Fantastic Fest 2008

Brief Summary: Fantastic Fest celebrates the great legacy of stomach-churning, blood-spurting movie magic with this interactive showdown party where YOU THE AUDIENCE are invited to join the FF programmers in providing the all-time greatest on-screen headbursts, rib-rips and gutblasts! Full Description: The excitement inherent in the best horror and action movies can be boiled down to three main ingredients: VIOLENCE, VIOLENCE and VIOLENCE!!! From the golden age of goremaster Herschell Gordon Lewis to the innovative new fluid-spurting technologies of the modern effects masters, cold-blooded murder has become a legitimately appealing visual art that deserves it's very own fancy Louvre...and THIS IS IT! Yep, at this year's Fantastic Fest, we'll be celebrating the absolute finest in on-screen annihilation with an interactive celebration of on-screen intestine-ripping, head-bursting and unrepentant baby-mashing! Your faithful FF programmers will of course get the festivities underway started with some of their all-time favorite examples of cinematic savagery, but for the first time ever, we'll be opening things up so YOU can share your most beloved homicide as well. It's easy...just bring along anything good, goopy n' gory that can play on a laptop or all-region DVD player and you'll be called on to nauseate the masses with your ultimate beloved gutblast! Note: This show is intended for the most severe and iron-stomached bloodhounds around, and we accept absolutely no responsibility for lost lunches. Wimps and weekend horrormeisters`, leave the hall...if you can't stand the meat, stay out of the kitchen!! (Zack Carlson)

Some people will go to the greatest lengths in the name of romance. This musical short was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award! Appearing as part of the SHORT FILMS OF NACHO VIGALONDO program. CLICK HERE for details.

Brief Summary: James Tresswick and Mark Vincent are victims of a brutal bully named Gary Parker who has maltreated both boys, marking their bodies and spoiling their young lives. In their last year of high school, James and Mark find a way to stop being victims. They're going to kill Gary... Full Description: High-Schoolers James Tresswick and Mark Vincent were mercilessly bullied throughout childhood by their nemesis Gary Parker. The torment only ended when Gary was hauled off to prison five years ago. Now back on the streets, he is once again beginning to make their lives a living hell. Their outlook is dim until Mark happens to witness a murder burying his victim deep in the nearby woods. The duo crafts what should be a perfect plan: blackmail the killer in to killing again, this time their mortal enemy Gary Parker. This perfect plan, however, doesn't work out exactly as envisioned, and the boys find themselves in a worse predicament than imaginable. ACOLYTES is a perfect accompaniment to our NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD Aussie Retrospective. Director Jon Hewitt shows that he’s a worthy heir to the Ozsploitation throne, delivering a tight knuckle-biter thriller with enough brutal violence to make the likes of Brian Trenchard-Smith stand up and cheer. The film is so much more than just a horror/thriller, though. Hewitt takes time to develop a fully-developed visual world. The first act establishes an idyllic tableau with rich detail and beautiful cinematography. These are innocent kids in a tranquil town living their lives with only childhood concerns. That is, of course, until they toy around with a murderer hell-bent on obliterating their serenity into a chaos of fear and brutality. (Tim League) Director Jon Hewitt will be live in person to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards. We also expect Jon to rock not only the Ozsploitation category of Fantastic Feud but also the subsequent Karaoke microphone.

An innocent, elegant woman is mercilessly chased from city to country to everywhere else by a slavering goofball vampire in this musical epic!

The First annual AIR SEX WORLD FINALS will be held at the Paramount theater on September 18th, immediately following the Fantastic Fest opening night film. If you've been to any of the Air Guitar shows, you know a little bit about what to expect, except that competitors in this show won't pretend to play an instrument that isn't there; they'll be pretending to make love with a partner that isn't there. Our judges will be watching for the entire presentation, from costuming, to foreplay, to an eventual climax. They'll be looking for believability, sexability, and overall entertainment value (cause what fun is sex if no one's watching?). If you are in from out of town and want to join the fray, come to the Air Sex Dark Horse Qualifying round at the Alamo Ritz on September 17. The winner of Thursdays Air Sex World Championships will be flown to Nevada and receive a gift certificate for ACTUAL sex. With that title under your belt, real sex should now be a cinch! The Rules: Time: Contestants have a maximum of 2 minutes to perform an air sex routine. This can include all phases of an air sex encounter: meeting, seduction, foreplay and intercourse, or you can simply cut to the chase. Rules are tightened for the finals: no props, strict time limit and nudity=instant disqualification. The ticket to the Air Sex world championships is included with admission to ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO. The AIR SEX WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS are sponsored in part by ADULT DVD EMPIRE. Music: Competitors must perform to music, you can either bring a CD of your performance track with you, or you can choose from our selection of air sex music. You may also include an audio prelude to your performance, maximum of 30 seconds. If you have any questions about the show, please email us Read the Daily Texan's AIR SEX coverage! Each show, win prizes from our friends at SINSATIONS! We are uploading photos and video from each competition at the Air Sex Facebook Group . Please join us there and check out the post-game action.

Brief Summary: A squadron of trained gunmen lay siege to a supermarket at closing time. What first appears to be a robbery soon takes on other worldly dimensions. Full Description: It's the end of yet another night at Hastings Supermarket, an idyllic family grocery store in Buck Lake, Arizona. But the normal closing-time monotony is broken when a group of masked and armed-to-the-teeth militants invade the store, immediately killing several of the employees and shoppers and holding the rest hostage. Though the hostage-takers at first appear to be robbers or terrorists, they reveal themselves to be a cadre of rogue scientists that have discovered and tracked an alien infestation to THIS STORE on THIS NIGHT, and they are determined to find out which of the survivors are extraterrestrials and end the invasion at any cost. ALIEN RAIDERS is a throwback to what we consider the golden age of creature features, the 1980's. This one falls somewhere between the seriousness level of THE THING or TREMORS. Nostalgic without being stale, ALIEN RAIDERS draws strong performances from a young ensemble cast composed of mostly working character actors that you've seen in a million small parts. You might recognize the monster hunting team: Carlos Bernard from his recurring role as Tony Almeida on "24" and Matthew St. Patrick who played Keith Charles on SIX FEET UNDER. The plot explores what happens when you have one of those MEN IN BLACK jobs that you can't really explain to people. When you start invading public spaces to blow shit up, the bystanders naturally think that you're the bad guy, and there's not a lot you can do to convince them otherwise. So you don't bother, and you do your job and damn the consequences. But sometimes those bystanders can b e pretty tough and wily, and some of them ARE the monsters. But which? For a modern alien creature movie, the filmmakers refreshingly rely on practical effects for the punctuations of gore. The carnage happens in the blink of an eye by a monster that you only see in glimpses. This serves to heighten the tension, as you experience the uncertainty of the hostages, who aren't quite sure what just happened, but it's very very bad. You can see them weighing in their minds the present danger of these masked terrorists who are "testing/torturing" them against the mysterious glimpses of a threat that they don't understand. (Karrie League) Director Ben Rock will be live in person to present the film.

It's been said that animation isn't just for kids anymore. Well, that's ESPECIALLY the case at Fantastic Fest. We'll be showcasing all aspects of genre entertainment in animated form, some of which will make you laugh, and some of which will make your body revolt. BERNIE'S DOLL Dir. Yann Jouette / UK, France / 2008 / 12 min. A self-loathing cat food canner looks for happiness in all the wrong places, especially when he learns that a "female" companion can be ordered by mail. Beautifully animated in a style that proves to be less cute n' cuddlythan first glance would have you believe. BLOOD WILL TELL Dir. Andrew McPhillips / Canada / 2007 / 4 min. A uniquely animated nightmare that follows the beat of your pulse and unweaves the secret link between man and insect. Music by Sigur Ros. CITY WASP Dir. Stephan Wicki & Tod Steven / Switzerland, USA / 2007 / 6 min. A man combs a semi-sentient metropolis to create his own personal symphonic Frankenstein! Live action animation combines with an arguably musical score to create a short that's guaranteed to be unlike anything you've ever seen. A COFFEE VENDING MACHINE AND HIS SWORD Dir. Chang Hyung Yun / Korea / 2008 / 29 min To ward of defeat in his future life, a dying ninja warrior wishes to be reincarnated with a skin of steel. He returns to modern-day Korea as a coffee vending machine. DOG Dir. Hermann Karlsson / Scotland, Iceland / 2006 / 2 min. A loving eulogy to man's best friend. This animated comedy features a canine skeleton and some goofy yet sincerely tearful memories. THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF MR HOLLOW Dir. R. Gudino / Canada / 2008 / 6 min. A simple photograph becomes increasingly sinister upon closer scrutiny, until nearly every evil that lives in mankind's heart is unleashed upon the viewer. From the fiends at Rue Morgue! FANTAISIE IN BUBBLEWRAP Dir. Arthur Metcalf / USA / 2007 / 4 min. You think it's hard being a human? Try living your life as a roll of bubble wrap! This semi-animated short follows the lives of several little poppable pals as they fall in love,question their existence and -- of course -- get fatally pinched by human fingers. FILM NOIR Dir. Osbert Parker / UK / 2006 / 4 min. A senses-shaking tribute to the criminal acts of yesteryear, as traditional film noir elements are transformed through animation and bizarro artistry into a wholly original gripping thrillride. FISH Dir. Naoko Masuda and Max Margulies / USA / 2007 / 2 min. The filmmaking team behind last year's FF hit THE BIRD, THE MOUSE AND THE SAUSAGE are back with a new stop-motion food tale that reveals the nature of pescatorial reproduction. GAME OVER Dir. PES / USA / 2006 / 4 min. We don't need no fancy arcade...we got an arcade RIGHT HERE! Mysterious innovative stop-motion wizard(s) PES bring the universal excitement of video games into the real world in bold, unnatural ways. KARAOKE SHOW Dir. Karl Tebbe / Germany / 2007 / 5 min. Here at FF, we've always recognized karaoke as a true art. But filmmaker Karl Tebbe succeeds in turning up the karaoke insanity to visually deafening levels in this megashock of musical indulgence. MUTO Dir. Blu / Argentina / 2008 / 8 min. Street art taken to the illogical, beautiful maximum as an urban landscape is transformed into a moving palette of impossible creatures. Is this the most ambitious animation project of the century? Yes. THE SQUIRREL NEXT DOOR Dir. Carla Coma / Canada / 2007 / 2 min. True love sees no barriers...including species. Taxidermy animation that will make you want to run out, kill things and create great art. VIOLETA Dir. Anna Solana & Marc Riva / Spain / 2007 / 13 min. Violeta makes a new friend and takes him back home to meet the folks. Too bad the depths of depravity of this family is unparalleled in the history of animation. THE WATERMELON CHICKENS Dir. Won Jong-Shik / Korea / 2007/ 8 min. Watermelon-eating chickens inadvertently kill a boy's grandfather. The child vows revenge...at all costs.

Brief Summary: A prequel to one of the most graphic and visually creative horror movies in recent times, ART OF THE DEVIL 3 is a tale of unrequited love set amid the exotic world of rural Thai black magic. Full Description: Panor, a seductive rural teacher, longs to live a normal, peaceful life like everyone else in her village. But her beauty becomes her biggest curse as she becomes the object of desire from every man that enters her life. Male colleagues and students alike resort to a variety of black arts and love potions in an attempt to win her favor. To counter their endless menace, Panor herself must turn to witchcraft to combat her supernaturally charged suitors. The ART OF THE DEVIL franchise travels in some seriously demented territory. The bloody carnage isn't delivered by the hatchets and machetes of the American horror tradition, but rather by the ancient mythology and mysticism of Thailand. In part 2, you had flaying, boiling water down throats, lots of needles, voodoo dolls, unexpected eyeballs and a pack of lizards that rip forth from an unsuspecting man's back. The directors know why Part 2 was a smash hit - over-the-top visual mayhem and creepy Thai black magic gore. Check out the stills and watch the trailer...this installment (actually a prequel) is out with a mission: deliver the goods. "ART OF THE DEVIL 3 will be more shocking and violent than our previous films. We still want to send the same messages, though, that the gruesome fates of the characters are the consequences of their desire and lust. Only people with dark intents want to get involved with dark magic. We all believe that these things do exist in our modern world, but we want to warn the viewers that it'll only do them more harm than good to mess around with it," -- Ronin Team ART OF THE DEVIL 3 was directed by the seven-man collective known as "Ronin Team," a group behind numerous Thai smash hits: from the war epic BANG RAJAN to the period piece KUNPUN THE WARRIOR to the two previous ART OF THE DEVIL movies. Collaborating closely, the seven members of the team work together in every step from screenwriting to budgeting, casting and directing. One of the members of Ronin Team is also represented in Fantastic Fest 4 with his solo directorial debut, MUAY THAI CHAIYA. (Tim League)

Brief Summary: Hildur, a high-society socialite, is left bankrupt and alone after her corrupt husband is whisked off to prison. With no other prospects, she gets a job selling role-playing games and accessories at Astropia, the town's geek Meccas. Full Description: Leave it to Iceland to deliver a charming film in which LARPing could possible save all humanity. If in an alternate universe, Edgar Wright had an Icelandic brother making his own SPACED feature for the fanboy and comic book culture, the ASTROPIA (Dorks and Damsels) is at that film and Gunnar B. Gudmundsson is that brother. A politically incorrect satire that will make you think of Monty Python in THE OFFICE, and manna from heaven for those who have ever LARPed, been to Comic-Con, played a role playing game, bought a comic book or rented CUJO to a kid under 5, this hilarious low budget Indie should find a welcome home in Austin, with audiences that can totally relate to many of the characters in the film. While mainstream media tries to stigmatize fanboys and comic culture, ASTROPIA gives nerds their mojo in a big way. The beautiful thing here is you don't have to know a single dam thing about the culture; its a fully accessible story to all, but with some succulent, juicy bones thrown to the geek-dogs. The beginning of ASTROPIA feels very much like something ripped off the latest U.S. gossip mags, with a self-centered glamor girl hitting the skids. the out-of-control girl beauty here is Hildur, who is riding a dangerously overloaded gravy train belonging to a no good scammer named Jolli (the great Peter Stormare). Jolli pushes his luck too far and gets thrown in the slammer leaving Hildur homeless and on her own to make things work. Hopeless, without a true friend, her salvation comes from an unexpected direction. It's a magical comic book store called ASTROPIA. Through this metaphysical portal, she departs on a nerd odyssey (or nerdyssey) where the fantasy world of hers and others might just save the day, save the world and get rid of Jolli's evil once and for all. Director Gunnar Gudmundsson, screenwriters Ottó Geir Borg and Jóhann Ævar Grimsson and producer Ingvar H. Pórõarson will be in attendance! This screening is sponsored in part by Gamecock Media Group and their new game Legendary. Check it out at www.gamecockmedia.com