It is exactly 8 days and counting until Austin, Texas explodes from the awesomeness of weird and wild films, talent and fans descending upon on it. To make this year all the sweeter (aside from the first ever Mondo-Con), Fantastic Fest is back in the newly renovated South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse where it belongs!!
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Alamo’s film fest which the programmers are simply calling FFX. We’ve started looking at the line up and are as excited about the films as the filmmakers who will be in attendance. For now we’ll just drop three big names on you: Nicolas Winding Refn, Nacho Vigalondo and, woah, Keanu Reeves. Impressive, no?
The Fest (the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and fantastic movies) kicks off next week and runs September 18th-25th. Have a look at the line-up below, and as they say on the Fantastic Fest website, “It’s the tenth anniversary, and it’s going to be AMAZING!”
AGFA presents THE ASTROLOGER hosted by Nicolas Winding Refn
dir. Craig Denney, 96 min., United States
Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn hosts a rare screening of this unseen, long-lost exploitation masterpiece, recently rescued and restored by local non-profit The American Genre Film Archive.
AUTOMATA
United States, 2014
US Premiere, 110 min
Director – Gabe Ibañez
In the post-nuclear apocalypse there will be robots, and insurance agents played by Antonio Banderas. He’s investigating an insurance claim on a faulty robot that leads to greater discoveries.
CLOSING NIGHT: 26 WAYS TO PARTY
Thu, Sept 25th * 10pm
Obviously, a decade of insanity requires the grandest of finales. So we’re tearing the pages out of ABCs OF DEATH 2 to annihilate the universe with 26 WAYS TO PARTY! We’re running down the alphabet from A to Z, cracking open a neon canister of radioactive wildness and unleashing a massive meltdown of madcap mayhem in FF history. Gird your loins for the ultimate experience in non-stop amusement/ abusement. LIVE TO PARTY, PARTY TO DIE.
CUB (WELP)
Belgium, 2014
US Premiere, 85 min
Director – Jonas Govaerts
A boy scout troop goes on a camping trip that they will never forget in this brutal, uncompromising horror film.
DARKNESS BY DAY
Argentina, 2013
North American Premiere, 76 min
Director – Martín Desalvo
Things are a bit off in Virginia’s tiny village. Something dark is coming her way. And now she’s left alone with her sick cousin, unaware of the dangers around her.
DUKE OF BURGUNDY
United Kingdom, 2014
US Premiere, 104 min
Director – Peter Strickland
Peter Strickland’s (BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO) dark melodrama follows the impassioned sexual relationship between two women. If BERBERIAN was Strickland’s aural roller-coaster ride, BURGUNDY is definitely his visual feast.
EVERLY
United States, 2014
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Joe Lynch
Salma Hayek stars as a tough yet vulnerable woman who must fight her way through a gauntlet of assassins in this fist-pumping action thriller.
FANTASTIC FEUD – PRESENTED BY THE STANLEY FILM FESTIVAL
Mon, Sept. 22nd * 11:59pm
This annual display of geek warfare, brainchild of FF hero Scott Weinberg, pits the globe’s greatest horror scholars against one another in a galactic display of mental agility, verbal hostility and full-tilt brutality. Bear witness to the most brain- flexingly rampaging display of trivia prowess in the universe.
FROM THE DARK
Ireland, 2015
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Conor McMahon
Mark and Sarah are trapped, darkness is falling and the creature outside only attacks by night in this fast-paced Irish horror.
FUTURE SHOCK! THE STORY OF 2000AD
United Kingdom, 2014
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Paul Goodwin
The anarchic and unruly history of 2000AD: the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic.
THE GUEST
United States, 2014
Special Screening, 99 min
Director – Adam Wingard
Looks are definitely deceiving when a dashing soldier with a propensity for violence moves in with a grieving family in this fun-as-hell, Carpenter-esque action thriller.
HAEMOO
South Korea, 2013
US Premiere, 111 min
Director – Sung Bo Shim
A gripping maritime thriller from director Shim Sung-Bo and producer/co-writer Bong Joon-Ho.
HARDKOR DISCO
Poland, 2014
US Premiere, 87 min
Director – Krzysztof Skonieczny
A misanthropic young man plunges into an intense relationship with the daughter of the couple he means to kill.
THE HIVE
United State, 2015
World Premiere, 89 minutes
Director – David Yarovesky
A young man suffering from amnesia must dig deep into the far reaches of his mind to remember who he is and save the love of his life before a virus that has infected him takes over.
HORNS
United States, 2014
Austin Premiere, 120 min
Director – Alexandre Aja
Daniel Radcliffe stars as Ig, who after being accused of murdering his girlfriend awakens one morning to discover new powers and devil horns growing from his head. Adapted by Alexandre Aja (HIGH TENSION; PIRANHA) from Joe Hill’s novel.
HOUSEBOUND
New Zealand, 2014
Special Screening, 107 min
Director – Gerard Johnstone
Forced to return to her childhood on house arrest, Kylie discovers that there are more sinister forces in the old homestead than just her overbearing mother.
HYENA
United Kingdom, 2015
US Premiere, 112 min
Director – Gerard Johnson
Crooked cop Michael must deal with machete-wielding Albanian brothers while handling pressure within his own department in this gritty crime saga from the director of TONY.
I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS
United States, 2014
US Premiere, 83 min
Director – Bennett Jones
First his girlfriend dies in a suicide bombing. Then a fatwa is issued against him. And now international Europop star Bené’s eclair is weird.
IT FOLLOWS
United States, 2015
US Premiere, 107 min
Director – David Robert Mitchell
After an innocent sexual encounter with her boyfriend, a teenager is stalked by an increasingly evil force in the year’s smartest and scariest horror film.
LET US PREY
Ireland – United Kingdom, 2014
US Premiere, 89 min
Director – Brian O’Malley
On small town constable Rachel Haggie’s first night on the job, she encounters a strange man whose presence and knowledge threatens to destroy everyone.
LOST SOUL – THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY’S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU
United States-United Kingdom, 2014
North American Premiere, 97 min
Director – David Gregory
The amazing true story of one of the most notorious Hollywood productions of the 1990s.
MY LIFE DIRECTED BY NICOLAS WINDING REFN
United States, 2014
World Premiere, 58 min
Director – Liv Corfixen
An impossibly personal portrait of unique filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn over the course of the shooting/release of his 2013 film ONLY GOD FORGIVES.
NO MAN’S LAND
China, 2009
Texas Premiere, 114 min
Director – Ning Hao
A city lawyer fights for his life in the cutthroat deserts of contemporary China in Ning Hao’s Coen-esque follow-up to CRAZY RACER, which was banned for four years.
NYMPHOMANIAC- EXTENDED DIRECTORS CUT
Denmark-Germany-Belgium-United Kingdom-France, 2014
North American Premiere, 324 min
Director – Lars Von Trier
Fantastic Fest proudly presents the complete, uncut version of Lars von Trier’s epic and highly controversial film.
OPEN WINDOWS
Spain, 2013
Special Screening, 100 min
Director – Nacho Vigalondo
Nacho Vigalondo’s latest is a completely unique and endlessly creative thriller for the internet age, taking place entirely on a single computer desktop.
OPENING NIGHT: 10-YEAR BIRTHDAY ARMAGEDDON
Thu, Sept. 18th * Midnight – 2am
We’re decking out our decadent decennium with a blowout fit for even the most debaucherous 10-year old. We’ll kick-off with costumed creatures, beat human piñatas, and throw in a breakdance competition. We’ll do it all in cardboard hats, balloons, noisemakers, and ridiculous mounds of confetti. And to top it all off, the psychopathic shindig culminates in a food fight that will shake the foundations of the earth.
SHREW’S NEST
Spain, 2014
US Premiere, 90 min
Directors – Juanfer Andrés & Esteban Roel
A young Spanish girl living with her agoraphobic sister in their family’s apartment discovers the real reasons behind her sister’s strange behavior.
THE STRANGER
Chile, 2014
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Guillermo Amoedo Schultze
A mysterious man returns to his home after sixteen years, which jumpstarts a bizarre and deadly chain of events.
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN
United States, 2014
Special Screening, 85 min
Director – Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Based on a terrifying true story, The Town That Dreaded Sundown picks up sixty-five years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, when the “moonlight murders” begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching the murderer.
THE TRIBE
Ukraine, 2014
US Premiere, 132 min
Director – Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Winner of the three major awards at this year’s Cannes’ Critics Week, THE TRIBE follows deaf student Sergey’s transfer to a new school, which sends him down a path of ruthless crime and forbidden love.
WASTE LAND
Belgium, 2014
US Premiere, 97 min
Director – Pieter Van Hees
Hard edged homicide cop Leo is plunged into a dark and dangerous world when he takes on the murder of a young Congolese man. Will unraveling the truth cost his hold on his own life and happiness?
WHEN ANIMALS DREAM
Denmark, 2015
US Premiere, 81 min
Director – Jonas Alexander Arnby
In an isolated Danish fishing town, 16-year-old Marie hides a terrifying secret and deadly consequences for the unwary in this unique coming-of-age story from director Jonas Alexander Arnby.
THE WORLD OF KANAKO
Japan, 2014
US Premiere, 118 min
Director – Tetsuya Nakashima
Tetsuya Nakashima injects his signature style into a brutal and shocking thriller about one repulsive father’s quest to find his missing daughter… who just might be worse than he is.
For ticketing and latest developments visit the Fantastic Fest official site www.fantasticfest.com and follow FFX on Facebook & Twitter.
If you’re headed to Austin, hit us up on Twitter (@GoSeeTalk) or follow us for live coverage. The 10th annual Fantastic Fest runs September 18th-25th. Be there or beware!
