The Artech Goes to Fantastic Fest
I remember my first Fantastic Fest was the last year of the original strip mall. Wedged right between a boxing gym and a vintage clothing store that had either a Mad Max or Zardoz costume in the display that never got sold. That was the year I learned what a film festival was and kinda fell in love with it all. Flash forward 12 years and now I’m doing press at Fantastic Fest for the first time ever with a news outlet of my own creation.
This time around it’s less so the tentpole acts and more so the side attractions that pique my interest at this year’s circus themed Fantastic Fest. It’s a testament to how much the festival has grown despite the film industry’s overall stagnation amid COVID, strikes, and other worldwide troubles. Without further ado, below are the things I’m the most excited to check out at this year’s Fantastic Fest:
#1 The Wild Robot - While I’ve fallen out of love with 90% of horror movies, I’ve been taking greater notice to how limitless the creativity of animated films is. The premise of a robot finding life and understanding around wildlife is a really cool and potentially wholesome in a way I’ll predict will satisfy Iron Giant fans. Compared to the other films, I’m definitely the most hyped about this one.
#2: Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic - Earlier in the year, Fantastic Fest announced a spotlight event for gaming throughout the festival called Day of the Devs. I was expecting a slew of small budget indie games that eventually fade away to the passing of time, but I was NOT expecting the next installment in one of the biggest indie horror titles of all time to make an appearance. I’ve really enjoyed Steel Wool’s additions to the FNAF universe including Security Breach and Help Wanted. Looking forward to giving my first impressions on Secret of the Mimic ANYTHING while I’m at Fantastic Fest.
#3: Blumhouse Games - I’ve been intrigued with the idea of film studios entering the game development space, as I do believe that the merging of the game industry and filmmaking industry is the next step in the evolution of both fandoms. Anyone that’s played games like Death Stranding knows what I’m talking about. Blumhouse particularly has an interesting hold on the genre community that would make for a warm welcome by the horror gaming community that’s already built-in. They have a number of interesting titles currently announced that I’m looking forward to giving a try.
#4 SpectreVision’s hosted podcasts recordings - In years past Fantastic Fest have held podcast recordings with Tim Burton and Gilbert Gottfried (titans in their own right). While it appears as though not ALL of these podcast recordings have been announced 👀 What we DO know is that Mike Flanagan and Elijah Wood, among others, will be on the mic so being around any of that will be delightful.
#5 Other Movies: Running through these in no particular order, I’m glad that Psycho Goreman enjoyers are being rewarded with another film by director Steven Kostanski. Movies like Frankie Freako are designed for going in blind, as you’ll get smacked in the face with legitimately wild imagery and ideas. Labeling movies like his (or any movie for that matter) as “bonkers” is for the weak. Watching Frankie Freako and being ready to properly articulate the insanity to your friends is for the strong
Readers of The Artech Magazine might be aware that I’ve assembled a titan roundtable discussion on stop motion animation with 7 of the best animators and directors in the business. An equally essential member of this community will make their presence at Fantastic Fest in the form of Adam Elliott and his new film Memoir of a Snail. He truly has a wonderful style and way of looking at the world. For those reasons I would love so much to get some time to run my questions I asked ‘The Kinetic Canvas’ Roundtable by Adam.
The stories I love writing for The Artech are the ones where artists that might be known for one particular thing dive into an entirely new art form. Powerman 5000 frontman Spider One has recently done so with his directorial debut called Little Bites. While I am a thorough enjoyer of his music, I really am looking forward to seeing how he performs as a director for a feature film.
