FilmQuest is a renowned film festival celebrated for offering a consistently fine selection of horror, science fiction, thriller, dark comedy, and related genre film fare, and for being a welcoming destination for both filmmakers and film aficionados. The festival celebrates its 11th annual edition from October 24–November 2, 2024 at Velour in Provo, Utah. In this article, I will discuss some of the fest’s selections that I can strongly recommend. This is only a tantalizing tip of the iceberg regarding what’s in store, so for full details and ticket information, visit https://www.filmquestfest.com/.
Good Girls Get Fed
Logline: When three captive women are forced into twisted challenges to earn food, they must work together to find an escape, not realizing that a new darkness has awakened in their midst.
Director, writer, and actor Kelly Lou Dennis’s Good Girls Get Fed is a dark commentary on gender equity that packs a wallop throughout, and then delivers a gut punch of an ending!
3 Easy Steps
Svelte Dog Productions team members described their short 3 Easy Steps thusly: “The film follows Jane, a woman grappling with debilitating ADHD, as she embarks on a self-help retreat to the woods, where things take a dark turn when she manifests another version of herself. It’s a playful and raw look at the director’s (Paige Henderson) own experience with ADHD, using genre-bending techniques to mimic the emotional dysregulation of ADHD, creating a chaos that is quirky and fun, until suddenly it’s not at all.” Queer filmmaker Henderson and an all-women and nonbinary crew made 3 Easy Steps, which “uses visceral storytelling techniques to delve into the complexities of ADHD, mental health, and the journey of self-acceptance.”
Bath Bomb
Synopsis: Possessive Dr. Jordan prepares what seems like a romantic bath for his narcissistic boyfriend Grant, but after an accusation of infidelity, the grisly reality of Jordan’s true intentions bubbles to the surface.
“We’ve had a hell of a festival run thus far,” said director Colin G. Cooper, as Bath Bomb — a comedic horror that takes a Queer approach to Giallo aesthetics — won the top prize for short films and the Best Actor in a Short award at Panic Fest in April and has claimed other awards, including the Bronze Audience Award for Best Canadian Short at Fantasia and Best Cinematography in a Short at Nightmares Film Festival.
ID EST
“Although ID EST is an epic action short, at its core it’s about a young woman dealing with the loss of her father,” said Sof Puchley, lead actor and producer of the science fiction short. “We embarked on this project with the aim of challenging the prevailing gender imbalance in the genre, which is traditionally male-dominated. ID EST is directed, produced, written, edited, stunt coordinated, and sound designed by women. As well as having women in every department on set.”
Attachment Theory
Writer/director Katherine Jackson’s New Zealand science fiction short asks, “What do you do when the thing that’s sent to save you wants to kill you? Olive wants nothing more than to retreat from the world. But the world comes crashing in when a delivery drone develops a deadly fixation on her.”
‘Till Death Do Us Part
Logline: Desperate to marry the love of his life, an undertaker’s apprentice digs up the grave of a mysteriously murdered bride in an attempt to rob her corpse of its ring.
Writer/director Jacob Hamblin said, “At its core, ‘Till Death Do Us Part questions the lengths we go to for love and the moral boundaries we may cross. I hope this film leaves you both unsettled and reflective on the thin line between devotion and obsession. Thank you for joining us on this dark, romantic journey into gothic horror.”
Outcast Forest
Director Frank Raudsepp presents a fantasy short starring Caleb Wells, who wrote the screenplay, The plot: “A lost Viking discovers a Saxon girl on the run from thugs and must intervene to find his way home.”
