X

John Carpenter movie masterclass schools you in horror at Fantasia 2020

Sci-fi, action and horror film festival Fantasia 2020 goes online, so you can inject the genre madness directly into your eyeballs.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read
kakegurui

Horror and fantasy from around the world are in the cards at Fantasia 2020.

Fantasia Film Festival

Want to learn how to make films like John Carpenter? The legendary writer, director and musician behind Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and many more will drop some knowledge in a filmmaking masterclass at this month's 2020 Fantasia Film Festival.

Like so many major events in the age of coronavirus, this year's Fantasia has shifted online. So from Aug. 20 to Sept. 3 you'll be able to watch over 100 horror, sci-fi, action, martial arts, zombie and documentary movies online, as well as shorts, live panels and masterclasses.

The festival opens with Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall's new flick The Reckoning, a period chiller set during England's 17th century plague. Horrifyingly topical... There's also a new film from the makers of Korean zombie hit One Cut of the Dead, entitled Special Actors. And you'll find the directorial debut of Stranger Things and It star Finn Wolfhard among the 200 short films at the festival.

John Carpenter

Horror maestro John Carpenter is dying to get his hands on your brain.

Fantasia Film Festival

The documentary lineup includes stranger-than-fiction tales of an infamously dangerous New Jersey theme park, oddball singer Tiny Tim, the controversial cartoon character Pepe the Frog and the Evil Dead movies.

Delve into the full list of Fantasia Fest 2020 movies to find all kinds of genre madness from around the world, whether it's a 77-minute single-take swordfight in Crazy Samurai Musashi from Japan, or an unhinged Shakespearian take on the opioid crisis from B-movie legends Troma titled #Shakespearesshitstorm.

The festival is usually held in Montreal, so some of this year's screenings will be locked to viewers in Canada, but the John Carpenter masterclass and many other events will be open to genre fans everywhere. You'll even see Carpenter playing his latest synth-tastic single. Look, one of the movies is a kaiju flick called Monster Seafood Wars, and that's all you really need to know, OK?

New Movies Coming in 2023 From Marvel, Netflix, DC and More

See all photos