Fantastic Fest announces its first wave of programming for its 12th annual celebration of genre-twisting cinema. This year's festival sees Tim Burton make a triumphant return for a most peculiar red carpet screening of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children; the World Premiere of Phantasm: Ravager; an Art House Theater Day special screening of Phantasm: Remastered with Don Coscarelli and cast in attendance; breakout star and Texas native Sasha Lane will be in attendance to host Andrea Arnold's fever dream of youth in revolt, American Honey.
"We really wanted to challenge the edges of what 'genre' means this year," said Tim League, Fantastic Fest Founder and Alamo Drafthouse CEO. "This world of cinema has evolved so dramatically since our first festival in 2005, and we want to be part of the change by exposing audiences to films, formats and filmmakers that they may never otherwise see. I'm proud of the diversity of experiences we'll be bringing to Austin this September."
This year's Fantastic Fest has traveled all the way to South Asia for its annual theme as it embraces the "dishoom!" (the sound of a punch landing in 60's Bollywood films) of Indian cinema and its superlative culinary delights. A dedicated Indian block of new and repertory features have been carefully crafted to showcase the wildly creative world of the second most populous country. Included in this program is the director's cut of Psycho Raman, the hyper violent onslaught from India's most notorious filmmaker, Anurag Kashyareap; the sweeping, 400-year epic of masala madness, Magadheera; and the ultra-stylish Bollywood gangster oddity,Khalnayak.
"It is a dream come true to bring the glorious excess and pageantry of Indian cinema to Fantastic Fest," said Evrim Ersoy, Head of Programming. "We are celebrating not only Bollywood but also Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema, highlighting the kaleidoscope of textures and content that is as wide and varied as the subcontinent itself. Guests will experience the cutting edge from these regions and discover rare classics. This is a proud and vibrant world of film that that will surprise, shock and astound at Fantastic Fest."
This year's Fantastic Fest also celebrates Don Coscarelli's iconic Phantasm universe with the World Premiere of the series' latest installment, Phantasm: Ravager. This will be accompanied by a special screening of Phantasm: Remastered, which will stream live to art house theaters all across the country that are celebrating Art House Theater Day on September 24th. Coscarelli will be joined in attendance with cast members and Ravager director David Hartman. Film collectibles specialists Mondo will also be participating with poster, apparel and soundtrack releases made exclusively for the screenings.
This year marks the first time that Fantastic Fest has entered the virtual reality space, and it's doing so in a big way. Partnering with Los Angeles VR studio Dark Corner, Fantastic Fest will be World Premiering a terrifying VR experience from the team that wrecked senses with their 360-hospital-shocker Catatonic. Founded by commercial director extraordinaire Guy Shelmerdine, Dark Corner is the world's first genre VR studio and they will be showcasing their very best. Muleis Shelmerdine's eagerly awaited World Premiere is the follow-up to Catatonic. An emotional, fast-paced hell-ride that catapults the viewer through the final shocking moments of a man's life (and beyond), Mule will also see the unveiling of a new, custom-designed installation tied to the film's plot that Shelmerdine promises to be "bigger, more immersive, and more terrifying" than anything they've done before.
Dark Corner will also be showcasing Justin Denton's two-part horror experience, Burlap. Existing as both a traditional 2D short film and an immersive VR experience, Burlap depicts a disturbed killer who zeroes in on an unfortunate babysitter to complete the creation of his secret "masterpiece." Audiences can watch the short film, then step inside the story with Burlap: Reflections, where they will experience the killer's sinister obsession firsthand. In addition, Dark Corner will be bringing Catatonic to terrorize Texan audiences for the first time.
"We're incredibly excited to be an integral part of Fantastic Fest and share our experiences with their global audience," said Dark Corner founder Guy Shelmerdine. "These films represent unforgettable journeys that are intended to push the boundaries of what 360º immersive storytelling can be. We cannot wait to unleash them."
Internet video skull-rewinders Everything Is Terrible!bring their brain-melting, eye-shattering, jaw-dropping mayhem to Fantastic Fest for the first time with the World Premiere of their latest assemblage of found footage transdimensional travel. From cat massage to Satanic panic to tap-dancing computers, the EIT! experience is like nothing else in the universe, as they distill and compile the most hilarious/disturbing/unacceptable/impossible images from the past several decades and transform them into a 9000-ton bullet aimed right at the human race's collective cortex.
Legendary exploitation filmmaker James Bryan (Lady Street Fighter; Don't Go In the Woods) will be on hand to World Premiere his never-before-seen VHS-era horror masterpiece Jungle Trap.Shot in 1990, the film was shelved unedited and without a musical soundtrack, but has finally been cut and scored a quarter century later. A rampaging, top-notch camcorder adventure packed with ghosts, cannibal warriors, drunken pilots and bloodthirsty elderly bellboys, the world is only just now (sort of) ready for the decapitating delights of Jungle Trap.
First wave film lineup below:
24X36: A MOVIE ABOUT MOVIE POSTERS
Canada, 2016
World Premiere, 83 min
Director – Kevin Burke
Through interviews with art personalities from the past four decades, 24 x 36 examines the birth, death and resurrection of illustrated movie poster art.
A DARK SONG
Ireland, 2016
World Premiere, 99 min
Director – Liam Gavin
Sophia is a determined young woman who hires a weird occultist to perform a ritual which will risk not only their lives and souls, but also the very essence of their being.
ALOYS
Switzerland, France, 2016
US Premiere, 91 min
Director – Tobias Nölle
Aloys Adorn is a lonely private investigator who, after the death of his father, finds himself sucked into a mysterious "telephone walking" game with a mysterious woman who might be his only hope.
AMERICAN HONEY
United States, 2016
Texas Premiere, 158 min
Director – Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold's first US feature follows 18-year-old Star as she leaves her home in Oklahoma and goes in search of adventure, adulthood and America.
BELIEF: THE POSSESSION OF JANET MOSES
New Zealand, 2015
US Premiere, 89 min
Director – David Stubbs
The true story of the Wainuiomata exorcism provides the basis for David Stubbs' striking debut feature, a documentary exploring the tragic death of Janet Moses in a traditional Maori exorcism ceremony.
THE CREW
France, 2016
US Premiere, 81 min
Director – Julien Leclercq
It's bad men versus worse men as thieves face off against dealers in this super slick French heist thriller from the director of Chrysalis and The Assault.
DEAREST SISTER
Laos, France, Estonia, 2016
World Premiere, 100 min
Director – Mattie Do
After moving to the city, a poor woman realizes her recently blinded cousin can not only commune with the dead, but they can provide a path to much-needed wealth.
DOWN UNDER
Australia, 2016
North American Premiere, 87 min
Director – Abraham Forsythe
In the aftermath of massive race riots, two carloads of dim-witted alpha males set off to defend their respective territory with outrageous results in this sharp edged Australian satire.
THE DWARVES MUST BE CRAZY
Thailand, 2016
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Bhin Banloerit
A Thai village of little people is attacked by evil, butt-munching, fart-tracking Krause spirits – floating heads with attached intestines – in this slapstick horror-comedy.
FAULTLESS
France, 2016
North American Premiere, 103 min
Director – Sébastien Marnier
After burning out in Paris, Constance returns to her home town only to find herself in lethal competition with a younger girl for her old job.
FRAUD
United States, 2016
Texas Premiere, 53 min
Director – Dean Fleischer-Camp
A family's home movies document a desperate crime, and the subsequent bid to escape the consequences in this impressionistic meta-fiction born from the manipulation of hundreds of hours of innocuous uploads to YouTube. An extraordinary feat of editing, a provocative parable of the pursuit of happiness and a disturbing demonstration of the mutability of the stories we share in the Internet age.
THE GREASY STRANGLER
United States, 2016
Special Screening, 93 min
Director – Jim Hosking
Ronnie fears his first love affair is turning his father into a bloodthirsty monster who's covered in grease and has an 18-inch penis that looks like a dead chicken.
JUNGLE TRAP : Presented By Bleeding Skull
United States, 1990/2016
World Premiere, 80 min
Director – James Bryan
Exploitation demigod James Bryan's massively entertaining, decapitation-fueled shot-on-video horror masterpiece about a jungle hotel haunted by kill-crazy ghosts in loin cloths, shot in 1990 and unreleased until THIS VERY MOMENT.
KHALNAYAK
India, 1993
Repertory Screening, 190 min
Director – Subhash Ghai
Ballu is an unrepentant gangster who has dedicated his life to the celebration of villainy. He is a bad, bad man and not ashamed one bit. However, with the help of his mother and a sympathetic cop, Ballu will rise above his circumstances to gain satisfying redemption.
MAGADHEERA
India, 2009
Repertory Screening, 157 min
Director – S.S. Rajamouli
Harsha, a dirt bike racer, lives for thrills. One day he crosses paths with Indu, a girl with whom he feels strangely connected. Through this bond, Harsha discovers his hidden identity: a reincarnated warrior king.
MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN
United States, 2016
Special Screening,123 min
Director – Tim Burton
From visionary director Tim Burton, and based upon the best-selling novel, comes an unforgettable motion picture experience. When Jake discovers clues to a mystery that spans alternate realities and times, he uncovers a secret refuge known as Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As he learns about the residents and their unusual abilities, Jake realizes that safety is an illusion, and danger lurks in the form of powerful, hidden enemies. Jake must figure out who is real, who can be trusted, and who he really is.
ORIGINAL COPY
Germany, 2016
Texas Premiere, 95 min
Directors – Florian Heinzen-Ziob and Georg Heinzen
In the heart of Mumbai, behind the screen of one of the last Hindi Film cinemas, lives Sheik Rahman, the city's last painter of film posters. This is his story.
PHANTASM: REMASTERED (1979)
United States, 1979
Special Screening, 88 min
Director – Don Coscarelli
One of the most influential and important horror films of all time, Don Coscarelli's Phantasm returns to Alamo Drafthouse's screens in a gorgeous 4k remaster.
PHANTASM: RAVAGER
United States, 2016
World Premiere, 87
Director – David Hartman
The fifth and final film in the classic Phantasm film series, Phantasm Ravager follows our intrepid everyman hero Reggie on his quest across dark dimensions as he struggles to confront and vanquish the sinister Tall Man.
POPOZ
The Netherlands, 2015
International Premiere, 85 min
Directors- Erwin van de Eshof & Martijn Smits
Festival favorite Huub Smit (New Kids Nitro; New Kids Turbo; Bros Before Hos) stars as a Dutch cop raised on far too many American action films in this outrageous action comedy.
PSYCHO RAMAN
India, 2016
US Premiere, 127 min
Director – Anurag Kashyap
Raghavan is a cop: brutal, violent, and drug-addicted. Ramanna is a criminal: psychotic, unpredictable, and vicious. It's only a matter of time before they meet and when they do, Mumbai's slums will be colored deep crimson.
SALT AND FIRE
Mexico, 2016
North American Premiere, 93 min
Director – Werner Herzog
Herzog's most wildly unpredictable film, Salt and Fire is a meticulously slow burning, quasi-ecological thriller punctuated by moments of the lyrically poetic and the inexplicably, outrageously absurd.
S IS FOR STANLEY
Italy, 2016
North American Premiere, 82 min
Director – Alex Infascelli
Alex Infascelli's documentary about Emilio D'Alessandro, Stanley Kubrick's personal assistant for more than thirty years, which provides never-before-seen insight into the private auteur.
THE VOID
Canada, 2016
World Premiere, 90 min
Directors – STEVEN KOSTANSKI & JEREMY GILLESPIE
Trapped in a hospital with a handful of people, a small town sheriff finds himself caught up in the demented plot of a death-obsessed madman.
WE ARE THE FLESH
Mexico, 2016
Texas Premiere, 80 min
Director – Emiliano Rocha Minter
Somewhere within a ruined city, a man makes an offer to a pair of siblings who wander into his abandoned building: food and shelter in exchange for building a strange room…
ZOOLOGY
Russia, France, Germany, 2016
US Premiere, 87 min
Director – Ivan I. Tverdovsky
Natasha is a lonely, middle-aged woman who still lives with her mother and feels insecure about her tedious life… until she grows a tail.
