Fantastic Fest First Wave Mixes Tim Burton, 'Phantasm' and Insane Bollywood Action

In the press release announcing the first wave of programming for Fantastic Fest, festival (and Alamo Drafthouse) co-founder Tim League declares this year “really wanted to challenge the edges of what ‘genre’ means.” A quick scan of the lineup shows he’s not kidding around.

This may be one of the most wild card filled lineups the fest has ever put together– and that’s saying something considering Fantastic Fest is a world class destination for unpredictable movies. The theme this year is “dishoom!,” which is apparently the sound effect used for punching in old Bollywood movies. I say “apparently,” because Bollywood movies are pretty much a total blind spot for me. This year’s Fantastic Fest promises an education in that regard, offering up some apparently crazy old action movies that have rarely screened in U.S. shores.

Of course there are some bigger, already recognizable titles in the mix, too. Tim Burton premiered Frankenweenie at FF a few years ago and now he’s back with the premiere of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Werner Herzog’s Salt and Fire is playing, as is S is for Stanley, a documentary about Stanley Kubrick through the eyes of the man who was his personal assistant for decades, and The Void, the feature debut from the demented minds behind Bio-Cop and Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove.

This is just the first wave of programming, of course. There will be many, many more movies announced in the weeks leading up to the fest, which is September 22 – 29. And they’re also going to have a special VR showcase this year, which should be pretty damned cool. 

Check it out.

24X36: A MOVIE ABOUT MOVIE POSTERS
Canada, 2016
World Premiere, 83 min
Director – Kevin Burke

Through interviews with art personalities from the past four decades, 24 x 36 examines the birth, death and resurrection of illustrated movie poster art.

A DARK SONG
Ireland, 2016
World Premiere, 99 min
Director – Liam Gavin

Sophia is a determined young woman who hires a weird occultist to perform a ritual which will risk not only their lives and souls, but also the very essence of their being.

ALOYS
Switzerland, France, 2016
US Premiere, 91 min
Director – Tobias Nölle

Aloys Adorn is a lonely private investigator who, after the death of his father, finds himself sucked into a mysterious “telephone walking” game with a mysterious woman who might be his only hope.

AMERICAN HONEY
United States, 2016
Texas Premiere, 158 min
Director – Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold’s first US feature follows 18-year-old Star as she leaves her home in Oklahoma and goes in search of adventure, adulthood and America.

BELIEF: THE POSSESSION OF JANET MOSES
New Zealand, 2015
US Premiere, 89 min
Director – David Stubbs

The true story of the Wainuiomata exorcism provides the basis for David Stubbs’ striking debut feature, a documentary exploring the tragic death of Janet Moses in a traditional Maori exorcism ceremony.

THE CREW
France, 2016
US Premiere, 81 min
Director – Julien Leclercq

It’s bad men versus worse men as thieves face off against dealers in this super slick French heist thriller from the director of Chrysalis and The Assault.

DEAREST SISTER
Laos, France, Estonia, 2016
World Premiere, 100 min
Director – Mattie Do

After moving to the city, a poor woman realizes her recently blinded cousin can not only commune with the dead, but they can provide a path to much-needed wealth.

DOWN UNDER
Australia, 2016
North American Premiere, 87 min
Director – Abraham Forsythe

In the aftermath of massive race riots, two carloads of dim-witted alpha males set off to defend their respective territory with outrageous results in this sharp edged Australian satire.

THE DWARVES MUST BE CRAZY
Thailand, 2016
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Bhin Banloerit

A Thai village of little people is attacked by evil, butt-munching, fart-tracking Krause spirits – floating heads with attached intestines – in this slapstick horror-comedy.

FAULTLESS
France, 2016
North American Premiere, 103 min
Director – Sébastien Marnier

After burning out in Paris, Constance returns to her home town only to find herself in lethal competition with a younger girl for her old job.

FRAUD
United States, 2016
Texas Premiere, 53 min
Director – Dean Fleischer-Camp

A family’s home movies document a desperate crime, and the subsequent bid to escape the consequences in this impressionistic meta-fiction born from the manipulation of hundreds of hours of innocuous uploads to YouTube. An extraordinary feat of editing, a provocative parable of the pursuit of happiness and a disturbing demonstration of the mutability of the stories we share in the Internet age.

THE GREASY STRANGLER
United States, 2016
Special Screening, 93 min
Director – Jim Hosking

Ronnie fears his first love affair is turning his father into a bloodthirsty monster who’s covered in grease and has an 18-inch penis that looks like a dead chicken.

JUNGLE TRAP : Highlight By New Movie Releases DVD Bleeding Skull
United States, 1990/2016
World Premiere, 80 min
Director – James Bryan

Exploitation demigod James Bryan’s massively entertaining, decapitation-fueled shot-on-video horror masterpiece about a jungle hotel haunted by kill-crazy ghosts in loin cloths, shot in 1990 and unreleased until THIS VERY MOMENT.

KHALNAYAK
India, 1993
Repertory Screening, 190 min
Director – Subhash Ghai

Ballu is an unrepentant gangster who has dedicated his life to the celebration of villainy. He is a bad, bad man and not ashamed one bit. However, with the help of his mother and a sympathetic cop, Ballu will rise above his circumstances to gain satisfying redemption.

MAGADHEERA
India, 2009
Repertory Screening, 157 min
Director – S.S. Rajamouli

Harsha, a dirt bike racer, lives for thrills. One day he crosses paths with Indu, a girl with whom he feels strangely connected. Through this bond, Harsha discovers his hidden identity: a reincarnated warrior king.

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN
United States, 2016
Special Screening, 123 min
Director – Tim Burton

From visionary director Tim Burton, and based upon the best-selling novel, comes an unforgettable motion picture experience. When Jake discovers clues to a mystery that spans alternate realities and times, he uncovers a secret refuge known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As he learns about the residents and their unusual abilities, Jake realizes that safety is an illusion, and danger lurks in the form of powerful, hidden enemies. Jake must figure out who is real, who can be trusted, and who he really is.

ORIGINAL COPY
Germany, 2016
Texas Premiere, 95 min
Directors – Florian Heinzen-Ziob and Georg Heinzen

In the heart of Mumbai, behind the screen of one of the last Hindi Film cinemas, lives Sheik Rahman, the city’s last painter of film posters. This is his story.

PHANTASM: REMASTERED (1979)
United States, 1979
Special Screening, 88 min
Director – Don Coscarelli

One of the most influential and important horror films of all time, Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm returns to Alamo Drafthouse’s screens in a gorgeous 4k remaster.

PHANTASM: RAVAGER
United States, 2016
World Premiere, 87
Director – David Hartman

The fifth and final film in the classic Phantasm film series, Phantasm Ravager follows our intrepid everyman hero Reggie on his quest across dark dimensions as he struggles to confront and vanquish the sinister Tall Man.

POPOZ
The Netherlands, 2015
International Premiere, 85 min
Directors- Erwin van de Eshof & Martijn Smits

Festival favorite Huub Smit (New Kids Nitro; New Kids Turbo; Bros Before Hos) stars as a Dutch cop raised on far too many American action films in this outrageous action comedy.

PSYCHO RAMAN
India, 2016
US Premiere, 127 min
Director – Anurag Kashyap

Raghavan is a cop: brutal, violent, and drug-addicted. Ramanna is a criminal: psychotic, unpredictable, and vicious. It’s only a matter of time before they meet and when they do, Mumbai’s slums will be colored deep crimson.

SALT AND FIRE
Mexico, 2016
North American Premiere, 93 min
Director – Werner Herzog

Herzog’s most wildly unpredictable film, Salt and Fire is a meticulously slow burning, quasi-ecological thriller punctuated by moments of the lyrically poetic and the inexplicably, outrageously absurd.

S IS FOR STANLEY
Italy, 2016
North American Premiere, 82 min
Director – Alex Infascelli

Alex Infascelli’s documentary about Emilio D’Alessandro, Stanley Kubrick’s personal assistant for more than thirty years, which provides never-before-seen insight into the private auteur.

THE VOID
Canada, 2016
World Premiere, 90 min
Directors – STEVEN KOSTANSKI & JEREMY GILLESPIE

Trapped in a hospital with a handful of people, a small town sheriff finds himself caught up in the demented plot of a death-obsessed madman.

WE ARE THE FLESH
Mexico, 2016
Texas Premiere, 80 min
Director – Emiliano Rocha Minter

Somewhere within a ruined city, a man makes an offer to a pair of siblings who wander into his abandoned building: food and shelter in exchange for building a strange room…

ZOOLOGY
Russia, France, Germany, 2016
US Premiere, 87 min
Director – Ivan I. Tverdovsky

Natasha is a lonely, middle-aged woman who still lives with her mother and feels insecure about her tedious life… until she grows a tail. 

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