What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 17th July 2025

This years Fantasia International Film Festival marks its 29th edition running from Wednesday 16th July through until Sunday 3rd August in the Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec. Fantasia is a cultural and professional destination point, and since its first edition, the festival’s ever-growing popularity has attracted the attention of the international film industry alongside a legion of attendees from across the world. Every facet of the filmmaking chain is increasingly represented with in-person delegates at the festival, from Directors, Actors, Producers, studio representatives, distributors and festival programmers, who get to experience the legendarily enthusiastic, taste-making audience of Fantasia. Since its beginnings, the Fantasia International Film Festival has explored the diverse realms of genre cinema, creating bridges between the cutting edge and the mainstream, and providing a festive but professional environment where emerging artists are given exposure alongside their more established counterparts, both locally and internationally, whilst showcasing the best in Canadian and world cinema, so reads the official website.

The Opening Night feature film is 'Eddington' Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Ari Aster. In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, New Mexico. Also featuring Austin Butler, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Michael Ward and Clifton Collins Jr. The Closing Night film presentation is the adult animated comedy film 'Fixed' Co-Written and Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Here, Bull (voiced by Adam DeVine), an average, all-round good bloodhound dog who discovers he's going to be neutered in the morning! As the gravity of this life-altering event sets in, Bull realises he needs one last adventure with his pack of best friends as these are the last 24 hours with his balls! What could possibly go wrong...? Also starring the voice talents of Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen and Bobby Moynihan.

The Cheval Noir Competition is Fantasia's flagship juried competition, a global selection of varied genre works from new and established groundbreaking and unconventional auteurs. This year there are thirteen feature films in this competitive section, and these are given below :-

* 'Blank Canvas : My So-Called Artist's Journey' - from Japan, and this drama comedy film is Directed by Kazuaki Seki. 

* 'The Book of Sijjin and Illiyyin' - from Indonesia and this horror offering is Directed by Hadrah Daeng Ratu.

* 'Cielo' - from the UK and Bolivia and this drama fantasy film is Written and Directed by Alberto Sciamma.

* 'The Forbidden City' - from Italy and this dramatic romantic action film is Directed by Gabriele Mainetti.

* 'I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn' - from Japan and this comedy romance is Written and Directed by Kenichi Ugana.

* 'I Live Here Now' - from the USA and this thriller is Written and Directed by Julie Pacino. World Premiere.

* 'Mother of Flies' - from the USA and this dramatic horror fantasy feature is Directed by John Adams, Zelda Adams and Toby Poser. World Premiere.

* 'New Group' - from Japan and this horror film is Co-Written and Directed by Yuta Shimotsu.

* 'Stinker' - from Kazakhstan and this comedy Sci-Fi offering is Co-Written and Directed by Yerden Telemissov. 

* 'Terrestrial' - from the USA and this thriller comedy film is Directed by Steve Pink. World Premiere.

* 'The Verdict' - from South Korea and Indonesia and this drama thriller is Directed by Lee Chang-hee and Yusron Fuadi. World Premiere.

* 'The Well' - from Canada and this thriller offering is Co-Produced and Directed by Hubert Davis. World Premiere.

* 'The Woman' - from South Korea and this thriller film is Co-Written and Directed by Hwang Wook. World Premiere.

The Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award will be presented to Danny Elfman, who as a renowned film composer, his name merits mention in the same breath as Hermann, Morricone, Rota, and Barry. Danny Elfman has a particular perch among the pantheon, however, as the patron saint of movie music for the freaks, geeks, monster kids, and misfits among us - the very souls that haunt the darkened halls of Fantasia. Over the last forty years since his first feature film score, Elfman has set the mood, musically, for not only Tim Burton with whom he has collaborated on many films, but for a veritable honour roll of genre-film titans.

For the full synopsis of the aforementioned films, plus the other feature feature film strands, and the short film section, plus a whole bunch of other great stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://fantasiafestival.com/en

With just three new release movies coming to a big screen Odeon close to your home this week, we kick off with an American slasher horror offering that is the fourth film in this franchise and a sequel to the 1998 film, and here we find a group of friends who are terrorised by a stalker who knows about a gruesome incident from their recent past that the group would rather keep hidden. Then we turn to an American black comedy about a suburban dad who falls hard for his charismatic new neighbour, but his attempts to make an adult male friend soon threatens to ruin both of their lives. And closing out the week we have a French biopic about a French Actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who is at the height of her fame - an icon of her time and the world's first star, who is also a passionate, free-spirited and modern woman who defies conventions.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER' (Rated MA15+) - this American slasher film is Co-Written and Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, whose two prior feature film Directing offerings are 'Someone Great' in 2019 and 'Do Revenge' in 2022. This film is a sequel to 1998's 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' and the fourth instalment in the 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' franchise. The third film in the series 'I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer' from 2006 did not get a cinema release instead going straight to a DVD release. The first two films therefore grossed a combined global Box Office take of US$210M against a total production budget of US$41M.

After five friends - Danica, Ava, Milo, Teddy and Stevie (Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers and Sarah Pidgeon respectively) inadvertently kill a pedestrian in a car accident, they cover up their involvement to avoid consequences. A year later, as they try to move on with their lives, a stalker sends them taunting messages about their crime. Realising that the stalker is imitating a legendary serial killer, they seek help from survivors of the Southport massacre of 1997, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jnr.). The film is released Stateside this week too.

'FRIENDSHIP' (Rated M) - is an American black comedy film Written and Directed by Andrew DeYoung in his feature film making debut, although he has a whole stack of Directorial credits for TV series and short films. Here, suburban dad Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson), a socially awkward marketing executive who obsessively yearns to be friends with his new neighbour Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd), a charismatic but unfulfilled weatherman, but his attempts to make an adult male friend soon threatens to ruin both of their lives. The film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September last year as part of the festival's Midnight Madness section, and was released in the US in late May. It has received positive reviews from critics, and has so far grossed US$16M. Also starring Kate Mara as Craig's wife, Tami and Jack Dylan Grazer as Craig's son, Steven.

'THE DIVINE SARAH BERNHARDT' (Rated MA15+) - this French and Belgian Co-Produced romantic biographical film is Directed by Guillaume Nicloux. Sarah Bernhardt (Sandrine Kiberlain), dubbed 'La Divine', became the first global celebrity. The acclaimed stage Actress broke social conventions through her bold character, leaving an indelible mark thanks to her daring personality and dramatic acting performances. The films depicts her long love affair with Actor Lucien Guitry (Laurent Lafitte) and her encounters with many famous people over three time periods in 1886, 1896 and 1916. She lived from 1844 until 1923 and died at the age of 78. The film was released in its native France in mid-December last year and has so far grossed US$3.1M.

With just three new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-