FANTASTIC FEST 2024 is Almost Here!

Fantastic Fest is back for its 19th edition, bringing you a cavalcade of cinematic wonders from around the globe. Featuring 28 World Premieres, 23 International and North American Premieres, and 15 U.S. Premieres that are guaranteed to delight and surprise you, complemented by jaw-dropping events and spectacular special guests. Join film fans from all over at the world-famous Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX, from September 19th- 26th. Badges are available now at FantasticFest.com.

I’ll be covering the fest remotely this year, previewing and reviewing as many films as I can here on the Splatter blog and on @iloveplatter’s Instagram. Below are my picks for what I am MOST EXCITED ABOUT!!!!

APARTMENT 7A, Directed by Natalie Erika James
This hotly anticipated prequel to Rosemary’s Baby starts Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest, which is frankly more than enough reason for me to check it out! I’m also a fan of Erika James’ film RELIC.

An ambitious young dancer, Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner), dreams of fame and fortune in New York City, but after suffering a devastating injury, an older, wealthy couple (Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally) welcomes her into their home in the luxury apartment building, the Bramford. When fellow resident and influential Broadway producer (Jim Sturgess) offers her another chance at fame, it seems that all her dreams are finally coming true. However, after an evening she can’t fully remember, disturbing circumstances soon have her second-guessing the sacrifices she’s willing to make for her career as she realizes that something evil is living not only in apartment 7A but in the Bramford itself.

ANIMALE, Directed by Emma Benestan
Nejma works at a bull farm and aspires to become a bullfighter, competing in an arena that is a mostly male environment. Training hard, she also needs to prove to the men that she’s worthy and fast enough. After her first run, she parties with her co-workers until late and, while drunk, gets attacked in a field after wanting to see and challenge the bulls. She wakes up in bed the next morning, sore and injured, with no memory of what happened. Very quickly, she starts experiencing physical and sensory perception changes.

Sounds awesome! And also this last line SOLD ME: ANIMALE is a fantastic film about a woman who fights back against a world of toxic masculinity. (ANNICK MAHNERT)

CHAIN REACTIONS, Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe
Fifty years after Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE shocked the world and forever changed the face of global cinema and popular culture, CHAIN REACTIONS charts the film’s profound impact and lasting influence on five great artists—Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King, and Karyn Kusama—through early memories, sensory experiences, and childhood trauma. By crafting a dynamic dialogue between contemporary footage and never-before-seen outtakes and delving into personal impressions triggered by distinct audiovisual formats (16mm, 35mm, VHS, digital), CHAIN REACTIONS goes to the heart of how a scruffy, no-budget independent film wormed its way into our collective nightmares and permanently altered the zeitgeist. 

YES, yes, and YES. Get this into my eyeballs.

DANIELA FOREVER, Directed by Nacho Vigalondo
Nicolas (Henry Golding) is mourning the loss of his girlfriend (Beatrice Grannò) when he is offered an experimental new drug to help recover. While intended to help sustain lucid dreaming, it has the side effect of allowing a person to relive their memories. Nicolas begins to dwell on his past remembrances with Daniela when the dream state begins to change.

Daniela begins to ask after her own needs and wishes, and Nicolas sees a way to continue their relationship in his mind. They create concerts they never attended, a haunted house volunteer shift with a very funny costume, and dates that they twist and build from Nicolas’ memory. As Nicolas begins a friendship with Daniela’s ex-girlfriend, Teresa, out in the real world and Daniela’s dream memory self starts to push against the boundaries of Nicolas’ mindspace, Nicolas will have to decide how far he is willing to indulge in this fantasy.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vibes are ALWAYS WELCOME!

THE DRAFT, Directed by Yusron Fuadi
Five college students—the jock, the nerd, the pretty one, the rich one, and the popular one—embark on a weekend trip to an isolated cabin. When they arrive, a mysterious older man gives them a cryptic warning about staying there, and later, strange and mysterious events begin happening around them.

Without spoiling too much, this blend of CABIN IN THE WOODS, SCREAM, and a Kurt Vonnegut novel takes multiple dizzying turns as the danger and the body count grow. THE DRAFT! is full of gruesome kills, bizarre plot contrivances, and an ever-shifting cinematic geography. This Indonesian horror-comedy is well-versed in the genre’s tropes and cinematic grammar, and delights in subverting and honoring them in equal measure. A fist-pumping, inspirational ode to the challenges of filmmaking and a no-holds-barred, gruesome kill machine.

You had me at ‘gruesome kills’ …

DRAGON DILATION, Directed by Bertrand Mandico
Bertrand Mandico fans, rejoice! In DRAGON DILATATION, Mandico pushes his trippy visual style a step further, with the entire film presented in split screen. Mandico presents his interpretation of two famous works: Stravinsky’s ballet PETROUCHKA and Dante’s THE DIVINE COMEDY. While the film is technically two shorter films stitched together, they flow together, united by Mandico’s signature gorgeous set designs, always-shot-on-film cinematography, and a fantastical cast of characters.

OH HELL YES! I am absolutely OBSESSED with Mandico’s work — cannot wait to see this one!

FRANKIE FREAKO, Directed by Steven Kostanski
After the success of GREMLINS, the market for movies about weird li’l guys was booming. Full Moon Pictures built a direct-to-video empire exploiting that craze alone with li’l ghouls (GHOULIES), li’l dinosaurs (PREHYSTERIA), and li’l dollmen (DOLLMAN), to name a few. Writer/director Steven Kostanski (PSYCHO GOREMAN) channels that singular energy into his latest practical effect-laden opus, FRANKIE FREAKO.

It’s 1991. Vanilla yuppie Conor Sweeney is perfectly content with a hum-drum job and home life. When his comically attractive wife challenges his worldview, Conor becomes entranced by an infomercial about Frankie Freako, a rock n’ roll goblin that promises to turn your life upside down.

As a rabid fan of Psycho Goreman, I am 100% in for whatever this film brings me!!!

NEVER LET GO, Directed by Alexandre Aja
In this new psychological thriller/horror, as an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother, played by Academy Award® winner Halle Berry (Actress in a Leading Role, 2001 – MONSTER’S BALL), and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond. Needing to stay connected at all times – even tethering themselves with ropes – they cling to one another, urging each other to never let go. But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival.

Okay, yes! This sounds INTRIGUING.

THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, Directed by James Ashcroft
A truly demented, shifty thriller that pits venerable character actors Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow against one another with the gloves off. After Rush, a miserly judge, suffers a stroke in the middle of a court sentencing, his lapsed insurance lands him in a public care facility. Humiliated by his declining health and the condition of his surroundings, he quickly cements himself as the hospital crank. Enter Lithgow, channeling a type of mega-acting villainy that rivals his turns in De Palma’s RAISING CAIN and the trash action programmer RICOCHET, as a fellow patient who carries his beloved puppet, Jenny Pen, atop his hand. By day, he cracks wise with the staff; by night, he terrorizes patients with a litany of degradations that are best left for you to discover on-screen. Will a man of the law be a victim to this degree of insidious gaslighting?

THE CAST ALONE, Y’ALL!

V/H/S BEYOND, Directed by Jordan Downey, Christian Long & Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, Kate Siegel, and Jay Cheel
V/H/S/BEYOND, the seventh installment of the V/H/S franchise will feature six new bloodcurdling tapes, placing horror at the forefront of a sci-fi-inspired hellscape. 

I’m just here for Kate Siegel’s directorial debut. (jk jk jk jk I watch all the V/H/S films!)

WHAT HAPPENED TO DOROTHY BELL?, Directed by Danny Villanueva Jr.
As Ozzie Gray (Asya Meadows) begins to understand her own struggle with mental health as an adult, she realizes that her grandmother’s violent attack on her when she was a young child has more to reveal about her past and self. After journeying back to a haunted library in her hometown associated with an urban legend, Ozzie confronts the secrets kept from her and a terrifying supernatural threat.

The film employs an all-star cast of genre legends to tell the story, including Lisa Wilcox (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4 and 5) and Michael Hargrove (Nia DaCosta’s CANDYMAN). The influence of these two horror classics extends beyond the cast, with Villanueva Jr.’s film featuring a slew of dreamlike, magical kills.

Dreamlike, magical kills, you say?!?

A few other things on my radar: CHILDREN OF THE WICKER MAN, Directed by
Justin Hardy, a documentary that focuses on how the film’s creator/director Robin Hardy sacrificed his personal, financial, and paternal duties in pursuit of a film he believed would change his fortune and the trajectory of his career; QUEENS OF DRAMA, Directed by Alexis Langlois, described as “a high-camp musical of purple, pink, and glitter”; MR. CROCKET, Directed by Brandon Espy, about a grieving family who finds a mysterious VHS tape for a children’s television show called Mr. Crocket’s World left in their mailbox; DON’T MESS WITH GRANDMA, Directed by Jason Krawczyk — I mean, the title says it all; WILL & HARPER, Directed by Josh Greenbaum, about the close friendship of Will Ferrell and Harper Steele; a restored version of THE FALL, Directed by Tarsem Singh, aka the most beautiful film EVER MADE — plus 10-year (!!!) anniversary screenings of THE BABADOOK, Directed by Jennifer Kent, and THE GUEST, Directed by Adam Wingard.