ATMO HORROX (2016)
Produced, written, directed, edited & visual effects by Pat Tremblay
GENRE:
Experimental satire inside a psychedelic horror b-movie and wrapped into a cryptic mystery thriller.
SYNOPSIS:
Through a very surreal chase of spying and surveillance, Catafuse, a dubiously dressed "creature", hunts down specific human targets with the help of Molosstrap. But in a world completely run by the shadowy hands of the pharmaceutical industry, the lines of reality become so blurry and complex, that the mastering of insanity might just be the only way out...
101 mins
VOD: RENT OR BUY
Rent on VOD from Vimeo (Worldwide) HERE
Buy on Amazon US: HERE
Buy on Amazon UK: HERE
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TRAILERS
POSTERS
AWARDS
•WINNER! Best Undistributed Film of 2016, awarded by The Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle (Jan 2017)
•WINNER! Best Experimental Feature Film at the Arizona Underground Film Festival - (September 2016)
•#1 spot in top 5 films of 2016 by author/journalist Dave Dubrow (The Slaughtered Bird)
•#8 spot in top 10 films of 2016 by co-host El’Ahrai Stanek (The Harvey and Bob Show)
•WINNER! 2016 Nicolas Cage Award for Outstanding Achievement in WTF! (The Harvey and Bob Show)
FESTIVALS
19th REVELATION Perth Int’l Film Festival - Australia (July 2016)
20th Fantasia Int’l Film Festival - Canada (July 2016)
12th BUT Film Festival - Netherlands - (August 2016)
9th Arizona Underground Film Festival - USA (September 2016)
6th /Slash Film Festival - Austria (September 2016)
5th Feratum Film Festival - Mexico (October 2016)
1st STUFF Film Festival - Mexico - (October 2016)
13th Another Hole in the Head Film Festival - USA - (November 2016)
3rd Sadique Master Film Festival - Paris, France - (March 2017)
35th Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québécois - Canada - (March 2017)
1st Midwest Weirdfest - Wisconsin, USA - (March 2017)
17th Belfast Film Festival - Ireland - (April 2017)
6th Full Moon Horror & Fantrasy Film Festival - Romania - (Aug 2017)
9th Percéides Fest Int’l de Cinéma et d’Art - Percé, Canada (Aug ‘17)
6th Fifigrot - Grolang Film Festival - Toulouse, France (Sept 2017)
12th Montevideo Fantástico Festival - Uruguay (Dec 2017)
1st Hyper Hybrid Film Festival - Germany (Dec 2017)
OTHER PRESENTATIONS
Masques & Bouffons Collectif MU La Station - Paris, France (July 2018)
Paul’s Boutique / Black Friday Carrnival - Mtl, Canada (Nov 2018)
PLAN B - Vondelbunker - Amsterdam, Netherlands (July 2019)
Cinema Studios - El Paso, Texas, USA (July 2022)
REV FILM FESTIVAL PICTURES (in combo w/ actor/director Kai Smythe)
FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL PICTURES (some by Julie Delisle)
FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL PICTURES (by Isabelle Stephen)
PERCEIDES FESTIVAL (2017) CATAFUSE ROAMS AROUND AGAIN
MISCELLEANEOUS PICTURES
FESTIVAL HOLIDAY THANK YOU CARDS FROM CATAFUSE
THE 2012 PHOTOSHOOT THAT STARTED IT ALL!
Before coming up with the concept for Atmo HorroX, I had this photoshoot idea for a weird character. And I just thought I’d ask my friend and actor Laurent Lecompte if he was game to do it. And unsurprisingly, he was! So I asked him to bring some props, and I chose 2 elements from his stuff and we went in a Longueuil park to do take those pics.
Then sometime after, I started wondering what could actually be his origin, because honestly, I had no other idea about it at the time. So I started to reverse-engineer his storyline. And as with pretty much anything I think of, I start wondering what could it be if it was a film. Then through a combination of other character ideas, based on who I thought who be the best to play the roles, I wrote the script.
Anyhow, this is spur-of-the-moment photoshoot is at the core of what became the weirdo film that followed in 2016.
REVELATION FILM FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHT REEL (2016)
MERCHANDISE
For T-shirts, Poster and Bonus (!): Click HERE
REVIEW QUOTES
"nothing short of a long stint in an asylum run by defrocked carnies is going to prepare you for Atmo HorroX."
"Atmo HorroX represents a sort of Cremaster Cycle for degenerates, An Andalusian Dog covered in filth and lacking any sense of shame."
"it offers a singular experience, an expression of a unique vision having no equal on this earth."
"Atmo HorroX exists on a continuum parallel to any rational reality, and for that reason I applaud the efforts of director Pat Tremblay."
“He has crafted an audiovisual parasite that has burrowed into my brain and laid eggs that whisper to me in the night and assure me that my slow descent into madness will be a pleasant one."
"Atmo HorroX demonstrates an excellent command of the visual language of cinema, and it demands the same from its audience.”
"Atmo HorroX will shock and surprise you – something your more jaded stripe of cineaste should welcome."
★★★★ - "Certainly one of the most unique films I've ever seen."
"I like how just crazy it was, there were some really hilarious moments in it."
"it would be a perfect midnight film."
★★★½ - "culminates surprisingly well to create a quite mesmerising cinematic achievement."
"If you’re after the weirdest films of all time then stick this at the top of your watch list, because I doubt you’ll find anything stranger."
"Atmo HorroX is mind-boggling and unforgettable."
Jessy Williams - Scream Horror Magazine
"Tremblay manages to make its low budget an integral element of the movie rather than a drawback."
"The bizarre color filters, the soundtrack, the practical effects all combine to make you want to keep watching, to see it through to an end that doesn’t disappoint."
+ made his Top 5 films of 2016 with the number #1 spot! (Click to view)
Dave Dubrow - The Slaughtered Bird
"a sumptuously polychromatic psychedelic trip into the absurd and the nightmarish, one to be witnessed through careful and focused attention."
"Atmo HorroX is a combination of Lynchian nightmares and off-the-wall absurdism that’s not for the faint of heart"
"a bizarre and psychedelic experience that is fun to put together and unlock."
J. Carlos Menjivar - We Are Indie Horror
"It’s undoubtedly one of the strangest, most unique films of the year—if not the decade"
"It’s odd, gross, and strangely captivating."
[Pat Tremblay] really leaves a mark that won’t soon be forgotten."
"you have to admire the level of technical skill in all aspects of the film."
"this is by far the most original film to come out this year."
Gavin Schmitt - Killer Reviews
"[The Greasy Strangler] alot of people are calling it the most messed-up movie of 2016... No! It's not. That IS the most messed-up movie I've seen in some time. This is champion-level weird. And yet I kind of get what the director is talking about."
"This is very similar in a lot of ways to Begotten [but] much lighter in tone."
"It strains the mind in ways that human rationality just does not normally bend."
"I was thoroughly engaged, entertained and had fun watching it, I look forward into seeing this again."
"Atmo HorroX is imagination run wild on film."
+ made his top 10 of 2016!
El'Ahrai Stanek - The Harvey and Bob Show
"This movie is DRUGS!... and the fun ones! The ones that make you smell colors and taste sound."
John Robinson - The Harvey and Bob Show
"one of the weirdest films that has ever been sent to Film Threat"
"It channels everything from the domestic revulsion of David Lynch’s Eraserhead to the down-home freakishness of early Harmony Korine to the corn syrup ‘n latex aesthetic of low-budget 80s Italian horror"
Nick Rocco Scalia - Film Threat
"I'm still not even sure of what was just burned into my optic nerve, but it was grand."
"[...]one thing becomes quite clear. This is a piece of art, beautiful flaws and all."
"[...] the totally retro creature design and visual effects only add to the many reasons to see this one."
Christopher George - The Spoiler Free Movie Sleuth
"Makes you think of Quentin Dupieux's Steak and The Greasy Strangler but after taking too much acid"
Alexandre Santos - Fais Pas Genre (France)
"Constitute a real surreal trip under psychotropics, very immersive […] also a sarcastic commentary on genre movies”
Olivier Prada - Cinema Club FR (France)
"The most unique film I've ever witnessed with my own two dead eyeballs!"
"[Atmo HorroX] features one of my new favorite villains of all time."
"A perfect combination of art meets horror."
Tom Zarzecki - Pixelated Something Contraption [Death Cat TV]
“This absurd collage of situations contains alot of hiarious and gory segments.”
“The soundtrack tells part of the story and its deconstruction gives way to very imaginative moments.”
Jean-François Croteau - Horreur Québec
"[...] it's also lots of fun, a very surreal and satirical play with genre conventions, twisting and turning them to absurd and/or hilarious results."
"[...] for those with an open mind, it's total fun!"
Michael Haberfelner - Search my Trash
FESTIVAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
"Imagine if an EVIL DEAD era Sam Raimi met David Lynch at his experimental strangest. And the two shared some mind-altering mushrooms before deciding to collaborate on a motion picture... the result might very well resemble ATMO HORROX!"
“With its combination of occasional violence, deconstructed camp, and full on wild insanity the film rightly positions its surrealism and dream-logic front-and-centre of its genre-bending narrative, creating a movie that embraces its zero-budget and takes the audience on a one of a kind journey unique to each person.
Luridly coloured, full of the kind of imagery that defies ready description (trust us, you will never view balloons in the same way again) this is a film that really needs to be experienced.
Atmo HorroX could be compared to George and Mike Kuchar lo-fi underground cinema and even the Butthole Surfers / Alex Winter Bar-B-Que Movie, but really it’s its own wonderfully strange luminous beast.”
REVELATION Perth International Film Festival
“It might be the story of an extraterrestrial invasion in a Quebec suburb. Or maybe the unlikely misadventures of a very, very special agent, on a mission to thwart monstrous spies from another world. Then again, it could be the unleashing of the servants of Satan, with the gates of hell thrown wide open. On the other hand, it’s perhaps a reconstruction of a nightmare Philip K. Dick described to his psychiatrist after his first night sober in 10 years. Whatever it is, it’s something else. There are definitely unexpected disappearances, a picnic in the park gone wrong, negative effects from junk-food overconsumption and, why not, an new drug on the street, a hallucinogen with devastating side effects. One thing alone is certain — rational thought has left the building and hasn’t left a number where it can be reached.
All is well in the land of the mad in Atmo HorroX, the latest surrealist opus from Pat Tremblay, twisted titan of the Quebec underground. If you thought you’d witnessed the far reaches of weirdness with his last film, HELLACIOUS ACRES (Fantasia 2011), well, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Dispensing entirely with the stiff, stodgy traditions of respectable cinema, the anarchic delight is a creature of uninhibited creativity. Reality, contaminated by disruptive viruses, shatters in this perplexing science fiction fever dream. Its series of vignettes, exploring a universe on the verge of implosion, transforms the familiar into a dadaesque cypher. Even language is infected, collapsing into melodious cacophony. An anxious, unsettling strangeness seeps into every aspect of the film, but Tremblay’s singular sense of humour makes Atmo HorroX an irresistible invitation into the bizarre.”
Fantasia International Film Festival
“Atmo HorroX is an impossible, and intriguing film that could be the weirdest and most bizarre film you’ve ever seen!”
Arizona Underground Film Festival
“At first glance, 'Atmo HorroX' seems like a collection of short films, but all of them are interwoven, drenched in a style made up of thrash horror, experimental film and performance art. Imagine the nightmares of David Lynch miraculously coming to life on screen! No dialogues, but plenty of sound effects and lively colors. A movie to experience! “
“Pat Tremblay is the Jean-Marie Straub of fantasy film. His movies don’t even try to comfort you, they stand out like abstruse monoliths. You stare at them because you can’t help it. You circle them, touch them, hug them, kick them, push them away, till you give in, simply happy that they’re there. Tremblay’s third feature length film “Atmo HorroX” is, like the two before, more of an experience than a narrative, a generous invitation to leave everything sophisticated behind and allow your head and stomach to be invaded by this mixture of brilliance and dementia.
Everything, absolutely everything about this experience is weird – not in a hip-, but in an existential sense. Gaga, dada and gooba-gobble anyhow.
As the American journalist Blair Hoyle so beautifully described it: “It’s undoubtedly one of the strangest, most unique films of the year – if not the decade – and has all the makings of a polarizing piece of cinema. It may seem mildly insulting to suggest using mind-altering substances while watching a movie, but if ever there were a film to view while elevating your senses, it’s Atmo HorroX.”
"Completetely crazy experimental brainfucking"
Tinam Bordage - Sadique Master Film Festival
BLOG REVIEWS
INTERVIEWS
• Audio: CKUT 90.3 FM (French) • Canada
• Audio: RTR FM 92.1 FM • Australia
• Audio: Horror Happens Radio Show • USA
• Audio: Harvey and Bob Show • USA
• Website: Convergence Magazine • Canada
• Website: (re)Search My Trash • Austria
• Website: Horreur Québec (French) • Canada
• Video: L’Étrange Programme (French) • Canada
ARTICLES
• Revelation Perth: the 10 strangest films playing at Australia’s strangest film festival • The Guardian
• Fantasia 2016 highlights: 20 films to see at genre festival's 20th edition • The Montreal Gazette
WEB MENTIONS
• TVQC #1