Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. We're on the verge of my favorite time of year. Summer is on the outs, Fall is coming and Halloween will be here before we know it. Marking that transition is one of the absolute best film festivals in all the damn world.
The community that has sprung up around Fantastic Fest is incredible. Sure, it's a little cliquey, but unlike high school all the cliques are nerds and there's such an abundance of different groups that you have your choice of what subgroups you fall under. You can be the party-firsters who spend their evenings having a blast, getting a little drunk and singing karaoke or you can be the movie-firsters who don't feel like they've they've gotten the most out of the festival unless they've seen at least 5 movies a day. Or you can be somewhere in-between, which is where I typically fall.
I'm not so much the party guy, but I do love the social aspect of Fantastic Fest and cherish the friendships that have been made and/or strengthened by that festival. From Alamo's own Kristen Bell and Tim League to my visiting press colleagues and filmmakers to the die hard Fantastic Fest regulars to the newbies, there's a sense of one-ness, of shared nerdery, no matter what you prioritize at this fest.
And that's not even getting into the programming. Like all festivals, you won't always agree with every choice by the programming staff, but goddamn do I love it when they really push the boundaries of taste. It's a fest designed to keep you on your toes. You might hate some of the movies you see, but you're going to be seeing shit you've never seen before.
The fest attracts the best of the best in weird, awesome, funny, gory, gross, emotional, scary movies from all around the world, as evidenced by this first wave of titles from Fantastic Fest 2017. We have new movies from IN BRUGES' Martin McDonagh, BONE TOMAHAWK's S. Craig Zahler, THE LOBSTER's Yorgos Lanthimos and, of course, the latest from Takashi Miike.
There's even two Stephen King adaptations in the mix, including Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Gerald's Game starring Carla Gugino.
Here's the line-up, so far:
1922
USA, 2017
World Premiere, 101 mins
Director - Zak Hilditch
1922 is based on Stephen King's 131-page story telling of a man's confession of his wife's murder. The tale is told from from the perspective of Wilfred James, the story's unreliable narrator who admits to killing his wife, Arlette, in Nebraska. But after he buries her body, he finds himself terrorized by rats and, as his life begins to unravel, he becomes convinced his wife is haunting him.
78/52
USA, 2017
Regional Premiere, 91 min
Director - Alexandre O. Philippe
This masterful documentary focuses on a single aspect of Hitchcock’s PSYCHO to demonstrate the master’s technical ability in storytelling. With expert interviews and rollicking analysis, 78/52 sets a new bar in how to examine film overall.
ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE
Scotland, 2017
World Premiere, 107 min
Director - John McPhail
Anna’s life is dominated by the typical concerns of her youthful peers until the Christmas season in her small town brings not Santa, but an outbreak of the undead in this genre-mashing holiday horror musical. Yep. Musical.
ANYAB
Egypt, 1981
Repertory, 100 min
Director - Mohammed Shebl
ANYAB (FANGS) is an oddity worth rediscovering! An Egyptian take on THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, this eye-popping musical of madness manages to cram horror, science fiction and even social commentary together while charming with its outrageous costumes and action.
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL
Japan, 2017
US Premiere, 141 min
Director - Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike’s 100th journey is an adaptation of the BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL manga. Manji, a samurai who cannot die, crosses paths with Rin Asano, a young girl whose parents were killed. Manji swears to help Rin Asano avenge her parents' deaths.
BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99
USA, 2017
US Premiere, 132 min
Director - S. Craig Zahler
S. Craig Zahler (BONE TOMAHAWK) returns with his sophomore feature, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99. An exhilarating exercise in analog violence, CELL BLOCK follows the brutal exploits of a former boxer who finds himself incarcerated after a drug deal goes wrong. Trapped in a maximum security facility, he must fight to stay alive and to protect those he loves.
COLD HELL
Germany, 2017
US Premiere, 91 min
Director - Stefan Ruzowitzsky
A young Turkish woman living in Vienna feels increasingly lonely after she witnesses a murder and finds herself next on the killer’s agenda in this smart and gritty thriller from the director of ANATOMY and the Oscar-winning THE COUNTERFEITERS.
DAN DREAM
Denmark, 2017
US Premiere, 97 min
Director - Jesper Rofelt
KLOWN duo Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam reunite for a true-life tale of epic failure. Witness the non-arrival of the Danish electric car!
THE ENDLESS
USA, 2017
Texas Premiere, 111 min
Directors - Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead
When brothers Justin and Aaron return to the cult that they escaped from ten years ago, they encounter a web of secrets and mysteries that threatens to tear them apart.
GENERATION B (GENERATIE B)
Belgium, 2017
ep. 1-4 = North American Premiere; ep. 5-6 = World Premiere, 210 min
Director - Pieter Van Hees
The generation gap has never been wider than it is in Pieter Van Hees’ deliriously absurd satire, pitting old generation money against Millennial apathy — and the occasional naked anarchist — following Belgium’s economic collapse.
GERALD’S GAME
USA, 2017
US Premiere, 103 mins
Director - Mike Flanagan
Flanagan unites with master of the macabre Stephen King for his cinematic interpretation of King's beloved GERALD'S GAME. Starring Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood, GERALD'S GAME delivers pitch-perfect performances in a faithful adaptation where the horrors of the mind are much worse than what’s in front of you.
HAGAZUSSA - A HEATHEN’S CURSE
Germany, 2017
World Premiere, 102 min
Director - Lukas Feigelfeld
Set in the 15th Century in the Austrian Alps, Lukas Feigelfeld’s HAGAZUSSA takes us back to a dark period in which even the remotest parts of Europe suffered from the paranoia and superstition of the time.
JAILBREAK
Cambodia, 2017
US Premiere, 92 min
Director - Jimmy Henderson
Cambodia’s traditional martial art of bokator is unleashed in all its bone crunching fury in this action-packed tale of police trapped in the midst of a raging prison riot.
JUVENILE
USA, 2017
World Premiere, 87 min
Director - Bradley Buecker
The emotionally powerful story of Billy, an angry youth who spends his evenings stealing cars with best friend Mikey while attempting to cultivate a stable relationship with his girlfriend Jules.
THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
Ireland / United Kingdom, 2017
US Premiere, 120 min
Director - Yorgos Lanthimos
The life of a brilliant surgeon is thrown into disarray when his friendship with a bizarre teenager threatens the lives of his entire family. Faced with a frightening choice, the man will be forced to assess all that he’s ever done.
KING COHEN
USA, 2017
US Premiere, 104 min
Director - Steve Mitchell
Featuring interviews from some of the biggest names in genre cinema including Joe Dante, Robert Forster and Fred Williamson, this documentary tells the story of one of the best and hardest working exploitation filmmakers.
MAUS
Spain, 2017
World Premiere, 90 min
Director - Yayo Herrero
Yayo Herrero’s directorial debut is a couple's nightmare journey into the heart of darkness. A superlative horror parable, this shocking film is an indictment of modern history, war and the difficulties of reconciliation. It is a story for our times.
MY FRIEND DAHMER
USA, 2017
Texas Premiere, 107 min
Director - Marc Meyers
This is the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, a high school loner whose life would shape up to be something far more frightening than anyone could have imagined.
THE ORIGINALS
Egypt, 2017
International Premiere, 125 mins
Director - Marwan Hamed
Samir works for a bank, provides for his ever-demanding family and dreams of being in an Egyptian talent show. When he’s unexpectedly fired, Samir finds himself recruited to be part of a secret society and finds a darker side to life in Egypt.
RON GOOSSENS: LOW-BUDGET STUNTMAN
The Netherlands, 2017
North American Premiere, 78 min
Directors - Steffen Haars & Flip van der Kuil
The latest from the comedic team behind the NEW KIDS films and BROs BEFORE HOs. Ron Goossens is totally shitfaced. Only by working as a movie stuntman and bedding the hottest actress in the Netherlands can Ron save his marriage.
THE SQUARE
Sweden, 2017
US Premiere, 150 min
Director - Ruben Östlund
An art museum director’s life becomes a comedy of errors when trying to put together his latest exhibit in FORCE MAJEURE director Ruben Ostlund’s latest, which won the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes.
SUPER DARK TIMES
USA, 2017
Regional Premiere, 102 min
Director - Kevin Phillips
A split-second act of violence forever changes the lives of two ‘90s kids. Now they must cope with both the fallout of that moment and the pressures of high school in this clever and bloody coming-of-age thriller.
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
USA, 2017
US PREMIERE, 110 min
Director - Martin McDonagh
A grieving mother takes drastic measures in an attempt to catch her daughter's killer. Challenging the police to solve the case, she posts a series of billboards that threaten the fabric of rural, Missouri.
TIGER GIRL
Germany, 2017
US Premiere, 90 min
Director - Jakob Lass
Failing to crack the ranks as a would-be cop, Maggie begrudgingly settles for a security guard job until she encounters Tiger, a fierce young woman whose rebellious antics leave Maggie questioning which side of the law she truly belongs on.
TOP KNOT DETECTIVE
Australia, 2016
North American Premiere, 87 min
Directors - Aaron McCann & Dominic Pearce
Aliens! Ninjas! Robots! Enormous egos! Get ready to enter the world of TOP KNOT DETECTIVE! Possibly the greatest cult TV series you’ve never heard of, TOP KNOT DETECTIVE and its creator Takashi Tawagoto come to life in this gonzo documentary.
That's so much good stuff and it's only wave one, the tip of the iceberg, the sniff of the cork. Feels like it's going to be a great year already.
Fantastic Fest runs September 21st-28th. Hope to see some of you there!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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