Fantastic Fest Unveils Its Glorious Line-Up, Including The World Premiere of The New ‘Toxic Avenger’

Toxic Avenger Fantastic Fest

Take a trip to the dark side and indulge your taste for wild films, outrageous events, and shocking surprises all under one roof. World-famous genre festival Fantastic Fest is back for its eighteenth edition featuring 29 World Premieres, 24 North American Premieres, and 18 U.S. Premieres. The festival will once again possess Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX from September 21st – 28th. Badges are available now at FantasticFest.com.

“The Fantastic Fest team is ready to take you on a journey you won’t ever forget. We’ve taken the best week of the year and supercharged it: more movies, more parties, more fun,” says Festival Director Lisa Dreyer. “If you want to see the best new movies from around the world first with the best audience, Fantastic Fest is the place to be.”

The opening night film for Fantastic Fest 2023 is the world premiere of Legendary Pictures’ The Toxic Avenger, an action-packed reimagining of the classic Troma film from director Macon Blair. The all-star cast includes Peter Dinklage as the titular toxic hero, Jacob Tremblay, and Taylour Paige with Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon.

Fantastic Fest 2023

The closing night film will be the world premiere of Director Nahnatchka Khan’s slasher-comedy from Prime Video and Blumhouse Television, Totally Killer. Starring Kiernan Shipka as a time-traveling teen out to stop the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer,” TOTALLY KILLER is equal parts comedic charm and tense thrills.

Fantastic Fest will also host the World Premieres of two highly anticipated limited series: the second season of HBO’s 30 Coins from Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia, and Netflix’s The Fall Of The House Of Usher from Mike Flanagan.

“We took 24 hours off after last year and dove straight into planning this year’s gonzo adventure; it’s going to be outrageous,” says Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Fantastic Fest founder Tim League. “First-timers to the festival, I suggest setting an annual reminder for the end of September for the rest of your life. Once you’ve tasted Fantastic Fest, you are family. We’ll see you at this year’s reunion.”

Check out the full lineup of feature film programming at this year’s Fantastic Fest below!

30 COINS (Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2)

World Premiere, 110 min

Director: Álex de la Iglesia

Welcome to hell.

100 YARDS

US Premiere, 108 min

Directors: Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng

Shen An wages war on the streets of Tianjin after losing control of his martial arts academy in a humiliating duel with his father’s apprentice.

ACID

North American Premiere, 99 min

Director: Just Philippot 

In a world messed up by climate change, a girl and her divorced parents must cross a devastated France under strange clouds pouring acid rain.

THE ALL GOLDEN

World Premiere, 64 min

Director – Nate Wilson

In veteran Fantastic Fest filmmaker Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic and labyrinthine deconstructionist satire, a laid-up polyamorous bicycle courier discovers that her older, scholarly boyfriend has been keeping a sinister secret in his closet.

THE ALTMAN METHOD

North American Premiere, 101 min

Director – Nadav Aronowicz

A struggling actress questions her husband’s account of a brutal act of heroism that has won him national recognition and saved his failing business.

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

North American Premiere, 130 min

Director – Thomas Cailley

Emile’s dad moves him to southern France, where his mom is held in a facility for patients afflicted with an illness that mutates them into animals.

ANIMALIA

Texas Premiere, 91 min

Director – Sofia Alaoui

Separated from her husband during a state of emergency, pregnant Itto is stranded in a village, where she starts to experience mysterious phenomena.

BABY ASSASSINS 2

US Premiere, 101 min

Director – Hugo Sakamoto

The Baby Assassins have been suspended from the Assassin Guild and it’s hard to find a new job when you’ve got a fanboy assassin duo out to kill you.

BARK

World Premiere, 90 min

Director – Marc Schölermann

A businessman tied to a tree deep in the woods struggles to convince an outdoorsman to cut him free after the hunter sets up camp to watch him die.

BLONDE DEATH (Presented by Bleeding Skull)

World Premiere of Restoration, 98 min

Director – James Dillinger aka James Robert Baker

Bleeding Skull presents a tale of death, drugs, and Disneyland in James Robert Baker’s essential chapter of queer cinema history.

BLOOD DINER

90 min

Director – Jackie Kong

A brain in a jar orders his cannibal nephews to dismember call girls in their diner’s kitchen to patch together a perfect body for an ancient goddess.

THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS

North American Premiere, 102 min

Director – Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry returns with a tongue-in-cheek satire about an idiosyncratic filmmaker who will do anything to execute his vision.

BUGGED! (Presented by AGFA and Troma)

82 min 

Director – Ronald K. Armstrong

Following a freak lab accident, a woman hires the Dead and Buried Exterminators to rid her house of some overgrown crickets but they all soon realize the bugs are radioactive beasties with a lust for blood!

CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT

North American Premiere, 173 min

Art historian Thomas Negovan offers a new cut of one of the most decadent movies ever made, using outtakes to reconcile the film to its original script.

CENTIPEDE HORROR (Presented by AGFA and Error 4444)

94 min

Director – Keith Li

After his sister dies under mysterious circumstances while on vacation, Wai Lun decides to take matters into his own hands. Soon enough, he discovers a family curse, battling wizards, and centipedes.

COBWEB

US Premiere, 135 min

Director – Kim Jee-woon

Director Kim Jee-woon’s ravishing and raucous tale of a director trying to finish his magnum opus in the censorship-prone 1970s Korean film industry.

THE COFFEE TABLE

North American Premiere, 90 min

Director – Caye Casas

Sometimes a gaudy coffee table is just a coffee table, and sometimes it’s the catalyst for a nightmarish descent into ruination.

CONANN

US Premiere, 105 min

Director – Bertrand Mandico

Fantastic Fest favorite Bertrand Mandico is back with his uniquely beautiful and bizarre time-traveling spin on the myth of Conan the Barbarian.

CONCRETE UTOPIA

Texas Premiere, 130 min

Director – Um Tae-hwa

A magnetic Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon lead this dark, high-stakes disaster parable of Korea’s fevered obsession with real estate and class forms.

THE CREATOR

Texas Premiere, 133 min

Director – Gareth Edwards

From director/co-writer Gareth Edwards (ROGUE ONE, GODZILLA) comes an epic sci-fi action thriller

set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence.

CRUMB CATCHER

World Premiere, 103 min

Director – Chris Skotchdopole

An anxiety-inducing chamber piece that will make you fondly remember the worst high-pressure sales pitch you’ve ever delivered (or endured).

THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW (Presented by AGFA)

World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 77 min

Director – Joseph A. Ziemba & Bret Berg

The world premiere 35mm screening of AGFA’s wildest mixtape yet.

THE DEEP DARK

International Premiere, 100 min

Director – Mathieu Turi

A group of coal miners unintentionally free a bloodthirsty creature after accompanying a professor down to a hidden crypt discovered deep in the mine.

DIVINITY

Texas Premiere, 88 min

Director – Eddie Alcazar

A mad scientist’s serum grants perfect bodies and immortality, but at a cost: rampant infertility leads to an undying society based only on pleasure.

DOOR

North American Premiere, 94 min

Director – Banmei Takahashi

A lonely housewife is held hostage in her own apartment by an increasingly deranged door-to-door salesman in this forgotten home invasion masterpiece.

EILEEN

Texas Premiere, 97 min

Director – William Oldroyd

Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.

ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE

Texas Premiere, 94 min

Director – David Gregory

In the wake of Bruce Lee’s sudden death, film studios rushed to capitalize on the irreplaceable icon, and a new subgenre was born — Bruceploitation.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Episodes 1 & 2)

World Premiere, 120 min

Director – Mike Flanagan

Roderick Usher, CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, must face his past when brutal and mysterious incidents start affecting his family.

FALLING STARS

North American Premiere, 80 min

Directors – Richard Karpala & Gabriel Bienczycki

Three brothers set out on the first night of Harvest to check out the desiccated remains of the witch that their friend has buried in the desert.

THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS

US Premiere, 97 min

Directors – Burnin’ Percebes

After his best friend falls to his death and shatters into pottery shards, Juan uncovers a secret world of living golems in this offbeat comedy.

FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL VOL. 10

Texas Premiere, 85 min

Directors – Joe Pickett & Nick Prueher

Joe Pickett (THE ONION) and Nick Prueher (LATE SHOW) take you on a guided tour through their latest and greatest VHS finds.

FOUR’S A CROWD

Texas Premiere, 100 min

Director – Álex de la Iglesia

Two unexpected passengers complicate an Uber driver’s plan to declare his feelings for one of his regular customers during a 300 km drive to Madrid.

A GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ELM TREE

North American Premiere, 75 min

Directors – Skye & Adam Mann

Padraig (James O Healy) is pulled into a dark world of Irish Mythology and magic as he struggles to deal with his past actions.

I’LL CRUSH Y’ALL

World Premiere, 92 min

Director – Kike Narcea

A retired boxing champion and his dog must defend his family’s country farm from wave after wave of gangsters in this bloody, bare-knuckle brawler.

IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN

Texas Premiere, 97 min

Director – Kenneth Dagatan

A Filipino girl living under Japanese occupation learns the tragic consequences of making deals when a fairy’s gifts extract pounds of flesh.

THE INVISIBLE FIGHT

North American Premiere, 115 min

Director – Rainer Sarnet

After martial artists take out his Soviet post on the China border, a mechanic seeks kung fu mastery at a monastery in this wuxia-inspired comedy.

JACKDAW

World Premiere, 97 min

Director – Jamie Childs

Former motocross champion Jack Dawson embarks on a dark odyssey through his decaying Rust Belt town after being double-crossed by the local kingpin.

THE JAR (CHARON)

World Premiere of Restoration, 85 min

Director – Bruce Tuscano

After hitting an old man with his car, Paul is left with a jar holding a demonic creature that opens a portal to strange worlds and psychotic visions.

KENNEDY

US Premiere, 144 min

Director – Anurag Kashyap

Kennedy works as a contract killer for a corrupt police commissioner with the hope of exacting vengeance on the man who murdered his son.

KILL DOLLY KILL

World Premiere, 79 min

Director – Heidi Moore

Dolly Deadly is out to win Serial Killer of the Year, and she’ll violate all sense of good taste to snatch the crown and look fabulous while doing it.

KILLING ROMANCE

Texas Premiere, 107 min

Director – Lee Won-suk

A toxic masculinity-bashing karaoke musical phantasmagoria from the magical mind of LEE Won-suk, KILLING ROMANCE will stick in your head for months.

KIM’S VIDEO

Texas Premiere, 86 min

Directors – David Redmon & Ashley Sabin

An aspiring filmmaker with fond memories of browsing the shelves of a defunct NY video store attempts to rescue its singular collection of VHS tapes.

THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY

World Premiere, 90 min

Director – Francis Galluppi

A traveling salesman and a waitress face down two murderous bank robbers while waiting for gas at the last pump before a hundred miles of desert.

THE LAST VIDEO STORE

World Premiere, 83 min

Directors – Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford

Blaster Video’s only employee teams up with his best customer’s daughter to fight off an onslaught of B-movie baddies made real by a VHS necronomicon.

LETTERS TO THE POSTMAN

US Premiere, 61 min

Director – Felix Dembinski

A naive postman finds himself corresponding with a mysterious woman in Felix Dembinski’s auspicious and bewitching folk fable.

MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW

North American Premiere, 124 min

Director – Jake West

A hilarious, action-packed documentary chronicling the fascinating life of indie filmmaker Cliff Twemlow and the industry he built in Manchester, UK.

#MANHOLE

Texas Premiere, 99 min

Director – Kazuyoshi Kumakiri

The premise is a simple one: After a night of hard drinking on the night before his wedding, a man falls into an open manhole. How will he escape?

MESSIAH OF EVIL (Presented by AGFA and Radiance Films)

World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 90 min

Directors – Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck

AGFA and Radiance Films present a brand new, restored 35mm print of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’ artful nightmare.

MUSHROOMS

World Premiere, 75 min

Director – Paweł Borowski

An old lady stumbles upon a lost couple while picking mushrooms. They beg for help getting out of the forest, but she senses that something is off.

THE NEST (Presented by AGFA and Shout! Factory)

89 min

Director – Terence H. Winkless

Roaches have never tasted flesh… Until now.

NOWHERE

Texas Premiere of 4K Restoration, 83 min

Director – Gregg Araki

A bunch of LA teens realize they’re witnessing the apocalypse as they seek out a wild party in this 4K restoration of Gregg Araki’s cult classic.

ONE-PERCENTER

North American Premiere, 85 min

Director – Yûdai Yamaguchi

An aging stuntman caught in a brutal feud between yakuza gangs finally shoots the pure action thriller he’s been obsessing over his entire career.

THE ORIGIN

North American Premiere, 87 min

Director – Andrew Cumming

A group fights for survival against an unknown adversary in this stone age thriller.

THE OTHER LAURENS

North American Premiere, 117 min

Director – Claude Schmitz

When his niece shows up at his door looking for help, shaggy-dog P.I. Gabriel Laurens is unwittingly drawn into his twin’s shady criminal underworld.

THE PEOPLE’S JOKER

Texas Premiere, 92 min

Director – Vera Drew

The Joker finds new purpose in Gotham City after transitioning and opening an illegal comedy club in Vera Drew’s handcrafted superhero genre parody.

PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES

World Premiere, 87 min

Director – Lindsey Anderson Beer

In 1969, a young Jud Crandall and his childhood friends band together to confront an ancient evil that has gripped their hometown. PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES is a terrifying prequel based on chapters from Stephen King’s novel “Pet Sematary.”

PROJECT SILENCE

North American Premiere, 101 min

Director – Tae-gon Kim

A car pileup on a foggy bridge pits survivors against a pack of vicious dogs in this satirical horror pitched between THE HOST and TRAIN TO BUSAN.

PROPERTY

North American Premiere, 101 min

Director – Daniel Bandeire

A gang of disenfranchised farmhands traps a traumatized woman in her armored car in Daniel Bandeira’s Brazilian take on the home invasion.

RAGE

North American Premiere, 93 min

Director – Jorge Michel Grau

The only child in a rundown gated community mourns his mother’s death as suspicious events lead him to suspect that his father may be a werewolf.

RESTORE POINT

North American Premiere, 108 min

Director – Robert Hloz

A detective investigates a double homicide in a near-future world where technology allows those who die violently to be rebooted from a data backup.

RIDDLE OF FIRE

US Premiere, 113 min

Director – Weston Razooli

Three children go on an epic quest to uncover the password for their TV, finding themselves in their own video game-like adventure in the real world.

RIVER

US Premiere, 86 min

Director – Junta Yamaguchi

Kikaku Theater Group, the team behind our 2021 Audience Award winner BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES, returns with more two-minute time loop hijinks.

THE SACRIFICE GAME

US Premiere, 100 min

Director – Jenn Wexler

Disillusioned demon worshipers end a string of grisly murders by interrupting a boarding school’s quiet Christmas in this ‘70s-era Satanic Panic romp.

SALEM

International Premiere, 115 min

Director – Jean-Bernard Marlin

A former gang member begins to believe that his daughter will be their slum’s new messiah after a rival curses the neighborhood with his dying breath.

SCALA!!! 

North American Premiere, 96 min

Directors – Jane Giles & Ali Catterall

The story behind London’s legendary Scala Cinema, which screened the most outrageous movies before it was sued and shuttered for showing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

SLEEP

US Premiere, 95 min

Director – Jason Yu

Somnambulism takes on a frightful new meaning in this clever, claustrophobic Korean chiller from former Bong Joon-ho assistant director Jason Yu.

SO UNREAL

World Premiere, 95 min

Director – Amanda Kramer

Amanda Kramer’s documentary collage looks back at the subgenre of films concerned with cyberspace, hackers, and the first days of the internet.

SPOOKTACULAR!

World Premiere, 105 min

Director – Quinn Monahan

A new documentary tells the warts-and-all story behind America’s first horror theme park, Spooky World.

SRI ASIH: THE WARRIOR

North American Premiere, 133 min

Director – Upi Avianto

An aspiring boxer discovers she’s a reincarnation of the goddess Asih in this Indonesian superhero movie focused on punching terrible men in the face.

STOPMOTION

World Premiere, 93 min

Director – Robert Morgan

A stop-motion animator puts up with her overbearing, sick mother in Robert Morgan’s haunting debut.

STRANGE DARLING

World Premiere, 96 min

Director – JT Mollner

One day in the life of a serial killer.

THE STRANGLER

US Premiere of 2K Restoration, 95 min

Director – Paul Vecchiali

A killer and a detective cross paths as they hunt for an answer to their respective feelings of loneliness in the world premiere of the restoration of this 1970 Giallo.

SUBURBAN TALE

World Premiere, 89 min

Director – Stephen Alexander

A young woman reluctantly returns home for her estranged sister’s wedding only to discover that her family is hiding a possessed boy in their home.

SUITABLE FLESH

Texas Premiere, 100 min

Director – Joe Lynch

A casual, intimate encounter with a patient leads a psychologist into the cosmic, kinky world of Lovecraftian horror headlined by Barbara Crampton and Heather Graham.

THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE BARN

World Premiere, 96 min

Director – Magnus Martens

After inheriting an old cabin in Norway, an American family moves there with the intention of turning the adjoining barn into a bed and breakfast. They end up disturbing a barn elf who will go to deadly lengths to drive the family away.

TIGER STRIPES

US Premiere, 95 min

Director – Amanda Nell Eu

A dreamy horror fairy tale about a teenage girl who notices strange, transformative changes in her body soon after getting her first period.

TOTALLY KILLER

World Premiere, 106 min

Director – Nahnatchka Khan

When the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) accidentally travels back in time to 1987, determined to stop the killer before he can start.

THE TOXIC AVENGER

World Premiere, 102 min

Director – Macon Blair

A horrible toxic accident transforms downtrodden janitor Winston Gooze into a new evolution of hero: THE TOXIC AVENGER! 

TRIGGERED

North American Premiere, 113 min

Director – Richard V. Somes

Procuring a job as a night watchman as re-entry back into civilian life, ex-soldier Miguel finds himself caught in a gun battle between a drug cartel and a corrupt police unit.

UFO SWEDEN

North American Premiere, 115 min

Director – Victor Danell

A rebellious teenager seeks out the help of a disgraced meteorologist’s ufology society to locate her father years after he vanished into thin air.

THE UNCLE

US Premiere, 104 min

Directors – David Kapac & Andrija Mardešić

A family prepares for their uncle’s Christmas visit, but the festivities are dampened by the fact that he’ll return in a few days to celebrate again.

V/H/S/85

World Premiere, 110 min

Directors – David Bruckner, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, Mike Nelson, & Scott Derrickson

The iconic found footage series returns with an array of explosive, bloody scares set in a decade obsessed with serial killers and the Satanic Panic.

VERMIN

North American Premiere, 100 min

Director – Sébastien Vaniček

A critter collector’s purchase of a venomous spider turns his entire apartment building into a death trap after it escapes from its shoebox enclosure.

VISITORS (COMPLETE EDITION)

World Premiere, 61 min

Director – Kenichi Ugana

A rock ‘n’ roll band drop in unannounced on a friend and find themselves plummeting into a wackadoo reverie of monsters and mayhem.

THE WAIT

North American Premiere, 99 min

Director – F. Javier Gutiérrez

The gamekeeper of a wealthy man’s rural hunting grounds accepts a bribe from the local hunting guide, which spirals downward into dire consequences.

WAKE UP

World Premiere, 90 min

Directors – RKSS

Gen Z activists are violently picked off by a deranged night watchman after sneaking into an environmentally destructive big-box furniture store.

WE ARE ZOMBIES

International Premiere, 80 min

Directors – RKSS

Canadian filmmaker collective RKSS returns with a hilarious, violent take on a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are misunderstood, unalive citizens.

WHAT YOU WISH FOR

US Premiere, 101 min

Director – Nicholas Tomnay

A down-and-out sous-chef gets more than he bargained for when he steps into the life of an old culinary school pal, a private chef for the über-rich.

WHEN EVIL LURKS

US Premiere, 99 min

Director – Demián Rugna

Two brothers uncover a deadly secret festering in their village and are soon in a race to contain a demon threatening to extinguish their community.

WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS

US Premiere, 92 min

Directors – John Adams, Zelda Adams, & Toby Poser

After a fatal trespassing incident, Eve steals a terrifying artifact from a fellow carnival performer in the hope of bringing her parents back.

YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME

Texas Premiere, 96 min

Directors – Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell

A strange woman desperate for shelter from a harrowing storm picks the wrong trailer to seek refuge… or did she choose exactly right?

YOU’RE NOT ME

World Premiere, 98 min

Directors – Marisa Crespo & Moisés Romera

Aitana shows up at her estranged parents’ home for a surprise Christmas visit and discovers they’ve replaced her with a strange live-in caretaker.

YOUR LUCKY DAY

USA, 2023

World Premiere, 89 min

Director – Dan Brown

After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.

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