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)

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.

DONKEY PUNCH is a movie about a group of European party kids who "borrow" a yacht for a private party and take things much, much too far. We're going to do our best to emulate the spirit of that party, but we're going to replace all the blood, gore, killing, and mistrust with one of the THE best dance parties of the summer, right before it officially becomes autumn. We're joining forces with TheFamousish.com to bring a crew of Austin's "coolest" DJs out onto a floating dance floor right in the heart of downtown, on Lady Bird Johnson Lake. We've had dance parties on water before, but as awesome as our dance parties on Lake Travis have been in the past, this time we want to make sure everyone who lives downtown can see us and be jealous. Basically we're going OVERBOARD. Get it..? Hipsters Overboard! We want everyone to go completely "overboard" in their very finest hipster outfits. So, if you're already part of Austin's Red River set, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who are Alamo Drafthouse fans and don't hang our at Beauty Bar every night or own a pair of those unbearably skinny jeans, here's your chance to have a go at it. American Apparel Deep V necks go without saying. Dunks (google it) are a must. But why stop with the outfit? Accessorize it, people! Add on some chains. Wear sunglasses at night (but make sure they're Supers). Add a silk scarf, and wear it loose around your neck. Don't wash your hair for two days, and grow a beard. Then go buy a moped (not a scooter), and ride that to the party. Go overboard in your enthusiasm, get it? Yeah. Now you've got the spirit. The DONKEY PUNCH Boat Party is sponsored by Envy Magazine.

If one thing unifies genre film fans, it's the fact that none of us agree on anything. Well, we're proud to honor the age-old tradition of over-opinionated verbal nerd combat by introducing FANTASTIC FEST DEBATES at FF 2008! For the first time in genre festival history, the audience will be truly heard...through blazing displays of surefooted, acid-tongued mindpower! Though we're not set to reveal any of our controversial topics just yet, here are a few vague issues of concern to the modern genre nut, submitted strictly to get your blood boiling: HORROR REMAKES - Classics reinvented for the modern age or Abominations of artistic unoriginality? SUPERHERO MOVIES - Overdone or "I can't wait for CATWOMAN 2!" CGI EFFECTS - Gateway to visual sorcery or "INDIANA JONES 4 looked like an episode of SLIDERS!" ...And so on. See, this isn't just standing in line for a film and arguing the merits of Slow VS. Fast Zombies. Oh, hell no. These displays of genre-film passion will be a rock-'em sock-'em clash of the titans between warring representatives from either side of every conceivable geek camp! In addition, we're working on a special arrangement where any two dueling representatives will be given the option to settle unresolved differences in an ACTUAL BOXING RING! This event will take place at our neighborhood fitness center Randy Palmer's SOUTH AUSTIN GYM , just three doors down from the Alamo South Lamar.

Awards for the AMD Next Wave, Bloodshots, Fantastic Fest bumper, Fantastic Fest online, best Shakey Face, as well as the jury and Audience Awards will all be announced at the Fantastic Fest awards ceremony on Monday, September 22. You'll also get to see the winning bumper and Bloodshots film, and we guarantee an exponentially higher amount of beer drinking than in any other awards ceremony in the continental United States.

After only one year, Fantastic Feud has now become an annual, integral tradition at Fantastic Fest. Goregeeks and minutiaelators, your countless nights of bootleg DVD viewing and VHS excavating are about to be rewarded. You are invited to witness - and maybe even take part in - the greatest horror game experience of all time...FANTASTIC FEUD!!! Renowned-and-notorious film critic Scott Weinberg (Cinematical, FEARnet.com, eFilmCritic.com, a million other sites and projects) will be your host for furious volleys of Terror Trivia, as well as the Sudden Death round at the end that just may determine who's the reigning king (or queen) of genre knowledge! Teams are comprised of Fantastic Fest filmmakers and guests, Austin movie luminaries, Alamo programmers...and some ambitious, competitive VIP badgeholders!! Fantastic Feud ended up being the highest-rated "film" of Fantastic Fest 2007. You are not going to want to miss it. Fantastic Feud also rolls into the no-holds-barred Fantastic Fest annual karaoke partyyy !!! FF 2007 attendee reviews: Fantastic Feud! Cinematical review: Fantastic Feud! Dell Lounge Video: Fantastic Feud!

During prohibition, Longhorn Caverns held secret speakeasy-style dances in the main chamber of the cave. There was even a dance floor and a permanent bar. For our closing night party, we're teaming up with subterranean adventure film CITY OF EMBER and our energy drink partners-in-fun Red Bull. We are going to dust off this 80 year old tradition and party all-night-long right in the same place. There won't be big band music, but we'll have awesome DJs spinning the best subterranean jams known to man. Buses leave from Alamo South Lamar at 9:30 PMPM and head out to Longhorn Cavern near Burnet, Texas, and will return again at 4:00 AM. Buses will be leaving periodically throughout the night, so even if you don’t think you can make it until dawn, we encourage you to take the bus and don’t even risk driving that far after having a sip to drink. If the party hurts too much, of course, you can always have another Red Bull and make it another hour. We’ll have glow sticks, lasers and light effects changing throughout the night, so wear your best neon outfit, or wear something completely black so that only the lights you carry will let you be seen. Whatever you wear, just make sure you’re ready to get lit.

Brief Description: On November 1, 2008, the Alamo Drafthouse will be gunning to break the world’s record for the largest group synchronized Thriller Dance. Practice with us during Fantastic Fest. Full Description: Over the past year or two, YouTube has been filling up with groups of people performing the zombie dance from Michael Jackson's Thriller. There are videos of newlyweds performing that choreography as part of their first dance together at wedding receptions, and of course there's the clip of the 1,500 inmates of the Cebu Prison in the Phillipines. We were watching those videos last winter and thought to ourselves, "What if we could make that even more awesome?" This fall, that's exactly what we're going to do. We've joined forces with Ines Markeljovic, a dance teacher and founder of ThrillTheWorld.com, to help her complete her task of setting a Guiness World Record for having the most people around the world doing the Thriller dance at the exact same time. For the past seven months, we've been hosting Michael Jackson Sing-Alongs at the Alamo Ritz, then following the music video orgy with two hours of dance instruction that gets everyone in the crowd up to speed on how to do the Thriller dance themselves. We've partnered with local theater groups, dance companies, and schools as well, and we're convinced that when it comes time to participate in the Thrill the World dance, on Saturday, October 25th, we'll have more people in one place than anywhere else on the globe. Of course, we're not stopping there. Together with Mexic-Arte and Red Bull, we're taking our Thriller zombies onto the streets of Austin, where we'll be part of the Day of the Dead processional and street party. Our goal is to have upwards of 2,000 zombies walk down Sixth Street, then stop in front of the Alamo Ritz. Thriller will start playing out of speakers lined up and down the street, and all of a sudden each and every zombie will become synchronized, perfectly choreographed zombies. Then we'll march down the street and do it again at the block party. We fully expect these events to become historical touchstones, and we'd like for you to be a part of it with us. We're putting on a special Michael Jackson Thrill the World Sing-Along and dance lesson during Fantastic Fest, and even if you're in from out of town and can't make it to the Day of the Dead parade in person, we'd love to have you come out and learn the dance, then take that back to your hometown where you can put together your own group to join in on the Thrill The World record-breaking attempt. Plus, just the experience of singing along and dancing around the movie theater to all of Michael Jackson's best music videos, sorry - "short films" - is something that everyone should have as much of as possible. (Henri Mazza)

Join us at the mighty Beast House downtown at Party O'Clock to rock n' rage with Austin's most blistering LIVE karaoke back-up band KARAOKE APOCALYPSE !!! Austin's #1 electrifying music experience wants YOU as their singer (for one song, anyway). Karaoke Apocalypse eliminate the smooth, adult appeal of karaoke and transform it into the most raucous and exhilarating interactive display of punk and metal histrionics! CLICK HERE for their current song list! The Beast House is located at 604 E 6th St, just a stone's throw from the Alamo Ritz! If you've never witnessed the surreal onslaught of tipsy humanity that is Austin's 6th Street on a Friday night, then it's time to step up and show what you're made of, Karaoke Warrior!