Fantastic Fest Raises a Smile With First Announcement

Fantastic Fest is nearly upon us, and the cinematic celebration of all film bizarre, strange, and innovative has just announced its first lineup of films, including the world premiere of Smile, the disturbing new horror from Paramount Pictures.

The festival, running Sept. 22-29 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar and virtually Sept. 29-Oct. 4, will feature 21 world premieres, 14 North American premieres, and 21 U.S premieres, plus a host of restorations and special screenings. But everything kicks off with the opening night debut of Smile, the feature debut from Parker Finn. Based on his 2020 short "Laura Hasn't Slept," it stars Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why) as Dr. Rose Cotter, whose life unravels as increasingly bizarre forces – and an eerie, identical grin on too many faces – drag her to the edge of sanity.

Horror plays a big part in the festival every year, but 2022 may be the fest's most brutal year to date, with one of the most surprising additions to the lineup. Damien Leone's 2016 microbudget gorefest Terrifier unleashed the ghoulish Art the Clown on unsuspecting audiences, and now the sequel, Terrifier 2, gets its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. The original was a hardcore underground success, so the idea of the 137-minute sequel debuting at a prestige fest like this will have gorehounds salivating.

That's not the only shocker on the list. The long-running V/H/S anthology series unspools its latest, V/H/S/99; Travis Stevens throws a serial killer curveball in Tribeca arthouse horror oddity A Wounded Fawn; and Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult settle in for what promises to be a deeply disturbing dinner in the highly anticipated The Menu, coming later this year from Searchlight.

One of the most eagerly awaited titles is one that shows how far the word "fantastic" can spread out with The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two old friends who suddenly, and seemingly for no reason, fall out. The Irish dark comedy is directed by Martin McDonagh, whose last film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, was supposed to screen at Fantastic Fest in 2017, but its Austin debut was held at Austin Film Festival instead after the revelation that the festival had hired disgraced writer Devin Faraci. Fittingly for this film's theme, it seems that old rifts can indeed be healed.

The festival has always been famous for the large number of returning directors, from award winners to cult faves, who can't wait to bring their latest titles back to the Alamo. Old friend to the fest Quentin Dupieux (Rubber) goes after superhero tropes with his latest, Smoking Causes Coughing. Ruben Östlund (class of 2017 with The Square) brings his Palme d’Or-winning satire Triangle of Sadness; while Luca Guadagnino, a FF veteran for his Suspiria remake, is back with his newest collaboration with Call Me by Your Name star Timothée Chalamet. Underground auteur Mickey Reece (Agnes, Climate of the Hunter) is set to turn heads into slush again with his latest, Country Gold, a fantasy about a strange meeting with George "No Show" Jones. And Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, familiar faces from Synchronic and The Endless and now Marvel mainstays with Moon Knight and Loki, go cosmic with their pandemic two-hander buddy-horror-comedy Something in the Dirt.

However, there will be particular attention for one returnee. Last at the festival in 2016 for his historical erotic horror The Handmaiden, South Korean director Park Chan-wook is back with not only his latest, romantic thriller Decision to Leave, but also a new restoration of his 2000 DMZ drama Joint Security Area. He'll also be this year's recipient of a lifetime achievement award, celebrating his creative output from his debut (The Moon Is… the Sun's Dream) through his international breakout with Oldboy, to his ongoing work in film and TV.

On the dramatic side is Final Cut, the French remake of beloved Japanese low-budget love letter to indie filmmaking One Cut of the Dead, but real-life filmmakers are the focus of a whole tranche of documentaries, such as King on Screen, which looks at the massive impact of author Stephen King on fantasy cinema – with, of course, an accompanying special live recording of Austin's own The Kingcast. Two major horror franchises are dragged into the light, with Living With Chucky (a look at the Child's Play franchise), and a homegrown Austin legend with The Legacy of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Yet the festival isn't about celebrating just major talents: A Life on the Farm charts the extraordinary home movies of Charles Carson, a farmer from rural Britain whose VHS experiments were charming, strange, poignant, and made him more than just the village eccentric.

And what could be more fantastical than kaiju, the great Japanese tradition of giant monster movies? Back in 2016, Shinji Higuchi turned the genre on its head with the revisionist Shin Godzilla, and now he's done the same for another beloved Japanese character, the ultimate tokusatsu hero, in Shin Ultraman. Not that he's taking on evil by himself. There'll be a screening of the first four episodes of the original 1966 TV series, lovingly restored in 4K. Plus, everyone's favorite world-saving turtle returns in a restoration of his own, with 1971's Gamera vs. Zigra.

Of course, it wouldn't be Fantastic Fest without the American Genre Film Archive, the nonprofit established by FF and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League dedicated to saving and distributing rare and obscure genre titles. This year, there won't just be AGFA titles, but a whole day dedicated to the lost, the rediscovered, and the revived, including Joint Security Area and the first AGFA original, The Stairway to Stardom Mixtape, the televised talent show that fascinated and bemused New Yorkers in the Eighties and Nineties.

And while Shark Week may be over, Fantastic Fest will celebrate the long and unfair history cinematic of our cartilaginous friends: Shark Attack, a collection of Jaws rip-offs from India, the U.S., and France (plus that kaiju vs. shark battle royale in Gamera vs. Zigra), all in honor of The Year of the Shark, a new entry in the sharksploitation subgenre from FF veterans Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma (Teddy).

Plus, even with the festival making the jump back to in-person screenings, that doesn't mean it's giving up on the virtual world. After the last screening at South Lamar is finished, the fest continues Sept. 29 to Oct. 4 with FF@Home, a streaming experience that will be headed up by the Burnt Ends offerings. That begins with the hypergonzo All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, and Vera Drew's distinctly controversial The People's Joker. Look for more titles to be announced, including a retrospective of the works of negative-budget filmmakers Matt Farley and Charles Roxburgh, the minds behind Motern Media (Slingshot Cops, Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You!).

Fantastic Fest runs in person Sept. 22-29, and online with FF@Home Sept. 29-Oct. 4. Tickets and passes at fantasticfest.com.

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FESTIVAL FILM LINEUP

AMAZING ELISA
D: Sadrac González-Perellón
Spain, 2022, World Premiere, 104 min.
In the aftermath of a horrific accident, Elisa believes that she’s been given super powers and will stop at nothing to avenge her mother’s death. Director in attendance.

THE ANTARES PARADOX
D: Luis Tinoco Pineda
Spain, 2022, World Premiere, 96 min.
An astrophysicist working for the SETI project risks her career and family to verify an extraterrestrial radio signal before her access is cut off. Director in attendance.

ATTACHMENT
D: Gabriel Bier Gislason
Denmark, 2022, Texas Premiere, 105 min.
Maja and Leah’s relationship is off to a great start, but they face two perilous threats: the whims of a Jewish demon and Leah’s overbearing mother. Director in attendance.

BAD CITY
D: Kensuke Sonomura
Japan, 2022, North American Premiere, 118 min.
A jailed cop is released to lead a crack unit against a corrupt businessman in this bone-crunching dustup starring V-Cinema legend Hitoshi Ozawa.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
D: Martin McDonagh
UK/Ireland, USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 114 min.
Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them. Director in attendance.

BIRDEMIC 3: SEA EAGLE
D: James Nguyen
USA, 2022, World Premiere, 83 min.
The birds are back, and global warming has them roiled! James Nguyen returns with the director's cut of his thrilling, romantic, and worthy sequel. Director in attendance.

BLOOD FLOWER
D: Dain Said
Malaysia, 2022, World Premiere, 102 min.
A psychic teenage boy battles a bloodthirsty, malevolent spirit in this gory Malaysian horror from Bunohan’s Dain Said.

BLOOD RELATIVES
D: Noah Segan
USA, 2022, World Premiere, 88 min.
A nomadic recluse living on the fringes of society reconsiders his bloodthirsty legacy when a teenage girl shows up claiming to be his daughter. Director in attendance.

BONES AND ALL
D: Luca Guadagnino
USA, Italy, 2022, Texas Premiere, 130 min.
A story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, an intense and disenfranchised drifter; a liberating road odyssey of two young people coming into their own, searching for identity and chasing beauty in a perilous world that cannot abide who they are. Director in attendance.

CHOP & STEELE
D: Ben Steinbauer & Berndt Mader
USA, 2022, Austin Premiere, 81 min.
After pranking unsuspecting morning show hosts, the brains behind the beloved Found Footage Festival earn the ire of a major media conglomerate. Directors Ben Steinbauer and Berndt Mader, and actors Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher in attendance.

COUNTRY GOLD
D: Mickey Reece
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 84 min.
Rising star Troyal Brux spends an evening with his idol George Jones, unaware that the country music legend has a rather cold deadline the following morning. Director in attendance.

DECISION TO LEAVE
D: Park Chan-wook
South Korea, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 138 min.
Laced with wicked humor, master filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s dazzlingly cinematic romantic thriller surprises and delights to the very last. Director in attendance.

DEEP FEAR
D: Grégory Beghin
France, 2022, North American Premiere, 80 min.
Three friends are caught between a skinhead gang and an otherworldly enemy after discovering a forgotten secret in the depths of the Paris Catacombs.

DEMIGOD: THE LEGEND BEGINS
D: Chris Huang Wen Chang
Taiwan, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 103 min.
Martial arts, magic, and marionettes collide in a dazzling kaleidoscope of blood-spattered puppetry in this one-of-a-kind Wuxia spectacular.

DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY
D: Luis Javier Henaine
Mexico, 2022, World Premiere, 103 min.
After sneaking into a crime scene to snap pictures of a corpse, an ambitious photographer stumbles onto a curse that takes away his senses one by one.

THE ELDERLY
D: Raúl Cerezo & Fernando González Gómez
Spain, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 95 min.
An octogenarian starts behaving weirdly in the wake of his wife’s sudden suicide as he prepares for events leading up to a mysterious apocalypse.

EVERYONE WILL BURN
D: David Hebrero
Spain, 2021, North American Premiere, 120 min.
A mysterious young girl interrupts María José’s suicide attempt, offering the power to take revenge on the villagers responsible for her son’s death. Director in attendance.

EVIL EYE
D: Isaac Ezban
Mexico, 2022, World Premiere, 100 min.
Left in the care of their eccentric grandmother, Nala discovers that the tough old lady has sinister plans for her chronically ill sister, Luna. Director Isaac Ezban and actor Paola Miguel in attendance.

FAMILY DINNER
D: Peter Hengl
Austria, 2022, Texas Premiere, 96 min.
An insecure teenager begs her nutritionist aunt for help shedding weight over the Easter holiday, unaware of how extreme the diet plan will become. Director in attendance.

FINAL CUT
D: Michel Hazanavicius
France, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 111 min.
Oscar-winning French director Michel Hazanavicius’ meta remake of the Japanese cult movie One Cut of the Dead manages a little tour de force.

THE FIVE DEVILS
D: Léa Mysius
France, 2022, North American Premiere, 103 min.
A young girl’s ability to smell and reproduce any scent transports her into her family’s troubled past in this gorgeous, magical realist drama.

FLOWING
D: Paolo Strippoli
Italy, Belgium, 2022, World Premiere, 93 min.
A broken family violently confronts their tragic past as the Roman sewers exhale a hallucinatory toxin that revives repressed memories and fears. Director in attendance.

GARCIA!
D: Eugenio Mira
Spain, 2022, World Premiere of first two episodes, 114 min.
On the hunt for a scoop that could secure her a job, a journalist intern inadvertently awakens a superhuman agent created by Franco’s regime. Director in attendance.

GIVE ME PITY!
D: Amanda Kramer
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 80 min.
Sissy St. Clair’s debut television special, a variety show evening of music and laughter, quickly curdles into a psychedelic nightmare.

H4Z4RD
D: Jonas Govaerts
Belgium, 2022, North American Premiere, 86 min.
When Noah Hazard volunteers to drive his beloved gold Lexus to help his jailbird cousin pick up a friend from prison, he doesn’t expect to be drawn into a murderous drug war.

HOLY SPIDER
D: Ali Abbassi
Denmark, 2022, Texas Premiere, 115 min.
A female journalist descends into an Iranian city’s underbelly to investigate a serial killer stalking sex workers to cleanse the streets of sinners.

HUESERA
D: Michelle Garza Cervera
Mexico, Peru, 2022, Texas Premiere, 97 min.
An expectant young mother confronts her past demons in Michelle Garza Cervera’s creepy mash-up between a folk ghost story and an anxiety attack. Director in attendance.

HUNT
D: Lee Jung-jae
South Korea, 2022, Texas Premiere, 125 min.
Rival KCIA agents hunt for an elusive North Korean spy in this Eighties espionage thriller, the explosive directorial debut from Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae.

KIDS VS. ALIENS
USA, 2022, World Premiere, 75 min.
Jason Eisener’s long-awaited follow-up to Canuxploitation classic Hobo With a Shotgun pits a group of moviemaking pals against sinister alien invaders. Director in attendance.

KING ON SCREEN
D: Daphné Baiwir
France, USA, Belgium, 2022, World Premiere, 105 min.
A documentary exploration of the many screen adaptations of the work of Stephen King, with commentary from the filmmakers he’s influenced the most. Director in attendance.

LA PIETÀ
D: Eduardo Casanova
Spain, Argentina, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 84 min.
A terminal cancer diagnosis upends a claustrophobic mother-son relationship in Spain’s auteur of weirdness Eduardo Casanova’s sophomore film. Director in attendance.

THE LEGACY OF THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
D: Phillip Escott
UK, 2022, World Premiere, 83 min.
Fest alumnus Phillip Escott presents a journey into The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, exploring the elements that garnered the film its cult status. Director in attendance.

LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE
D: Martika Ramirez Escobar
Philippines, 2022, Texas Premiere, 99 min.
A falling TV hits Leonor on the head, and she ends up in the action movie she’s writing, but there’s just one problem: She hasn’t finished the script. Director in attendance.

A LIFE ON THE FARM
D: Oscar Harding
UK, USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 75 min.
An often-macabre deep dive into the inspiring legacy of the long-lost home movies of a filmmaking farmer’s life in rural Somerset, England. Director Oscar Harding and executive producers Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher in attendance.

LIVING WITH CHUCKY
D: Kyra Gardner
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 102 min.
The daughter of one of Chucky’s puppeteers examines the family relationships that contributed to the success of the queer camp classic Child's Play. Director in attendance.

LYNCH/OZ
D: Alexandre O. Philippe
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 108 min.
Documentary filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe dissects director David Lynch’s lifelong obsession with The Wizard of Oz. Director in attendance.

MANTICORE
D: Carlos Vermut
Spain, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 115 min.
Spanish cult director Carlos Vermut returns to the festival with an unsettling, intimate portrait of a real-life monster tortured by a grim secret. Director in attendance.

MEDUSA DELUXE
D: Thomas Hardiman
UK, 2022, North American Premiere, 100 min.
Tensions and hairspray run high when a stylist is murdered at an elite hairdressing competition, where a passion for extravagance borders on obsession. Director in attendance.

THE MENU
D: Mark Mylod
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 107 min.
A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. Director in attendance.

MISSING
D: Shinzô Katayama
Japan, 2021, U.S. Premiere, 124 min.
A distraught daughter searches for her widower father after he disappears while trying to collect the reward for capturing an unknown serial killer.

MISTER ORGAN
D: David Farrier
New Zealand, 2022, World Premiere, 96 min.
Following reports of fraudulent car clamping in Auckland, journalist and filmmaker David Farrier opens an investigation that pushes him to the limits of his sanity in this incredible true story of psychological warfare. Director in attendance.

NIGHTMARE
D: Kjersti Helen Rasmussen
Norway, 2022, World Premiere, 99 min.
Mona’s domestic bliss with her devoted boyfriend unravels as her night terrors intensify, but attempts at lucid dreaming reveal something sinister.

NIGHTSIREN
D: Tereza Nvotová
Slovakia, Czech Republic, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 109 min.
Šarlota returns home decades after losing her sister in an accident, only to be faced by the brutal village patriarchy and accusations of witchcraft.

NOTHING
D: Trine Piil & Seamus McNally
Denmark, Germany, 2022, International Premiere, 88 min.
A group of teenage classmates face an existential crisis, pushing them into darker and darker territory as they confront the meaninglessness of life. Directors in attendance.

THE OFFERING
D: Oliver Park
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 93 min.
A desperate man defends his unborn child from an ancient demon brought into their family-owned Hasidic funeral home inside a mysterious corpse. Director in attendance.

OINK
D: Mascha Halberstad
The Netherlands, 2022, Texas Premiere, 70 min.
A young girl suspects that her estranged butcher grandfather has sinister plans for the adorable piglet he has given her as a birthday gift.

ONE AND FOUR
D: Jigme Trinley
China, 2021, Texas Premiere, 88 min.
A Tibetan forest ranger must deduce who, among the three visitors seeking refuge in his cabin from a coming blizzard, are poachers and who are cops.

PIGGY
D: Carlota Pereda
Spain, 2022, Texas Premiere, 90 min.
When a bullied girl’s tormentors are kidnapped, she faces the ultimate moral test: Does she help, or allow them to suffer as payback? Director in attendance.

PROJECT WOLF HUNTING
D: Kim Hong-sun
South Korea, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 121 min.
On the choppy seas between Manila and Busan, violent convicts run amok on a hellish cargo ship in this blood-soaked slice of maritime carnage.

SATANIC HISPANICS
D: Mike Mendez, Demián Rugna, Eduardo Sánchez, Gigi Saul Guerrero & Alejandro Brugués
USA, Mexico, Argentina, 2022, World Premiere, 105 min.
Five crazy and original shorts from five entertaining Hispanic directors, together in an anthology that will make you laugh and jump in fright. Directors in attendance.

SHIN ULTRAMAN
D: Shinji Higuchi
Japan, 2022, Texas Premiere, 113 min.
Ultraman descends from space after Japan suffers a devastating series of kaiju attacks in this homage to the classic, genre-defining TV series.

SICK
D: John Hyams
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 82 min.
As the pandemic steadily brings the world to a halt, Parker and her best friend Miri decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone – or so they think. Directed by John Hyams (Alone), written by Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Katelyn Crabb, and starring Gideon Adlon (Blockers), Bethlehem Million (And Just Like That), Marc Menchaca (Ozark), and Jane Adams (Twin Peaks, Poltergeist, Hacks).

SICK OF MYSELF
D: Kristoffer Borgli
Norway, Sweden, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 95 min.
Fueled by a need for attention, Signe plays a perverse game of one-upmanship with her boyfriend, popping a drug that causes a painful skin condition.

SMILE
D: Parker Finn
USA, 2022, World Premiere, 116 min.
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality. Director in attendance.

SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING
D: Quentin Dupieux
France, 2022, Texas Premiere, 80 min.
Five anti-smoking avengers are forced to take a mandatory team-building retreat in Quentin Dupieux’s absurdist take on the superhero genre.

SOLOMON KING
D: Jack Bomay & Sal Watts
USA, 1974, World Premiere of 4K Restoration, 85 min.
Think twice before you mess with Solomon King! Deaf Crocodile’s meticulous restoration of Sal Watts’ Seventies cult classic will soon be your new favorite.

SOMETHING IN THE DIRT
D: Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 115 min.
A pair of Los Angeles misfits’ investigation into the city’s occult history sends them down a rabbit hole that threatens their friendship and sanity. Directors in attendance.

SPOONFUL OF SUGAR
D: Mercedes Bryce Morgan
USA, 2022, World Premiere, 94 min.
Desperate for connection, Millicent enmeshes herself in the lives of a dysfunctional family as her disturbing, LSD-fueled hallucinations grow violent.

THE STRANGE CASE OF JACKY CAILLOU
D: Lucas Delangle
France, 2022, North American Premiere, 92 min.
Jacky has his grandmother’s gift of healing, but when a woman turns up on his doorstep with an unusual problem, he must decide how far he’ll go for love.

SWALLOWED
D: Carter Smith
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 94 min.
Forced to mule drugs on their crossing of the southern U.S. border, two friends realize that the packages they ingested seem to be alive. Director Carter Smith and actor Mark Patton in attendance.

TERRIFIER 2
D: Damien Leone
USA, 2022, North American Premiere, 137 min.
Resurrected by occult forces, Art the Clown returns to wreak bloody havoc on the residents of Miles County, targeting a frazzled mother and her kids.

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
D: Ruben Östlund
Sweden, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 149 min.
In Ruben Östlund’s wickedly funny Palme d’Or winner, social hierarchy is turned upside down, revealing the tawdry relationship between power and beauty. Celebrity model couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean) are invited on a luxury cruise for the über rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting for survival.

TROPIC
D: Edouard Salier
France, 2022, North American Premiere, 110 min.
An extraterrestrial substance cripples an aspiring young astronaut, forcing his twin brother out of his shadow to continue his training alone. Director in attendance.

ULTRAMAN (4K EDITION)
D: Samaji Nonagase, Hajime Tsuburaya & Akio Jissoji
Japan, 1966, Texas Premiere of 2022 4K Edition, 101 min.
Four episodes from the brand-new 4K restoration of the original Ultraman television series.

UNICORN WARS
D: Alberto Vázquez
Spain, France, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 92 min.
After a bloody defeat in their apocalyptic war against the Unicorns, the Teddy Bear army launches a desperate attack in the heart of the magic forest.

UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS
D: Juan Felipe Zuleta
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 100 min.
An internet sex worker convinces her reclusive neighbor to road-trip across North America for a rendezvous with visitors from a distant galaxy. Director in attendance.

V/H/S/99
D: Johannes Roberts, Maggie Levin, Flying Lotus, Tyler MacIntyre, Vanessa Winter & Joseph Winter
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 99 min.
The found-footage anthology’s latest scare package rewinds the tape back to 1999 with bloody tales set against the end of the millennium. Directors Maggie Levin and Tyler MacIntyre in attendance.

VENUS
D: Jaume Balagueró
Spain, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 100 min.
Injured in an attempt to steal from her boss, Lucía hides with her sister, unaware that something’s very wrong with the rundown building’s residents. Director on attendance.

VESPER
D: Kristina Buožytė & Bruno Samper
Belgium, France, Lithuania, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 112 min.
In a postapocalyptic world, a peasant girl’s encounter with an oligarch’s lost daughter leads to a discovery that could reverse ecological collapse. Directors in attendance.

THE VISITOR FROM THE FUTURE
D: François Descraques
France, 2022, North American Premiere, 102 min.
A snarky time traveler from the year 2555 arrives to save the world from ecological disaster by attempting to assassinate a climate activist’s father.

WE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD
D: Natalia Sinelnikova
Germany, Romania, 2022 Texas Premiere, 93 min.
When a dog disappears from a secluded high-rise building, fear spreads among the residents, threatening to turn their utopia into Absurdistan.

A WOUNDED FAWN
D: Travis Stevens
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 91 min.
Bruce is erudite, handsome, and charming … but he’s also a psychotic serial killer urged to violence by the gigantic red owl that lives in his head. Director Travis Stevens and actors Sarah Lind and Josh Ruben in attendance.

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AGFA TAKEOVER

FLESHEATER
D: Bill Hinzman
USA, 1988, Texas Premiere of 4K Restoration, 89 min.
The "spiritual sequel" to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, newly restored in 4K from the original 16mm camera negative by Vinegar Syndrome.

JOINT SECURITY AREA
D: Park Chan-wook
South Korea, 2000, U.S. Premiere of Restoration, 110 min.
Arrow Film’s new restoration of Park Chan-wook’s explosive exploration of the madness of war set in the DMZ between North and South Korea.

THE STAIRWAY TO STARDOM MIXTAPE
D: AFGA
USA, 2022, World Premiere, 70 min.
Culled from more than 15 hours of footage, AGFA presents the definitive cut of public access TV’s most otherworldly show.

TERMINAL USA
D: Jon Moritsugu
USA, 1993, World Theatrical Premiere of 4K Restoration, 60 min.
Jon Moritsugu’s genre-melting underground classic, newly restored from the original camera negative by AGFA.

VIDEO DIARY OF A LOST GIRL
D: Lindsay Denniberg
USA, 2012, World Premiere, 96 min.
A new preservation of DIY filmmaker Lindsay Denniberg’s hypercolored, VHS-inspired horror valentine.

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BURNT ENDS

ALL JACKED UP AND FULL OF WORMS
D: Alex Phillips
USA, 2022, Texas Premiere, 72 min.
A psychedelic journey of self-discovery leads to romance when a man shares his addiction to psychotropic worms … and Chicago will never be the same. Director in attendance.

THE PEOPLE'S JOKER
D: Vera Drew
USA, 2022, U.S. Premiere, 92 min.
The Joker finds new purpose in Gotham City after transitioning and opening an illegal comedy club in Vera Drew’s handcrafted superhero genre parody. Director in attendance.

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SHARK ATTACK

12 DAYS OF TERROR
D: Jack Sholder
USA, 2004, Retrospective, 95 min.
During the record-breaking summer heat of 1916, beachgoers on the Jersey Shore are threatened by a shark that has developed a taste for human flesh. Director in attendance.

AATANK
D: Prem Lalwani & Desh Mukherjee
India, 1996, North American Premiere, 113 min.
A gangster’s hunt for black pearls sparks a series of vicious shark attacks. No diver, boat, or helicopter is safe in this B-grade Bollywood oddity.

GAMERA VS. ZIGRA
D: Noriaki Yuasa
Japan, 1971, North American Premiere, 87 min.
A classic case of mutated, talking murdershark vs. nuclear turtlebeast when Japanese cinema's second-most iconic reptile takes on an oceanic threat!

MAKO: THE JAWS OF DEATH
D: William Grefé
USA, 1976, Texas Premiere, 86 min.
A rabidly anti-human Vietnam vet cranks his telepathic shark bond to 11 in William Grefé’s lethally entertaining shipwreck of Jaws and Carrie.

TINTORERA!
D: René Cardona Jr.
Mexico, United Kingdom, 1977, Repertory 35mm Screening, 85 min.
A tiger shark disrupts two best friends’ blissful plans to enjoy life in the Caribbean in this Mexican sharksploitation classic from 1977.

YEAR OF THE SHARK
D: Ludovic Boukherma & Zoran Boukherma
France, 2022, North American Premiere, 84 min.
A maritime police sergeant major spends her last days before retirement in the relentless pursuit of the shark terrorizing her small beach town.