Every year at Fantasia Film Festival, there are two festivals: the main programming and the rep programming. I highly recommend doing both, because while it is a crucial part of a festival to see premiers and event screenings, a good festival acts as a love letter to cinema. Variety is a spice of life.
This year, some of the highlights of the rep programming include: a 35mm print of A Chinese Ghost Story II, Sun Chung’s The Avenging Eagle, and a screening of David Wellington’s The Carpenter. Additionally, the book launch for Heidi Honeycutt’s long awaited I Spit on Your Celluloid – a history of female horror directors – came with a screening of the recently restored Hollywood 90028. Finally, Kier-La Janisse – author of House of Psychotic Women – presents a screening of Monte Helleman’s Cockfighter in honour of her new book on the film.
As you can see, there’s a bevy of programming available over the course of the two weeks. One could very seriously only programme rep cinema for themselves and have a spectacular time.
For myself, one of the highlights has undoubtedly been Kuei Chih-Hung’s Killer Constable, featuring a new restoration courtesy of Arrow pictures. Kuei’s The Boxer’s Omen remains one of the truly great exploitation films of the 20th century, one filled with inventiveness. Killer Constable may not offer the same inventiveness, but the film’s action sequences are top notch. Kuei always seems to look to play at the edge of genre space, and this is no exception. Look for this as part of an upcoming Shaw Brothers Box Set.
- Rated: 18
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
- Directed by: Kuei Chih-Hung
- Starring: Chen Kuan-Tai, Chiang Tao, Dick Wei, Jason Pai Piao, Ku Feng, Lee Chun-Wa, Walter Tso Tat-Wah, Yuen Wah
- Produced by: Mona Fong Yat-Wah, Run Run Shaw
- Written by: Sze-To On
- Studio: Shaw Brothers
