FANTASTIC FEST is an annual genre film festival held in Austin, Texas, known for showcasing a wide array of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, and other niche films. Launched in 2005, it has grown into one of the most popular genre festivals globally, attracting filmmakers, industry professionals, and film enthusiasts from around the world. The festival is organised by the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and often includes world premieres, screenings of highly anticipated indie films, and rare cult classics.
Having its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest is probably the most anticipated horror film of the year – Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3. Art The Clown is back, and this time he is ready to deck the halls with blood and guts as he terrorises a small town on Christmas Eve. Rumoured to be even gorier than its predecessors, the third instalment of the trilogy will hopefully cement itself as a classic yuletide horror watch for years to come.
Also having its world premiere is Strange Harvest: Occult Murder In The Inland Empire directed by Stuart Ortiz (Grave Encounters, Extraterrestrial). Taking on a true-crime documentary style, police investigate a horrific ritual-like homicide that links to a serial killer case that had gone cold for fifteen years previously.
Yusron Fuadi’s Indonesian horror comedy The Draft! has its international premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024, and with its off-kilter portrayal of what one would expect to be a typical “cabin in the woods” style horror film, The Draft! feels like it could be a thoroughly enjoyable ode to the beloved tropes of the genre.
Directed by Benjamin Barfoot, Daddy’s Head will be hitting the streaming service Shudder but not before having its world premiere at this year’s fest. After the death of his father, a young boy moves with his stepmother into a country estate. With the house full of tension, the boy begins to receive visits from a horrific creature that bears an uncanny resemblance to his late father.
The seventh instalment in the V/H/S franchise – V/H/S Beyond – gets its world premiere at Fantastic Fest this year. The anthology features six shorts from directors Jordan Downey, Christian Long & Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, Kate Siegel, and Jay Cheel which all centre around a science-fiction style hellscape.
The long awaited prequel to Rosemary’s Baby (1968) will be screening at this year’s film festival for its world premiere. Apartment 7A, directed by Natalie Erika James, stars Julia Garner (Ozark) as a young Broadway dancer who moves in with an elderly couple into the Bramford luxury apartment building after suffering from a career-ending injury. When mysterious and disturbing experiences begin to haunt her, the young dancer must decide if her career and success are ultimately worth her sacrifices.
From the ingenious mind behind L’Interieur (2007) and The Hills Have Eyes (2006) comes Never Let Go. The psychological thriller directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Halle Berry sees a mother desperately cling to her twin sons after the world has been ravaged by a terrifying evil. Despite her plan to physically tether her sons to her to keep them safe, her children begin to question the world outside, pulling them further and further away from their mother’s reach.
Fantastic Fest will happen from Sept. 19th - 26th, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar cinema, Austin, Texas. Visit the website here .
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