Fantastic Fest 2008

When most film series reach their fourth episode, one usually expects the creative crew to be on autopilot and give the audience the same-old, same-old; to not do anything new or challenging that would drive viewers away. In fact, only a complete nutter would make the fourth film in a series the bleakest and darkest of them all, because where could you go from there? Who would want to see a series that was so entertaining turn depressing all of a sudden? It may have seemed that the makers of CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES were painting themselves into a corner, but in truth, they were just working off an entire series that didn't do things by the book. After all, the previous APES films also ended memorably, with the destruction of the Earth and the death of the series most likable characters, so audiences had come to expect some tough twists and turns. What they got with CONQUEST was something different altogether - darker, more political and apocalyptic. Its themes of civil rights and social unrest spoke very much to the times, while its setting of a totalitarian future looks as bleak today as it did back in 1972, yet strangely more plausible. But it's also a solid entertainment, too, with an incredible action climax that features of the best work of J. Lee Thompson's career and Roddy McDowell's finest performance in the entire APES series. Naturally, we're expecting some of you to ask, "Why the F are you showing CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES at Fantastic Fest?" Two reasons: One, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the APES series, and to honor this, Fox Home Entertainment is releasing the entire series of Blu-Ray DVD this November; and two, included in this set is the original, uncut version of CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, with 9 additional minutes of footage removed so the film could obtain a PG rating. This version of the film hasn't been seen in over 35 years, and Fantastic Fest will be hosting the first public screening since its 1972 test screenings. And best of all, it's absolutely free, so whether you have a badge or not, you're all welcome to see the second best APES film as it hasn't been seen in decades in a glorious new HD master, courtesy of our friends at Fox Home Entertainment. There will also be some DVD giveaways courtesy of Fox and some previews for upcoming Fox DVD releases. Come witness the birth of the PLANET OF THE APES like you've never seen before - before anyone else does! (Matthew Kiernan) This film is sponsored by Fox Home Entertainment.

Not content to just earn the title of Most Important Action Film in Australian History, MAD MAX is flat-out responsible for kick-starting an entire unstoppable genre of pedal-to-the-metal mayhem! Following its release, celluloid documentations of a near-future world gone wild have appeared in countless languages, starring hundreds of international actors and cluttering video shelves with gasoline-hungry sunburnt desert warriors. Yet despite many top-notch entries during the exponential growth of the nuclear annihilation entertainment industry, it goes without saying that George Miller's flagship contribution remains unmatched. Mel Gibson is 'Mad' Max Rockatansky, a law-keeping family man in a pre-post-apocalyptic world that dangles mere inches above total societal implosion. Marauding criminals roam the Earth and live beyond rule, their numbers increasing as the police exhaust all their means to keep the inevitable at bay. But when a vicious maniac and his gang snuff out the few people Max cares for, he's transformed into an unstoppable force of raw, burning retribution, and the film becomes a whiplash-inducing catalogue of two-fisted, blue-collar, auto/human damage. Though shot on a modest budget, this 40-million horsepower beast skimps on nothing but social conscience, as everyone from bikers to babies are targeted for full-scale, wholesale slaughter. MAD MAX was originally released in the US in de-Aussified dubbed form, but we're pleased to present a recently-struck 35mm print with the original audio track, complete with all the muttered colloquialisms and down-under swearing you desire. So follow the red asphalt to the Alamo for total mechanized vengeance in the most crucial, influential and shockingly perfect exploitation masterpiece to ever tear open the Australian highway! (Zack Carlson) (NOTE: At both MAD MAX and ROAD WARRIOR free outdoor screenings, in addition to the fun on screen, Chef John Bullington will be serving up classic Australian meat pies, shrimp on the barby and there will be plenty of giant-sized ice-cold Foster's to wash'em down with. Also, come prepared, we're having a Vegemite sandwich eating contest before the film.)

Brief Description: Sequel to MAD MAX puts the pedal to the metal, then both pedal and metal alike explode in a death-shower of indescribable awesomeness. (Lars) Full Description: While it's sometimes depressing to realize that civilization is crumbling all around us, and that the combination of global warming and energy-based geopolitical strife will likely cause the destruction of the social order as we know it in a dozen or so years, it's also comforting to watch THE ROAD WARRIOR and realize how fucking cool it's going to look. Seriously, Mel Gibson as Mad Max runs into a spot of trouble here and there but his car kicks a thousand tons of ass. The movie is directed with so much skill and a serious movie buff's aptitude for the exact, perfect photographic angle or cutaway shot that it transcends the flat ugliness of the outback terrain and makes it a primal battleground for what's left of Good vs. rampaging, triumphant Evil. THE ROAD WARRIOR has a bit more Hollywood in in than MAD MAX but the conflict is fantastic. Lord Humungous and his triple-ugly crew of leather-punk shit starters are hall of fame bad guys and they enforce their own brand of social Darwinism with a gnarly mailed fist. It's up to Mad Max to be the de facto justice system in the midst of a war between the gasoline crazed thugs and the perpetually oppressed good guys, who just want to raise their awesome feral children and fly their super-incredible autogyros. It's a film that has contributed whole volumes to the visual and aural language of film-making. Directed by George Miller at his Spielbergian peak. The photography, editing, stunt-work, art-direction and costume design are all divinely inspired, as if a force from beyond wanted to warn us about becoming too reliant on petroleum-based fuels. We're ready to listen now. (Lars Nilsen) (NOTE: At both MAD MAX and ROAD WARRIOR free outdoor screenings, in addition to the fun onscreen, Chef John Bullington will be serving up classic Australian meat pies, shrimp on the barby and there will be plenty of giant-sized ice-cold Foster's to wash'em down with. Also, come prepared, we're having a Vegemite sandwich eating contest before the film.) This film is sponsored by Foster’s.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: In a post-apocalyptic world gone wild, a handful of prison camp inmates must run for their life while being hunted for sport! FULL DESCRIPTION: I don’t want to alarm anyone, but the year 2000 is going to be a real rough ride. After we face a worldwide nuclear holocaust, we’ll be herded into militaristic re-education camps and picked off like animals by sadistic upper-crust pleasure hunters. Fortunately we’ll have fellow prisoners like Paul (Steve Railsback of THE STUNT MAN and LIFEFORCE), a ready-to-rumble “deviant” who refuses to stand quietly by as mankind’s future hits the chopping block. This hyper-adrenalized World War III-tinted variation on “The Most Dangerous Game” is a tense, gritty mass of explosive fury, co-starring ROMEO & JULIET’s Olivia Hussey and slick-headed Aussie heavy Roger Ward (MAD MAX) as the camp’s vicious Chief Guard. This is Aussie action cinema at a bold new level, as exploitation wizard Trenchard-Smith (in attendance, no less!) stirs up an unbelievable cocktail of celluloid dynamite that combines mutants, machismo, misogyny, misanthropy and a dazzling, bullet-ridden array of violence violence VIOLENCE!!! (Zack Carlson) With director Brian Trenchard-Smith live in person. Rare 35mm print courtesy Antony I. Ginnane. This film is sponsored by Foster’s.