This week, I’ll be heading out to Austin, Texas, for my first-ever Fantastic Fest, and I could not be more thrilled. Every single year, the festival introduces audience members to some of the most insane and boundary-pushing genre fare from all over the world, and I’m excited to get my first real taste of it starting this Thursday.
And while the entire Fantastic Fest slate looks incredible (seriously, I wish I could have three clones with me in Austin just so I could see everything), I’ve put together a look at the 11 films I’m ridiculously excited to see. One note: there are several films playing at Fantastic Fest that I have already seen at previous fests, including The Eyes of My Mother, The Greasy Strangler, and Phantasm: Remastered, so it didn’t feel fair to include them here.
THE DWARVES MUST BE CRAZY (World Premiere, Director – Bhin Banloerit)
As soon as I read “butt-munching spirits” in its description, I just knew that I had to see The Dwarves Must Be Crazy, a Thai horror comedy that looks to be in the spirit of Bad Taste or Meet the Feebles. I hope it’s as ridiculous as its synopsis suggests.
Festival synopsis: 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.
JUNGLE TRAP (World Premiere, Director – James Bryan)
I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but Don’t Go in the Woods royally messed up my young horror fan sensibilities, so I’m stoked to see what this long-lost James Bryan project has to offer. Kudos to Bleeding Skull for not only the discovery, but for also getting behind this release of Jungle Trap.
Festival synopsis: 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.
PHANTASM: RAVAGER (World Premiere, Director – David Hartman)
The world lost a huge talent when Angus Scrimm passed away early this year, so I’m hoping that Phantasm: Ravager is both a fitting tribute to Scrimm’s legacy as The Tall Man as well as a worthy finale of the Phantasm series. I don’t know much about the sequel, except for the giant killer spheres we’ve seen in the teaser trailer, but considering how long we’ve been talking about this one, I’m ready for all the ravaging to finally commence.
Festival synopsis: 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.
THE VOID (World Premiere, Directors – Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie)
I enjoyed Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie’s work on both Manborg and Father’s Day, so I was immediately on board with The Void as soon as I heard they were the guys behind it.
Festival synopsis: 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 (Texas Premiere, Director – Emiliano Rocha Minter)
I’m a big fan of films that take viewers to shockingly visceral places, and from everything I’ve read so far on We Are the Flesh, this seems like it would make for a killer double feature with another shocker from this year, Baskin. Mexico has one of the most exciting genre scenes as of late, and I’m hoping We Are the Flesh can add to that stellar reputation.
Festival synopsis: 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…
ARRIVAL (Opening Film, Director – Denis Villeneuve)
Denis Villeneuve is easily one of the most interesting directors working today. With Sicario, Enemy, and Prisoners, he’s proven time and time again that he’s not afraid to give viewers a challenging cinematic experience. Arrival looks to be his “biggest” movie to date, but I’m guessing Villeneuve’s trademark intimate storytelling approach will still be firmly intact here.
Festival synopsis: When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team - led by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) - are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.
THE BAD BATCH (US Premiere, Director – Ana Lily Amirpour)
When The Bad Batch was first announced, I knew this movie was going to be right up my proverbial alley. A dystopic cannibal love story featuring performances by Keanu Reeves, Jason Momoa, Jim Carrey, Diego Luna, and Giovanni Ribisi? Yes, please. I recently discovered how great A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is, so I’m absolutely ready for what Ana Lily Amirpour has in store for us with The Bad Batch.
Festival synopsis: Ana Lily Amirpour follows up her alt-cult sensation A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE with her highly anticipated dystopian cannibal desert trip.
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (US Premiere, Director – Colm McCarthy)
There’s been a ton of buzz surrounding The Girl With All the Gifts since its recent debut at TIFF, which immediately put it on my radar. It boasts a helluva supporting cast (Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine) and looks to be a refreshing spin on a horror subgenre (zombies) that desperately needs some new blood.
Festival synopsis: In a dystopian future, young Melanie must go on a trip with the soldier who needs to kill her, the doctor who wants to use her and the teacher who wants to help.
THE HANDMAIDEN (US Premiere, Director – Park Chan-wook)
I mean, it’s a film by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), so honestly, there’s not really much more I need to hear to get excited about this film. Chan-Wook has proven himself to be a maverick storyteller throughout his entire career, and I’m intrigued to see his brutal take on 1930s Korea.
Festival synopsis: In the 1930s, country girl Sook-Hee is hired as a handmaiden to Japanese heiress Lady Hideko, who lives a secluded life with her uncle. However Sook-Hee is not what she seems... and neither is Lady Hideko, Count Fujiwara or Uncle Kouziki.
BAD BLACK (World Premiere, Director – Nabwana IGG)
If butt-munching dwarves were able to garner my attention, you can imagine reading about a DIY Ugandan actioner featuring a character by the name of Wesley Snipes is going to tickle my proverbial fancy as well. This one looks ultra low-budget, but seems like it has a lot of love and enthusiasm coursing through its cinematic veins, so I’m psyched to get my first real taste of Ugandan cinema this week.
Festival synopsis: A mild-mannered doctor is trained in the art of ass-kicking commando vengeance by a no-nonsense ghetto kid named Wesley Snipes (!). This is only one of the many delirious action-packed stories that converge in this exuberant DIY extravaganza from the home of “da best of da best movies”: WAKALIWOOD, UGANDA!!!
HEADSHOT (US Premiere, Directors – Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto)
Timo Tjahjanto directed what is easily the best segment from any of the V/H/S films —Safe Haven—and those 20 or so minutes made me an instant fan of whatever he does as a director, which is probably why I enjoyed Killers, his previous collaboration with Kimo Stamboel, as much as I did. For Headshot, the duo known as “The Mo Brothers” have teamed up with The Raid’s Iko Uwais for what looks to be an actioner brimming with mayhem, fury, and an insane amount of violence (pretty much all of my favorite things, really).
Festival synopsis: The bone-crunching, soul-crushing, face-breaking story of an amnesiac young man named Ishmael, the doctor named Rika who cares for him and the bad men who all need to die in a maelstrom of sweet violence.
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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