by Ben Bussey
Having spent almost a decade of my life in Liverpool, I can attest to there being some scary places and scary people in that neck of the woods. Still, generally I never had to put up with anything worse than being woken in the night by loud-mouthed drunks and/or their godawful music. I certainly never experienced anything quite so startling as a gun-toting military unit storming the street and sealing it off, without any explanation as to why. But that’s precisely the situation in Salvage, a new movie …

Fantastic Fest ’09 Review: Macabre (2009)
Studio: Gorylah Pictures
Directed By: The Mo Brothers
Cast: Ario Bayu, Julie Estelle, Imelda Therinne, Shareefa Daanish, Arifin Putra
Review By: Kayley Viteo
I knew next to nothing about Macabre when I walked into it, save for what I read in the Fantastic Fest program guide. That being said, the bloody picture advertising it was all I really needed to know. I love slow-burning character horror like no one else, but I also love blood and gore and Macabre delivers violence to the extreme.
Macabre is an Indonesian horror film …

Fantastic Fest ’09 Review: The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
Directed By: Tom Six
Cast: Dieter Laser, Akihiro Kitamura, Andreas Leupold, Ashley C. Williams
Review By: Kayley Viteo
The Human Centipede is a sick, twisted piece of cinema. When I first heard about it, I was so excited because it sounded so disturbingly unique and refreshing in a way that could, possibly, even push me to my limit. I can stand pretty much anything, but the plot of this one is pretty damn disgusting.
Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser) is a world-famous surgeon who has begun …

Fantastic Fest ’09 Review: Antichrist (2009)
Studio: IFC Films
Directed By: Lars von Trier
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Review By: Kayley Viteo
Reviewing this film is like trying to fathom something you know you can’t possibly understand. Just when I felt like I was getting a handle on what the film was saying or doing, I would encounter yet another image or sound that made me rethink myself. That is, in essence, what I love about Antichrist – it is simultaneously baffling and addicting, intriguing and disgusting. I would caution readers that …

Fantastic Fest ’09 Review: Trick ‘r Treat (2009) 

Directed By: Michael Dougherty 

Cast: Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Leslie Bibb 

Review By: Kayley Viteo
Horror anthologies are an old favorite of mine as I grew up watching Creepshow practically on repeat. When I first heard about this one, it was playing locally here in Austin, Texas at Harry Knowles’ Butt-Numb-A-Thon. That was way back in 2007 and ever since then, I’ve had to wait in anticipation as everyone lucky enough to see it said nothing but amazing things. …

Fantastic Fest: Day 8
-Kayley Viteo
The final day of Fantastic Fest was a good day, even if I was only able to cram two screenings in. I’m already feeling a bit nostalgic for the random conversations with other film nerds and chocolate milkshakes at midnight screenings, but I also have to admit that I’m looking forward to a full night’s sleep and going to bed before 4 in the morning.
Secret Screening: This turned out to be Universal Soldier: A New Beginning, which I knew nothing about. It’s another movie in the …

Fantastic Fest: Day 7 – September 30, 2009
So. Tired.
Sweet Karma: This was one that immediately caught my eye when I was looking at the Fantastic Fest lineup. I’m always interested in revenge stories, but the idea of a revenge film with a female lead had me really intrigued. Sweet Karma is a compelling drama about a mute woman who fights against members of the Canadian sex trade (believe it or not, that’s real) for killing her sister. Very low budget, the film does have its problems – rough editing, …

by Marc Patterson
(award image via Cinematical)
Fantastic Fest 2009 is just about wrapped up for another year. For those of you who have been following our daily coverage from Austin, TX it won’t be hard to understand why Fantastic Fest is THE genre film event of the year.
To cap off the week long event an award ceremony is held where the winners get a really cool beer stein, and even better… its FULL of cold beer. Now that’s celebrating in style!
Listed out below are this years winners. Our …

Fantastic Fest: September 28, Day 5
-Kayley Viteo

Well. Day five started out interestingly, what with me having to refresh my browser for twenty minutes to buy my VIP badge for next year’s festival at 10AM this morning. Not sure why they go on sale so fast (this year’s fest isn’t over until Thursday), but they sold out for 2010 in under five minutes. Regular film badges are still available and if anyone is thinking of going, I want to stress that you can still get into pretty much anything you want …

By Marc Patterson
I love movie poster art. You see us post a lot of one-sheets not because we want to keep up with the other big sites that churn out every little bit of news, and not because a studio or PR agency expects us to lest they hold back a press pass or screener. I post so many because I’m a whore for good one-sheets and posters. My house would be covered with them if it were up to me. As a kid, long before I …