FANTASTIC FEST is getting more and more Fantastic! It'd be even better with you, sweetie!

Hey folks - Harry here with the latest from FANTASTIC FEST - Ever since returning from my country-wide travels - in every non-Tarantino filled moment. In-between films, in the breaks I've been sending off emails to confirm and bring in extra films - and at the same time - Tim League, Kier-La Jannisse were doing the same. While super-stud Matt Dentler was off amongst the frozen tundra of Toronto negotiating with parka wearing distributors to bring us other works of undeniable badassness! Meanwhile - Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Tim McCanlies are rolling other - insidieous and secret plottings into existence. We're having so much fun. Now - below - you'll see the note from Tim League saying "we've locked down the programming" - Hah, as if. What you see below is just what we're talking about at this date - Over the next week and a half to Two Weeks there will be even more. Films are being finished as we speak - and - well, it's so exciting to see this thing taking shape. The posters and fest spots are taking shape and ya know what? It's just FANTASTIC. Take for example, ZATHURA - additional treats are being planned to turn the theater into something more than you'd see at just a regular film fest. I like to say, FANTASTIC FEST is like a film festival - but with the boring parts cut out. Can't believe this is just a couple weeks away. See you there!

Harry, we've locked down the programming for this year's Fantastic Fest, happening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar, October 6-9.

We've got some huge sneak previews and a whole slew of amazing new horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. In addition, there are still plenty of surprises that will be added to the mix in the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back in on the site, FantasticFest.Com.

All of the screenings are at one venue, the flagship Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, and because of that, festival passes are very limited. We will not be overselling the passes; meaning, if you have a pass, you will be guaranteed a seat at every timeslot of the festival. There are two options for passes: a VIP pass that gets you priority seating, a limited edition poster and t-shirt, admission to the opening night party; and a regular film pass that grants you admission to all of the screenings and panels.

It's going to be a 4-day orgy of incredible movies, celebrity guests, panels, parties and surprises. If you consider yourself a genre fan and aren't in Austin from October 6-9, you are in the wrong place.

Sneak Preview screenings:

FEAST

a sneak preview screening

We are proud to present a special sneak preview screening of the "work in progress" of FEAST, the film created as part of Bravo's Project Greenlight Season 3. The storyline, roadkill-clad monsters vs. wastrel barflies in a locked-down roadhouse, pulls no punches, and from early accounts, delivers some serious fanboy fun. The fate of Project Greenlight hangs in the balance with this film, and Fantastic Fest will be the first public opportunity to cast a vote that could keep the cult TV show alive.

SIN CITY EXTENDED EDITION

a sneak preview screening

Fantastic Fest will also be featuring a sneak peak at the extended cut of Sin City. Organized into a trilogy of films, each loaded with loads of new footage and lengthened scenes, the extended edition of Sin City will be released on DVD over the holidays. Fantastic Fest is the first, and possibly the only, opportunity to see this epic version in the cinema. One segment from the trilogy will play each night, Friday through Sunday at 9:45.

ZATHURA

opening night gala film

director Jon Favreau (Elf, Swingers) and producer Peter Billingsly (the kid from Christmas Story!) will be live in person for a sneak preview screening of Zathura, the story of two young brothers who are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is magically hurtled through space.

Following the screening, VIP ticket holders are invited to the Austin Elks Lodge for an after party with live music, beers from Independence Brewery, appetizers catered by South Lamar executive chef John Bullington, and a Zathura-inspired room, where you can play vintage board games!

THE WILD BLUE YONDER

a sneak preview screening

Winner FIPRESCI prize, 2005 Venice Film Festival

(UK/France, directed by Werner Herzog, 2005, 35mm)

Described in its credits as "science fiction fantasy," German maverick Werner Herzog's latest, "The Wild Blue Yonder," should stand with the likes of "Fata Morgana" and "Lessons of Darkness" as one of the director's best efforts at smudging the lines between docudrama and fiction. This ntrancing and often funny flick spins atall tale about deep-space voyages to and from earth, via a mixture of original material, archive clips and footage shot in space by astronauts themselves. Achingly beautiful music by Ernst Reijseger completes an ace package. - Variety

Other films at Fantastic Fest:

ALL ABOUT MY DOG

(Japan, 2005, 35mm)

Taka Ichise, the producer of the groundbreaking Japanese horror franchises Juon: The Grudge and Ringu has presented an entirely new face to movie-goers with this personal, funny, sweet and bizarre collection of films about dogs and the humans obsessed with them.

THE BIG WHITE

(2005, USA, 35mm, featuring Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Woody Harrelson, Giovanni Ribisi, and James Woods)

The Big White is about a destitute Alaskan travel agent (Robin Williams) with a deranged wife (Holly Hunter) who finds the answer to his financial problems in the form of a get-rich-quick scam involving a frozen body in the dumpster, which he tries to pass off as his long-lost brother for a life insurance claim. Just a few things stand in his way - a determined insurance investigator, an irate sibling and two would-be gangsters.

THE BIRTHDAY

Winner Best Art Direction, nominated best film at Sitges Film Festival 2004

(USA, 2005, 35mm, featuring Corey Feldman and Jack Taylor)

A very unusual, real-time black comedy that only reveals its true horror-film colours after lulling the audience into a false state of comfort, THE BIRTHDAY is a coolly distinctive feature debut for director Eugenio Mira. An odd bird indeed, Mira's film opens with the tone of an '80s comedy, introduces its horror aspects with a deliberately campy approach at the half-way mark then tears through the roof with a last act of nightmarish, Lovecraftian ferocity.

Creep

(2005, 35mm, featuring Franka Potente (Run Lola Run))

A frightening descent into the shadowy subterranean world of London, Creep is a modern tale of nightmare terror exposing the extremes of raw survival. German star Franka Potente leads an exciting cast, including Sean Harris, Jeremy Sheffield, Vas Blackwood and Ken Campbell on a shocking journey through the unknown horrors lurking in the rat-infested depths of the bustling capital city's underground train network.

The Dark Hours

(Canada, 2005, 35mm)

Dr. Samantha Goodman is a psychiatrist in her late thirties, dealing with what could politely be described as a life-altering situation. Hoping to get her mind together, she decides to spend the weekend at a winter cottage with her husband and sister. All chances of healing are shattered when a brutal sex offender and former patient of Dr. Goodman's arrives to take the group hostage in the center of oblivion. He is a hypodermic needle dripping with controlled hate, and together with his protégé, he will force the family to partake in a cruel series of "games."

Malefique

Winner - Prix Vision, Avignon Film Festival 2003

(France, 2002, 35mm)

In Eric Valette's taut tale of cramped terror, blood-soaked suspense, claustrophobic anguish and full-blown fright, four prisoners find a diary of black magic spells offering them freedom. Carrere (Gerald Laroche) has been accused of company fraud and is waiting for his two-timing wife to post nonexistent bail. When a stone slab loosens next to Carrere's bunk, they unearth a book of weird symbols written by a 1920's convict who used the esoteric incantations to walk through the cell walls.

Marebito

won Golden Raven - Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film 2005

(Japan, 2004. 35mm)

After filming a man committing suicide in the metro, a cameraman returns to the scene to understand the dead man's motives. Following his final gaze leads Masuoka to a door into a cavernous underworld. He finds a beautiful woman chained to a rock. Masuoka frees her and takes her home. But by observing her through his web cam, he suspects there is something truly inhuman about this girl with sharp teeth who walks on all fours.

Pulse

Winner Critics Award & nominated best film, Sitges Film Festival 2001

(2001, Japan, 35mm)

After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One of them sees visions of his dead friend in the shadows on the wall, while another's computer keeps showing strange, ghostly images. Is their friend trying to contact them from beyond the grave, or is there something much more sinister going on?

Night of the Living Dorks

Winner Audience Award Fantasia Film Festival 2005

(Germany, 2004. 35mm)

Philip, Konrad, and Weener are terminally unpopular at Friedrich Nietzsche High School. One night after an ineptly executed voodoo ritual, they're involved in a horrible car accident. They awaken in the morgue as the living dead and soon learn that death has its advantages.... "Complete with a German pop-punk soundtrack, this film is a ton of fun, and not remotely the Shaun of the Dead cash-in you might suspect upon initially hearing its title. It's also weirdly naïve, which adds considerably to the film's goofball charm. An audience favourite wherever its been shown, Night of the Living Dorks is a whacked-out, feel-good flick that totally works." - Mitch Davis, Fantasia

Strings

Winner Best Directorial Revelation and Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film, 2004 Sitges Film Festival (Sweden, 2004)

At first sight, Strings looks like a not particularly original epic tale of love, honour and vengeance - part Shakespeare, part Tolkien. What makes it so unique, though, is its use of traditional wood puppets complete with strings. Described as the "first-fully integrated marionette feature film" by Danish director Anders Rønnow-Klarlund, it draws on eastern European traditions of puppet theatre to deliver an entertaining story of a young prince's coming of age. Employing 22 of Europe and America's top puppeteers, it makes startlingly effective use of its marionettes, who are brought to quite incredible life. - Channel 4

Wolf Creek

Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2005

Backpackers have been going missing along outback highways for decades, and Greg McLean's well-crafted debut is loosely based on true events - most notably the disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio in 2001, and the exploits of infamous Australian serial killer Ivan Milat. Wolf Creek is slated for a Miramax release later this year.

Check back soon to www.fantasticfest.com for more details on Fantastic Fest 2005