I’m back in Houston after a week spent in the wilds of Austin, Texas - attending Fantastic Fest. The film festival happens annually at the Alamo Drafthouse - South Lamar in Austin. I’ve attended every year since 2010 and it’s definitely become a highlight of my year. Not only does it allow me the chance to watch a metric ton of great films, but I’m also able to recharge my creative batteries and remind myself why I love the theatrical exhibition industry as much as I do.
Every year I really do push myself to the breaking point - cramming in as many movies as I can. I watch films until it hurts. This year I had some work stuff pop up on my calendar and I wasn’t able to see quite as many movies as I usually do, but the stuff I did see was truly … fantastic.
Here’s a breakdown:
THE TOXIC AVENGER (2023)
Macon Blair’s reimagining of the Troma classic features amazing monster designs and a tone that frequently feels like a live-action Saturday morning cartoon. Peter Dinklage is, of course, great but Taylour Paige (ZOLA) steals the film. I love Toxie’s look in the movie but I love the DARKMAN-style tone of the film even more.
IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN
This Filipino fairy tale goes dark and how. A young girl in World War II-era Philippines mistakenly trusts a fairy to help with her domestic issues. Things get bloody, real fast. The movie is in the vein of PAN’S LABYRINTH, with a heaping dose of much-appreciated cultural specificity.
TIGER STRIPES
A Malaysian teenage girl finds herself bullied after she begins puberty ahead of her classmates. That pales in comparison, though, to the fact that she’s also turning into a tiger. This low-budget charmer uses body horror as a metaphor for becoming a woman. It’s sweet, sad and silly in all the best ways.
THE COFFEE TABLE
Anatomy of a drop. A bickering couple’s day goes from bad to worse when they suffer a family tragedy after buying a contentious coffee table. Petty arguments turn to bleak, pitch-black comedy that is designed to ruin your day. I absolutely loved it.
RAGE
A slow-burn father/son drama about the struggles of parenthood explodes into a werewolf story. Mexican filmmaker Jorge Michel Grau (WE ARE WHAT WE ARE) writes and directs this second film in a trilogy of modern explorations of classic monster myths. It’s a tad too methodically paced but the payoff is swell.
V/H/S/85
My favorite in the series in a while. Props to the film for mostly looking like something that could’ve been shot in ‘85. I like the series a lot and this particular movie feels like the most cohesive V/H/S film in a while - mostly due to the way the film smartly peppers in running storylines. Fun, gory, varied. That’s really all I ask for in a horror anthology.
KENNEDY
A slightly overlong but mostly engaging crime drama from India about a bad cop trying to do the right thing. Great performances, some gnarly violence, and lots of well-executed twists.
THE DEEP DARK
A group of French miners in the ‘50s tangle with a Lovecraftian monster 1000 feet under the earth. Atmospheric aesthetics help overcome some low-budget woes in this ambitious movie that straddles the line between JAWS and THE DESCENT.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
The first two episodes of this Netflix adaptation by modern-day horror master Mike Flanagan are fantastic. The show remixes a bunch of Edgar Allen Poe stories to create something that has the tinges of a horror anthology buried in the overarching story of a corrupt family’s ruin. Gruesome, funny, impeccably designed. I can’t wait to see more.
THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE BARN
Martin Starr is officially in dad mode, playing a patriarch who moves his family to Norway and into the crosshairs of a pissed-off barn elf. The spirit of John Carl Buechler lives on in this throwback holiday film.
THE SACRIFICE GAME
A quartet of would-be Satanists finds their attempt to summon a demon hampered at an all-girls school on a snowy Christmas Eve. This fun horror flick is slick and stylish and plays out like THE HOLDOVERS meets THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER.
PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES
A prequel that really nails home the fact Jud Crandall is either the absolute worst neighbor you could hope for or just has a shitty memory. Between this and FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, Henry Thomas continues to prove he‘ll knock it out of the park on any project he’s a part of. The prequel as a whole? Not as good as PET SEMATARY TWO but what is?
CONCRETE UTOPIA
A fantastic post-apocalyptic South Korean morality tale about an apartment complex left miraculously untouched after a disaster that leaves the rest of the city (world?) destroyed. Residents turn to monsters in an attempt to protect what they see as theirs.
THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS
Michel Gondry is introspective with this loosely autobiographical comedy about a director unable to finish his movie because he keeps getting distracted by his own creativity. An insightful look at one of my favorite filmmaker’s scattershot career.
UFO SWEDEN
I loved this heartfelt sci-fi adventure jam. A young woman in search of her missing dad teams up with an oddball group of alien hunters. Part THE VAST OF NIGHT, part RIDERS OF JUSTICE. Very fun, very sweet. Nordic Spielberg vibes rule.
KILLING ROMANCE
A kept influencer and the student who’s obsessed with her conspire to kill the woman’s dickwad husband. Oh, and it’s a musical. This very silly South Korean comedy is very fun. I’m down for any movie that features ostriches with emotional arcs.
THE PEOPLE’S JOKER
An audacious - and more importantly - funny coming-of-age story by an artist who has a lot to say about her experiences as a transgender woman, but also the state of comedy and Hollywood. The IP appropriation is fun, but not entirely the point.
THE LAST VIDEO STORE
A VHS hawker and a young woman who stumbles into his shop must battle monsters pulled from ‘80s movies. Maybe a bit too reverential of the past, but still a fun horror-comedy lathered lovingly with tracking wear and tear.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
My favorite movie of the festival. A teenage boy discovered he’s become the latest infected during a new pandemic that slowly changes humans into animals. Shades of SWEET TOOTH, but definitely its own animal. Heartfelt, with absolutely amazing humanimal designs.
VERMIN
A wannabe zookeeper accidentally lets loose a highly venomous spider in his apartment complex. Worse, the spider keeps multiplying, each generation larger than the one before. Fun, kinetic, featuring ample spider-on-human terror. Like ARACHNOPHOBIA meets ATTACK THE BLOCK.
WAKE UP
A group of young activists break into an IKEA-like Big Box retailer, hoping to indulge in some socially conscious vandalism. Unfortunately, the security guard on duty has been waiting his whole life to hunt humans. A slasher with a wickedly dark sense of humor.
SUBURBAN TALE
A woman tasked with taking care of a possessed boy finds herself showing signs of demonic influence. This Indian film features some gnarly effects as a way of exploring gender constraints and societal expectations. Fun, thematically-rich horror.
I’LL CRUSH Y’ALL
A scrappy Spanish action film about an ex-convict who finds himself in the middle of an increasingly complicated war over money. Luckily, our dude is a master ass kicker and many asses are indeed kicked. Violence as good ol’ fashioned fun.
STOPMOTION
My other favorite film of the festival. A stop-motion animator finds her psyche unraveling while filming a new project. Robert Morgan’s live-action feature debut has all the gross wet texture you could hope for from the director of BOBBY YEAH. This is the real stuff, baby.
UFO SWEDEN and BOOK OF SOLUTIONS!