'Hold the Fort' Review: A Memorable Comedy Horror Experience - Fantasia 2025
- Becca Johnson
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
By Becca Johnson - July 17, 2025
Showcasing on Day One of Fantasia Film Festival is Hold the Fort, a horror comedy directed by William Bagley (The Murder Podcast) and starring Chris Mayers (The Beanie Bubble) and Haley Leary (The Out-Laws) in the leading roles. Never taking itself too seriously and fully committing to its wild premise, Hold the Fort boasts a snappy run-time and an entertaining idea, but the comedy falls short.
What is 'Hold the Fort' about?
Mayers and Leary play a pair of married suburbanites, who get more that they bargained for when a HOA (homeowners association) turns out to be more troublesome than usual, unexpectedly forcing them to take part in a struggle against monstrous forces.
In this day and age, it’s refreshing to watch a movie with such a succinct runtime. Playing out at just 74 minutes, Hold the Fort understands the simplicity of its storyline and refrains from overstaying its welcome. The monster-slaying kicks off pretty quickly without meandering, providing plenty of action, effects and gore until the credits roll. It mostly takes place in a single location, the building in which the HOA meeting is taking place, and utilizes this to the best of its ability to keep things as entertaining as they can be.
The plot is simple - a couple forget to read the fine print of their contract, and soon realize that once in a while, they are expected to battle a series of monsters from hell that arise from a portal, to keep their home and town safe. There are plenty of villains to keep things entertaining, from witches and werewolves to ass-kicking spirits, so horror fans will undeniably get some fun out of seeing their fave fairytale-esque creature wreak havoc on our cast of characters. The script is very consistent with its onslaught of beasts, with many kills and plenty of bloodshed, yet still provides a ‘big bad’ at the end that makes for an intriguing climax. Hold the Fort is setting out to do one thing - have some fun - and it certainly achieves that.
The performances within the movie are a little hit or miss. Mayers and Leary, playing our leading couple, are likable from the offset and interesting enough to follow. They may lack the chemistry that you’d expect an on-screen couple to have, but they make up for this with hilarious reactions to the events they’re forced to be part of. Bickering between each other before ultimately deciding they’ll have to join the fight if they want to stay safe, the pair deliver good performances whilst perfectly embodying exactly how you and I would feel in this situation.
The supporting performances leave much to be desired, though it’s worth wondering whether this is a fault of the script, rather than the performances themselves. The comedy often falls very flat, aiming for the immature, low hanging fruit most of the time. Of course, comedy is completely subjective, but the cocaine sniffing and farting doesn’t help these characters shine, and it all feels a bit outdated and childish. There’s some occasional physical comedy that works nicely, but unfortunately, the comedy within the dialogue is quite poor. This is boosted by some interesting commentary on being a homeowner within the script, specifically readiness for the commitment and reading the small print, which does work well. Although it’s just aiming for a laugh, it does have something to say as well, and is sometimes actually more successful when doing so.
Hold the Fort goes for some bold swings within the filmmaking. It’s very FX-heavy, featuring a slew of monsters, fire, explosions and more, that would even give the most seasoned FX staff a run for their money. There are plenty of instances where the visuals leave a lot to be desired, which is of course due to budget restrictions, but this also does aid the fun of it all. Although it often avoids impressing with the visual style, the swings it goes for are more than commendable, and when pairing this with the low hanging fruit comedy and batshit crazy premise, it sort of works. A polished, pristine look wouldn’t be the right method for a movie of this type, and the team do what they can with the budget and materials available to them.
Hold the Fort is certainly more comedy than horror, and aims to have fun and entertain audiences above anything else. Whilst the comedy is wildly down to personal taste and the visuals mimic their budget, the solid concept, good lead performances and vast amount of horror villains to feast our eyes upon ensure it meets its goal. Whether audiences like what Hold the Fort is going for or not, they’re bound to be entertained, and it’s a more than memorable experience.
'Hold the Fort' premiered at Fantasia 2025 on July 17
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