examples to emotionally prepare them for what is coming in litigation. Another way they try to determine litigation is to delay and then drown Melissa and her team in documents. By giving her the runaround, they hope she will give up. They don’t know Melissa Miller.
The personal connections between legislation and privatization will shock no one. STOLEN TIME lays it out for you. The systemic failure, profit over people, no regulatory oversight, long-term residents are unnecessarily suffering. STOLEN TIME is about accountability and justice. The goal is an overhaul of the system. When we say long-term care, the keyword should still be “Care.”
Saoirse Ronan narrates the constant temptation in scientific terms while scenes of alcoholic behavior play against her words. Rona’s work in rehab is beautifully juxtaposed with her nature work in Orkney. This narrative device becomes a repeated reprieve from her reality. It feels poetic.
Saoirse Ronan is spectacular, delivering a raw portrait of a fractured and flawed woman. Rona is incredibly lonely, seeking genuine human connection. When drunk, she is emotionally abusive. Saoirse explores every facet of sickness and redemption. It is a nuanced turn. Give her an Oscar already.
GIRL INTERNET SHOW: A KATI KELLI MIXTAPE
Kelli is a star. She has that sardonic wit you see in Aubrey Plaza. Frankly, if you told me they were blood relatives, I would accept that as fact. Also, it’s impossible to ignore how stunning she is.
The film ends with Kati’s short film, finished three days before her passing. The subject is both ironic and eerie. Going in with the understanding that Kati is no longer with us weighs heavy in the back of your mind. Knowing what a massive star she was and how much bigger she could have been leaves a sting, but GIRL INTERNET SHOW: A Kati Kelli Mixtape celebrates an artist in all her magnificence. It’s an unforgettable film. Kelli lives forever, an eternal celluloid angel. She flies.
For all things Fantastic Fest 2024, 
A MISTAKE
Christine Jeffs writes, directs, and produces the adaptation of the best-selling novel by Carl Shuker, A MISTAKE. The film follows Dr. Elizabeth Taylor, a teaching surgeon whose resident falters during a routine cut. The script jumps right into the case in question. The next morning’s death of the patient begins an avalanche of questions, accusations, and steering misogyny. We witness the systematic attempt at taking down a successful female surgeon who challenges power.
Elizabeth Banks starts as a confident and calming presence in the OR. Amid the chaos, Banks walks a tightrope of mothering Richard through his doubts and defending her skills and judgment. As circumstances spiral, her protective, almost cold exterior begins to crack, and mistakes manifest outside the hospital. One scene with a dog will bring you to tears and puts Banks’s character on the other side of loss. It’s a subtly powerful performance.
The cinematography, especially the quiet moments, has an emotional impact. Jeffs masterfully captures the nuance of being a woman, particularly in any position of power. Words and actions somehow have an entirely different meaning if you are female. Jeffs highlights the infuriating double standards. A MISTAKE delves into the wildly erratic medical field, the human element of playing God, and noble pursuits.
WINNER
Zach Galifianakis is Reality’s activist-minded father, Ron. He plays a proud papa with a brilliant mind and passion for justice. The apple did not fall far. Galifianakis brings the sass in all the right ways. Connie Britton is Mom Billie Winner-Davis, someone I greatly admire. I followed her on social media once the story broke, urging others to retweet and signing petitions for the Biden administration to pardon Reality. Britton delivers a pitch-perfect performance as a Texas mother with the typical priorities before Reality’s arrest.
It’s an entire hour before we even touch on the infamous Russia document. The front end of the film gives us foundational reasons to root for Winner. Fogel skillfully injects humor into a story that appears authentically absurd from any sane outsider’s perspective. Jones’ narration sets the tone for the entire film. If you know Reality’s story, you understand what an indisputable hero she is. How this story got buried as quickly as it did will never cease to baffle me. 
SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON
Director Reema Kagti brings TIFF ’24 audiences a dramatized version of the 2008 documentary Supermen of Malegaon. The film begins in 1997 and follows aspiring amateur filmmaker Nasir Shaikh and fellow hometown artists in Malegaon, India. SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON is a story of small-town dreams coming true. Get ready to feel all the feels.
Frida Kempff brings TIFF 2024 audiences the true story of Sally Bauer, a single mother attempting to swim the English Channel in 1939. THE SWEDISH TORPEDO is a unique and multilayered sports docudrama. It will take you by surprise. 
In Luna Carmoon‘s debut, HOARD, it is 1984, and Cynthia and Maria live a trying existence. Mom is a hoarder with chaotic mood shifts. Maria exists in freefall, never knowing when she’ll be bullied or exposed to inappropriate scenarios. An accident leads to foster care. In 1994, teenage Maria latches onto a visitor and former foster as he attempts to tap into her unresolved grief and trauma.
Hayley Squires delivers authentic emotional distress. Hoarding is a trauma response and, often, a mental illness. Squires slides into that skin with astonishing ease. Her highs and lows are captivating.
Her and Quinn’s chemistry is glorious. Their unfiltered bond fascinates from start to finish. Together, their animalistic instincts create a healing trauma bond like no other.
Sook-Yin Lee
Johnny Ma
Joseph Kahn
I’m not just saying all these nice things because the film happens to feature two of my favorite genre people (and internet friends), Emily Bennett and Toby Poser. Wisner and Temple earn each moment.
Emily plays Ruth with a fearful innocence and tenacity. Bennett has that inarguable “it” factor in transforming for each new role. From 
BOOGER
In filmmaker Mary Dauterman‘s Popcorn Frights film, BOOGER, Anna spirals following the sudden death of her roommate. Holding tight to Izzy’s phone and their adopted stray cat. When Booger bites her and escapes out the window, Anna’s grief journey is derailed by unusual symptoms from her injury. 
Montreal-based comedy duo Emelia Hellman and Nancy Webb (Hellgirl Productions) bring their paranoia-fueled short Bangs to Fantasia Festival’s Fantastiques week-ends du cinéma québécois this summer for the film’s Canadian premiere.
Nerea Barros captivates as the titular character. She walks a perfect line between anxiety and persistence. Barros becomes a feminist icon we so desperately need.
Desperate to keep her promise to host the best superhero party for her 6-year-old, young mother Sid, a sex worker, takes extreme measures and books a last-minute client with a dark fetish. Dirty Bad Wrong is a drama/body horror that explores the darkest sides of capitalism, and just how far we’ll go for the ones we love.
Life changes when you become a mother. It is impossible to describe to someone who has never protected another human with every ounce of their soul. In 
Jack Greig
For all things Fantasia 2024, 
Graphic novel animation serves as visually delightful childhood memories surrounding Lola’s backstory with the villain. The poster is undoubtedly an homage to Black Christmas, and the classic trope of a killer in a Santa suit plays, ala Silent Night Deadly Night, still rules.
Jeremy Moineau gives Lola an effortlessly badass persona but beautifully balances toughness with authentic vulnerability. Her monologue about the town’s history is perfection. 
A road trip through Canadian oil fields conjured up fantasies of secrets deep in the dirt for the Adams family, and inspired them to create HELL HOLE, an indie rock-n-roll monster movie set at a far-away fracking site. Known for their DIY ethos, John and Lulu Adams and Toby Poser, partnering with Shudder, have joined the team behind The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and FX legend Todd Masters to shoot their latest in Serbia with a local cast and crew. Absurd, mutinous, and transgressively comical, Hell Hole is old-school sci-fi horror, yet in typical family fashion, they subvert the genre with textures of biological and environmental horror in tandem with questions of gender and bodily autonomy. This will be the fourth time Fantasia World Premieres work from the gifted filmmaking family, following launches of 
After the success of 
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It’s been 21 long years since Scooter McCrae (SHATTER DEAD) released a new feature, and he’s lost none of his smart, transgressive bite. Desperate for work, Derek (Damian Maffei, THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT) accepts a job at a shady tech start-up, working intimately with Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thälker in a powerful debut role), a bleeding-edge BDSM sex doll meant to receive and appreciate sexual punishment as an integral part of her evolving AI. Shot on Super 16, BLACK EYED SUSAN counterbalances its dark, vulgar core with a surprisingly tender vulnerability, creating a lo-fi science-fiction landscape infused with surprising fragility, as legendary Italian composer Fabio Frizzi (THE BEYOND, ZOMBIE) lends the picture a lush, atmospheric backdrop. Not for the faint of heart, BLACK EYED SUSAN delves into themes and questions that will only become more pertinent with the continued evolution of artificial intelligence. World Premiere.
A true DIY passion project from Estonian filmmaker Sander Maran, CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING is a zany, blood-soaked musical about lovers split up by a chainsaw-wielding killer. Over a decade in the making, Saran not only directed but wrote, scored, shot, and edited this colorful murder-fest that’s part gory horror movie and part ridiculous musical. The camerawork is inventive, the editing slapstick, and the tone truly absurdist. Most importantly, though, the songs are incredibly catchy, with Sander clearly deeply indebted to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL and Frank Oz’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Underground Section. International Premiere.
The stunning sophomore feature from award-winning director Carlota Pereda (
My favorite shorts collection of the year, this wildly eclectic and insanely talented group of female filmmakers aims to please, shock, and gag audiences. You never know what you’ll get with each passing year and I get giddy in anticipation. Fantasia 2024’s Born Of Woman lineup includes the following films:
THE BLEACHER
WILDFLOWER
DEAD TOOTH
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