AW Kautzer's Film Review Fantasia Film Fest Film

Glorious – Fantasia Film Festival 2022 

GLORIOUS

A sacrifice is needed to save the world in Glorious.  Playing at Fantasia Film Festival 2022.

What if an elder God came to you in a bath stall at a rest stop asking you to help it save the world?  That’s the question posed by Glorious the adroit single-location horror film by Rebekah McKendry starring Ryan Kwanten and JK Simmons.  

Smart is the order of the day.  Glorious serves up intelligently written twisted horror with an ample amount of humor.  The script by Todd Rigney, Joshua Hull, and David Ian McKendry invokes Lovecraft without the specific troupes of his work.  McKendry’s direction never feels like we’re claustrophobically stuck in a single location.  Her sharp eye for widescreen composition always feels fresh and inventive.  Kwanten and Simmons are center stage here as Man and God respectively.  Simmons, of course, steals the show with a performance that is equal parts humorous and authoritatively god-like.  Not to be outdone Kwanten does some truly inspired work, especially in the finale.  

Glorious is the type of horror that is a rare treat; funny, dark, and smart.  

Glorious is playing Fantasia Film Festival on July 21st and released on Shudder August 18th

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