Tag: fantasticfest
Fantastic Fest 2024 Review: MADS, Wide-Eyed Descent Into Apocalypse
One of my favorite films of Fantastic Fest 2024 was this taut piece of single-take cinema from France. An already high teen visits his dealer hoping to score the latest designer drug. But before he can get to the ,...
Fantastic Fest 2024 Interview: FRANKIE FREAKO Director Steve Kostanski
I should start by saying I’m a Steve Kostanski stan. Does that make me a Kost-FAN-ski? In any event, his name on a project automatically elevates my interest. This is especially true when he’s in the director's chair. Manborg (2011),...
Fantastic Fest 2024 Review: DADDY'S HEAD Is a Dangerous Place
Friends who express curiosity about my love for horror films are often surprised to hear that, beyond the thrills and chills they provide, I also find them comforting. There are the obvious childhood associations born of discovering them when I...
Fantastic Fest 2024 Review: WHAT HAPPENED TO DOROTHY BELL? It Will Happen to Everyone
As found footage has firmly established itself as a genre, its foothold on the public imagination (and on that of filmmakers) bears scrutiny. The excellent documentary The Found Footage Phenomena (2021) and books such as Found Footage Horror Films by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas...
Fantastic Fest 2024: THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, NEVER LET GO, TERRIFIER 3 to Kick Off
Every fall, soon after the Toronto International Film Festival and just before the New York Film Festival and the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic de Catalunya, Fantastic Fest arrives to take our blues away with eight days of cinematic...
Roger Corman Remembered: 1926-2024
In a conversation with Roger and Julie Corman in September 2010, the filmmakers talked about working in present-day Hollywood, shooting in the Philippines, making 'X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes,' Allan Arkush, and 'Sharktopus.'
Friday One Sheet: WHEN EVIL LURKS
No point beating around the bush on this one, California's Mocean design house goes full on distressed red sky and deep black shadows for slow burn Argentinian possession horror, When Evil Lurks. The tagline, "There is no point in praying" is...
Fantastic Fest 2023 Review: TRIGGERED (Topakk), Brutal Action Highlights Flick From The Philippines
Richard Somes directs the Filipino action movie.
Fantastic Fest 2023 Review: JACKDAW Drives Through in This Fast and Compact Thriller
Oliver Jackson-Cohen stars in a noir action-thriller, directed by Jamie Childs.
Fantastic Fest 2023 Review: THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY, Lovely Little Genre Exercise That Grows Too Big
The feature debut of writer/director Francis Galluppi makes the most of its single location setting for most of its runtime, and only falters when it takes steps to leave that place behind. That place is a sizable diner attached to...
Fantastic Fest 2023 Preview: Too Many Great Flicks to Count
Leaves are falling and there's a mild chill in the air. It's Fall Fest Season and that means Fantastic Fest! It's a big year for new genre flicks and some of the best will be playing in Austin from September...
Fantastic Fest 2022: SMILE, MISSING, THE FIVE DEVILS, AMAZING ELISA Kick Things Off
Fall festival season kicks into high gear tonight in Austin, Texas, where the 17th edition of Fantastic Fest opens with its usual gusto. Smile, Missing, The Five Devils and Amazing Elisa are the films that have been chosen to screen...
Fantastic Fest 2022: SMILE and TRIANGLE OF SADNESS to Bookend 17th Edition
In some places, 17 is the legal age to do a lot of things you don't necessarily want your parents to know about. In Austin, Texas, 17 is the legal age to celebrate Fantastic Fest. One of our favorite genre-focused...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: IKE BOYS, Kindhearted Tribute to Sentai's Life Lessons
The story goes that back in the late 60s a dynamic anime director in Japan made a very ambitious movie that bombed at the box office. Shelved in the company archives the film escaped a warehouse fire and became the...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: LET THE WRONG ONE IN Lets Audience in On Joke
This is the most fun I’ve had in a vampire comedy since What We Do in the Shadows. The comparison needn’t stop there but this is no imitator. Full of original characters, hysterically gross practical effects, and a take...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: EYES OF FIRE, 1700s Style EVIL DEAD
Eyes of Fire is an interesting film. A low-budget horror venture from the mind of Avery Crounse, it is a curious amalgam of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sam Raimi. The storyline is a familiar one. Set in the 1700s, Reverend Will...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: BABY ASSASSINS, Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Akari Takaishi and Saori Izawa star in a killer action comedy, directed by Hugo Sakamoto.
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: CANNON ARM AND THE ARCADE QUEST, With Friends Like These
Director Mads Hedegaard documents an endearing Danish superhero and his friends.
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE, A Slasher with Smarts
Secrets. We all have them. To keep them safe, we hide them behind masks to appear “socially acceptable”. There’s Someone Inside Your House from Creep director, Patrick Brice explores this idea under the clever guise of a 1980’s style slasher....
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: NR. 10, Sly and Brilliant
Alex van Warmerdam ('Borgman') directs a new film. It's very, very good.
