It’s nearly time to take a trip to the dark side, and not the George Lucas kind. Fantastic Fest is the premier place for lovers of genre films and particularly horror films. The 18th edition of the film festival kicks off in Austin, Texas from September 21st-28th. Badges are on sale right now at FantasticFest.com.

“The Fantastic Fest team is ready to take you on a journey you won’t ever forget. We’ve taken the best week of the year and supercharged it: more movies, more parties, more fun,” says Festival Director Lisa Dreyer. “If you want to see the best new movies from around the world first with the best audience, Fantastic Fest is the place to be.”

Some of the major world premieres include The Toxic Avenger, The Creator, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, and more.

The Full Fantastic Fest 2023 Lineup

30 COINS (Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2)

Produced in Spain for HBO Europe, 2023

World Premiere, 110 min

Director – Álex de la Iglesia

Welcome to hell.

100 YARDS

China, 2023

US Premiere, 108 min

Directors – Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng

Shen An wages war on the streets of Tianjin after losing control of his martial arts academy in a humiliating duel with his father’s apprentice.

ACID

France, 2023

North American Premiere, 99 min

Director – Just Philippot 

In a world messed up by climate change, a girl and her divorced parents must cross a devastated France under strange clouds pouring acid rain.

THE ALL GOLDEN

Canada, 2023

World Premiere, 64 min

Director – Nate Wilson

In veteran Fantastic Fest filmmaker Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic and labyrinthine deconstructionist satire, a laid-up polyamorous bicycle courier discovers that her older, scholarly boyfriend has been keeping a sinister secret in his closet.

THE ALTMAN METHOD

Israel, 2022

North American Premiere, 101 min

Director – Nadav Aronowicz

A struggling actress questions her husband’s account of a brutal act of heroism that has won him national recognition and saved his failing business.

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

France, 2023

North American Premiere, 130 min

Director – Thomas Cailley

Emile’s dad moves him to southern France, where his mom is held in a facility for patients afflicted with an illness that mutates them into animals.

ANIMALIA

France, Morocco, Qatar, 2023

Texas Premiere, 91 min

Director – Sofia Alaoui

Separated from her husband during a state of emergency, pregnant Itto is stranded in a village, where she starts to experience mysterious phenomena.

BABY ASSASSINS 2

Japan, 2023

US Premiere, 101 min

Director – Hugo Sakamoto

The Baby Assassins have been suspended from the Assassin Guild and it’s hard to find a new job when you’ve got a fanboy assassin duo out to kill you.

BARK

Germany, 2023

World Premiere, 90 min

Director – Marc Schölermann

A businessman tied to a tree deep in the woods struggles to convince an outdoorsman to cut him free after the hunter sets up camp to watch him die.

BLONDE DEATH (Presented by Bleeding Skull)

USA, 1984

World Premiere of Restoration, 98 min

Director – James Dillinger aka James Robert Baker

Bleeding Skull presents a tale of death, drugs, and Disneyland in James Robert Baker’s essential chapter of queer cinema history.

BLOOD DINER

USA, 1987

90 min

Director – Jackie Kong

A brain in a jar orders his cannibal nephews to dismember call girls in their diner’s kitchen to patch together a perfect body for an ancient goddess.

THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS

France, 2023

North American Premiere, 102 min

Director – Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry returns with a tongue-in-cheek satire about an idiosyncratic filmmaker who will do anything to execute his vision.

BUGGED! (Presented by AGFA and Troma)

USA, 1996

82 min 

Director – Ronald K. Armstrong

Following a freak lab accident, a woman hires the Dead and Buried Exterminators to rid her house of some overgrown crickets but they all soon realize the bugs are radioactive beasties with a lust for blood!

CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT

USA, Italy, 1980

North American Premiere, 173 min

Art historian Thomas Negovan offers a new cut of one of the most decadent movies ever made, using outtakes to reconcile the film to its original script.

CENTIPEDE HORROR (Presented by AGFA and Error 4444)

Hong Kong, 1982

94 min

Director – Keith Li

After his sister dies under mysterious circumstances while on vacation, Wai Lun decides to take matters into his own hands. Soon enough, he discovers a family curse, battling wizards, and centipedes.

COBWEB

South Korea, 2023

US Premiere, 135 min

Director – Kim Jee-woon

Director Kim Jee-woon’s ravishing and raucous tale of a director trying to finish his magnum opus in the censorship-prone 1970s Korean film industry.

THE COFFEE TABLE

Spain, 2022

North American Premiere, 90 min

Director – Caye Casas

Sometimes a gaudy coffee table is just a coffee table, and sometimes it’s the catalyst for a nightmarish descent into ruination.

CONANN

France, Luxembourg, Belgium, 2023

US Premiere, 105 min

Director – Bertrand Mandico

Fantastic Fest favorite Bertrand Mandico is back with his uniquely beautiful and bizarre time-traveling spin on the myth of Conan the Barbarian.

CONCRETE UTOPIA

South Korea, 2023

Texas Premiere, 130 min

Director – Um Tae-hwa

A magnetic Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon lead this dark, high-stakes disaster parable of Korea’s fevered obsession with real estate and class forms.

THE CREATOR

USA, 2023

Texas Premiere, 133 min

Director – Gareth Edwards

From director/co-writer Gareth Edwards (ROGUE ONE, GODZILLA) comes an epic sci-fi action thriller

set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence.

CRUMB CATCHER

USA, 2023

World Premiere, 103 min

Director – Chris Skotchdopole

An anxiety-inducing chamber piece that will make you fondly remember the worst high-pressure sales pitch you’ve ever delivered (or endured).

THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW (Presented by AGFA)

USA, 2023

World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 77 min

Director – Joseph A. Ziemba & Bret Berg

The world premiere 35mm screening of AGFA’s wildest mixtape yet.

THE DEEP DARK

France, 2023

International Premiere, 100 min

Director – Mathieu Turi

A group of coal miners unintentionally free a bloodthirsty creature after accompanying a professor down to a hidden crypt discovered deep in the mine.

DIVINITY

USA, 2023

Texas Premiere, 88 min

Director – Eddie Alcazar

A mad scientist’s serum grants perfect bodies and immortality, but at a cost: rampant infertility leads to an undying society based only on pleasure.

DOOR

Japan, 1988

North American Premiere, 94 min

Director – Banmei Takahashi

A lonely housewife is held hostage in her own apartment by an increasingly deranged door-to-door salesman in this forgotten home invasion masterpiece.

EILEEN

USA, 2023

Texas Premiere, 97 min

Director – William Oldroyd

Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.

ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE

USA, 2023

Texas Premiere, 94 min

Director – David Gregory

In the wake of Bruce Lee’s sudden death, film studios rushed to capitalize on the irreplaceable icon, and a new subgenre was born — Bruceploitation.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Episodes 1 & 2)

USA, 2023

World Premiere, 120 min

Director – Mike Flanagan

Roderick Usher, CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, must face his past when brutal and mysterious incidents start affecting his family.

FALLING STARS

USA, 2023

North American Premiere, 80 min

Directors – Richard Karpala & Gabriel Bienczycki

Three brothers set out on the first night of Harvest to check out the desiccated remains of the witch that their friend has buried in the desert.

THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS

Spain, 2023

US Premiere, 97 min

Directors – Burnin’ Percebes

After his best friend falls to his death and shatters into pottery shards, Juan uncovers a secret world of living golems in this offbeat comedy.

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL VOL. 10

USA, 2023

Texas Premiere, 85 min

Directors – Joe Pickett & Nick Prueher

Joe Pickett (THE ONION) and Nick Prueher (LATE SHOW) take you on a guided tour through their latest and greatest VHS finds.

FOUR’S A CROWD

Spain, 2022

Texas Premiere, 100 min

Director – Álex de la Iglesia

Two unexpected passengers complicate an Uber driver’s plan to declare his feelings for one of his regular customers during a 300 km drive to Madrid.

A GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ELM TREE

Ireland, 2023

North American Premiere, 75 min

Directors – Skye & Adam Mann

Padraig (James O Healy) is pulled into a dark world of Irish Mythology and magic as he struggles to deal with his past actions.

I’LL CRUSH Y’ALL

Spain, 2023

World Premiere, 92 min

Director – Kike Narcea

A retired boxing champion and his dog must defend his family’s country farm from wave after wave of gangsters in this bloody, bare-knuckle brawler.

IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN

Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, 2023

Texas Premiere, 97 min

Director – Kenneth Dagatan

A Filipino girl living under Japanese occupation learns the tragic consequences of making deals when a fairy’s gifts extract pounds of flesh.

THE INVISIBLE FIGHT

Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Finland, 2023

North American Premiere, 115 min

Director – Rainer Sarnet

After martial artists take out his Soviet post on the China border, a mechanic seeks kung fu mastery at a monastery in this wuxia-inspired comedy.

JACKDAW

UK, 2023

World Premiere, 97 min

Director – Jamie Childs

Former motocross champion Jack Dawson embarks on a dark odyssey through his decaying Rust Belt town after being double-crossed by the local kingpin.

THE JAR (CHARON)

USA, 1984

World Premiere of Restoration, 85 min

Director – Bruce Tuscano

After hitting an old man with his car, Paul is left with a jar holding a demonic creature that opens a portal to strange worlds and psychotic visions.

KENNEDY

India, 2023

US Premiere, 144 min

Director – Anurag Kashyap

Kennedy works as a contract killer for a corrupt police commissioner with the hope of exacting vengeance on the man who murdered his son.

KILL DOLLY KILL

USA, 2023

World Premiere, 79 min

Director – Heidi Moore

Dolly Deadly is out to win Serial Killer of the Year, and she’ll violate all sense of good taste to snatch the crown and look fabulous while doing it.

KILLING ROMANCE

South Korea, 2023

Texas Premiere, 107 min

Director – Lee Won-suk

A toxic masculinity-bashing karaoke musical phantasmagoria from the magical mind of LEE Won-suk, KILLING ROMANCE will stick in your head for months.

KIM’S VIDEO

USA, UK, France, 2023

Texas Premiere, 86 min

Directors – David Redmon & Ashley Sabin

An aspiring filmmaker with fond memories of browsing the shelves of a defunct NY video store attempts to rescue its singular collection of VHS tapes.

THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY

USA, 2023

World Premiere, 90 min

Director – Francis Galluppi

A traveling salesman and a waitress face down two murderous bank robbers while waiting for gas at the last pump before a hundred miles of desert.

THE LAST VIDEO STORE

Canada, 2023

World Premiere, 83 min

Directors – Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford

Blaster Video’s only employee teams up with his best customer’s daughter to fight off an onslaught of B-movie baddies made real by a VHS necronomicon.

LETTERS TO THE POSTMAN

UK, England, 2022

US Premiere, 61 min

Director – Felix Dembinski

A naive postman finds himself corresponding with a mysterious woman in Felix Dembinski’s auspicious and bewitching folk fable.

MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW

UK, 2023

North American Premiere, 124 min

Director – Jake West

A hilarious, action-packed documentary chronicling the fascinating life of indie filmmaker Cliff Twemlow and the industry he built in Manchester, UK.

#MANHOLE

Japan, 2023

Texas Premiere, 99 min

Director – Kazuyoshi Kumakiri

The premise is a simple one: After a night of hard drinking on the night before his wedding, a man falls into an open manhole. How will he escape?

MESSIAH OF EVIL (Presented by AGFA and Radiance Films)

USA, 1974

World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 90 min

Directors – Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck

AGFA and Radiance Films present a brand new, restored 35mm print of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’ artful nightmare.

MUSHROOMS

Poland, 2023

World Premiere, 75 min

Director – Paweł Borowski

An old lady stumbles upon a lost couple while picking mushrooms. They beg for help getting out of the forest, but she senses that something is off.

THE NEST (Presented by AGFA and Shout! Factory)

USA, 1988

89 min

Director – Terence H. Winkless

Roaches have never tasted flesh… Until now.

NOWHERE

USA, 1997

Texas Premiere of 4K Restoration, 83 min

Director – Gregg Araki

A bunch of LA teens realize they’re witnessing the apocalypse as they seek out a wild party in this 4K restoration of Gregg Araki’s cult classic.

ONE-PERCENTER

Japan, 2023

North American Premiere, 85 min

Director – Yûdai Yamaguchi

An aging stuntman caught in a brutal feud between yakuza gangs finally shoots the pure action thriller he’s been obsessing over his entire career.

THE ORIGIN

UK, 2023

North American Premiere, 87 min

Director – Andrew Cumming

A group fights for survival against an unknown adversary in this stone age thriller.

THE OTHER LAURENS

Belgium, France, 2023

North American Premiere, 117 min

Director – Claude Schmitz

When his niece shows up at his door looking for help, shaggy-dog P.I. Gabriel Laurens is unwittingly drawn into his twin’s shady criminal underworld.

THE PEOPLE’S JOKER

USA, 2022

Texas Premiere, 92 min

Director – Vera Drew

The Joker finds new purpose in Gotham City after transitioning and opening an illegal comedy club in Vera Drew’s handcrafted superhero genre parody.

PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES

USA, Canada, 2023

World Premiere, 87 min

Director – Lindsey Anderson Beer

In 1969, a young Jud Crandall and his childhood friends band together to confront an ancient evil that has gripped their hometown. PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES is a terrifying prequel based on chapters from Stephen King’s novel “Pet Sematary.”

PROJECT SILENCE

South Korea, 2023

North American Premiere, 101 min

Director – Tae-gon Kim

A car pileup on a foggy bridge pits survivors against a pack of vicious dogs in this satirical horror pitched between THE HOST and TRAIN TO BUSAN.

PROPERTY

Brazil, 2022

North American Premiere, 101 min

Director – Daniel Bandeire

A gang of disenfranchised farmhands traps a traumatized woman in her armored car in Daniel Bandeira’s Brazilian take on the home invasion.

RAGE

Mexico, 2023

North American Premiere, 93 min

Director – Jorge Michel Grau

The only child in a rundown gated community mourns his mother’s death as suspicious events lead him to suspect that his father may be a werewolf.

RESTORE POINT

Czech Republic, 2023

North American Premiere, 108 min

Director – Robert Hloz

A detective investigates a double homicide in a near-future world where technology allows those who die violently to be rebooted from a data backup.

RIDDLE OF FIRE

USA, 2023

US Premiere, 113 min

Director – Weston Razooli

Three children go on an epic quest to uncover the password for their TV, finding themselves in their own video game-like adventure in the real world.

RIVER

Japan, 2023

US Premiere, 86 min

Director – Junta Yamaguchi

Kikaku Theater Group, the team behind our 2021 Audience Award winner BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES, returns with more two-minute time loop hijinks.

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