Chaos Reigns at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar September 19th-26th
Buckle up, it’s about to get a little chaotic. Yes, it’s that time of year again when the Alamo South Lamar gives itself over to a crew of film fanatics to witness a collection of new and repertory screenings of the best that genre cinema has to offer. It’ll be the first edition of the festival unfolding under new ownership, after the fest, and indeed the Alamo Drafthouse was purchased by Sony. Will it mean anything? It’s unlikely, with the programming team and schedule largely being in place when the sale went through. But there’s plenty to speculate about when it comes to the motives, and possible long-term changes we might see. Here and now, we’re just looking forward to seeing good movies. You can scope out the full schedule here, but check out our top picks from the lineup below, and be sure to keep an eye on Cinapse throughout the festival to see our coverage.
Jon Partridge
For someone whose favorite film is The Wicker Man, there’s an obvious pick in a documentary that delves into the making of, and impact of the film, not just on audiences but also the family of filmmaker Robin Hardy. Children of the Wicker Man sees his sons Justin and Dominic Hardy open up about their father and his landmark horror feature. It looks to also be well complemented by another documentary from Jon Spira, The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, which delves not just into the filmography of the actor, but his even richer personal life.
Continuing my love of cult is Get Away, where a trip to a remote Swedish island lands a family of 4 amid some weird behavior from the locals, seemingly in preparation for some secretive local event. Directed by FF alum Steffen Haars (New Kids Turbo), there’s an added bonus in the legendary Nick Frost (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead) serving as cowriter/star.
One of the defining horror memories I have is an episode of Star Trek: TNG, where a crew member phases out of alignment with matter and solidifies, stuck halfway-submerged in the deck. It’s a gnarly and chilling visual with horrifying potential, something Else seems to be mining in a film where a virus causes people to merge with their surroundings.
Don’t Mess With Grandma is an instant pick. It’s a film that sounds like a blend of action and farce, as a dutiful grandson (Michael Jai White!) looks to shield his grandmother from a break-in at her home while dispatching justice to the perps who dare to cross her threshold.
Finally, the crown prince of Fantastic Fest Nacho Vigalondo returns with Daniela Forever. A simple synopsis describing a grieving man connecting to his lost love with a new experimental drug is intriguing enough, but add in that unique Vigalondo vibe, and his chaotic presence, it’s a screening you won’t want to miss.
Julian Singleton:
Cloud: With all-timer films like Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata, and To the Ends of the Earth during his legendary career, it’s always a thrill to screen a new film by Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa. He’s amid what’s already a banner year, with Kurosawa’s French remake of his own Serpent’s Path opening alongside viral horror sensation Chime. To cap things off, Cloud isn’t just a Fantastic Fest selection–but Japan’s latest entry in the Oscars’ Best International Feature race. Fresh off rave reviews in Venice, I still don’t know what to expect from Kurosawa’s tale of an online re-seller thrust into peril–but that’s part of the exciting mystery of sitting down to one of his films.
Anora: Equally unpredictable are the films of Sean Baker, whose Tangerine, Florida Project, and Red Rocket provoke audiences to find empathy and compassion with some of modern film’s wildest characters. His latest, Anora, continues the Fantastic Fest unofficial tradition of screening Cannes Palme d’Or winners–and from the looks of NEON’s high-energy, Uncut Gems-esque trailer, this looks like the perfect film to blow the roof off of Alamo South Lamar as much as the Croisette.
Terrifier 3: It was such a thrill being in the audience for Terrifier 2’s midnight premiere two years ago, and it looks like Damien Leone’s follow-up to his 2022 hit further pushes the gory envelope of his franchise with just as much fiendish glee and creativity. With more time and resources at his disposal (Terrifier 2 took four years to finish), it’ll be disturbingly fascinating to see what ghoulish surprises are in store for this year’s must-see midnight.
Apartment 7A: Natalie Erika James’ debut feature Relic is such a sublimely chilling horror flick. It’s a methodically unnerving depiction of generational horror as a mother and daughter deal with a grandmother’s descent into dementia–whose slow-burn horror explodes into House of Leaves-style terrors and body horror by its conclusion. Her craft already on display made me ridiculously excited for her latest, Apartment 7A–only to have my anticipation reach new heights once it was revealed this was a stealth Rosemary’s Baby prequel. Joining the ranks of motherly mayhem as The First Omen and Immaculate, I can’t wait to see what James’ unique approach to horror brings to this reinvention of a horror classic.
The Wild Robot: I’ll always carve out time for any animated film that Fantastic Fest curates, having screened such immediate favorites as BELLE and Unicorn Wars. I was stoked to find that the fest had booked The Wild Robot, still reeling from its enigmatic teaser trailer that was lush with eye-popping visuals and roving energy that seemed to ground Dreamworks’ latest in the freewheeling spirit of its peak How to Train your Dragon days. With an all-star voice cast led by Lupita Nyong’o, I’m looking forward to a break from the Fantastic Fest madness to indulge my inner child for a few hours.
Of what I’ve seen, the Kazakh post-apocalyptic thriller Steppenwolf is firmly among my contenders for the best of the year, and it’s so cool that we’re taking some time to celebrate the awe-inspiring career of Johnnie To with his improvisational gangster epic The Mission (on 35mm no less!). That said, it’s nothing short of a dream come true to finally see Tarsem’s The Fall on the big screen in a new 4K restoration with newly added material. It’s a jaw-dropping masterpiece whose unavailability for nearly two decades has been nothing short of a tragedy–and Fantastic Fest is the perfect place for The Fall to have its North American rebirth.
Dan Tabor
First and foremost is the latest by Bertrand Mandico, one of my favorite directors working today – Dragon Dilation (She is Conann, After Blue and The Wild Boys). This is the director’s third year in a row at the fest with him serving up a film that, similar to Wicked Wicked, is completely presented in split screen. No doubt utilizing the director’s grotesquely haunting practical stage play-esque visual style, this time to interpret two famous works: Stravinsky’s ballet Petrouchka and Dante’s The Divine Comedy.
You know it’s not really a Fantastic Fest without a new installment of V/H/S. This year we get V/H/S/Beyond, the seventh installment of the franchise that will feature six new segments, this time taking the horror and going sci-fi this time around. I love a good anthology and this franchise has been raised from the dead, thanks to the folks at Shudder who definitely understand what made this series work.
I love me some Indonesian horror, and that coupled with Austin King’s writeup of The Draft sold me promising: “a blend of Cabin in the Woods, Scream, and a Kurt Vonnegut novel (that) takes multiple dizzying turns as the danger and the body count grow.” I love a good meta-narrative and to see those American tropes through another cultural lens sounds nothing short of fascinating.
Trizombie‘s description reminded me of one of my favorite films I caught at Fantastic Fest: Detective Downs, a tongue-in-cheek noir featuring an actor with Down Syndrome. While it could have been simply exploitation, the film instead humanized and normalized its protagonist, delivering a heartwarming story of a different kind of hero–and this film looks to offer up more of the same. This film takes place at a housing complex for Down syndrome at the onset of a zombie apocalypse. The twist here is the residents quickly realize their Down syndrome is what’s keeping them from becoming ghouls as they fight for their lives.
Finally, I am all about the weird French comedies and Kung-fu flicks and Zénithal sounds like a bizarre hybrid take on the classic story of a group of students trying to avenge their martial arts master. It’s just in this film he’s also an exceptionally well-endowed adult film star.
Ed Travis
Ghost Killer: Director and career action and stunt coordinator Kensuke Sonomura is simply one of the most exciting talents working in action cinema today, with no other qualifiers needed. His films Hydra and Bad City have ranked among my top action films of the year upon their releases, and Ghost Killer pairs him up with one of the stars of the Baby Assassins films (which he does action direction for) and I’m all in and stoked to be among the first to have the chance to check this new film out.
Don’t Mess With Grandma: I’d never heard of this film until seeing it on the Fantastic Fest lineup. But I’m a tried and true Michael Jai White fan who has followed his career since I first discovered Undisputed II and his magnum opus Blood & Bone. He’s a triple-threat star who can write and direct, can kick ass, and cut up. Looking a little deeper, though, Don’t Mess With Grandma comes to us from director Jason Krawczyk, who also made an absolute gem of a film that I adore deeply called He Never Died. With this talent lined up, I need know nothing more about Don’t Mess With Grandma. My butt is firmly in a seat.
I, The Executioner: Korean director Ryoo Seung-wan is kind of the king of action comedy these days. This film is a sequel to Veteran, and pairs the director once again with star Hwang Jun-min as the relentless and socially inept detective who will break all the norms and push against all the systems to get his perp. It’s less Dirty Harry than it sounds, partly due to a fair amount of humor that gives way to a relentless thriller. If any of the magic of Veteran can be recaptured in the sequel, I’ll be a happy fest-goer.
Ick: I intend to go into this film knowing very little beyond that fact that Fantastic Fest alum Joseph Kahn made it. Kahn is a divisive filmmaker who’s known for being somewhat of a maximalist (before that was even a word) and while I don’t think I’ve always connected with all of his work, his premiere of battle rap film Bodied at Fantastic Fest was one of the most memorable and incredible screenings I’ve ever attended in my film-fest-going life.
The Mission: I’m a Hong Kong-loving action film fanatic and while I’ve seen enough Johnnie To movies that they kind of run together in my head, I very much look forward to revisiting this classic with an audience on the big screen. I remember so little about the film it’ll be like a first-time watch for me, but I just generally adore luxuriating in the cinema of the Hong Kong golden era, and a restoration from that era is always great news.
Fantastic Fest runs from September 19th, through the 26th, at the Alamo Drafthouse S Lamar, Austin, TX. For more information, visit https://www.fantasticfest.com/
