LEGIONS is an Argentinian horror-fantasy movie premiering at Fantasia 2022. It combines slapstick humor with gore and some (bad) CGI. Not too much, but enough that you can’t help but notice. Also, it has a lot of heart but the story would play out better as a short film.

This new Argentinian genre film starts out great though. We follow the old warlock Antonio Poyju who is now in an insane asylum. When he senses his estranged daughter is in danger he must escape to rescue her.

While Legions delivers on entertainment via some slapstick gore it, unfortunately, has some bad CGI that is totally unnecessary. Practical effects would have served this movie much better. Again, it isn’t that CGI is used all that extensively, but it’s still too much.

Fortunately, the humor is spot on – especially with scenes from the insane asylum where there are plenty of funny characters.

Also, we switch back and forth between scenes from the past and present with a voice-over that really works. In so many ways, this movie has plenty going for it. The main downfall is that it runs too long and the story just cannot handle that. There simply isn’t enough to it.

Fabian Forte is the writer and director of Legions and you can definitely see his love for this genre. Both the comedic elements and the horror vibe. Previously, Fabian Forte directed and co-wrote the 2016 movie Dead Man Tells His Own Tale (org. title El Muerto Cuenta su Historia).

That movie was also a horror, comedy, and fantasy genre hybrid movie, so he clearly knows how to make that kind of storytelling work.

While the movie is probably around 2½ stars we don’t do half stars here at Heaven of Horror. So I’ll round it up to 3 full stars because it has lots of heart and you can feel the love from the cast. Also, I appreciate both the traditional lore elements and the humor, which does a lot of good for the overall experience.

Legions is having its North American premiere at Fantasia 2022.