Sure, this time of year, everyone is thinking about the prestigious fall festival events, such as TIFF, Venice, Telluride, NYFF, etc.. However, what they’re forgetting is the sheer madness and joy that comes with visiting Fantastic Fest in Austin. And this year’s Fantastic Fest looks to be the craziest yet.
As always, Fantastic Fest focuses on genre films, particularly those in horror and sci-fi, and this year, the event features no fewer than 29 World Premieres. Kicking things off on Opening Night is none other than one of the most anticipated genre films of 2023, “The Toxic Avenger,” starring Peter Dinklage. This film is the long-awaited, big-budget remake of the cult-classic from Troma. Written and directed by the incredible Macon Blair, “The Toxic Avenger” is going to kick off Fantastic Fest with something special. Bookending the event, on Closing Night, is the slasher-comedy from director Nahnatchka Khan, “Totally Killer,” starring Kiernan Shipka.
“The Fantastic Fest team is ready to take you on a journey you won’t ever forget. We’ve taken the best week of the year and supercharged it: more movies, more parties, more fun,” says Festival Director Lisa Dreyer. “If you want to see the best new movies from around the world first with the best audience, Fantastic Fest is the place to be.”
Other major films screening at this year’s Fantastic Fest include “Eileen,” starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway, “The Creator,” from director Gareth Edwards, and “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,” the upcoming prequel film, inspired by the classic novel by Stephen King.
Fantastic Fest 2023 begins on September 21.
To kickoff the promotion of Fantastic Fest 2023, they put together a video teaser, which you can watch below:
You can see the full lineup below:
30 COINS (Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2)
Produced in Spain for HBO Europe, 2023
World Premiere, 110 min
Director – Álex de la Iglesia
Welcome to hell.
100 YARDS
China, 2023
US Premiere, 108 min
Directors – Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng
Shen An wages war on the streets of Tianjin after losing control of his martial arts academy in a humiliating duel with his father’s apprentice.
ACID
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 99 min
Director – Just Philippot
In a world messed up by climate change, a girl and her divorced parents must cross a devastated France under strange clouds pouring acid rain.
THE ALL GOLDEN
Canada, 2023
World Premiere, 64 min
Director – Nate Wilson
In veteran Fantastic Fest filmmaker Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic and labyrinthine deconstructionist satire, a laid-up polyamorous bicycle courier discovers that her older, scholarly boyfriend has been keeping a sinister secret in his closet.
THE ALTMAN METHOD
Israel, 2022
North American Premiere, 101 min
Director – Nadav Aronowicz
A struggling actress questions her husband’s account of a brutal act of heroism that has won him national recognition and saved his failing business.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 130 min
Director – Thomas Cailley
Emile’s dad moves him to southern France, where his mom is held in a facility for patients afflicted with an illness that mutates them into animals.
ANIMALIA
France, Morocco, Qatar, 2023
Texas Premiere, 91 min
Director – Sofia Alaoui
Separated from her husband during a state of emergency, pregnant Itto is stranded in a village, where she starts to experience mysterious phenomena.
BABY ASSASSINS 2
Japan, 2023
US Premiere, 101 min
Director – Hugo Sakamoto
The Baby Assassins have been suspended from the Assassin Guild and it’s hard to find a new job when you’ve got a fanboy assassin duo out to kill you.
BARK
Germany, 2023
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Marc Schölermann
A businessman tied to a tree deep in the woods struggles to convince an outdoorsman to cut him free after the hunter sets up camp to watch him die.
BLONDE DEATH (Presented by Bleeding Skull)
USA, 1984
World Premiere of Restoration, 98 min
Director – James Dillinger aka James Robert Baker
Bleeding Skull presents a tale of death, drugs, and Disneyland in James Robert Baker’s essential chapter of queer cinema history.
BLOOD DINER
USA, 1987
90 min
Director – Jackie Kong
A brain in a jar orders his cannibal nephews to dismember call girls in their diner’s kitchen to patch together a perfect body for an ancient goddess.
THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 102 min
Director – Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry returns with a tongue-in-cheek satire about an idiosyncratic filmmaker who will do anything to execute his vision.
BUGGED! (Presented by AGFA and Troma)
USA, 1996
82 min
Director – Ronald K. Armstrong
Following a freak lab accident, a woman hires the Dead and Buried Exterminators to rid her house of some overgrown crickets but they all soon realize the bugs are radioactive beasties with a lust for blood!
CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT
USA, Italy, 1980
North American Premiere, 173 min
Art historian Thomas Negovan offers a new cut of one of the most decadent movies ever made, using outtakes to reconcile the film to its original script.
CAPTAIN FAGGOTRON SAVES THE UNIVERSE
Germany, 2023
Texas Premiere, 75 min
Director – Harvey Rabbit
This absurd camp fantasy holds a big old mirror to persecution of homosexuality and queerness throughout history and confronts it in a sometimes musical / always garish comedy.
CENTIPEDE HORROR (Presented by AGFA and Error 4444)
Hong Kong, 1982
94 min
Director – Keith Li
After his sister dies under mysterious circumstances while on vacation, Wai Lun decides to take matters into his own hands. Soon enough, he discovers a family curse, battling wizards, and centipedes.
COBWEB
South Korea, 2023
US Premiere, 135 min
Director – Kim Jee-woon
Director Kim Jee-woon’s ravishing and raucous tale of a director trying to finish his magnum opus in the censorship-prone 1970s Korean film industry.
THE COFFEE TABLE
Spain, 2022
North American Premiere, 90 min
Director – Caye Casas
Sometimes a gaudy coffee table is just a coffee table, and sometimes it’s the catalyst for a nightmarish descent into ruination.
CONANN
France, Luxembourg, Belgium, 2023
US Premiere, 105 min
Director – Bertrand Mandico
Fantastic Fest favorite Bertrand Mandico is back with his uniquely beautiful and bizarre time-traveling spin on the myth of Conan the Barbarian.
CONCRETE UTOPIA
South Korea, 2023
Texas Premiere, 130 min
Director – Um Tae-hwa
A magnetic Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon lead this dark, high-stakes disaster parable of Korea’s fevered obsession with real estate and class forms.
THE CREATOR
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 133 min
Director – Gareth Edwards
From director/co-writer Gareth Edwards (ROGUE ONE, GODZILLA) comes an epic sci-fi action thriller
set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence.
CRUMB CATCHER
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 103 min
Director – Chris Skotchdopole
An anxiety-inducing chamber piece that will make you fondly remember the worst high-pressure sales pitch you’ve ever delivered (or endured).
THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW (Presented by AGFA)
USA, 2023
World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 77 min
Director – Joseph A. Ziemba & Bret Berg
The world premiere 35mm screening of AGFA’s wildest mixtape yet.
THE DEEP DARK
France, 2023
International Premiere, 100 min
Director – Mathieu Turi
A group of coal miners unintentionally free a bloodthirsty creature after accompanying a professor down to a hidden crypt discovered deep in the mine.
DIVINITY
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 88 min
Director – Eddie Alcazar
A mad scientist’s serum grants perfect bodies and immortality, but at a cost: rampant infertility leads to an undying society based only on pleasure.
DOOR
Japan, 1988
North American Premiere, 94 min
Director – Banmei Takahashi
A lonely housewife is held hostage in her own apartment by an increasingly deranged door-to-door salesman in this forgotten home invasion masterpiece.
EILEEN
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 97 min
Director – William Oldroyd
Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 94 min
Director – David Gregory
In the wake of Bruce Lee’s sudden death, film studios rushed to capitalize on the irreplaceable icon, and a new subgenre was born — Bruceploitation.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Episodes 1 & 2)
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 120 min
Director – Mike Flanagan
Roderick Usher, CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, must face his past when brutal and mysterious incidents start affecting his family.
FALLING STARS
USA, 2023
North American Premiere, 80 min
Directors – Richard Karpala & Gabriel Bienczycki
Three brothers set out on the first night of Harvest to check out the desiccated remains of the witch that their friend has buried in the desert.
THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS
Spain, 2023
US Premiere, 97 min
Directors – Burnin’ Percebes
After his best friend falls to his death and shatters into pottery shards, Juan uncovers a secret world of living golems in this offbeat comedy.
FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL VOL. 10
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 85 min
Directors – Joe Pickett & Nick Prueher
Joe Pickett (THE ONION) and Nick Prueher (LATE SHOW) take you on a guided tour through their latest and greatest VHS finds.
FOUR’S A CROWD
Spain, 2022
Texas Premiere, 100 min
Director – Álex de la Iglesia
Two unexpected passengers complicate an Uber driver’s plan to declare his feelings for one of his regular customers during a 300 km drive to Madrid.
A GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ELM TREE
Ireland, 2023
North American Premiere, 75 min
Directors – Skye & Adam Mann
Padraig (James O Healy) is pulled into a dark world of Irish Mythology and magic as he struggles to deal with his past actions.
I’LL CRUSH Y’ALL
Spain, 2023
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Kike Narcea
A retired boxing champion and his dog must defend his family’s country farm from wave after wave of gangsters in this bloody, bare-knuckle brawler.
IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, 2023
Texas Premiere, 97 min
Director – Kenneth Dagatan
A Filipino girl living under Japanese occupation learns the tragic consequences of making deals when a fairy’s gifts extract pounds of flesh.
THE INVISIBLE FIGHT
Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Finland, 2023
North American Premiere, 115 min
Director – Rainer Sarnet
After martial artists take out his Soviet post on the China border, a mechanic seeks kung fu mastery at a monastery in this wuxia-inspired comedy.
JACKDAW
UK, 2023
World Premiere, 97 min
Director – Jamie Childs
Former motocross champion Jack Dawson embarks on a dark odyssey through his decaying Rust Belt town after being double-crossed by the local kingpin.
THE JAR (CHARON)
USA, 1984
World Premiere of Restoration, 85 min
Director – Bruce Tuscano
After hitting an old man with his car, Paul is left with a jar holding a demonic creature that opens a portal to strange worlds and psychotic visions.
KENNEDY
India, 2023
US Premiere, 144 min
Director – Anurag Kashyap
Kennedy works as a contract killer for a corrupt police commissioner with the hope of exacting vengeance on the man who murdered his son.
KILL DOLLY KILL
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 79 min
Director – Heidi Moore
Dolly Deadly is out to win Serial Killer of the Year, and she’ll violate all sense of good taste to snatch the crown and look fabulous while doing it.
KILLING ROMANCE
South Korea, 2023
Texas Premiere, 107 min
Director – Lee Won-suk
A toxic masculinity-bashing karaoke musical phantasmagoria from the magical mind of LEE Won-suk, KILLING ROMANCE will stick in your head for months.
KIM’S VIDEO
USA, UK, France, 2023
Texas Premiere, 86 min
Directors – David Redmon & Ashley Sabin
An aspiring filmmaker with fond memories of browsing the shelves of a defunct NY video store attempts to rescue its singular collection of VHS tapes.
THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Francis Galluppi
A traveling salesman and a waitress face down two murderous bank robbers while waiting for gas at the last pump before a hundred miles of desert.
THE LAST VIDEO STORE
Canada, 2023
World Premiere, 83 min
Directors – Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford
Blaster Video’s only employee teams up with his best customer’s daughter to fight off an onslaught of B-movie baddies made real by a VHS necronomicon.
LETTERS TO THE POSTMAN
UK, England, 2022
US Premiere, 61 min
Director – Felix Dembinski
A naive postman finds himself corresponding with a mysterious woman in Felix Dembinski’s auspicious and bewitching folk fable.
MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW
UK, 2023
North American Premiere, 124 min
Director – Jake West
A hilarious, action-packed documentary chronicling the fascinating life of indie filmmaker Cliff Twemlow and the industry he built in Manchester, UK.
#MANHOLE
Japan, 2023
Texas Premiere, 99 min
Director – Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
The premise is a simple one: After a night of hard drinking on the night before his wedding, a man falls into an open manhole. How will he escape?
MESSIAH OF EVIL (Presented by AGFA and Radiance Films)
USA, 1974
World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 90 min
Directors – Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck
AGFA and Radiance Films present a brand new, restored 35mm print of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’ artful nightmare.
MUSHROOMS
Poland, 2023
World Premiere, 75 min
Director – Paweł Borowski
An old lady stumbles upon a lost couple while picking mushrooms. They beg for help getting out of the forest, but she senses that something is off.
THE NEST (Presented by AGFA and Shout! Factory)
USA, 1988
89 min
Director – Terence H. Winkless
Roaches have never tasted flesh… Until now.
NOWHERE
USA, 1997
Texas Premiere of 4K Restoration, 83 min
Director – Gregg Araki
A bunch of LA teens realize they’re witnessing the apocalypse as they seek out a wild party in this 4K restoration of Gregg Araki’s cult classic.
ONE-PERCENTER
Japan, 2023
North American Premiere, 85 min
Director – Yûdai Yamaguchi
An aging stuntman caught in a brutal feud between yakuza gangs finally shoots the pure action thriller he’s been obsessing over his entire career.
THE ORIGIN
UK, 2023
North American Premiere, 87 min
Director – Andrew Cumming
A group fights for survival against an unknown adversary in this stone age thriller.
THE OTHER LAURENS
Belgium, France, 2023
North American Premiere, 117 min
Director – Claude Schmitz
When his niece shows up at his door looking for help, shaggy-dog P.I. Gabriel Laurens is unwittingly drawn into his twin’s shady criminal underworld.
THE PEOPLE’S JOKER
USA, 2022
Texas Premiere, 92 min
Director – Vera Drew
The Joker finds new purpose in Gotham City after transitioning and opening an illegal comedy club in Vera Drew’s handcrafted superhero genre parody.
PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES
USA, Canada, 2023
World Premiere, 87 min
Director – Lindsey Anderson Beer
In 1969, a young Jud Crandall and his childhood friends band together to confront an ancient evil that has gripped their hometown. PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES is a terrifying prequel based on chapters from Stephen King’s novel “Pet Sematary.”
PROJECT SILENCE
South Korea, 2023
North American Premiere, 101 min
Director – Tae-gon Kim
A car pileup on a foggy bridge pits survivors against a pack of vicious dogs in this satirical horror pitched between THE HOST and TRAIN TO BUSAN.
PROPERTY
Brazil, 2022
North American Premiere, 101 min
Director – Daniel Bandeire
A gang of disenfranchised farmhands traps a traumatized woman in her armored car in Daniel Bandeira’s Brazilian take on the home invasion.
RAGE
Mexico, 2023
North American Premiere, 93 min
Director – Jorge Michel Grau
The only child in a rundown gated community mourns his mother’s death as suspicious events lead him to suspect that his father may be a werewolf.
RESTORE POINT
Czech Republic, 2023
North American Premiere, 108 min
Director – Robert Hloz
A detective investigates a double homicide in a near-future world where technology allows those who die violently to be rebooted from a data backup.
RIDDLE OF FIRE
USA, 2023
US Premiere, 113 min
Director – Weston Razooli
Three children go on an epic quest to uncover the password for their TV, finding themselves in their own video game-like adventure in the real world.
RIVER
Japan, 2023
US Premiere, 86 min
Director – Junta Yamaguchi
Kikaku Theater Group, the team behind our 2021 Audience Award winner BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES, returns with more two-minute time loop hijinks.
THE SACRIFICE GAME
USA/CANADA, 2023
US Premiere, 100 min
Director – Jenn Wexler
Disillusioned demon worshipers end a string of grisly murders by interrupting a boarding school’s quiet Christmas in this ‘70s-era Satanic Panic romp.
SALEM
France, 2023
International Premiere, 115 min
Director – Jean-Bernard Marlin
A former gang member begins to believe that his daughter will be their slum’s new messiah after a rival curses the neighborhood with his dying breath.
SCALA!!!
UK, 2023
North American Premiere, 96 min
Directors – Jane Giles & Ali Catterall
The story behind London’s legendary Scala Cinema, which screened the most outrageous movies before it was sued and shuttered for showing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
SLEEP
South Korea, 2023
US Premiere, 95 min
Director – Jason Yu
Somnambulism takes on a frightful new meaning in this clever, claustrophobic Korean chiller from former Bong Joon-ho assistant director Jason Yu.
SO UNREAL
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 95 min
Director – Amanda Kramer
Amanda Kramer’s documentary collage looks back at the subgenre of films concerned with cyberspace, hackers, and the first days of the internet.
SPOOKTACULAR!
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 105 min
Director – Quinn Monahan
A new documentary tells the warts-and-all story behind America’s first horror theme park, Spooky World.
SRI ASIH: THE WARRIOR
Indonesia, 2022
North American Premiere, 133 min
Director – Upi Avianto
An aspiring boxer discovers she’s a reincarnation of the goddess Asih in this Indonesian superhero movie focused on punching terrible men in the face.
STOPMOTION
UK, 2023
World Premiere, 93 min
Director – Robert Morgan
A stop-motion animator puts up with her overbearing, sick mother in Robert Morgan’s haunting debut.
STRANGE DARLING
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 96 min
Director – JT Mollner
One day in the life of a serial killer.
THE STRANGLER
France, 1970
US Premiere of 2K Restoration, 95 min
Director – Paul Vecchiali
A killer and a detective cross paths as they hunt for an answer to their respective feelings of loneliness in the world premiere of the restoration of this 1970 Giallo.
SUBURBAN TALE
India, 2023
World Premiere, 89 min
Director – Stephen Alexander
A young woman reluctantly returns home for her estranged sister’s wedding only to discover that her family is hiding a possessed boy in their home.
SUITABLE FLESH
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 100 min
Director – Joe Lynch
A casual, intimate encounter with a patient leads a psychologist into the cosmic, kinky world of Lovecraftian horror headlined by Barbara Crampton and Heather Graham.
THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE BARN
Norway, 2023
World Premiere, 96 min
Director – Magnus Martens
After inheriting an old cabin in Norway, an American family moves there with the intention of turning the adjoining barn into a bed and breakfast. They end up disturbing a barn elf who will go to deadly lengths to drive the family away.
TIGER STRIPES
Malaysia, Taiwan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, 2023
US Premiere, 95 min
Director – Amanda Nell Eu
A dreamy horror fairy tale about a teenage girl who notices strange, transformative changes in her body soon after getting her first period.
TOTALLY KILLER
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 106 min
Director – Nahnatchka Khan
When the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) accidentally travels back in time to 1987, determined to stop the killer before he can start.
THE TOXIC AVENGER
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 102 min
Director – Macon Blair
A horrible toxic accident transforms downtrodden janitor Winston Gooze into a new evolution of hero: THE TOXIC AVENGER!
TRIGGERED
Philippines, 2023
North American Premiere, 113 min
Director – Richard V. Somes
Procuring a job as a night watchman as a re-entry back into civilian life, ex-soldier Miguel finds himself caught in a gun battle between a drug cartel and a corrupt police unit.
UFO SWEDEN
Sweden, 2022
North American Premiere, 115 min
Director – Victor Danell
A rebellious teenager seeks out the help of a disgraced meteorologist’s ufology society to locate her father years after he vanished into thin air.
THE UNCLE
Croatia, Serbia, 2022
US Premiere, 104 min
Directors – David Kapac & Andrija Mardešić
A family prepares for their uncle’s Christmas visit, but the festivities are dampened by the fact that he’ll return in a few days to celebrate again.
V/H/S/85
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 110 min
Directors – David Bruckner, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, Mike Nelson, & Scott Derrickson
The iconic found footage series returns with an array of explosive, bloody scares set in a decade obsessed with serial killers and the Satanic Panic.
VERMIN
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 100 min
Director – Sébastien Vaniček
A critter collector’s purchase of a venomous spider turns his entire apartment building into a death trap after it escapes from its shoebox enclosure.
VISITORS (COMPLETE EDITION)
Japan, 2023
World Premiere, 61 min
Director – Kenichi Ugana
A rock ‘n’ roll band drop in unannounced on a friend and find themselves plummeting into a wackadoo reverie of monsters and mayhem.
THE WAIT
Spain, 2023
North American Premiere, 99 min
Director – F. Javier Gutiérrez
The gamekeeper of a wealthy man’s rural hunting grounds accepts a bribe from the local hunting guide, which spirals downward into dire consequences.
WAKE UP
France, 2023
World Premiere, 90 min
Directors – RKSS
Gen Z activists are violently picked off by a deranged night watchman after sneaking into an environmentally destructive big-box furniture store.
WE ARE ZOMBIES
France, Canada, 2023
International Premiere, 80 min
Directors – RKSS
Canadian filmmaker collective RKSS returns with a hilarious, violent take on a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are misunderstood, unalive citizens.
WHAT YOU WISH FOR
USA, 2023
US Premiere, 101 min
Director – Nicholas Tomnay
A down-and-out sous-chef gets more than he bargained for when he steps into the life of an old culinary school pal, a private chef for the über-rich.
WHEN EVIL LURKS
Argentina, Uruguay, 2023
US Premiere, 99 min
Director – Demián Rugna
Two brothers uncover a deadly secret festering in their village and are soon in a race to contain a demon threatening to extinguish their community.
WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS
USA, 2023
US Premiere, 92 min
Directors – John Adams, Zelda Adams, & Toby Poser
After a fatal trespassing incident, Eve steals a terrifying artifact from a fellow carnival performer in the hope of bringing her parents back.
YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME
Australia, 2023
Texas Premiere, 96 min
Directors – Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell
A strange woman desperate for shelter from a harrowing storm picks the wrong trailer to seek refuge… or did she choose exactly right?
YOU’RE NOT ME
Spain, 2023
World Premiere, 98 min
Directors – Marisa Crespo & Moisés Romera
Aitana shows up at her estranged parents’ home for a surprise Christmas visit and discovers they’ve replaced her with a strange live-in caretaker.
YOUR LUCKY DAY
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 89 min
Director – Dan Brown
After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.
