Moviefone Editorial

Tag: fantastic fest 2018

  • Fantastic Fest 2018 to Premiere ‘Halloween’ With Jamie Lee Curtis

    Fantastic Fest 2018 to Premiere ‘Halloween’ With Jamie Lee Curtis

    Halloween
    Universal

    Fantastic Fest 2018 will open with a slash — the long-awaited face-off between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers.

    The new “Halloween” directed by David Gordon Green will premiere on opening night of the festival on September 20 in Austin, Texas. And the original scream queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, will be on hand to mark the occasion.

    Curtis is reprising her role as Laurie Strode, who still bears the emotional and physical scars from her first confrontation with the masked psycho Michael Myers 40 years prior.

    “Halloween” producers Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block will also be in attendance. The movie opens in theaters October 19.

    Fantastic Fest also announced a second wave of programming to complement the first wave, which was unveiled a few weeks ago.
    Joining the line-up is Jeremy Saulnier’s thriller “Hold the Dark” starring “Westworld’s” Jeffrey Wright. A brutal, beautiful excursion that pits nature versus man’s heart of darkness, the film also boasts electric performances from Alexander Skarsgård and Riley Keough.

    Check out the entire second wave line-up below. The 14th Annual Fantastic Fest will take place in Austin from September 20-27.

    THE ANGEL
    Argentina, Spain, 2018
    US Premiere, 120 min
    Director – Luis Ortega
    In 1971 Argentina, Carlitos is a baby-faced youth whose good looks match his confident swagger. Carlitos’ passion is stealing; the things he covets, he takes. But when he meets Ramon at his school, he embarks on his true calling: armed robberies and violent crimes.

    THE BASTARDS’ FIG TREE
    Spain, 2017
    Texas Premiere, 103 min
    Director – Ana Murugarren
    In Attendance – Director Ana Murugarren and Producer Joaquin Trincado
    In Ana Murugarren’s whimsical THE BASTARDS’ FIG TREE, a fascist soldier in the Spanish Civil War becomes a fig-tree obsessed hermit after looking into the vengeful eyes of a young boy whose father and brother he had violently executed.

    BLOODLINE
    USA, 2018
    World Premiere, 95 min
    Director – Henry Jacobson
    In Attendance – Director Henry Jacobson, Actor Seann William Scott, Producer Adam Hendricks, and Writer Avra Fox-Lerne
    Evan (Seann William Scott) values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

    THE BOAT
    Malta, United Kingdom, 2018
    World Premiere, 89 min
    Director – Winston Azzopardi
    In Attendance – Director/Co-Writer Winston Azzopardi and Actor/Co-Writer Joe Azzopardi
    A lone fisherman on his daily run finds himself lost in a thick fog which proves impossible to navigate. The worst is yet to come when his encounter with a seemingly abandoned sailboat becomes a fight for survival against an enemy unknown.

    BORDER
    Sweden, Denmark, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 108 min
    Director – Ali Abbasi
    When a border guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind.

    CHAINED FOR LIFE
    USA, 2018
    Regional Premiere, 91 min
    Director – Aaron Schimberg
    In Attendance – Director Aaron Schimberg and Producer Vanessa McDonnell
    Mabel (Jess Weixler, TEETH) and Rosenthal (Adam Pearson, UNDER THE SKIN) – both hired for their looks – meet on the set of a horror movie in this surreal examination of how those with physical differences are portrayed on film.

    CLIMAX
    France, 2018
    US Premiere, 96 min
    Director – Gaspar Noé
    Consistent provocateur Gaspar Noé outdoes himself with his latest feature CLIMAX, a trippy horror-musical featuring twenty sensuous dancers partying hard and living their best lives, until a bad batch of sangria plunges them into insanity.

    DEADLY GAMES
    France, 1990
    North American Premiere, 90 min
    Director – René Manzor
    In Attendance – René Manzor
    DEADLY GAMES (3615 CODE PÈRE NOËL) is the terror version of HOME ALONE. A 9-year old kid in his house, tormented by a demented Santa Claus, fights for his survival by setting traps. Christmas will never be the same again.

    DOGMAN
    Italy, France, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 102 min
    Director – Matteo Garrone
    Marcello is a gentle dog groomer whose tumultuous friendship with violent neighbourhood thug Simone engulfs him in a violent series of events that will leave him forever scarred.

    DONNYBROOK
    USA, 2018
    US Premiere, 101 min
    Director – Tim Sutton
    In Attendance – Tim Sutton
    Frank Grillo and Jamie Bell are just two of the desperate men and women headed for “The Donnybrook” – a no-holds-barred bare-knuckle fight contest with a $100,000 prize – in this midwestern gothic journey into a heartland of darkness.

    DRUG STORIES! NARCOTIC NIGHTMARES AND HALLUCINOGENIC HELLRIDES, FEATURING THE TRIP BACK – PRESENTED BY AGFA AND SOMETHING WEIRD
    USA, 2018
    World Premiere, 80 min
    In Attendance – Something Weird Video’s Lisa Petrucci
    AGFA and Something Weird present a compilation of classroom scare films about boozers, users and losers, all in brand new 2K preservations and featuring the legendary anti-drug diatribe known as THE TRIP BACK.

    FERAL
    Mexico, 2018
    World Premiere, 97 min
    Director – Andrés Kaiser
    In Attendance – Andrés Kaiser
    The mountains of Oaxaca harbor the remains of a ravaged and burnt shelter, once home to a psychoanalyst priest who used it to look after savage children, trying to re-integrate them into society. Through videotape diaries and interviews, the truth of what happened is shockingly revealed.

    FP2: BEATS OF RAGE
    USA, 2018
    World Premiere, 89 min
    Director – Jason Trost
    In Attendance – Jason Trost
    JTRO gave Frazier Park everything he had, but his challenges aren’t over. Now he must journey into the destruction of The Waste to rekindle the passion he needs to win the ultimate Beat-Beat Revelation tournament and fulfill his destiny.

    GIRLS WITH BALLS
    France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, 2018
    World Premiere, 77 min
    Director – Olivier Afonso
    After winning a competition, a women’s volleyball team heads home aboard their minibus. Forced to take a shortcut, they end up at a tavern where they upset the local degenerate rednecks… and then the hunt begins.

    HALLOWEEN
    USA, 2018
    US Premiere, 105 min
    Director – David Gordon Green
    In Attendance – Jamie Lee Curtis and Producers Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block
    Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

    HOLD THE DARK
    USA, 2018
    US Premiere, 125 min
    Director – Jeremy Saulnier
    In- Attendance – Director Jeremy Saulnier and Co-Writer/Actor Macon Blair
    A gripping psychological thriller unfolds in the treacherous Alaskan wilderness when a retired wolf expert is summoned to investigate a child’s disappearance.

    IN FABRIC
    United Kingdom, 2018
    US Premiere, 118 min
    Director – Peter Strickland
    Peter Strickland (THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY; BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO) returns to Fantastic Fest in full, flourishing style with IN FABRIC, a film that’s part surreal thriller, part giallo love letter, part fashion collage, and all hypnotic originality.

    THE INNOCENT
    Switzerland, Germany, 2018
    US Premiere, 113 min
    Director – Simon Jaquemet
    In this dark and fantastical tale about religion versus science and good versus evil, a woman’s faith is being tested as her ex-lover reappears in her life after twenty years in jail.

    KNIFE + HEART
    France, 2018
    North American Premiere, 102 min
    Director – Yann Gonzalez
    In Attendance – Director Yann Gonzalez
    In Yann Gonzalez’s second feature, a masked serial killer stalks a producer and her film company in this love letter to European giallo, American grindhouse cinema, and ’70s gay porn.

    MAY THE DEVIL TAKE YOU
    Indonesia, 2018
    North American Premiere, 110 min
    Director – Timo Tjahjanto
    At her father’s deathbed, Alfie learns that she and her family must give the Devil his due when he comes to collect on the pact made years before in this electrifying horror film from Indonesian master storyteller Timo Tjahjanto.

    SAVAGE
    France, 2018
    World Premiere, 83 min
    Director – Vincent Mariette
    In Attendance – Director Vincent Mariette
    Summer is in full swing and men are going missing. People are talking about a leopard on the loose in the area. A mysterious horror writer is in the bungalow next door. And Laura’s most disturbing summer has only just begun.

    THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK
    USA, 2018
    US Premiere, 88 min
    Director – Henry Dunham
    Over the course of one grueling night, a militia tears itself apart as it searches for the perpetrator of a mass shooting among its own.

    STARFISH
    United Kingdom, USA, 2018
    World Premiere, 99 min
    Director – A.T. White
    A girl. A mixtape. And Armageddon. A uniquely honest portrayal of loss as a young woman struggles with the death of her best friend while dealing with the horrific Lovecraftian end of the world, driven by a beautiful indie music soundtrack.

    SUDDEN FURY
    Canada, 1975
    World Premiere of New Restoration, 91 min
    Director – Brian Damude
    When a well-intentioned bystander rushes to the scene of a violent car wreck, he finds himself embroiled in a hot mess of desperate homicide in this wickedly taut and unpredictable thriller, recently rescued from Canadian obscurity and restored by exploitation video label Vinegar Syndrome.

    TUMBBAD
    India, 2018
    US Premiere, 108 min
    Directors – Rahi Anil Barve & Adesh Prasad
    In Attendance – Co-Director/Writer Adesh Prasad
    In the rural village of Tumbbad, a decaying castle hides an immeasurable ancestral fortune guarded by something ancient, sinister, and monstrous. Vinayak thinks he can control it, but how long will it be until his own greed destroys everything he’s built?

  • Paramount’s ‘Overlord’ Coming to Fantastic Fest 2018, First Wave of Programming Announced

    Paramount’s ‘Overlord’ Coming to Fantastic Fest 2018, First Wave of Programming Announced

    Paramount Pictures

    One of the quirkier film festivals on the circuit just announced the first batch of titles that it will be screening at its annual event: Austin’s Fantastic Fest is gearing up for what it dubs “the very best in mind-melting mayhem and madness from all corners of the globe.”

    That superlative certainly applies to one of the highlights of the festival, “Overlord,” the new flick from J.J. Abrams‘s Bad Robot production company that mashes up a WWII setting with a horror-thriller vibe. Here’s how Fantastic Fest describes the flick:

    This exhilarating, nerve-shredding ride tells the story of American paratroopers dropped into occupied France on the eve of D-Day who discover a secret Nazi lab carrying out terrifying and bizarre supernatural experiments.

    Other notable events slated for the fest include the premiere of “Apostle,” the latest flick from Gareth Evans (“The Raid” series); a focus on international female genre filmmakers; and an exploration of South Korean cinema and the Korean Quota Quickies from the 1970s.

    The announced lineup so far is below. The 14th Annual Fantastic Fest is set to take over Austin from September 20 though September 27.
    FIRST WAVE FILM LINEUP:
    APOSTLE
    United Kingdom, 2018
    World Premiere, 129 min
    Director – Gareth Evans
    The year is 1905. Thomas Richardson travels to a remote island to rescue his sister after she’s kidnapped by a mysterious religious cult demanding a ransom for her safe return. It soon becomes clear that the cult will regret the day it baited this man, as he digs deeper and deeper into the secrets and lies upon which the commune is built.
    BAN GEUM-RYEON
    South Korea, 1981
    Regional Premiere, 90 min
    Director – Kim Ki-young
    From Park Chan-wook’s idol comes a twisted tale of lecherous lords and murderous mistresses. Presented outside of Korea for only the second time, Kim Ki-young’s masterpiece BAN GEUM-RYEON is a lush smorgasbord from Korea’s most demented cinematic mind.
    AGFA and BLEEDING SKULL PRESENT: BLOOD LAKE
    USA, 1987
    World Premiere of New Preservation, 82 min
    Director – Tim Boggs
    The finest vacation from hell ever captured on VHS, rescued from the original 1″ master tapes!
    BURNING
    South Korea, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 148 min
    Director – Lee Chang-dong

    Lee Chang-dong’s latest triumph weighs the delicate balance between creation and destruction as a writer runs into an old classmate who gets him caught up in a mystery bigger than both of them.

    CAM
    USA, 2018
    US Premiere, 94 min
    Director – Daniel Goldhaber
    In Attendance – Writer/Producer Isa Mazzei
    Alice is a camgirl with principles. She doesn’t do public shows, she doesn’t tell her fans she loves them, and she doesn’t fake her orgasms. But when a mysterious lookalike takes over her channel, the rules no longer apply.
    DOG
    France, 2017
    US Premiere, 87 min
    Director – Samuel Benchetrit
    A dark fable about loneliness, perfectly illustrated by Jacques Blanchot’s loss of humanity and slow transformation into a dog. Director Samuel Benchetrit shares a subtle commentary on our current world, and its social, interpersonal, and political issues.
    AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN
    USA, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 108 min
    Director – Jim Hosking
    Fantastic Fest alumni director Jim Hosking (THE GREASY STRANGLER; RENEGADES) is back with a second feature as absurd, crazy, and funny as his first. Follow Lulu Danger’s very own revolution in a Lynch-meets-Waters run-down version of America.
    THE GUILTY
    Denmark, 2018
    Austin Premiere, 85 min
    Director – Gustav Möller
    A horrific crime; an emergency responder struggling to stay off the edge; a kidnapping victim calling in for help. This is all we’re going to tell you about first-time feature filmmaker Gustav Möller’s unmissable and gripping debut thriller.
    HOLIDAY
    Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 93 min
    Director – Isabella Eklöf
    The sun-drenched dream of the eponymous summer vacation has its dark side revealed in Isabella Eklöf’s powerful debut feature HOLIDAY, an unforgettable exploration of the fraught, brutal experience of young womanhood.
    HOUSE OF SWEAT AND TEARS
    Spain, 2018
    World Premiere, 104 min
    Director – Sonia Escolano
    In Attendance – Director Sonia Escolano
    “She,” the leader of a violent cult, rules her flock with an iron fist to ensure they never stray from the path. But a series of events and a mysterious outsider threaten the pattern of their reality in this electrifying exploration of faith and belief.
    AGFA PRESENTS: I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER
    USA, 1993
    World Premiere of New Restoration, 27 min
    Director – Sarah Jacobson
    Sarah Jacobson’s punk-spirited DIY films combine B-movie aesthetics and riot grrrl feminism in brand new 2K preservations.
    KEEP AN EYE OUT
    France, 2018
    North American Premiere, 73 min
    Director – Quentin Dupieux
    An absurd all-night interrogation set in a camp ’70s police station, Quentin Dupieux’s latest opus, KEEP AN EYE OUT, is a celebration of his own brand of quirky, offbeat humor, performed by France’s most refreshing comedic talents.
    LADYWORLD
    USA, 2018
    US Premiere, 93 min
    Director – Amanda Kramer
    In Attendance – Director Amanda Kramer and Actor/Co-Editor/Production Designer Noel David Taylor
    In Amanda Kramer’s daring low-budget debut LADYWORLD, a birthday party quickly devolves into chaos when a mysterious earthquake traps eight teenage girls alone in a house, challenging their friendships, identities, and eventually their grip on reality.
    LAIKA
    Czech Republic, 2017
    Regional Premiere, 88 min
    Director – Aurel Klimt
    In Attendance – Director Aurel Klimt
    This is the story of Laïka the space dog who, unlike in real life, did not die aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957. In this bizarre and charming stop-motion musical, Laïka crashes on a peculiar planet where she meets new friends.
    LUZ
    Germany, 2018
    US Premiere, 70 min
    Director – Tilman Singer
    In Attendance – Director Tilman Singer
    Luz enters a police station at night to report an assault. As the interrogation progresses, it becomes clear a demonic entity wants to possess her in this audacious, psychotropic horror film shot on 16mm.
    MADAM YANKELOVA’S FINE LITERATURE CLUB
    Israel, 2018
    International Premiere, 90 min
    Director – Guilhad Emilio Schenker
    Desperate, aging, Sophie only needs to seduce one more handsome victim – excuse me, date – to become a worry-free Lordess in MADAM YANKELOVA’S FINE LITERATURE CLUB, Israeli director Guilhad Emilio Schenker’s delightfully twisted debut feature.
    MANIAC
    USA, 1980
    World Premiere of New 4K Restoration, 88 min
    Director – William Lustig
    In Attendance – Director William Lustig
    The 4K restoration of grindhouse auteur Bill Lustig’s 1980 slasher landmark features splatter SFX artist Tom Savini’s gnarliest work, as well as one of horror’s finest, sweatiest performances from legendary character actor/co-writer Joe Spinell.
    AGFA PRESENTS: MARY JANE’S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE
    USA, 1997
    World Premiere of New Restoration, 98 min
    Director – Sarah Jacobson
    Sarah Jacobson’s punk-spirited DIY films combine B-movie aesthetics and riot grrrl feminism in brand new 2K preservations.
    MURDER ME, MONSTER
    Argentina, France, Chile, 2018
    North American Premiere, 109 min
    Director – Alejandro Fadel
    Visual horror masterpiece MURDER ME, MONSTER lures you into the fascinating and opaque underworld of serial murder, supernatural obsession, metaphysical hallucinations, forbidden love – and one nightmarishly gross monster.
    THE NIGHT COMES FOR US
    Indonesia, 2018
    World Premiere, 121 min
    Director – Timo Tjahjanto
    A former triad enforcer must protect a young girl while trying to escape his former gang, setting off a violent battle on the streets of Jakarta.
    THE NIGHT SHIFTER
    Brazil, 2018
    US Premiere, 110 min
    Director – Dennison Ramalho
    An attendant at a busy morgue who can also converse with the dead puts his loved ones in peril using his forbidden knowledge for vengeance in Dennison Ramalho’s (NINJAS; ABCS OF DEATH 2) twisted and gleefully icky feature debut.
    ONE CUT OF THE DEAD
    Japan, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 96 min
    Director – Shinichiro Ueda
    A filmmaker sets out to shoot a zombie film in an abandoned factory, but something is lurking on the outside. Is it a zombie apocalypse or just another shoot gone wrong?
    OPEN 24 HOURS
    USA, Serbia, 2018
    North American Premiere, 100 min
    Director – Padraig Reynolds
    In Attendance – Director Padraig Reynolds
    A young woman who had previously set her serial killer boyfriend on fire is now seeking normalcy by getting a job working the overnight shift at a 24-hour convenience store, where things are most definitely not going to be normal.
    OVERLORD
    USA, 2018
    World Premiere, TBD min
    Director – Julius Avery
    In Attendance – Director Julius Avery and cast including Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro, and Mathilde Ollivier
    In the upcoming WWII horror-thriller OVERLORD, a group of American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied France on the eve of D-Day. As they struggle to carry out their seemingly impossible mission, they discover a secret Nazi lab carrying out terrifying and bizarre supernatural experiments.
    PIERCING
    USA, 2018
    Texas Premiere, 81 min
    Director – Nicolas Pesce

    From the twisted mind of Nicolas Pesce (THE EYES OF MY MOTHER) comes a provocative two-hander chamberpiece – a tense battle of wits and desire between prostitute and trick, predator and prey.

    QUIT YOUR LIFE
    South Korea, 1971
    North American Premiere, 82 min
    Director – Park Nou-sik
    Presented in English for the first time, actor-director Park Nou-sik balances the scales of justice as he stalks around Korea with his noose of judgment in the relentless revenge drama QUIT YOUR LIFE.
    SCHOOL’S OUT
    France, 2018
    North American Premiere, 103 min
    Director – Sébastien Marnier
    In this dread-soaked cerebral thriller, a handsome young substitute teacher gets in over his head when taking on a class of gifted students after their former teacher’s dramatic in-class suicide.
    TERRIFIED
    Argentina, 2017
    US Premiere, 87 min
    Director – Demián Rugna
    In Attendance – Director Demián Rugna
    Strange things are going on in a Buenos Aires neighborhood. Demián Rugna’s constantly surprising and truly spine-chilling horror film has one goal: to scare the shit out of everyone.
    THE UNTHINKABLE
    Sweden, 2018
    World Premiere, 129 min
    Director – Crazy Pictures
    Something unthinkable is happening in Sweden. It starts with a few isolated incidents but suddenly, it’s all over the country. There are some who were prepared and others who weren’t. Ready or not, things will go out with a bang!
    VIOLENCE VOYAGER
    Japan, 2018
    Regional Premiere, 83 min
    Director – Ujicha
    En route to visit a friend in another village, two kids go looking for a fabled shortcut through the mountain. Instead, they stumble upon an amusement park called Violence Voyager, and that’s when everything goes to shit.
    WHEN THE TREES FALL
    Ukraine, Poland, Macedonia, 2018
    North American Premiere, 88 min
    Director – Marysia Nikitiuk
    In Attendance – Director Marysia Nikitiuk
    Scar and Larysa are desperately in love and suffocating under the tradition and archaic demands of their Ukrainian village. When the frustrations of each finally detonate, their world and the lives of those surrounding them are tragically shattered.
    THE WOLF HOUSE
    Chile, 2018
    North American Premiere, 73 min
    Directors – Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña
    In Attendance – Director Cristóbal León
    An animated tale, supposedly restored from the archives of a German colony by the Chilean government, THE WOLF HOUSE is the unsettling story of Maria, punished with a hundred nights alone in a cabin in the woods.