David Bridges
Key Highlights
- Festival Dates: Fantastic Fest takes place from September 18 to 25 in Austin, Texas.
- Unique Films: The festival showcases some of the most bizarre and innovative genre films globally.
- Selection Process: Attendees often rely on personal preferences and gut feelings to choose films.
- Featured Movies: Noteworthy films include Bulk, Vicious, and Bad Haircut.
The most fantastic time of year is here again. io9 is about to head down to Austin, Texas, for a week of fun, messed-up films at Fantastic Fest, one of the coolest, most unique genre film festivals in the entire world. It’s a festival that focuses on only showing the weirdest, most out-there, totally badass films, and we’re excited to jump right in as always.
What makes attending Fantastic Fest difficult, though, is that every single movie sounds awesome. It was curated that way. So how do you choose what to see? Well, this year, as always, a few movies have names you’ve heard of—stuff like the horror sequel Black Phone 2 or the streaming anthology V/H/S/Halloween. But beyond that, you just have to go with your gut.
I’ve been attending Fantastic Fest for about 15 years and, over that time, I’ve come up with my own unique system to pick out which films I want to see most. First, I go through the entire list of feature films and read about every single one. I then rank them based on a) what I think the readers of io9 will be interested in, and b) what I want to watch. Then, I start at the top of the nearly 100-film list and attempt to work my way down it.
What follows are the 15 films currently at the top of that list, which also happen to be a great example of just how weird and wonderful Fantastic Fest can be. The festival runs from September 18 to 25 in Austin, Texas. Click here for more. And stay tuned to io9 for our coverage from the festival.
Bulk
Director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Meg 2) is back with a bonkers-sounding movie about a man who is sent to find someone in a house but realizes that every door in the house opens to a new dimension. As a huge fan of alternate realities, multiple timelines, and all that kind of Primer/Back to the Future Part II stuff, this sounds like that fused with House of Leaves. Sign me up.
Vicious
Dakota Fanning stars in this film that is actually being released by Paramount, but I wasn’t quite aware of it yet. Fanning plays a girl who is presented with a box. Inside the box, she is to put three things: something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves. And, apparently, all hell breaks loose.
Bad Haircut
Getting a haircut can be one of the most relaxing, invigorating things ever. That is, unless it’s a bad one. And in Bad Haircut, not only does someone get a bad haircut, they get it from a barber they slowly realize is completely psychotic and maybe supernatural, and, well, we are in.
Disforia
Teasing shades of Funny Games and Hostel, Disforia is set in a dystopian future where a family is targeted by a group that pays to watch humans torture other humans. Yeah, like I said, Fantastic Fest can be messed up.
Whistle
Director Corin Hardy (The Nun) is at the helm of this simple, scary-sounding movie about a group of students who find a whistle. A whistle that, when you blow it, your death immediately starts coming for you.
Don’t Leave the Kids Alone
Imagine you’re a kid. Your parents just bought a new house and scheduled a babysitter so they can go out. The babysitter cancels. So, your parents leave you home alone for a few hours. What could go wrong? Well, then you find out your new house is haunted, and it’s just you at home? A lot. This is nightmare fuel at its finest.
Appofeniacs
Sean Gunn and Jermaine Fowler lead an ensemble cast in the story of a hacker who causes violent havoc by creating and releasing deepfake videos all over the world.
The Curse
Inspired by films like The Ring and The Grudge, The Curse is about a woman who investigates her friend’s death, only to realize the truth may lie in some sort of social media-driven evil.
A Useful Ghost
All ghosts don’t have to be bad, right? Case in point, this film is about a man who loses his wife, only to discover that she is reincarnated as their vacuum cleaner. The Fantastic Fest site tagged this one with the phrase “vacuum sex.” What else needs to be said?
The Plague
Joel Edgerton co-stars in this film about a group of tight-knit, upper-middle-class kids, many of whom have a mysterious skin disease that infects you if you touch it.
Obsession
A man with a crush on a co-worker buys something that allows him to make one wish. He wishes for the co-worker to like him, which unleashes an otherworldly force neither of them is ready to deal with.
Dolly
Seann William Scott and Ethan Suplee co-star in the film about a couple who are abducted and subsequently put through hell by a murderous psychopath wearing a giant doll mask.
Beast of War
Think of the USS Indianapolis speech from Jaws, but as its own movie. That’s the vibe we get from Beast of War, which follows a group of downed soldiers during World War II who have to deal with a killer shark.
Decorado
Imagine an animated version of The Truman Show with a mouse. That’s what Decorado sounds like, as an animated mouse must try to escape a world he believes to be false.
The Ice Tower
Marion Cotillard stars in a reimagining of The Ice Princess set in the 1970s French film industry. She’s an actress making a version of the story who is befriended by a runaway orphan. What does that even mean? I can’t wait to find out.
And that’s just a few of the movies we’re interested in seeing. Fantastic Fest runs from September 18 to 25, so keep checking io9 for more reactions, reviews, and more.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Brandon Fletcher
