Today is the day! Fantastic Fest--North America's coolest, fastest growing genre film festival--officially kicks off this afternoon at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. With around 100 feature films, shorts and special events, Fantastic Fest is a horror / sci-fi / fantasy / action film lover's dream come true. As of yesterday, badges are all sold out. But don't despair, badgeless film lovers--you can still buy individual tickets to certain screenings.

We got an early look at some of this year's films, so we thought we'd give you a quick rundown of the highlights. Enjoy!

Diary of the Dead (w/ George A. Romero in attendance!)
Thurs, Sep 20, 6:45 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 2

Diary of the Dead is a new zombie film by Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero--and, really, you shouldn't need any more reason than that to go see it.

You'll be excited to know that Diary is a kind of return to form for Romero, in that he's abandoned the "action movie" feel that Land of the Dead had in favor of a stripped-down, no-frills indie film. The entire movie is shot on handheld cameras from the perspective of a gang of college students who are shooting an independent horror film when the zombie outbreak occurs. And while this might sound like a "Blair Witch with zombies", it really doesn't come off that way.

In spite of the (intentionally) low-budget feel, there is still a lot of gore, some truly funny moments, and a wide variety of flesh-eating monsters, all wrapped around a surprisingly relevant social commentary. --Matt Smith

Princess
Sat, Sep 22, 4:15 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 3
Thu, Sep 27, 12:45 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 1

Anders Morgenthaler's feature debut Princess left us slackjawed. Not only is the film a surprising tale of vengeance and redemption, but it is also indescribably beautiful, melding live action flashbacks with creamy dreamlike animation. Following the death of his sister Christina, who is also known as the porn queen "The Princess", August, a missionary priest, leaves his work in the field to tend to his orphaned niece Mia. He quickly realizes that Mia has been emotionally and physically scarred by her mother's drug-riddled porn star lifestyle, and sets about to destroy all evidence that may remind Mia or himself of Christina's involvement with the grimy world that led to her untimely death. What begins as a request to the propagators, urging them to eradicate all "Princess" themed materials (including a tomb erected in her honor, encircled by giant concrete phalluses), spirals into a blood filled destruction spree when the money-makers refuse to give up their meal-ticket kingdom.

We don't claim to be experts on animation, especially that of the European comicbook family, but we can say that this film almost makes you forget that it is animated, and only jerks you back into reality with the bits of home-video like archival footage, which fill in the back story before "The Princess" was a household brand, so to speak. Princess even includes a cute and fuzzy bunny reminiscent of a Picachu, which comes alive from time to time to comfort Mia and August, and also plays a pivotal role in the story's denouement, which left us yelling in tandem with the characters, begging for last minute salvation. Recommended. --Steph Beasley

Aachi and Ssipak
Thu, Sep 20, 11:40 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 2
Mon, Sep 24, 3:30 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 1

There is not much to say about this film that hasn't already been said. It's a blistering ride on a Korean animated wackycoaster, in a land that is literally powered by shit. That's right, the only fuel source in the future is human feces, so of course, all defecation is closely monitored by the government. Each individual is outfitted at birth with a special anus monitoring chip that reports on the up-to-the-moment activity in their bowels, and rewards them with narcotic-like Juicy Pops when they poo. If that's not ridiculous enough for you, there is an outlaw band of constipated conscientious objectors called the Diaper Gang, who fuel their Juicy Pop addiction by robbery and thugism.

Enter Aachi and Ssipak, our unlikely heroes, who deal Juicy Pops on the black market. They spend lots of time in stanky bathrooms, waiting to snatch the candy away when people drop their load. They stumble upon an aspiring porn actress named Beautiful, whose excretions are rewarded with copious amounts of Juicy Pops, more than any other person in the land. Of course, since her anus is so valuable, she is wanted by everyone: the cops, the Diaper Gang, the government and of course, Aachi and Ssipak.

The animation in Aachi and Ssipak is really intriguing, blending 2-D characters with CGI backgrounds, and is filled with smack-yo-face action sequences and gun fights. The film pays homage to many Western action favorites, including Indiana Jones, Robo-Cop, Alien and Terminator, although in a slightly twisted manner. Granted, the premise is absolutely ridiculous, but the filmmakers pull no punches, which translates into a film of mind-numbing hilarity. We are looking forward to seeing this in a crowded theater, which should prove to be a much more raucous experience than sitting alone in our house with our cat. Fun, Fun, Fun. Highly Recommended. --Steph Beasley

Five Across the Eyes
Fri, Sep 21, 9:00 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 1
Tues, Sep 25 1:15 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 3

Five Across the Eyes is an original, raw, estrogen-fueled outing through the oh-so-dark back roads of Tennessee. The film--shot in 9 days by college video deparment coworkers Ryan Thiessen and Greg Swinson--follows five girls as they attempt to make their way home before curfew by taking a shortcut through an area known as The Eyes. They manage to accidentally knock out someone's headlight when they stop for directions at a rundown store. This mishap comes back to haunt them when they are tracked down and brutalized by the car's owner.

The film would not work if it wasn't for the gritty visuals and sounds that only a small budget can provide. The low production quality is the thing that infuses this film with terror. Blair Witch and Open Water would be called sleek compared to this. Thiessen and Swinson hold their own in terms of creativity, as they mange to drive this bare aesthetic home with a few novel twists on the "stalk and torture" genre.

For the first ten minutes, you may consider walking out of the theatre due to the shrill, melodramatic voices of bickering teen girls. Don't go! The cast of non-actors draws you in and you actually begin to feel like a teenage girl driving for your life in your parents' minivan. This is a true success for the filmmakers, because you find youself invested in these girls much more than your average, predictable horror movie characters. Theiessen and Swinson made a brilliant choice in making the attacker a grown woman.
Who better to rob spoiled, young girls of their innocence and force them into adulthood? It adds more meaning to a movie already saturated in realism (and you don't often hear "realism" in a horror movie review).

Stick around for the credits--it's interesting to see just how small the production was (Mama Swinson provided the food and Papa Swinson provided the lodging...the two guys did just about everything else). Or just stay for the odd, amusing titles of the film's orginal score (i.e. "Shotgun Sodomy and Other Fine Pleasures in Life"). --Nick Barbieri

Blood, Boobs, and Beast
Sun, Sep 23, 6:30 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 1
Mon, Sep 24, 1:30 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 3

Blood, Boobs, and Beast is a documentary about the late Baltimore filmmaker, artist, and writer Don Dohler, whose low-budget horror and scifi projects have brought joy to the hearts of b-movie fans (some of whom are interviewed in the doc, with hilarious results). Dohler, a mild-mannered and kind man with large glasses, makes a great subject - he tells wry, self-effacing stories which contrast quite effectively with the documentary's other evidence of his incredibly full, productive, and influential life. Some great footage of the behind-the-scenes process of making one of his shoestring pictures brings home the distance between these sets (Dohler's backyard features prominently) and Hollywood glitz. Footage from the films themselves is integrated into the documentary's flow, giving a good taste of Dohler's over-the-top aesthetic. --Rebecca Onion

Flight of the Living Dead
Fri, Sep 21, 11:30 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 2
Wed, Sep 26, 12:55 PM | Alamo S. Lamar 3

We hate for this to sound like a bad thing, but Flight of the Living Dead is kinda like Snakes on a Plane meets the Dawn of the Dead remake. It's a fun action film with some great gore. And while we wouldn't call it a great zombie film per se, the fun comes fast and hard enough to keep it entertaining the whole way through. And it features a genre favorite of ours, Kevin J. O'Connor, as a lovable criminal.

Somebody need to get these zombies off this mothafuckin' plane! --Matt Smith

Secret Screenings
There are four super-secret Ain't It Cool News screenings, all of which are probably awesome. Last year we saw surprise premieres of Pan's Labyrinth and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, and the word is that this year will be even better. We're totally just speculating at this, but we predict they'll include Tim Burton's Sweeny Todd (HUGE poster for this in the South Lamar lobby last night, and it doens't come out until Christmas. Hmmm...) and maybe one of the good vampire movies on the immediate radar--I Am Legend or 30 Days of Night (though those two are totally wishful thinking). If any of you nerds out there have inside info on secret screenings... spill it!