FANTASTIC FEST 2012 First Wave of Films and Mondo Poster Released!

Fantastic Fest has eluded me for so many years now and I finally get to take part. I’m so excited that I am coming out of my skin, which seems appropriate given the subject matter at the fest. What is Fantastic Fest you ask? Well, I’ll tell you, or better yet, Fantastic Fest will tell you, the description from their website is below.

Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past we have presented the world premieres of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, CITY OF EMBER, ZOMBIELAND, and GENTLEMEN BRONCOS, while our guest roster has included such talent as Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Dolph Lundgren, Jemaine Clement, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky and Mike Judge. We also feature world, national and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films. Fantastic Fest is held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas.

My description? Not having been to one yet, I can only imagine it’s every genre fangirl’s dream of a what a film festival can be. Check out the amazing line-up of films below and this stellar Mondo Fantastic Fest Poster by Mike Saputo!

Fantastic Fest 2012 Amazing Mondo Poster

Judgment is coming to Fantastic Fest with the red carpet premiere of DREDD 3D and the festival’s initial lineup of incredible genre films. Fantastic Fest will take place September 20-27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One – a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. Lionsgate will release DREDD 3D in theaters nationwide on September 21, 2012.

Karl Urban stars as ‘Dredd’ in DREDD 3D. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate / Reliance Entertainment

The festival is also pleased to announce the House of Psychotic Women sidebar, hosted by author and former Drafthouse programmer Kier-la Janisse. Kier-la will be introducing each show and signing copies of her book afterwards. House of Psychotic Women is an autobiographical exploration of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films. Anecdotes and memories interweave with film history, criticism, trivia and confrontational imagery to create a reflective personal history and examination of female madness, both onscreen and off.

See below for the initial lineup of films at this year’s festival.

COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES (2011)
US Premiere
Director – Matthias Hoene, 87min
When a badly planned bank robbery and a zombie outbreak collide, hilarity ensues in this balls-out, irreverent British comedy.

DEAD SUSHI (2012)

US Premiere

Director – Noboru Iguchi, 91min

Japanese splatter action comedy is on the menu when director Noboru Iguchi & karate girl Rina Takeda join forces to take on flying killer sushi monsters in DEAD SUSHI!

DREDD 3D (2012)

Gala Premiere

Director: Pete Travis, USA, 98 minutes

The future America is an irradiated waste land. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge

Karl Urban stars as ‘Dredd’ in DREDD 3D. Photo credit: Ilze Kitshoff

THE ENTITY (1982)

Repertory Screening as part of the

House of Psychotic Women series

Director – Sidney J. Furie, 125min

In this controversial film based on a true story, director Furie explores the domestically-abused-woman-as-masochist stereotype by veiling it as a supernatural horror film.

ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY (2012)

US Premiere

Director – Eron Sheean, 101min
Plagued by the memory of the infant son he could not save, geneticist Geoff Burton plunges into a web of intrigue, jealousy and lies in this icily precise thriller.

EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY (2011)
US Premiere
Director – Radu Jude, 107min
A simple domestic dispute becomes an explosive examination of stress in this powerful and unsettling Romanian drama.

I DECLARE WAR (2012)
Regional Premiere
Director – Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson, 91min
A group of exceptionally creative teens gets sucked into their own private Lord of the Flies scenario when an after-school game of “war” turns into a test of loyalty, strategy and friendship.

THE KING OF PIGS (2011)
Texas Premiere
Director – Yeun Sang-Ho, 97min
THE KING OF PIGS is an emotionally punishing animated indie film about a group of friends whose brutal childhoods continue to haunt them as adults.

LE MEMORIA DEL MUERTO (2012)
US Premiere
Director – Valentín Javier Diment, 89min
Alicia undertakes a bizarre cult ritual to restore her deceased husband to life – a ritual that will see her home and friends visited by the spirits of the dead.

THE MAFU CAGE (1978)

Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series

Director – Karen Arthur, 102min

One of the most compelling and uniquely dark films of the psychotic woman subgenre, Karen Arthur’s adaptation of Eric Westphal’s play You and Your Clouds stars Lee Grant as Ellen, an astronomer who lives with her feral sister Cissy (Carol Kane).

PARIS BY NIGHT (2011)
Texas Premiere
Director – Philippe Lefebvre, 100min
Phillippe Lefebvre’s PARIS BY NIGHT is a sleek French cop thriller that follows a pair of vice cops as they patrol the Parisian club scene over the course of a single evening.

ROOM 237 (2012)
Texas Premiere
Director – Rodney Ascher, 102min
Rodney Ascher’s ROOM 237 is a fascinating documentary that explores bizarre theories about the subtext and symbolism underlying Stanley Kubrick’s landmark film THE SHINING.

SECRET CEREMONY (1968)

Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series

Director – Joseph Losey, 105min

In Losey’s underrated SECRET CEREMONY, an aging but still glamourous Elizabeth Taylor stars as Leonora, a prostitute grieving over the death of her daughter in a drowning accident.

THE SHINING (1980)

Repertory Screening

Director – Stanley Kubrick, 142min

Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece features an unhinged performance by Jack Nicholson and a setting that drips with menace. Its imagery and characters have permeated all areas of pop culture throughout the decades, yet the film retains all its power to disturb and terrify.

TOWER BLOCK (2012)
US Premiere
Directors – James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, 87min
The last remaining tenants of a deteriorating, soon-to-be-demolished tower block must band together to survive when a killer with a high-powered sniper rifle starts picking them off through the windows of their flats.

UNIT 7 (Grupo 7) (2012)
Texas Premiere
Director – Alberto Rodriguez, 95min
Alberto Rodriguez’s UNIT 7 is gritty realistic thriller about a crew of narcotics officers in Seville, Spain who go rogue during a citywide crackdown in the years preceding Expo ’92.

WRONG (2011)
Regional Premiere
Director – Quentin Dupieux, 94min
Everyman Dolph Springer’s (Jack Plotnick) world is turned wrong when he awakens at 7:60 one morning to find his beloved dog missing in Quentin’s Dupieux’s latest absurdist opus and follow up to 2010′s killer tire film, RUBBER.

YOUNG GUN IN THE TIME (2012)
US Premiere
Director – Oh Young Doo, 95min
The director of INVASION OF ALIEN BIKINI returns with a quirky, low budget time travel romp filled with sex shops, robot hands and Hawaiian shirts.

I’ll be covering all this amazingness this year along with hopefully a couple more of my colleagues here at Screen Invasion and I can’t wait! Keep an eye out for more updates as we get them!

For the latest in Pop Culture news reviews and interviews follow @CatEdsion and @ScreenInvasion on Twitter! For some of our past festival coverage Click HERE!

What film would you most like to see at Fantastic Fest this year? Share in the comments!

About Cat Edison

Cat plays upright bass, and gets emotionally invested in movie, TV, comic and book characters. She is an Austinite through and through, a huge Zombiephile, a lover of comics, graphic novels, and really anything she can read or watch. Cat has always had a passion for writing and it goes without saying that she has an affinity for film, television, and music. Her best writing comes from the heart, though she works to keep her head in the game as much as possible. Follow Cat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatEdison

Alamo Drafthouse, Cockneys Vs. Zombies, Dead Sushi, DREDD 3D, Errors of the Human Body, Everybody in Our Family, Fantastic Fest, I Declare War, Le Memoria Del Muerto, Mike Saputo, Mondo, PAris by Night, Room 237, Secret Ceremony, The Entity, The King of Pigs, The Mafu Cage, The Shining, Tower Block, Unit 7, Wrong, Young Gun In the Time