Fantastic Arrival - Leading up to Day 1 of Fantastic Fest 2015

About Fantastic Fest

Fantastic Fest, held in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse's South Lamar location, was started by Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse in 2005.  The fest shows primarily films in the horror, sci-fi, fantasy, Asian, cult, and action films in addition to special and/or "secret" screenings and wide array of activities and events over the 8 day festival.

I've known about FF for the past couple of years, thanks to my go-to film and culture website, Birth.Movies.Death (formerly Badass Digest).  I've read great reviews of the fest as well as the films and the events, and some of the pictures have looked insane.  While I got to see one film last year while I was in town for MondoCon, I had been late to the game in terms of getting a badge and that was all I could get together.

Around April of 2015, I noticed that the Alamo Drafthouse had an auction up, and one of the items up for bid was a 2015 FF Fan Badge.  I bid on it when it was about $10 below cost ($300) and set a max of $310.  Luck was on my side and I got it at the $310 range.  Since I have some friends living in Austin and a goof amount of Virgin America points built up, I was able to make it this year...even during the 10/15 deadline for work...well I am working remotely anyway.  :)

So here I am now in Austin, starting this blog to review the fest, films, and events.  I am also working...multitasking!

While the films do not start until 5pm tonight, I wanted to provide a quick explanation on how the Fest works.

FF runs from Sept 24th through Sept Oct 1.  It operates in two phases: Phase 1 is Sept 24th through Sept 27th and Phase 2 is Sept 28th to Oct 1st.  Almost all of the films play once each phase with a couple exceptions like the secret screenings, which may differ, the opening and closing films, and special events.  Each day there 5 rounds of films, with 3-5 films playing per round.  By my rough count...that is about 70+ films overall.

You can attend FF in a number of ways:

• Super Fan - You are guaranteed your first choice at each round.  This is the most expensive badge, but you get to see exactly what you want to see.
• Fan - You are guaranteed a seat at each round, but might not be your first choice of film.  
• Individual Tickets - if there are seats available for any films in any of the rounds, they will be available on the FF website.

If you have a badge, you are given access to the FF ticketing website.  You must log in each day to select the films you would like to see, in order of preference for each round, for the next day.  You have until 4pm the day before to complete your selections, otherwise you are SOL.

The exception is opening day, which was open from Monday Sept 21st to Wed Sept 23rd until 4pm.  This was to allow people traveling to have ample time making their selections.

Coming Attractions

For opening night, I was able to get 2 out of 3 of my first choice films, which is a great start.  I also have already made my picks for tomorrow's rounds.  For now, I'll just give a heads up what I'll be reporting on later tonight once I finish with all the films.

• Round 1 - The Assassin 
• Directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien (won best director for this film at Cannes 2015)
• During the ninth century, a general's young daughter is kidnapped and trained to become an exceptional assassin. When she doesn't execute a mission, she is ordered to kill her betrothed, forcing her to choose between love, family and the assassins.
• Initial thinking is that this will be an awesome film, which is good because this was my 2nd choice for the opening round.  
• Round 2 - February
• Directed by Osgood Perkins
• Two young students at a prestigious prep school for girls are assailed by an evil, invisible power when they are stranded at the school over winter break. 
• Opening Night film.
• Looking forward to seeing more of Emma Roberts, as I've liked her in American Horror Story and recently Scream Queens.
• Followed by Opening Night party, which is a demonic Xmas party with people dressing in ugly Xmas sweaters.
• Round 3 - Yakuza Apocalypse
• Directed by Takashi Miike
• When Kageyama is bitten by his dying vampire boss, he must get used to his new powers before seeking revenge.
• I'm a fan of Miike who puts out an ungodly number of films a year, and the ones I have seen have their moments of batshit crazy.  Also this stars Yayan Ruhian, an amazing martial artist from The Raid films.

Thanks for reading, and I'll be back later with a report on how the first day went.