Fantastic Fest 2021 Releases First Wave of Genre Programming

For more than a decade, genre fans from around the world have descended on Austin, Texas for a week-long celebration of the best and most ambitious horror, sci-fi, and midnight films the world has to offer at Fantastic Fest, with this year’s festival seeing a return to in-person festivities. Understandably, the coronavirus pandemic saw last year’s plans thwarted, with Fantastic Fest aiming to be bigger and better than ever with the announcement of its first wave of films, which includes Titane, Lamb, and a new 4K restoration of 1981’s Possession. Check out the first wave of films below and head to https://fantasticfest.com/attend to purchase available badges before the event kicks off on September 23rd.

Per press release, “The first wave of films is headlined by the truly extraordinary 2021 Palme D’Or winner Titane from Parasite distributor NEON. It might not have seemed possible to top her staggering debut Raw (Fantastic Fest 2016), but Julia Ducournau has somehow done just that. A poignant study on loneliness, isolation, and gender identity wrapped in a constantly surprising world of body horror, muscle cars, violence, and disco-dancing firemen. Fantastic Fest is so proud to share this singular vision. Fantastic Fest 2021’s opening night party will be dedicated to the instantly iconic visuals of Titane. Muscle cars will be on hand, and metallic-themed or ‘French firefighter’ costumes are highly encouraged. Titane opens in US cinemas on October 1st.

“Mondo Records is also celebrating its 10 year anniversary at Fantastic Fest this year and will be on-hand with a very special Titane soundtrack giveaway ahead of the official Mondo vinyl release later this year. Additionally, on opening night there will also be a Mondo Records pop-up featuring rarities from the vault.

“Additional studio premieres include A24’s Lamb, winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality at Cannes (opening in theaters on October 8th); Bingo Hell, part of the Amazon Studios and Blumhouse Television ‘Welcome to the Blumhouse’ series; and Netflix’s The Trip, starring Noomi Rapace in a delightfully twisted Norwegian mind-bender. The first wave of Fantastic Fest films features 39 titles, showcasing world, US, and regional premieres, and two classic film sidebars.”

“We’re thrilled at how the program is coming together,” says Fantastic Fest Director of Programming Annick Mahnert. “For this Post-Apocalyptic edition, we’ve scoured the four corners of the globe to find weird, silly, terrifying, entertaining and fantastic movies directed by established and emerging filmmakers. Opening this year’s fest with a Palme d’Or winner from a Fantastic Fest alum is a real treat. As always, we also try to find unforgettable repertoire titles, and we couldn’t be happier about hosting the US Premiere of the new restoration of Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession. This first wave is but the tip of the iceberg and we cannot wait to unveil the rest of the program to y’all!”

Sidebar Programming

“The first sidebar will launch Lars Nilsen and Kier-La Janisse’s epic tome Warped and Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive. To celebrate the book, Nilsen and Janisse will present 35mm screenings of some of their all-time favorite exploitation classics, including Snakes and The Visitor.

“The second classic film sidebar comes courtesy of authors Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali, who will be in attendance to debut their new book These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed The World. Hendrix and Poggiali will premiere two of their favorite kung fu classics – Kino Lorber’s brand new 3D DCP of Dynasty 3D as well as the rarely seen Jackie Chan-choreographed Dance of Death. They’ll also host a brand new event called “BingoDome” with the crown jewel of Bruceploitation films, 1977’s The Dragon Lives Again. As Bruce Lee inexplicably fights against Popeye, Clint Eastwood, James Bond, the Godfather, and undead zombies in purgatory, participants mark matching squares on their bingo cards to win fabulous prizes, including signed copies of the new book!

“Also supporting the release, 36 Cinema is presenting Master of the Flying Guillotine with live commentary by RZA, who provided the intro to These Fists Break Bricks. This event will be live-streamed for global audiences online to enjoy. 36 Cinema brings together film screening with live in-depth commentary with directors, actors, critics, and fans. RZA will be joined by film programmer and historian Dan Halsted to dive deep into one of the greatest kung fu movies of all time. The Press Room will also be live-printing Master of the Flying Guillotine posters after the event.

“BingoDome is only the beginning of the movie-themed fun. Fantastic Fest will continue the time-honored tradition of daytime entertainment in The Highball including board game parties and podcast recordings. As each day of movies comes to a close, The Highball really fires up its engines for eight days of raucous parties — live music, karaoke, 100 Best Kills, Fantastic Feud, Scripts Gone Wild, TriviaDome, Nerd Rap, feasts, games, disco-dancing firemen and more, more, more are all being crafted for your delight by the crack Fantastic Fest events team.”

COVID Safety Protocols

• One final note on safety protocols for the event.
• All badge holders will be required to show proof of COVID vaccination.
• Please bring physical or electronic proof of vaccination to check-in. No vaccine, no Fantastic Fest, no exceptions.
• Additionally, masks must be worn at all times indoors when not eating or drinking.

First Wave of Films

After Blue (Dirty Paradise)

• France, 2021
• US Premiere, 130 min
• Director – Bertrand Mandico
• On a mysterious new planet populated entirely by women, teenager Roxy and her mother undergo a fantastical journey in pursuit of a murderous criminal.

Agnes

• USA, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 93 min
• Director – Mickey Reece
• Fantastic Fest favorite Mickey Reece is back with his most ambitious production yet, the story of a headstrong young nun accused of possession and her best friend who’s left to grapple with the aftermath.

Alone With You

• USA, 2021
• World Premiere, 83 min
• Directors – Emily Bennett & Justin Brooks
• As a young woman painstakingly prepares a romantic homecoming for her girlfriend, their apartment begins to feel more like a tomb when voices, shadows, and hallucinations reveal a truth she has been unwilling to face.

Barbarians

• United Kingdom, 2021
• World Premiere, 90 min
• Director – Charles Dorfman
• An alpha male social media influencer and his beta brother meet for an explosive dinner with their significant others – one where secrets are revealed, lives are ruined, and chaos reigns (fox included).

The Beta Test

• USA, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 93 min
• Directors – Jim Cummings & PJ McCabe
• Jim Cummings is back as co-director and star in this pitch-black film biz satire. Cummings revels in the full spectrum of bad behavior, leaving you laughing and gasping in equal measure.

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Beyond the Infinite 2 Minutes

• Japan, 2021
• North American Premiere, 70 min
• Director – Junta Yamaguchi
• Kato is a cafe owner in Kyoto who suddenly finds his bedroom computer screen linked to the one in his cafe, showing him exactly what’s going on downstairs – two minutes in the future. Things get really absurd when his friends find out and devise a way to go … BEYOND THE INFINITE 2 MINUTES.

Bingo Hell

• USA, 2021
• World Premiere, 85 min
• Director – Gigi Saul Guerrero
• The big, steel-toed boot of gentrification won’t stop one determined locally-grown advocate as a new building owner offers Bingo as a portal to financial prosperity – but the price is something far more sinister and much less liberating.

Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest

• Denmark, 2021
• US Premiere, 97 min
• Director – Mads Hedegaard
• Kim Cannon Arm sets out to shatter records by playing Gyruss for 100 hours straight on a single coin and he can’t do it on his own in this funny and philosophical documentary about the importance of friends and community.

Dance of Death

• Taiwan, Hong Kong, 1976
• Repertory Screening, 90 min
• Director – Chi-Hwa Chen
• At the nexus point where Jackie Chan’s star began to rise and Angela Mao’s (Enter the Dragon) was waning, they collaborated on this wild, rarely seen gem. Channeling Chan’s own acrobatic style, Mao avenges the defeat of her teachers using a powerful “dancing girl” kung fu style inspired by the gyrations of brothel attendants.

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Dead & Beautiful

• The Netherlands, Taiwan, 2021
• North American Premiere, 98 min
• Director – David Verbeek
• Five wealthy, fashionable friends wake up from a wild night in Taipei to find they’ve become vampires in David Verbeek’s aesthetically gorgeous thriller.

Dynasty

• Taiwan, Hong Kong, 1977
• Repertory Screening, 92 min
• Director – Chang Mei-chung
• Now! DYNASTY! On the surface it looks like just another indie kung fu flick from Taiwan, but within minutes this crazy train has picked up a full head of steam and is on its way to a Never Never Land of wild weapons, mass mutilation, and major mayhem … all in 3-D!!!

The Exorcism of God

• USA, Mexico, Venezuela, 2021
• World Premiere, 98 min
• Director – Alejandro Hidalgo
• When children in a small Mexican town start dying of demonic possession, the inhabitants seek the help of Father Peter Williams, a priest haunted by a past exorcism gone sinfully wrong. What follows is an epic battle between good and evil.

The Found Footage Phenomenon

• United Kingdom, 2021
• US Premiere, 102 min
• Directors – Sarah Appleton & Phillip Escott
• Whip out your phone cams and prepare to get immersive: Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott’s The Found Footage Phenomenon is a documentary-shaped crash course on the wobbliest horror films out there.

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Hellbender

• USA, 2021
• US Premiere, 82 min
• Directors – Toby Poser, Zelda Adams & John Adams
• Fantastic Fest favorite filmmaking family Toby Poser, John Adams, and Zelda Adams return with their newest creative endeavor Hellbender, a witchy, heavy metal coming-of-age thriller.

Ike Boys

• USA, 2021
• World Premiere, 88 min
• Director – Eric McEver
• Two self-proclaimed geeks and a live-in Japanese foreign exchange student procure a long-lost anime classic that inadvertently turns them into superheroes … just in time for a Y2K-era Kaiju face-off!

King Car

• Brazil, 2021
• US Premiere, 97 min
• Director – Renata Pinheiro
• A young man’s ability to surreally “be one” with cars sparks a revolution that could save transport in his community. When his invention inadvertently accelerates the underlying problems, our hero’s quest must grow bigger than his own personal ambitions.

Knocking

• Sweden, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 78 min
• Director – Frida Kempff
• Molly seems to be the only one who hears strange knocking day and night in her apartment. But she won’t be deterred by unbelievers until she’s discovered the cause of the noises tormenting her.

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Lamb

• Iceland, Sweden, Poland, 2021
• US Premiere, 107 min
• Director – Valdimar Jóhannsson
• On a remote farm in Iceland, a couple that experienced recent loss is caring for their flock of sheep. One day, one of their sheep gives birth to a very peculiar lamb that will change their lives forever.

Last of the Wolves

• Japan, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 139 min
• Director – Kazuya Shiraishi
• A hard-won truce between rival yakuza gangs threatens to erupt into bloody violence when a psychopathic hoodlum is released from prison and vows to avenge the death of his boss.

Let the Wrong One In

• Ireland, 2021
• World Premiere, 97 min
• Director – Conor McMahon
• Sibling rivalry takes on a whole new meaning when one brother is turned into a vampire and has to rely on his younger brother to protect him. Will brotherly love win out or is someone getting staked?

Limbo

• Hong Kong, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 118 min
• Director – Soi Cheang
• A burnt-out cop and a by-the-book young detective team up to catch a vicious serial killer lurking in the garbage-filled alleys of Hong Kong in Soi Cheang’s grimy monochrome masterpiece.

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Mad God

• USA, 2021
• US Premiere, 83 min
• Director – Phil Tippett
• An adventurer descends into a pit reaching the bowels of the Earth, searching for a spot on a crumbling map. On his journey in an apocalyptic world, he meets and fights monsters and creatures out of your worst nightmares in this passion project from stop-motion legend Phil Tippett.

The Marco Effect

• Denmark, 2021
• North American Premiere, 125 min
• Director – Martin Zandlivet
• When Marco, a Romani kid without papers, is caught at the Danish border with the passport of a man who went missing, Detective Carl Mørck from Department Q unknowingly opens Pandora’s Box on what was supposedly a simple case.

Master of the Flying Guillotine presented by 36 Cinema

• Taiwan, Hong Kong, 1975
• Repertory Screening, 93 min
• Director – Jimmy Wang Yu
• A blind assassin armed with a vicious flying guillotine is out to kill the legendary one-armed boxer (martial arts superstar Jimmy Wang Yu). 36 Cinema presents Master of the Flying Gillotine with live commentary by RZA!

Midnight

• South Korea, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 103 min
• Director – KWON Oh-seung
• Discover the twisted nighttime alleys of Seoul in the tense and thrilling MIDNIGHT, the gripping tale of a Deaf woman and the serial killer who has underestimated his opponent.

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Mother Schmuckers

• Belgium, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 70 min
• Director – Lenny Guit & Harpo Guit
• Issachar and Zabulon are two not-so-bright brothers who never manage to do anything right. When they lose Jacques-Janvier, their mom’s beloved dog, she gives them a day to find him … or else. And of course nothing goes smoothly.

Name Above Title

• Portugal, 2020
• North American Premiere, 59 min
• Director – Carlos Conceição
• A serial killer is propelled into fame after he kisses a dying woman who has just thrown herself off a balcony. Viewed by the world as an act of kindness, that gesture may well be hiding something far more sinister.

Once Upon a Time in Uganda

• USA, Uganda, 2021
• World Premiere, 94 min
• Director – Cathryne Czubek & Hugo Perez
• Documenting the rise of Uganda’s Tarantino and his complex relationship with a middle-aged white dude from New York, Once Upon a Time in Uganda tells the amazing story of a micro-film industry making $200 action films that have traveled the world, and how it happened almost by accident.

Possession

• France, Germany, 1981
• US Premiere of 4K Restoration, 124 min
• Director – Andrzej Zulawski
• It took 30 years for people to catch up to Possession‘s bizarre, gelatinous majesty, and now it graces the Fantastic Fest screen in a breathtaking 4K restoration.

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Poupelle of Chimney Town

• Japan, 2020
• US Premiere, 100 min
• Director – Yusuke Hirota
• In this animated adventure, a young chimney sweep meets a sentient pile of junkyard scrap one Halloween night, raising questions about the world outside the isolated, walled-off community the boy has known his entire life.

Preman

• Indonesia, 2021
• Texas Premiere, 91 min
• Director – Randolph Zaini
• After Pandu witnesses a murder by a local gang – the unsavory mini-mob that his father works for – Deaf criminal Sandi has to turn against his own crew and flee town to protect him. Unfortunately, his boss Guru is not about to let go so easily.

The Sadness

• Taiwan, 2021
• US Premiere, 99 min
• Director – Rob Jabbaz
• As Taiwan succumbs to a viral pandemic that transforms ordinary peaceful citizens into sadistic, bloodthirsty maniacs, a young couple must battle to be reunited before they too become infected in this gleefully gory, morally reprehensible late-night splatterfest.

She Will

• United Kingdom, 2021
• North American Premiere, 95 min
• Director – Charlotte Colbert
• After a double mastectomy, actress Veronica Ghent travels to a remote place in Scotland in order to recuperate. However, the land around the retreat radiates with a dark power that will ultimately help liberate her from a traumatic past.

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Snakes

• USA, 1974
• Repertory Screening, 83 min
• Director – Art Names
• An exceedingly odd rural snake revenge movie — made on a zilch budget and scored by electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani — that will make you question your relationship with reality, relativity, and reptiles.

This Is Gwar

• USA, 2021
• World Premiere, 110 min
• Director – Scott Barber
• GWAR is the galaxy’s greatest rock ‘n roll band, an intergalactic troupe of marauders who crash-landed in Antarctica and are committed to rocking your face off. But they’re also a bunch of amazing artists from Virginia determined to put on the wildest, bloodiest show you’ve ever seen. This is how.

Titane

• France, Belgium, 2021
• US Premiere, 108 min
• Director – Julia Ducournau
• A car accident irreparably changes the course of one woman’s life, sending her down a bizarre, twisted path in the search for love and acceptance.

The Trip

• Norway, 2021
• International Premiere, 113 min
• Director – Tommy Wirkola
• A married couple travels to their isolated cabin in the woods for some peace and quiet, with the husband planning to murder his wife. Of course, nothing goes as planned, and things only get worse from there ….

The Visitor

• Italy, USA, 1979
• Repertory Screening, 108 min
• Director – Michael J. Paradise
• This Italian-made horror/soap-opera/psychedelic light show was made to scoop up any stray dollars that The Omen and The Exorcist may have left on the table. Featuring an amazing will-work-for-food cast that includes John Huston as a kind of cosmic child pimp for the lord, Shelley Winters, Lance Henriksen, Sam Peckinpah (!!!), and of course Franco Nero as Jesus Christ.

Yellow Dragon’s Village

• Japan, 2021
• International Premiere, 67 min
• Director – Hugo Sakamoto
• And now for something completely different: Cannibal cultists and vengeful martial artists lead the way as found footage horror gets a cult film makeover courtesy of Hugo Sakamoto’s inventive and spirited debut.

*****

Head to https://fantasticfest.com/attend to purchase available badges before the event kicks off on September 23rd.

Are you looking forward to the festival? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!