Filmmaker Paul Duane celebrates his favourite Irish cult movie classics...
THE FANTASIST (Dir: Robin Hardy, '86)
What is it? The director of The Wicker Man (’73) followed that cult classic with an Irish serial killer movie based on Goosefoot, a novel by the cult writer Patrick McGinley. It’s a sort-of giallo set in the grim wasteland of eighties Dublin that becomes a weird, oddball character-driven comedy based around a trainee teacher and the three very peculiar men she finds herself involved with – any one of which could be the murderer who’s stalking and killing women…
Why is it important? Toxic masculinity was not invented in 2023. This film is a funny, creepy and often weird attempt to portray an independent sex-positive woman and how the men in her life variously try to control or own her, all in different ways failing to make her the victim of their strategies. They’re all pathetic in a variety of ways, she’s sparky, sexy and (despite her inexperience as a country girl new to the big city) wise to their tricks. Also, you also get to see legendary Berlin chanteuse Agnes Bernelle for a brief scene, and glimpse a pre-pedestrianised Grafton Street and The Bailey pub as it used to be.
How did it get made? Look, this was the eighties, all kinds of weird s**t happened and nobody alive now will tell you how or why. All I can say is, this film was produced by Mike Murphy, broadcasting genius. Beyond that it’s hard to say how or why it was made.
How did it go down? The Historical Dictionary of Irish Cinema says it was "critically lambasted on release", while Kevin Rockett’s Cinema & Ireland describes it as "highly distasteful", presumably thinking of the scene where a suspected serial killer plays bongos on a young woman’s rear end, and opined "despite Irish involvement… its content was as objectionable as anything produced about Ireland elsewhere." I beg to differ, Mr Rockett!
What should have happened? The 1980s were a great decade for horror, and it would be lovely to imagine an alternative universe where this and Rawhead Rex (also featuring actor Ronan Wilmot in a powerhouse performance) could have been the seeds for a run of Irish-set horror movies with weirdly pervy, rural male characters, as happened in 1970s Italy.
What happened instead? The film disappeared without trace and Robin Hardy was hardly heard of until the folk-horror renaissance of the past decade made The Wicker Man fashionable to the point where there was recently a singalong version going round the arthouse circuit. It is difficult to imagine anything similar happening to this, but who knows?
Where can I see it? The film is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Enjoy more Irish Cult Movie Classics here.
