In 2012, Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival hosted the debut of a new book that would go on to canonical status and usher in a new way of writing about film. Kier-La Janisse’s HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN was billed as “an autobiographical topography of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films,” and explored hundreds of films through a daringly personal lens. In this pioneering work, anecdotes and memories interweave with film history, criticism, trivia and confrontational imagery to create a reflective personal history and an examination of female madness, both onscreen and off. Tim Lucas of VIDEO WATCHDOG called it “groundbreaking,” post-punk icon Lydia Lunch called it “a masterpiece,” and Molly Ringwald said she “devoured this compelling, surprising, and moving book.”

To mark its 10th anniversary, Kier-La Janisse and FAB Press have reteamed to produce an expanded edition of HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN, featuring new writing on 100 more films – many of which were inspired in part by the book itself. Coming full circle to the festival that birthed it, the expanded edition of HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN will make its World Premiere at Fantasia.

In conjunction with the book’s release, Severin Films have restored four films that will form the basis of a screening series at the festival: Giuseppe Patroni Griffi’s IDENTIKIT (1974) starring Elizabeth Taylor, Polish vampire film I LIKE BATS (1986), Brunello Rondi’s libidinous folk horror IL DEMONIO (1963), and Luigi Bazzoni’s amnesiac giallo FOOTPRINTS (1975). The Cinémathèque Québécoise will complement the series with a 35mm print from their archive of Marina de Van’s grotesquely transcendent IN MY SKIN (2002).

Screenings will be introduced by Kier-La Janisse, and HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN will be available as a limited hardback edition at all related screenings with Janisse available to sign on request.

About the Films:

IDENTIKIT
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Italy 1974
World Premiere of Severin Films’ new 4K restoration

Sunday July 24 – 4pm
Salle J.A. DeSeve
Tickets: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/identikit

Based on Muriel Spark’s controversial 1970 novella THE DRIVER’S SEAT, Elizabeth Taylor stars as a hostile woman determined to make her mark, who travels to Rome for an appointment with death. Featuring a surprising cameo by Andy Warhol. World Premiere of new digital restoration.

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I LIKE BATS
Grzegorz Warchol, Poland 1986
World Premiere of Severin Films’  new 2K restoration

Monday July 25 – 8:30pm
Cinematheque Quebecoise
Tickets: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/i-like-bats

Isabella is a female vampire who lives in small town Poland. When she becomes obsessed with a handsome psychiatrist, she checks herself into his palatial country sanitarium under the auspices of seeking a cure for her condition, and romantic absurdity ensues. World Premiere of new digital restoration.

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FOOTPRINTS
Luigi Bazzoni, Italy 1975
World Premiere of Severin Films’  new 2K restoration

Tuesday July 26 – 9:00pm
Cinematheque Quebecoise
Tickets: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/footprints

In this bizarre giallo from the director of THE FIFTH CORD, Florinda Bolkan stars as Alice, a foreign translator living in Italy who emerges from a mysterious three-day blackout to find an unfamiliar blood-stained dress in her closet and a ripped up postcard from a place called Garma. Drawn to the place in the postcard, she goes to investigate – and finds out some startling things about herself. World Premiere of new digital restoration.

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Monday July 25 – 6:30pm
Cinematheque Quebecoise
Tickets: https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/il-demonio

In this stunning story of obsessive love set in a rural Southern Italian village, Daliah Lavi – best known to genre fans for her role as the tortured protagonist in Mario Bava’s THE WHIP AND THE BODY – plays Purif, who is distraught when her lover (Frank Wolff) is betrothed to another. When she summons the old ways to curse him, her erratic behavior is interpreted as demonic possession, and the villagers turn against her with violence. Canadian theatrical premiere of new restoration.