Fantastic Fest descends on Austin, Texas September 19 for another year of blood-soaked, eye-popping, mind-scrambling cinema! Big highlights this year for horror fans include Alexandre Aja’s Never Let Go (starting Halle Berry) the newest installment of the V/H/S franchise, and Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3. Not to mention a shitload of parties, cult classic restorations (including the world’s first monster musical from 1970), and a whole host of Secret Screenings.
Year-over-year Fantastic Fest is a playground for genre film lovers and horror fans. This year’s lineup is stuffed with insanity and must-see movies, and below we’ve compiled the 10 films every Horror won’t want to miss at Fantastic Fest 2024. More information, more movies, and more reasons to grab a ticket ‘n’ visit Austin, Texas can be found HERE.
Chainsaws Were Singing – US Premiere
Maria is having one of the worst days of her life. Her parents died. Her dog, too. She was fired from her job. She was beaten by thugs in the street. But all of her troubles melt away when she locks eyes with Tom in the midst of his suicide attempt. Soon, the gobsmacked young lovers are hand-in-hand, bounding across sun-dappled meadows and expressing their undying love through song. Their courtship is cut short when a spree killer with a chainsaw and his own musical backstory takes Maria captive to feed his grotesque family of cannibals, consisting of his overbearing mother, artistically inclined little brother, and incestuous cousins Pepe and Kevin.
Vowing to come to his lady’s rescue, Tom teams up with Jaan, a goodhearted, goofy passerby with nothing but time on his hands and a song in his heart. The two head deep into the woods, embarking on a madcap quest full of blood, guts, and toe-tapping show tunes. Along the way, they’ll encounter some trigger-happy, pastry-loving cops, a helpful little hedgehog, a shitload of exploding cars, and a cult that worships a talking fridge full of nauseating contents. Nearly 10 years in the making, this bastard child of Stephen Sondheim and Lloyd Kaufman is an utterly indescribable Estonian odyssey.
Read Nightmare on Film Street’s Full Review of Chainsaws Were Singing HERE
The Draft! – International Premiere
Without spoiling too much, this blend of CABIN IN THE WOODS, SCREAM, and a Kurt Vonnegut novel takes multiple dizzying turns as the danger and the body count grow. THE DRAFT! is full of gruesome kills, bizarre plot contrivances, and an ever-shifting cinematic geography. This Indonesian horror-comedy is well-versed in the genre’s tropes and cinematic grammar, and delights in subverting and honoring them in equal measure. A fist-pumping, inspirational ode to the challenges of filmmaking and a no-holds-barred, gruesome kill machine.
Apartment 7A – World Premiere
An ambitious young dancer, Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner, OZARK), dreams of fame and fortune in New York City, but after suffering a devastating injury, an older, wealthy couple (Dianne Wiest, I CARE A LOT, and Kevin McNally, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN film series) welcomes her into their home in the luxury apartment building, the Bramford. When fellow resident and influential Broadway producer (Jim Sturgess, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE) offers her another chance at fame, it seems that all her dreams are finally coming true. However, after an evening she can’t fully remember, disturbing circumstances soon have her second-guessing the sacrifices she’s willing to make for her career as she realizes that something evil is living not only in apartment 7A but in the Bramford itself.
Cloud – US Premiere
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with his utterly idiosyncratic, expressive approach to genre filmmaking. Like beloved classics CURE and PULSE, CLOUD is suffused with the same creeping, unsettling sense of existential dread that has made Kurosawa one of Japanese cinema’s most beloved auteurs.
Daddy’s Head – World Premiere
When a boy’s father passes away, he is left alone with his young stepmother on a rambling country estate. While they are both wracked with grief, the stepmom struggles deeply with her new role as a single parent. Their relationship becomes strained and difficult, and the beautiful house becomes a prison of pain.
The young boy begins hearing ominous sounds and is soon visited by a creature who bears an uncanny, if extremely grotesque, resemblance to his father. However, as is often the case, the grown-ups around him refuse to believe his stories until things spiral so completely out of control that he can be ignored no longer.
Featuring one of the most disturbing creatures in this year’s lineup and scenes guaranteed to make you jump, director/writer Benjamin Barfoot has expertly crafted an extremely creepy and memorable horror movie you’ll be thinking about every time you turn out the lights. . .or pass by an air conditioning vent
Little Bites – World Premiere
A widowed mother is hiding a terrible secret in her basement. Desperate to protect her young daughter at all costs, she enters into an unusual agreement with a grotesque monster. Taking the concept of motherly self-sacrifice to the extreme, she keeps the creature at bay by feeding him with her own flesh. But exactly how long can she keep up with the monster’s demands before she snaps?
Director and writer Spider One has crafted an intriguing mystery of a horror film, atmospheric and moody. The film’s artistry announces itself immediately, with impeccable cinematography and a distinct visual style. Actors Krsy Fox and Elizabeth Phoenix Caro tether the film with their nuanced performances as mother and daughter, and it’s always a delight to see genre favorite Barbara Crampton onscreen. Of course, we’d be remiss not to mention this movie was executive produced by the one and only Cher (along with her son Chaz Bono)… Certainly a first for Fantastic Fest!
Parvulos – US Premiere
In the aftermath of the Omega Pandemic, a devastating global catastrophe, teenage Salvador has assumed the role of caretaker for his younger siblings, Oliver and Benjamin. Equipped with a host of survivalist skills, Salvador harvests resources from the forest nearby and hunts small game for their table while trying to instill a sense of normalcy through routine, games, storytelling, and holiday celebrations.
As the crushing sense of obligation and a rush of hormones begin to overwhelm Salvador, their solitude is shattered by a woman attempting to break into their remote compound on Christmas Eve. After a tense introduction, Valeria is welcomed in for the evening. The dumbstruck, socially inept boys are transfixed by the brash young woman with her ravenous appetite and news from the outside world. While the brothers are nestled all snug in their beds, Valeria scavenges for supplies in anticipation of hitting the road at dawn. When she spies the dead bolted door bearing a crudely drawn skull and crossbones, her curiosity is piqued. Perhaps it houses more valuable resources?
Fantastic Fest Alum Isaac Ezban is back with this finely crafted, dark fable about a family in crisis. As if dealing with the routine horrors of adolescence and sibling rivalry isn’t difficult enough, this new world has its own unforgiving set of rules that brings a tightly kept family secret to light.
Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in The Inland Empire – World Premiere
In July 2010, the San Bernardino County authorities were faced with one of the most bizarre crime scenes they’d ever encountered. Alerted by a concerned friend, local police arrived at the victims’ home, and the murders they discovered shook them to the ground. The crime scene showed ritualistic aspects, and quickly, one of the detectives recognized a symbol painted on the ceiling in the victims’ blood linking back to a serial killer they’d chased in 1995, before the killer seemingly took a 15-year break.
Having previously co-written and co-directed both the first and second GRAVE ENCOUNTERS and EXTRATERRESTRIAL under the banner of The Vicious Brothers, director Stuart Ortiz is no stranger to genre and demonstrates a deft hand at ‘true crime’ storytelling. Combining his talent as a researcher and a film and TV marketer, Ortiz delivers a gripping film depicting the horrors and madness a serial killer is (or is not) capable of through interviews, archival materials, and reenactments.
Terrifier 3 – World Premiere
Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.
V/H/S/BEYOND – World Premiere
V/H/S/BEYOND, the seventh installment of the V/H/S franchise will feature six new bloodcurdling tapes, placing horror at the forefront of a sci-fi-inspired hellscape. Featuring segments from directors Jordan Downey, Christian Long & Justin Long, Justin Martinez, Virat Pal, Kate Siegel, and Jay Cheel.
Fantastic Fest 2024 takes over the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX September 19-26. Click HERE for more info + tickets, and let us know if you’re attending this year’s festival over in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord! Join usssssss
