‘Castration Movie Chapter iii.ii: Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage’ (2026) Review | Fantasia Fest

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Welcome to the wild world of Castration Movie, an ambitious project from filmmaker Louise Weard that is growing more ambitious by the second. Weard has planned a five-part anthology: Anthology i. Traps (which consists of Chapters i and ii) premiered in 2024 and Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds (which consists of Chapter iii) premiered last year, with Anthology iii. Year of the Hyena expected early next year. But fear not – there will be more Castration Movie in 2026. 

Weard’s latest entry is a continuation of Chapter iii that is screening at Fantasia Fest this year entitled Castration Movie Chapter iii.ii: Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage. Compared to the extended runtimes of the first two parts of the anthology (4.5 hours and 5 hours, respectively), this entry runs just over two hours. The title of the new entry pokes fun at the series’ increasingly complicated lineage with a Kingdom Hearts reference. 

Castration Movie functions as a bit of a Trans Cinematic Universe: the chapters all deal with gender expectations in some form or fashion, but they function mostly as standalone stories with characters recurring and crossing over from one entry to the next. Castration Movie Anthology i, in particular, introduces several characters that play key roles in Junior Ghosts – but those daunted by Anthology i’s runtime should have no problem understanding the basics of Junior Ghosts, as its arc is fairly self-contained. As such, it serves as a great entry point into the anthology series.

Castration Movie Chapter iii.ii: Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage centers around Izzy (Avalon Fast), who has been with her partner Trent (Henri Gillespie) for nine years. They live together off Izzy’s income, as Trent has been unemployed for the last six months. Trent comes out to Izzy as a trans woman and chooses the name Tiffany, which comes as a shock to Izzy. The movie centers around Izzy’s reaction to Tiffany’s transition and lack of support for her partner’s choice. 

There is a boldness in the details that Weard chooses for her characters. We see early in the film that Izzy and Tiffany have each gotten pretty complacent in their relationship and aren’t showing each other a lot of grace. Izzy describes her partner’s transition as “classic Trent”, feeling that Tiffany is just bored after months of unemployment and stagnation. But while the primary arc of the film is to explore and critique Izzy’s reaction to Tiffany’s transition, the movie stops short of the sort of simplicity that would let Tiffany completely off the hook, particularly in how she communicates with Izzy. A few careful conversations with lots of understanding and empathy would greatly help Izzy and Tiffany, but as often happens in long-term relationships, complacency has set in and bad communication habits abound.

The writing of the couples’ power dynamics also shows careful consideration and insight. At first we see Izzy dominating the relationship in all facets – sexually, logistically, and financially. But when Tiffany transitions, she gains a new confidence in her skin and starts standing up for herself. She wants a say in their restaurant choices and isn’t going to be a punching bag anymore in their arguments. This shift in power dynamics seems just as upsetting to Izzy as the feeling that she no longer knows her partner.

Junior Ghosts, as with all Castration Movie entries, is shot on a Hi8 camcorder with a single take used per scene. And scenes can be quite long, with some of the most extended sequences in Junior Ghosts spanning more than twenty minutes. Some dialogue is scripted, but the film also lets its actors improvise dialogue and reactions with the outlines of their characters’ motivations and feelings, similar in style to Curb Your Enthusiasm. This is true independent cinema: Weard has the chops to make a more traditional film using conventional film language, but is deliberately using a less polished style to disrupt the way we usually watch films. 

Part of the disruption of the Castration Movie anthology as a whole is its extended runtime, but this entry’s feature-length runtime gives it a level of tight focus that amplifies its power. It has a very specific story to tell, and the extra threads it loops in around a mass murder and a trans support group tie back in to amplify its core arc in gratifying ways. The returning characters and interconnection between this entry and others give the anthology an ongoing sense of world-building that isn’t essential to enjoy this particular entry, but it is additive to the anthology as a whole. Two and a half entries in, I am enjoying the ride.