Fantastic Fest is legend; a festival you attend once, and mark to never miss again. We’re less than two months away from the 2012 edition and Austin’s annual cinematic treasure trove has begun to reveal itself.

As per usual, the first announcement of titles just hints at all to come, including international finds (LA MEMORIA DEL MUERTO, PARIS BY NIGHT, COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES, WRONG), anticipated premieres (DREDD, FRANKENWEENIE) and repertory picks too good to miss (THE ENTITY, SECRET CEREMONY, THE SHINING)!

You can see plenty of trailers and images from the first wave of programming below. And for much more, including how to attend, head over to Fantastic Fest.

• COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES (2011) US Premiere , Director - Matthias Hoene, 87min

When a badly planned bank robbery and a zombie outbreak collide, hilarity ensues in this balls-out, irreverent British comedy.

• DEAD SUSHI (2012) US Premiere, Director - Noboru Iguchi, 91min

Japanese splatter action comedy is on the menu when director Noboru Iguchi & karate girl Rina Takeda join forces to take on flying killer sushi monsters in DEAD SUSHI!

• DREDD 3D (2012) Gala Premiere, Director: Pete Travis, USA, 98 minutes

The future America is an irradiated waste land. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner.  Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge

• THE ENTITY (1982) Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series, Director - Sidney J. Furie, 125min

In this controversial film based on a true story, director Furie explores the domestically-abused-woman-as-masochist stereotype by veiling it as a supernatural horror film.

• ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY (2012) US Premiere, Director - Eron Sheean, 101min

Plagued by the memory of the infant son he could not save, geneticist Geoff Burton plunges into a web of intrigue, jealousy and lies in this icily precise thriller.

 

• EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY (2011) US Premiere, Director - Radu Jude, 107min

A simple domestic dispute becomes an explosive examination of stress in this powerful and unsettling Romanian drama.

 

• I DECLARE WAR (2012) Regional Premiere, Director - Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson, 91min

A group of exceptionally creative teens gets sucked into their own private Lord of the Flies scenario when an after-school game of "war" turns into a test of loyalty, strategy and friendship.

• THE KING OF PIGS (2011) Texas Premiere, Director - Yeun Sang-Ho, 97min

THE KING OF PIGS is an emotionally punishing animated indie film about a group of friends whose brutal childhoods continue to haunt them as adults.

 

• LE MEMORIA DEL MUERTO (2012) US Premiere, Director - Valentín Javier Diment, 89min

Alicia undertakes a bizarre cult ritual to restore her deceased husband to life - a ritual that will see her home and friends visited by the spirits of the dead.

• THE MAFU CAGE (1978) Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series, Director - Karen Arthur, 102min

One of the most compelling and uniquely dark films of the psychotic woman subgenre, Karen Arthur's adaptation of Eric Westphal's play You and Your Clouds stars Lee Grant as Ellen, an astronomer who lives with her feral sister Cissy (Carol Kane).

• PARIS BY NIGHT (2011) Texas Premiere, Director - Philippe Lefebvre, 100min

Phillippe Lefebvre's PARIS BY NIGHT is a sleek French cop thriller that follows a pair of vice cops as they patrol the Parisian club scene over the course of a single evening.

• ROOM 237 (2012)Texas Premiere, Director - Rodney Ascher, 102min

Rodney Ascher's ROOM 237 is a fascinating documentary that explores bizarre theories about the subtext and symbolism underlying Stanley Kubrick's landmark film THE SHINING.

• SECRET CEREMONY (1968) Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series, Director - Joseph Losey, 105min

In Losey's underrated SECRET CEREMONY, an aging but still glamourous Elizabeth Taylor stars as Leonora, a prostitute grieving over the death of her daughter in a drowning accident.

• THE SHINING (1980) Repertory Screening, Director - Stanley Kubrick, 142min

Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece features an unhinged performance by Jack Nicholson and a setting that drips with menace.  Its imagery and characters have permeated all areas of pop culture throughout the decades, yet the film retains all its power to disturb and terrify.

• TOWER BLOCK (2012) US Premiere, Directors - James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, 87min

The last remaining tenants of a deteriorating, soon-to-be-demolished tower block must band together to survive when a killer with a high-powered sniper rifle starts picking them off through the windows of their flats.

• UNIT 7 (Grupo 7) (2012) Texas Premiere, Director - Alberto Rodriguez, 95min 

Alberto Rodriguez's UNIT 7 is gritty realistic thriller about a crew of narcotics officers in Seville, Spain who go rogue during a citywide crackdown in the years preceding Expo '92.

• WRONG (2011) Regional Premiere, Director - Quentin Dupieux, 94min

Everyman Dolph Springer's (Jack Plotnick) world is turned wrong when he awakens at 7:60 one morning to find his beloved dog missing in Quentin's Dupieux's latest absurdist opus and follow up to 2010's killer tire film, RUBBER.

 

• YOUNG GUN IN THE TIME (2012) US Premierel, Director - Oh Young Doo, 95min

The director of INVASION OF ALIEN BIKINI returns with a quirky, low budget time travel romp filled with sex shops, robot hands and Hawaiian shirts.

---

News - Latest