Fantastic Fest Blog

Guess What, Kiddos? Now There’s An ABCs OF DEATH Children’s Book Just For You.

2013-05-22T16:51:19+00:00

This is amazing. Today Tim League and Ant Timpson, the producers of The ABCs Of Death, announced that they're releasing a grown-up children's booked based on the incredibly gruesome horror anthology. The ABCs Of Death book will have a limited run of 666 copies worldwide (obviously), and it also includes an uncut special edition Blu-ray of the film complete with 30 (30!) commentaries, behind-the-scenes clips, making-of featurettes and trailers.

The ABCs of Death is written in charmingly twisted verse from Terror Tuesday programmer, occasional Badass Digest correspondent, film producer and Destroy All Movies!!! author Zack Carlson, and it features original artwork from the great Stephan Britt. Here's a little tidbit to entice: "The ABCs of Death is a 56-page storybook guaranteed to entertain young and old alike with its hilarious, heartwarming tales of cannibalism, suicide, and life-or-death sex tournaments." My heart is warmed already!

Per Timpson,

"The idea for this unusual film sprung from a deep fondness of alphabet books from our collective childhood. A little digging revealed that the books had a dark history, and that many early versions were used as punishment primers. In a sleep deprived state that was all the ammunition required for an epiphany of sorts. How about creating a film inspired by the alphabet?”

So where can you get your grabby little hands on this book, kids? It's available for purchase at www.abcsdeathbook.com for $37. So save up your allowance!

Oh My God, The Trailer For Ben Wheatley’s A FIELD IN ENGLAND

2013-05-21T14:53:03+00:00

Behold the official UK trailer for Ben Wheatley's A FIELD IN ENGLAND, the latest psychedelic thriller from the Fantastic Fest alum who has written and directed nothing but brilliance in his previous efforts DOWN TERRACE, KILL LIST and SIGHTSEERS.

Drafthouse Films has nabbed the North American rights to the film, so we can all feel a sense of relief that we'll be able to see this movie as soon as possible. The trailer looks absolutely mad, hellish and hidden and very, very scary. A FIELD IN ENGLAND " follows a group of English Civil War soldiers in the 17th century who are captured by an alchemist and led into a vast mushroom field, where they fall victim to violent and nightmarish forces." And doesn't that sound like something you want to see immediately?

See the trailer below, and if you haven't yet checked out SIGHTSEERS, it's available on VOD and still in theaters. You'll be glad you found it. Read my review over at Badass Digest here.

The Absurdly Wrong “WRONG” Comes Home June 11

2013-05-15T15:45:32+00:00

Wrong, the absurdly hilarious comedy from Quentin Dupieux about a man's frantic search for his kidnapped dog that Salon calls "a demented, surrealist, near-masterpiece," hits DVD and Blu-ray on June 11. Limited edition fan packs which include shirts, autographed posters and more are now available for pre-order via the Drafthouse Films website here.

Drafthouse Films is also offering the opportunity to own your very own copy of My Life, My Dog, My Strength, the guide to canine telepathic connection written by William Fichtner's engimatic, pony-tailed, facial scarred character "Master Chang." The 226-paged hardcover book contains Quentin Dupieux's entire original script, pages of key art featured in the film and an introduction by actor/comedian Eric Wareheim. This book is limited to only 225 copies, each copy autographed by Dupieux and is available for pre-order here.

DVD & BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

Phase 7: The Making of a Nonfilm
The WRONG "Behind The Scenes"
Memories of a Dog Turd
Theatrical Trailers
20-Page Booklet
1.85:1
Sound: DTS-MA 5.1 (Blu-ray), 2.0 Dolby Digital (DVD)
Region A (Blu-ray), Region 1 (DVD)

Announcing The Fantastic Fest 2013 Location!

2013-05-10T15:00:57+00:00

The thing about construction is that there are always delays, even in perpetually dry Texas. While the hope was strong that Alamo South Lamar would be ready by September for Fantastic Fest 2013, the reality is it will not be ready in time.

As soon as we knew that South Lamar wouldn't be able to host Fantastic Fest, we began looking at our options. All possibilities were considered and scouted, from the upcoming New Braunfels location to Slaughter Lane to Downtown Austin. At each stage we weighed impact on our in-town and out-of-town friends and guests of the festival, along with each option’s ability to adhere to the core values and spirit on which Fantastic Fest was built. In the end, we settled on a space that allows us to keep the Fantastic Fest family under one roof while still providing easy access for Austin residents and hotels for those traveling.

We are excited to announce the soon-to-be completed Alamo Lakeline location as the home for Fantastic Fest 2013. The theater is situated off Highway 183 in Northwest Austin and will be completed this summer. It will have 10 screens, a bar featuring a large selection of beers and is located near several hotels. The theater will also feature a 35mm projector which will allow us to continue to support a wide range of exhibition formats.

Details are still being ironed out regarding an events and arcade location, as well as nearby hotel discounts, but we promise we'll figure all this stuff out, and we will continue to keep you up to date on new information. We look forward to all of our friends joining us on this adventure and helping us to make this the biggest and best Fantastic Fest yet!

Drafthouse Films Acquires Ben Wheatley’s A FIELD IN ENGLAND!

2013-05-09T18:02:53+00:00

Ben Wheatley is an incredible director who has turned out such wildly varied and brilliant gems as Down Terrace, Kill List and Sightseers (read my review over at Badass Digest here). So it's a pretty remarkable coup that Drafthouse Films has nabbed the North American rights to his latest, an original horror film called A Field in England.

From the press release:

Billed as “a psychedelic trip into magic and madness,” A Field In England follows a group of English Civil War soldiers in the 17th century who are captured by an alchemist and led into a vast mushroom field, where they fall victim to violent and nightmarish forces. A theatrical and VOD release is planned for 2013.

“When we world-premiered Ben's debut feature Down Terrace at Fantastic Fest in 2009, he deservedly won top prize, the AMD Next Wave award. We knew we were witnessing the debut of a major talent.” says Fantastic Fest Founder and Drafthouse Films CEO Tim League, “Ben represents the ideal filmmaker we love to support at Drafthouse Films and fully embodies our unique brand – a visionary who compounds genre themes and artfully unusual sensibilities. We are incredibly honored to be working with him to release A Field In England."

“I’m very excited to be working with Drafthouse on A Field in England. They are a great company who have released some groundbreaking films over the last few years. I went to Fantastic Fest in 2009 wanting to visit a cinema I'd read about for years (and to buy up as many Mondo posters as I was allowed to take on the plane), I came away with the start of a career. Drafthouse is a name that will always be special to me and I’m really happy to be working side by side with them,” says Wheatley.

This is major, and I personally cannot wait to see this movie as soon as possible. Congrats to Drafthouse Films for their continued acquisition of some of the coolest and most distinct titles available!

Download a free track from the soundtrack by Jim Williams here!

Ray Harryhausen: 1920-2013

2013-05-07T17:46:15+00:00

originally posted on Badass Digest.

I met Ray Harryhausen once. I interviewed him briefly backstage at a comic book convention and I found him to be personable and nice and very sharp for a man in his 80s. Talking to him was amazing, but the real thrill for me came at the beginning and the end of the interview, when I shook his hand. That hand had been responsible for some of the greatest creatures and fantastical moments I have ever experienced in the movies.

Harryhausen's career began where so many of modern movies' biggest dreams did: King Kong. He saw that film dozens of times and was inspired to follow in the footsteps of the great stop motion pioneer Willis O'Brien. O'Brien himself gave young Harryhausen some advice after seeing the aspiring filmmaker's home movies. Harryhausen ended up working with O'Brien as an assistant animator on Mighty Joe Young, a film that won O'Brien an Oscar.

In many ways Harryhausen wasn't that different from the fans of today who hope to follow in the footsteps of their heroes. He hung out in LA with likeminded nerds, joining the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society at the urging of his fellow fan, Ray Bradbury. Those two became great friends with the head of the Society, the original fan, Forrest J Ackerman. Imagine hanging out with those three in Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown LA, talking about Flash Gordon and pulp scifi stories. That trio would go on to change the entire face of science fiction and, along the way, American culture itself.

Harryhausen's great feat was the way he seamlessly integrated his stop motion creatures with live action. He avoided expensive optical printers, which also had the bonus of reducing image degradation that was common in special effects work at the time. What Harryhausen sought was a perfect meeting of the live action and stop motion, which would in turn give the animation a more realistic feel.

His first solo film was The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, which saw him working with Bradbury (the producers of the film learned that Bradbury's short story The Fog Horn had a sequence very similar to one they wanted in their movie, so they bought the rights to keep him from suing). That film was a major success, and Harryhausen's career took off. He was involved heavily in every step of pre-production, essentially directing the pictures himself. It was common knowledge in Hollywood that the director on a Harryhausen film was only there to help facilitate the animator's vision.

Harryhausen's body of work is astonishing. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad - those are just his masterpieces from the 50s. The 1960s saw unbelievable, imagination-soaked movies like Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years BC and Valley of Gwangi. As Hollywood changed around him Harryhausen's output slowed in the 70s, and he made the brilliant Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger before unleashing perhaps his greatest - and final - work, the original Clash of the Titans.

What Ray Harryhausen did was simply magic. He brought inanimate objects to life on screen, and he gave them character and personality that often dwarfed the so-so actors who were up against them. It is no hyperbole to say that the mind (and hands) of Harryhausen shaped the geek revolution that has swept pop culture in the last few decades. The creatures and scenarios he created are the embodiment of our dreams projected on screen. Harryhausen's work is the definition of wonder, a perfect encapsulation of the awe and joy we get from the movies.

He was one of the last real wizards, and our world is a little less magical now.

Interview: Ron Morales On Drafthouse Films’ GRACELAND

2013-04-30T19:58:26+00:00

Originally posted on Badass Digest.

Drafthouse Films' Graceland hits theaters today and is also available on VOD and iTunes (see where you can watch it here). The film is a breathtaking crime epic that follows family man Marlon, chauffeur to a powerful politician whose daughter is supposed to be kidnapped when, by accident, Marlon's daughter is taken instead. I had a chance to talk to Ron Morales, the writer and director of Graceland, earlier this week.

It seems like it was a tight shoot. What were some of the limitations of shooting in the Philippines on such a short schedule?

Well, of course, one of the biggest was budget. We had very limited resources. We had very limited time. We did a 17-day shoot over there, we shot 20-22 hours a day, which was pretty hard. You know, there’s a bit of a language barrier and a bit of a culture barrier that we had to come to terms with. I could go on and on. Location permits are pretty tough to get, especially the brothel and the dump site. Those are some of the more miserable ones that come to mind.

Can you talk about shooting in the brothel?

The scene in the brothel was a pretty tough scene, because we ended up using a working brothel. What I wanted to do with that scene is really show what is happening behind those doors throughout these pockets in the Philippines. And it is a very uncomfortable scene, and the actress who played it, she had a tough job. She was a first time actress. And I wanted a little bit of a reminder to the audience what goes on. But I don’t feel like I went over the top with the scene. I felt like this was pretty tasteful, in my opinion, but that’s all you can try to do. Some people think it wasn’t done in that way, but a lot of people commended me for the way I filmed it. But it was a very uncomfortable scene to shoot.

Why did you decide to call the film Graceland?

While I was writing the film, most of the characters that I thought were interesting and exciting were all about people who were corrupting one another. And I just felt like all the characters in all the buildings in the story were characters who had fallen from grace. It’s just a world without grace, a land without grace. So that’s why I named it Graceland.

I know you were researching another film that eventually became Graceland. Can you talk about what that movie was, and how it became this movie instead?

The first movie I was working on with a co-producer, Yusuke Kamata, was more about the human trafficking side. So we were doing a lot of interviews with sex workers in communities throughout the Philippines. And we had funding for the film but then we lost it last minute. And I felt like I couldn’t let the resources I had go to waste. So I went back to Graceland, and I put all that energy into the screenplay. My friend Sam Rider came over in the summer of 2010, and he read the screenplay and he said, “We should do this.” We could do it on a microbudget, and it ended up two months later, we were buying tickets back to the Philippines.

Are we ever going to see the film you were originally working on?

I feel like I could try to do that other film, but I wouldn’t want to tackle the same subject matter again in another piece. It is much more of an arthouse piece. But, you know, you never know. I could pick it back up one day.

Having worked on some really big films like Michael Clayton and The Departed, are there certain key lessons that came in handy when you filmed Graceland?

Most of the stuff I learned on these huge movies was scheduling and trying to get the most out of what we can. With my background in camera support and lighting, we learned to create the best we could with what we had. This was a true, true indie project, but all of us had worked on major films in the past and we utilized that knowledge that we had.

I know the poster went live this week from Mondo (above). Did you have any input in it? It’s a beautiful poster.

Oh no, that was all Drafthouse, but it’s a fantastic poster. We just let them do their thing.

Arnold Reyes is amazing as Marlon. How did you end up casting him?

My production manager, or line producer now, he actually helped with casting a lot. So I had back to back meetings with somewhat unknown talent there. And we had to see who could work with us and the budget that we had. And we had some challenges to find the right people in the right roles. But for the most part he was actually one of the easiest parts that we cast.

The film did really well on the festival circuit. What was it like representing the film at these different festivals?

We didn’t have any challenges. We’re just excited that it got into so many different festivals and the response has been pretty positive.

What are you working on in the future? Do you have some projects in the pipeline?

I’m always working on different screenplays and I have a couple of writing partners, but right now, it’s more just trying to get Graceland to as many people as we can. So we’re super excited about it.

Texas Frightmare Weekend Is Coming!

2013-04-30T19:48:21+00:00

Texas Frightmare Weekend is headed our way this weekend and it looks AMAZING. They have quite a line-up at this huge shebang, and you would be remiss to miss an event like this one. Just look at this business!

Dallas, Texas – Texas Frightmare Weekend is back with a vengeance May 3rd through the 5th, offering up additional celebrity guests, nearly 100 incredible vendors, and more new films than ever! Today, our 2013 extravaganza proudly welcomes Gary Jones' AXE GIANT: THE WRATH OF PAUL BUNYAN and star Dan Haggerty (Grizzly Adams, himself!), who joins our ever-growing list of top horror celebrities descending upon The Hyatt Regency DFW next month!

On Friday, May 3rd, the mammoth festival opens its doors at 6PM (5PM for VIPs), welcoming bone-chilling panels on Pet Sematary, Gary and Jake Busey, and more! Films that evening include Christmas with the Dead at 6PM, the aforementioned Axe Giant at 10PM, and Jacob and Scream Park at midnight!

On Saturday, May 4th, Texas Frightmare kicks off a powerful threefer of hotly-anticipated chillers from IFC Films, with the Texas Premiere of Franck Khalfoun’s Maniac remake at 8PM, Ben Wheatley’s stunning Sightseers at 10PM, and Neil Jordan’s Byzantium, the acclaimed Interview with the Vampire director’s long-awaited return to the land of the undead, at midnight! Also screening on Saturday is Rodrigo Gudiño's The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh and Chuck Norfolk's gross-out comedy Haunted Trailer (both at 6PM), Mark Beal's vampiric Enchiridion at 8PM, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight! Saturday's panel line-up includes The World of Stuart Gordon, TFW's Alien reunion, the witches of The Lords of Salem, Danny Trejo, and much more!

And Sunday, May 5th, we've got even more happening, with panels featuring Clu and John Gulager, Dee Wallace, and Tom Savini - as well as a very special matinee screening of Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of a VHS Collector at 1PM!

All film screenings are completely free for passholders, and will conveniently take place at The Hyatt Regency DFW – the home of Texas Frightmare Weekend! Want more? The hotel's also hosting Friday night's Circus of the Damned party (free to VIP and Premium passholders), "Frightmakers" filmmaking panels, and Saturday's popular late night Scaryoke!

TFW is arguably America’s largest gathering of horror celebrities, professionals, and fans – now celebrating its eighth amazing year. The blockbuster event boasts over 10,000 attendees annually and has hosted hundreds of genre legends, including George A. Romero, Clive Barker, Malcolm McDowell, Robert Englund, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, and Cary Elwes!

Alongside newly-announced guests Dan Haggerty, Steve Railsback, and artist Bernie Wrightson, TFW's 2013 unbelievable roster includes Alien stars Tom Skeritt and Veronica Cartwright, Danny Trejo, Virginia Madsen, the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Marilyn Burns, Gary and Jake Busey, Jeffrey Combs, Denise Crosby, Sean Patrick Flanery, Stuart Gordon, Meg Foster, Clu and John Gulager, Mariel Hemingway, Jordan Ladd, Mary Lambert, Heather Langenkamp, Tyler Mane, Bill Moseley, David Naughton, Steve Niles, Tom Savini, Dee Wallace, pro-wrestler George “The Animal” Steele, and many more!

Daily and weekend passes are available HERE.

Look for the festival schedule and even more announcements online soon HERE!

Check Out The Mondo Poster For Drafthouse Films’ GRACELAND

2013-04-22T20:15:02+00:00

Mondo artist Jay Shaw has created a striking new poster for Drafthouse Films' Graceland, the intense Filipino thriller from Ron Morales. Read about it:

Drafthouse Films and Mondo, the collectable boutique art division of the Alamo Drafthouse, are proud to unveil the alternate one-sheet poster for Ron Morales' Filipino thriller, Graceland, designed by Mondo artist Jay Shaw. The poster will be available for purchase as a limited edition 18"x24" screen print via the Drafthouse Films website. One hundred and fifty (150) limited-edition prints can be purchased starting April 26th to coincide with the film's theatrical release. Graceland is also now available on iTunes and Video OnDemand platforms and will be in theaters on Friday, 4/26.

Unpredictable and gripping, Graceland mesmerized audiences at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Festival and last year's Fantastic Fest. Set in the seedy underbelly of Manilla, Graceland follows family man Marlon Villar —a longtime chauffeur to corrupt a Filipino politician — who is faced with an unthinkable predicament when he gets ambushed while driving both his boss’s twelve year-old girl and his own daughter home from school one afternoon. In the chaos of the kidnapping attempt, things go horribly awry and Marlon’s child is taken and held for ransom instead. As events progress wildly unaccording to plan, Marlon is forced into a rapid downward spiral of deceit and betrayal that will leave no one innocent.

Be on the lookout for my interview with Graceland writer/director Ron Morales in the coming days, and be sure to catch this riveting film on VOD today or in theaters as of Friday.

See A Clip From Fantastic Fest 2011 Fave MANBORG!

2013-04-22T17:59:59+00:00

Please to behold: this completely bitchin' clip from the upcoming Manborg, an exclusive on Badass Digest! Watch it, revel in it, look forward to seeing the film on DVD, On-Demand and Digital - as well as playing in select theaters via Tugg! - on April 30th.

If the clip alone doesn't entice you, well, I don't know what to do with you, but here's a summary:

The armies of hell have taken over the Earth, and all that stands in the way of the villainous Count Draculon (Adam Brooks) and humanity’s total extinction is a motley crew of misfits led by the mighty Manborg (Matthew Kennedy): a warrior who’s half-man, half-machine – and all hero!

And here's the trailer:

So be on the lookout next Tuesday, April 30, for this perfectly ridiculous film (a huge hit at Fantastic Fest 2011) to assault your brain parts.

The Cruel Beauty Of Kim Ki-duk

2013-04-16T18:25:11+00:00

With Kim Ki-duk’s PIETA hitting iTunes and VOD this month, now seems the perfect opportunity to look back over the career of one of South Korea’s most provocative filmmakers. In a career spanning nearly two decades, Kim has directed close to twenty feature films and has evolved from enfant terrible into arthouse darling, courting controversy and collecting accolades at every turn.

Since his confrontational debut, CROCODILE (1996), Kim has never shied away from exploring the more perverse aspects of his country’s fractured culture, its people’s confused identities and hypocrisy of human nature. As a result he struggled to find an audience at home, until repeated success on the European festival circuit made him impossible to ignore.

As the Asia Extreme phenomena exploded at the dawn of the new millennium, Kim rode that wave West with sexually charged and brutally violent films like THE ISLE (2000), BAD GUY (2001) and THE COAST GUARD (2002). Attentions turned to South Korea as the next hotbed of Asian Cinema, and despite often distancing himself from his fellow countrymen due to his lack of formal training, Kim helped boost the Korean industry on the festival circuit. Not only did this period see Kim produce the best work of his career, he won Best Director awards at both Berlin and Venice in 2004 – for different films.

Kim’s work during the latter half of the decade became increasingly surreal and self-indulgent, but even when films like THE BOW (2005) or BREATH (2007) missed the mark narratively and thematically, he continued to hone his craft as a filmmaker. After a succession of poor business deals, things came to a head on the set of Dream (2008), when lead actress Lee Na-yeong nearly died while shooting a scene in which she is hanged. For a while it looked like Kim would never work again.

It was three years before ARIRANG emerged in 2011, and the reception was less than rapturous. Cannes awarded its Une Certain Regard prize to the self-reflexive, one-man documentary, in which Kim locks himself in a remote cabin and goes all Captain Willard, drunkenly berating those who betrayed and cheated him. Elsewhere, the film was poorly received and some feared it sounded the death knell for Kim’s career. But then came PIETA.

There are themes and motifs that recur throughout Kim’s work: sparse dialogue, dysfunctional relationships, misogyny, fragile machismo, animal cruelty, prostitution, sexual violence and a penchant for enigmatic conclusions. However he often explores notions of faith, forgiveness and redemption too. PIETA marks a powerful reappraisal of many of these themes, and in doing so marks a triumphant and - to his fans, reassuring - return to form.

Jo Min-soo is incredible as the mysterious middle-aged Mi-son, who appears on the doorstep of a violent, yet emotionally vulnerable, loan shark enforcer (Lee Jeong-jin). She claims to be the young thug’s mother, and refuses to leave no matter how poorly she is treated. What unfolds is every bit as confrontational, shocking yet also darkly humorous as anything from Kim’s golden period, and made history beating P.T. Anderson’s THE MASTER to win the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice International Film Festival, becoming the first South Korean film to scoop the top award at any of the world’s top three film festivals.

Now that PIETA is available to watch via VOD and iTunes, ahead of a limited theatrical run beginning May 17 (more dates/markets will be added) and a beautiful Mondo poster available for purchase, we take a look at five of the best from Kim’s back catalogue, to prime you for the beauty and brutality that lies in store:

THE ISLE (2000) – Availabe on Netflix Instant

At a remote fishing resort, the beautiful yet mute Hee-jin (Suh Jung) services her guests with tackle, alcohol and even sex, for the right price. When she intervenes to stop reclusive fugitive Hyun-shik (Kim Yoo-suk) from killing himself, a passionate yet deeply dysfunctional relationship begins between them, that in time leads to jealousy, murder and some horrific misuse of fishing tackle. Lauded for its marriage of beautiful imagery and deeply disturbing content, while berated for its shocking depictions of animal cruelty, this is the film that broke Kim onto the world stage, where he has remained ever since.

BAD GUY (2001) – Available on Amazon Instant Video

In Kim’s most extreme portrayal of “tough love”, a low-level pimp (Jo Jae-hyeon) targets a respectable college student (Seo Won), forcing her into a life of prostitution, only to become fiercely protective of her. A brutal examination of a modern society still burdened by archaic sexism and a gaping class divide, the film is also a powerful story of obsession, voyeurism, exploitation and love, in all its ugly guises that builds to a deliberately provocative finale.

SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING (2003) – Available on iTunes

Kim addresses faith, human nature and free will head on in this beautiful film, which charts the evolution of a Buddhist monk through the different chapters of his life. Located entirely in and around an isolated water-bound temple, and told at an unhurried meditative pace, this easily qualifies as Kim’s most tranquil film, but nonetheless features sadism, lust, jealousy and murder on the road to enlightenment.

SAMARITAN GIRL (2004) – Available on iTunes

When a highschooler’s efforts to prostitute her best friend end in tragedy, Yeo-jin (Kwak Ji-min) resolves to sleep with the clients herself and return their money. But when her cop father (Lee Eol) finds out, further violence is just around the corner. Teenage rebellion, religious delusion, parental responsibility and bloody-minded revenge all jostle for attention in this frank, yet deeply passionate film that won Kim the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival.

3-IRON (2004) – Availabe on Amazon Instant Video

Kim’s output reaches a stunning climax here in a film that marries strong characterization with glossy production values in a story that could only come from this singular filmmaker. A silent young man (Jae Hee) breaks into people’s houses, eats their food, wears their clothes, does their laundry and then leaves. But when he is caught by a reclusive, subjugated housewife (Lee Seung-yeon), they form an unlikely partnership that offers the possibility of hope, escape and freedom for them both. Perhaps the most optimistic of Kim’s films to-date, 3-IRON is beautiful, surreal, perverse and almost dream-like in execution and deservedly won four awards at Venice that year, including Best Director.

See The Trailer For Fantastic Fest 2011 Hit MANBORG

2013-04-15T16:16:06+00:00

Steven Kostanski's low-fi sci-fi Manborg went over very well with Fantastic Fest 2011 audiences, and now you can finally see for yourself as the post-apocalyptic parody hits DVD April 30. As you can tell from the trailer, this movie is a LOT of things, all of them absurdly over the top.

Here's the summary:

The armies of hell have taken over the Earth, and all that stands in the way of the villainous Count Draculon (Adam Brooks) and humanity’s total extinction is a motley crew of misfits led by the mighty Manborg (Matthew Kennedy): a warrior who’s half-man, half-machine – and all hero!

Also check out the rad poster by artist Jason Edmiston: