SXSW Fantastic Fest Announces Lesbian Vamps and Ass-Kicking Tony Jaa
Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 18, 2009
SXSW recently announced an awesome partnership with Austin’s other fantastic film festival, the oddly named Fantastic Fest. SXSW will be showcasing six midnight movies to thrill, chill, and entertain the hell out festival-goers. The films are:
Ong Bak 2 (Thailand)
Director: Tony Jaa. Writer: Panna Rittikrai
Tony Jaa is back in a truly amazing, ass-kicking, mind-boggling, eye-popping prequel to the epic cult hit Ong Bak. (International Film Festival Premiere) This one has me as giddy as a teenage girl reading Twilight while sitting on a washing machine and sucking a lollipop. Tony Jaa is a phenomenal talent when it comes to flying through the air and breaking bones. They call it a prequel, but it actually shares nothing but a title with Jaa’s kinetic and crazy original. I’ll be there for this one.
Black (France)
Director: Pierre Laffargue. Writer: Pierre Laffargue, Lucio Mad, Gábor Rassov
MC Jean Gab’1 stars in an action packed neo-blacksploitation tale of mutants, machetes, mercenaries, mysticism and magic. (World Premiere) I’d never heard of this before the announcement, but the trailer shows a lot of potential. MC Jean Gab’1 showed off his moves previously in District 13, and Black looks to be even more action-packed. Should be fun.
The Haunting in Connecticut (US)
Director: Peter Cornwell. Writer: Adam Simon,Tim Metcalfe
A killer cast (Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan) stars in this truly chilling, chillingly true story of one family’s supernatural ordeal. (International Film Festival Premiere) Well, I’d be lying if I said I was interested in this one. Haunted house movies featuring families terrorized by violent ghosts… meh. Bored already.
The Horseman (Australia)
Director/Writer: Steven Kastrissios
A dark, brutal thriller, starring Peter Marshall as a bereaved father seeking bloody vengeance from the pornographers who killed his drug addict daughter. (North American Premiere) Not to be confused with The Horsemen starring Ziyi Zhang and Dennis ‘The Scowler’ Quaid, this Australian revenge thriller has gotten some rave reviews (well, two anyway) for its blistering, powerful violence and the lead performance by Marshall. A definite must-see.
Lesbian Vampire Killers (UK)
Director: Phil Claydon. Writer: Paul Hupfield, Stewart Williams
Gavin & Stacey’s Matthew Horne and James Corden play hapless losers whose holiday idyll is shattered by, yes, lesbian vampires. Expect bawdiness, blood, and some good old British boozing! (World Premiere) The full trailer for this one just appeared a couple days ago, and it looks pretty good… Hard to tell really but you can’t argue with the concept. This is one I’ll try my best to see unless I get distracted by real life lesbians.
Pontypool (Canada)
Director: Bruce McDonald. Writer: Tony Burgess
This genre-bending metaphysical horror film stars Stephen McHattie as a jaded, grizzled radio jock who finds himself in the midst of a bloody, violence-induced panic in the sleepy town of Pontypool. (U.S. Premiere) I’m not too sure about what exactly a “metaphysical horror film” is exactly, but Dread Central describes the movie as “Night of the Living Dead meets Talk Radio with a dash of William S. Burroughs”… so count me in.
We’ll have reviews on these and other films from SXSW when FSR invades Austin March13th through the 21st! (Technically, FSR is already in Austin of course as our World Headquarters recently moved to town…)
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