Fantastic Fest 2018: 5 Picks From The First Wave Of Programming (Noah)

After years of me begging John Laird to invite me to Fantastic Fest, of him accepting said begging and then me acting like the horrible flake I am – I am finally legit planning to attend to the storied genre film festival in Austin, Texas. I have purchased a plane ticket and reserved a couch cushion at the Laird Estates (don’t ask the price, it’s gruesome) and John and I will be spending September 20th to September 27 imbibing film, liquor and fast food in no particular order. Hell, we might do all three at once.

Today, after weeks of the Fantastic Fest’s annual teasing of films through black and white icons, they’ve released their first wave of programming.  I am, as the sweat from my palms drying on my computer keys speaks to, pretty fucking excited.  To relay this excitement, I’ve picked five films from the opening onslaught!

Let me say this though: any of the films in the first wave, or the second wave, or the four hundredth wave, are films that I would joyously spend a couple hours in a dark theater with. That’s what film festivals are for, people – to present the chance for an unknown cinematic entity to surprise and delight and chafe and enrage. Like, I’m going to see the supernatural WWII film Overlord (duh) and I’m going to see Quentin Dupieux’s clearly batshit crazy Keep An Eye Out, but they didn’t reach out from the list and claw out my eyeballs like other announced films.

That said, here’s the five I’m the very most excited for:

1. Apostle, Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans made the bone crunching action spectaculars that are The Raid films. With that in mind, if his next film was a still shot of a rock tumbler polishing some stones for seven weeks, I’d be first in line to consume it. Fortunately, instead of polished beach stones, Evans’ newest – premiering on Netflix in October – stars Dan Stevens as a man who must free his sister from the grips of a cult on a creepy island. Everything I’ve been hearing makes it seem like this won’t be the fist-to-face fun times of his earlier work, but something darker and creepier. Hey, I’ll watch the rocks spin, so this one sits at the top of the list.

2. Cam, Daniel Goldhaber

Daniel Goldhaber’s debut follows Alice, a cam girl who finds that her exact duplicate has taken over her job. Now, I’m not a camgirl – I spend my days behind a desk selling myself in a whole other horrifying way – but the thought of arriving to work one day and seeing a second version of myself doing whatever it is I do at my job, is terrifying. Also, this film is supposed to be just the right combination of sex, creep and trip.

3. Terrified, Demian Rugna

In trying to watch the trailer for Terrified, I accidentally watched the trailer for a film called Terrifier. And to say the least, it was pretty terrifying. A clown with bad teeth kills a bunch of bad actors while showing off that grisly grill. It’ll be hard to sleep tonight. Regardless of that film, Terrified is supposed to be, well, terrifying and it seems to feature no dentally-handicapped circus performers but rather a bunch of older people searching for things that go bump in the night. Looks like they find them, and that it doesn’t go too well.

4. The Night Comes For Us, Timo Tjahjanto

Iko Uwais starred in Gareth Evans’ Raid films (this article is full of synergy), so if even if his next movie was a martial arts remake of She’s All That, well, I’d be in. Instead, he’s starring in The Night Comes For Us, which is about a tough guy, former Triad enforcer who has to protect a girl on the dangerous streets of Jakarta. Punching, kicking and, uh, other kicking will most likely occur.

5. The Unthinkable, Crazy Pictures

Well, first, this film is directed by a man named Crazy Pictures, and I will see anything by a man named Crazy Pictures, because well, you would have to assume that the movie would be both “crazy” and full of “pictures.” Seriously though, the description for this film sounds like a drunk person describing a Swedish remake of The Day After Tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure Crazy Pictures will make it something altogether memorable. Also, the trailer is like a beautifully shot Armaggeddon. I trust this trailer. And of course, I trust Mr. Crazy Pictures.

–

When the next wave of programming arrives I will again return to watch the wrong trailers and inanely describe them while professing my love for Mr. Crazy Pictures.