It's Fantastic Fest time again and oh are we excited. Before the fest gets rolling on Thursday, we have a series of previews over the next few days to whet that appetite. We begin with a quick look at each of the 16 films classified this year as World Premieres. Take a gander and let us know what you're most excited for.
What We Become
A sudden quarantine amid an unexplained virus means that chaos reigns. And when a film is described as "a compelling vision of life pushed to extremes" and "a gorgeously executed picture that prizes its characters as much as the elements of genre film," by Todd Brown, you listen -Michele "Izzy" Galgana
Dirty Romance
I Am Trash director Lee Sang-woo returns to Fantastic Fest (along with producer and ScreenAnarchy contributor Pierce Conran) with two films. The first is a world premiere of this film about a man who forces a friend to pleasure his developmentally disabled sister. - Ryland Aldrich
Sensoria
Veteran producer Christian Hallman makes his directorial debut with a horror thriller about a lonely woman who moves into a new apartment in Sweden and quickly discovers that she is not as alone as she thought. - Peter Martin
Bone Tomahawk
This year's Fantastic Fest closer finds old pal Kurt Russell starring in a Western. Sean Young, Patrick Wilson, Lili Simmons, Matthew Fox, and Richard Jenkins co-star in S. Craig Zahler's feature directorial debut. Yee Haw! - Ryland Aldrich
Camino
One third of the Spectrevision trio, director Josh Waller teams up with badass Zoe Bell for a second time to deliver a woman-in-peril story in the jungle of Columbia. Fantastic Fest cool kids Nacho Vigalondo and Francisco Barriero play religious freaks chasing her down. #winning -Michele "Izzy" Galgana
Lazer Team
Rooster Teeth returns with this goofball comedy about four losers picked to save the world. Matt Hullum directs his second feature after The Schedule. - Ryland Aldrich
The Similars
Isaac Ezban follows up last year's mind-bending drama The Incident with another tale that promises to twist and turn in unexpected directions, following two parallel stories about characters trapped in endless spaces that make no sense. - Peter Martin
Gridlocked
Dominic Purcell, Stephen Lang, Danny Glover, and Vinnie Jones star in Canadian Allan Ungar's odd-buddy action comedy in the vein of another Danny Glover starrer. This one pairs a SWAT team cop and a tabloid celeb. Hilarity obviously ensues. - Ryland Aldrich
Follow
When a programmer describes a film's plot as "a bold, brash and bloody series of increasingly bad decisions," you know you're in for the kind of experience that only festivals like Fantastic Fest can deliver. Besides, it's always interesting to see how crazy fest regular and star Noah Segan can get.-Michele "Izzy" Galgana
La Granja
Puerto Rico is far more than a tourist destination for cruise ship passengers, and here we get an inside look at its dark, gritty stomach courtesy of writer/director Angel Manuel Soto. - Peter Martin
Dag (Season 4)
If you remember the wacky Norwegian crime-comedy Fuck Up from a few years back, then you are familiar with the work of Oystein Karlsen. His follow-up is this TV series which promises the same brand of offbeat Scandanavian laughs. - Ryland Aldrich
Zinzana (Rattle the Cage)
A man wakes up in a cell with no memory of why he's there, and he's taunted by a psycho cop who dances, leers, and grins; it brings Michael Madsen's Reservoir Dogs dance to mind, by way of black comedy in the Middle East. -Michele "Izzy" Galgana
Darling
Mickey Keating's fourth feature is this psychological horror about a caretaker of a creepy New York home who may or may not be going crazy. Sean Young stars. - Ryland Aldrich
Man Vs. Snake
This docu by Andrew Seklir and Tim Kinzy tells the story of the 1984 quest for the billion point Nibbler record that spanned some 44.5 hours. As is customary, there will be a Nibbler cabinet at the fest for you to try your hand. - Ryland Aldrich
The Glorious Works of G.F. Zwaen
A crime thriller from Max Porcellijn, who made the very satisfying Plan C, this one rewinds to Amsterdam in the late 1990s, and involves a drug trafficker, a tax inspector, and an internal affairs agent.- Peter Martin
The Passing
UK TV vet Gareth Bryn makes his feature directorial debut with this mystery thriller about a couple marooned after a car wreck and man who looks to lend a hand. - Ryland Aldrich