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Fantastic Fest 2014: Final Wave of Films, Events

Please tell me you know about Fantastic Fest. If not, this isn't the first article you should be reading, it's the last. Here are the final events and films that will be a part of the greatest film festival known to man. Austin, TX - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - Fantastic Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its biggest year yet with 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American & US Premiere screenings and 38 short films. The finalwave includes HORNS, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN, THE HIVE, IT FOLLOWS, EVERLY, OPEN WINDOWS and guests Joe Lynch, Liv Corfixen & Nicolas Winding Refn, Edgar Wright, Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, Alfonso Gomez- Rejon, and David Robert Mitchell. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.

"We promised that our tenth anniversary was going to be the most deranged yet and I'm proud to say we've delivered on that promise," says festival founder Tim League. "Not only have we compiled our biggest slate of exceptional genre films but the chaos we've embraced for our events is going to knock people out. Much like I'm going to do to Ti West."

Special guests of the festival include GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY director James Gunn in attendance to moderate the red carpet World premiere of David Yarovesky's THE HIVE and Edgar Wright serving on the Next Wave film jury.

Director Liv Corfixen who documents her husband director Nicolas Winding Refn on the making of ONLY GOD FORGIVES will both be in attendance for the world premiere of MY LIFE DIRECTED BY NICOLAS WINDING REFN, Nicolas Winding Refn will also host a special screening of THE ASTROLOGER, a long-lost exploitation masterpiece recently rescued and restored by local non-profit the American Genre Film Archive.

For its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is also going all out with celebratory events and special programming, including the 10-YEAR BIRTHDAY ARMAGEDDON opening night party featuring costumed creatures, human piñatas, a breakdance competition, and a mind-blowing food fight that will shake the foundations of the earth. The 26 WAYS TO PARTY closing night party takes its macabre cues from ABCs OF DEATH 2 by running down the alphabet from A to Z, unleashing a massive meltdown of madcap mayhem in Fantastic Fest history.

FANTASTIC DEBATES, FF's long-running showcase of intellectual and physical combat, cements it's vein-bulging status for 2014 with four (count 'em) rounds of verbal disputation followed by two-fisted decimation! Included among this year's white-knuckle conflicts are Alamo Drafthouse founder TIM LEAGUE duking it out with indie provocateur TI WEST on the controversial subject of found footage horror, filmmakers JOE LYNCH (EVERLY) and JOSH ETHIER (ALMOST HUMAN) with "RESOLVED: Samurais are infinitely more badass than cowboys in cinema," while producer/film writer/Twitch website editor TODD BROWN accepts the challenge from BitTorrent.com's MATT MASON, whose stunning topic is: "RESOLVED: Bit-torrent is the saviour-not the enemy-of independent film." Check out Todd Brown's challenge fight video HERE.

Fantastic Fest is excited to announce that for the first time ever, the festival's opening night screenings of TUSK and the world premiere of ABCs OF DEATH 2 will also screen in all Alamo Drafthouse markets nationwide with Q&A's hosted by festival founder and Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League that will be live streamed in all theaters, on the Fantastic Fest YouTube Channel andFandango, presenting sponsor of the festival.

Fantastic Fest also marks an important milestone for the Alamo Drafthouse theater chain with the grand reopening of its flagship destination at South Lamar and the all-new Highball. Under construction for the past two years, the new theaters boast three new screens (9 total), and completely rebuilt Highball bar, and 7 custom-designed karaoke rooms that are sure to melt the mind.

See below for the final lineup of programming at this year's festival.

AGFA presents THE ASTROLOGER hosted by Nicolas Winding Refn

dir. Craig Denney, 96 min., United States

Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn hosts a rare screening of this unseen, long-lost exploitation masterpiece, recently rescued and restored by local non-profit The American Genre Film Archive.

AUTOMATA

United States, 2014

US Premiere, 110 min

Director - Gabe Ibañez

In the post-nuclear apocalypse there will be robots, and insurance agents played by Antonio Banderas. He's investigating an insurance claim on a faulty robot that leads to greater discoveries.

CLOSING NIGHT: 26 WAYS TO PARTY

Thu, Sept 25th * 10pm

Obviously, a decade of insanity requires the grandest of finales. So we're tearing the pages out of ABCs OF DEATH 2 to annihilate the universe with 26 WAYS TO PARTY! We're running down the alphabet from A to Z, cracking open a neon canister of radioactive wildness and unleashing a massive meltdown of madcap mayhem in FF history. Gird your loins for the ultimate experience in non-stop amusement/ abusement. LIVE TO PARTY, PARTY TO DIE.

CUB (WELP)

Belgium, 2014

US Premiere, 85 min

Director - Jonas Govaerts

A boy scout troop goes on a camping trip that they will never forget in this brutal, uncompromising horror film.

DARKNESS BY DAY

Argentina, 2013

North American Premiere, 76 min

Director - Martín Desalvo

Things are a bit off in Virginia's tiny village. Something dark is coming her way. And now she's left alone with her sick cousin, unaware of the dangers around her.

DUKE OF BURGUNDY

United Kingdom, 2014

US Premiere, 104 min

Director - Peter Strickland

Peter Strickland's (BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO) dark melodrama follows the impassioned sexual relationship between two women. If BERBERIAN was Strickland's aural roller-coaster ride, BURGUNDY is definitely his visual feast.

EVERLY

United States, 2014

World Premiere, 92 min

Director - Joe Lynch

Salma Hayek stars as a tough yet vulnerable woman who must fight her way through a gauntlet of assassins in this fist-pumping action thriller.

FANTASTIC FEUD - PRESENTED BY THE STANLEY FILM FESTIVAL

Mon, Sept. 22nd * 11:59pm

This annual display of geek warfare, brainchild of FF hero Scott Weinberg, pits the globe's greatest horror scholars against one another in a galactic display of mental agility, verbal hostility and full-tilt brutality. Bear witness to the most brain- flexingly rampaging display of trivia prowess in the universe.

FROM THE DARK

Ireland, 2015

World Premiere, 90 min

Director - Conor McMahon

Mark and Sarah are trapped, darkness is falling and the creature outside only attacks by night in this fast-paced Irish horror.

FUTURE SHOCK! THE STORY OF 2000AD

United Kingdom, 2014

World Premiere, 90 min

Director - Paul Goodwin

The anarchic and unruly history of 2000AD: the Galaxy's Greatest Comic.

THE GUEST

United States, 2014

Special Screening, 99 min

Director - Adam Wingard

Looks are definitely deceiving when a dashing soldier with a propensity for violence moves in with a grieving family in this fun-as-hell, Carpenter-esque action thriller.

HAEMOO

South Korea, 2013

US Premiere, 111 min

Director - Sung Bo Shim

A gripping maritime thriller from director Shim Sung-Bo and producer/co-writer Bong Joon-Ho.

HARDKOR DISCO

Poland, 2014

US Premiere, 87 min

Director - Krzysztof Skonieczny

A misanthropic young man plunges into an intense relationship with the daughter of the couple he means to kill.

THE HIVE

United State, 2015

World Premiere, 89 minutes

Director - David Yarovesky

A young man suffering from amnesia must dig deep into the far reaches of his mind to remember who he is and save the love of his life before a virus that has infected him takes over.

HORNS

United States, 2014

Austin Premiere, 120 min

Director - Alexandre Aja

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Ig, who after being accused of murdering his girlfriend awakens one morning to discover new powers and devil horns growing from his head. Adapted by Alexandre Aja (HIGH TENSION; PIRANHA) from Joe Hill's novel.

HOUSEBOUND

New Zealand, 2014

Special Screening, 107 min

Director - Gerard Johnstone

Forced to return to her childhood on house arrest, Kylie discovers that there are more sinister forces in the old homestead than just her overbearing mother.

HYENA

United Kingdom, 2015

US Premiere, 112 min

Director - Gerard Johnson

Crooked cop Michael must deal with machete-wielding Albanian brothers while handling pressure within his own department in this gritty crime saga from the director of TONY.

I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS

United States, 2014

US Premiere, 83 min

Director - Bennett Jones

First his girlfriend dies in a suicide bombing. Then a fatwa is issued against him. And now international Europop star Bené's eclair is weird.

IT FOLLOWS

United States, 2015

US Premiere, 107 min

Director - David Robert Mitchell

After an innocent sexual encounter with her boyfriend, a teenager is stalked by an increasingly evil force in the year's smartest and scariest horror film.

LET US PREY

Ireland - United Kingdom, 2014

US Premiere, 89 min

Director - Brian O'Malley

On small town constable Rachel Haggie's first night on the job, she encounters a strange man whose presence and knowledge threatens to destroy everyone.

LOST SOUL - THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY'S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU

United States-United Kingdom, 2014

North American Premiere, 97 min

Director - David Gregory

The amazing true story of one of the most notorious Hollywood productions of the 1990s.

MY LIFE DIRECTED BY NICOLAS WINDING REFN

United States, 2014

World Premiere, 58 min

Director - Liv Corfixen

An impossibly personal portrait of unique filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn over the course of the shooting/release of his 2013 film ONLY GOD FORGIVES.

NO MAN'S LAND

China, 2009

Texas Premiere, 114 min

Director - Ning Hao

A city lawyer fights for his life in the cutthroat deserts of contemporary China in Ning Hao's Coen-esque follow-up to CRAZY RACER, which was banned for four years.

NYMPHOMANIAC- EXTENDED DIRECTORS CUT

Denmark-Germany-Belgium-United Kingdom-France, 2014

North American Premiere, 324 min

Director - Lars Von Trier

Fantastic Fest proudly presents the complete, uncut version of Lars von Trier's epic and highly controversial film.

OPEN WINDOWS

Spain, 2013

Special Screening, 100 min

Director - Nacho Vigalondo

Nacho Vigalondo's latest is a completely unique and endlessly creative thriller for the internet age, taking place entirely on a single computer desktop.

OPENING NIGHT: 10-YEAR BIRTHDAY ARMAGEDDON

Thu, Sept. 18th * Midnight - 2am

We're decking out our decadent decennium with a blowout fit for even the most debaucherous 10-year old. We'll kick-off with costumed creatures, beat human piñatas, and throw in a breakdance competition. We'll do it all in cardboard hats, balloons, noisemakers, and ridiculous mounds of confetti. And to top it all off, the psychopathic shindig culminates in a food fight that will shake the foundations of the earth.

SHREW'S NEST

Spain, 2014

US Premiere, 90 min

Directors - Juanfer Andrés & Esteban Roel

A young Spanish girl living with her agoraphobic sister in their family's apartment discovers the real reasons behind her sister's strange behavior.

THE STRANGER

Chile, 2014

World Premiere, 92 min

Director - Guillermo Amoedo Schultze

A mysterious man returns to his home after sixteen years, which jumpstarts a bizarre and deadly chain of events.

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN

United States, 2014

Special Screening, 85 min

Director - Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Based on a terrifying true story, The Town That Dreaded Sundown picks up sixty-five years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, when the "moonlight murders" begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching the murderer.

THE TRIBE

Ukraine, 2014

US Premiere, 132 min

Director - Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy

Winner of the three major awards at this year's Cannes' Critics Week, THE TRIBE follows deaf student Sergey's transfer to a new school, which sends him down a path of ruthless crime and forbidden love.

WASTE LAND

Belgium, 2014

US Premiere, 97 min

Director - Pieter Van Hees

Hard edged homicide cop Leo is plunged into a dark and dangerous world when he takes on the murder of a young Congolese man. Will unraveling the truth cost his hold on his own life and happiness?

WHEN ANIMALS DREAM

Denmark, 2015

US Premiere, 81 min

Director - Jonas Alexander Arnby

In an isolated Danish fishing town, 16-year-old Marie hides a terrifying secret and deadly consequences for the unwary in this unique coming-of-age story from director Jonas Alexander Arnby.

THE WORLD OF KANAKO

Japan, 2014

US Premiere, 118 min

Director - Tetsuya Nakashima

Tetsuya Nakashima injects his signature style into a brutal and shocking thriller about one repulsive father's quest to find his missing daughter... who just might be worse than he is.