The 2022 edition of the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas ended recently and the lineup of films at this year’s festival shows you just how far the festival has come since its humble beginning in 2005. Long gone are the years of the biggest titles the festival was able to secure were yet-to-be cult hits like Wolf Creek, Bug, and Hatchet. Over the years, the festival has grown into one where the biggest names in horror, sci-fi, and fantasy make sure that their latest films are shown at Fantastic Fest. The cult-like following the festival has built over the last decade-plus is one of the main reasons it is sought out by filmmakers and production companies.
The list of films to have their world or North American premieres at Fantastic Fest is quite impressive. There Will Be Blood, Zombieland, You’re Next, and It Follows is a list of films that barely even touches the surface of ones to have their world or North American premieres at Fantastic Fest and the 2022 edition was no different. Smile, The Menu, and Triangle of Sadness all had their U.S. premieres last week in Austin.
Like most festivals, since the coronavirus pandemic, Fantastic Fest has had to make some concessions and switch things up to be able to accommodate the most filmgoers they could. Area film festivals including the Nashville Film Festival, Chattanooga Film Festival and the Indie Memphis Film Festival have all created a virtual element to their offerings, so those that are still not ready to attend in-person events can still partake and also for those not in the Austin are to do so as well.
The virtual screenings offered at Fantastic Fest included a wide range of choices including documentaries, thrillers, dark comedies, and episodic short films. Missing from the list are the big name films that you had to be in Austin to view including the aforementioned Smile, The Menu, and Triangle of Sadness as well as Terrifier 2, V/H/S/99, and Piggy. I was able to watch 6 of the virtual full-length feature films offered as well as one of the short films.
The emotions felt during the viewings ran the gauntlet of feelings. I felt anger, betrayal, fear, disgust, relief, and I even laughed some. I have ranked the selections I watched and added why you should or absolutely should not watch them.
- Nothing
- Lynch/Oz
- Deep Fear
- Everyone Will Burn
- Razzennest
- The Blood of the Dinosaurs
- Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle
By far the best film I watched during the festival is the Danish thriller Nothing. This film is based off the young-adult novel of the same name and is set around a group of eighth graders who question the meaning of life and lose their innocence along the way. Fans of Lord of the Flies and Kids will find this film to their liking. Nothing is not an easy film to digest but the remarkable young cast makes it a must-watch.
Second on my list is the documentary Lynch/Oz from director Alexandre O. Philippe who has made a name for himself making documentaries about some of the most thought provoking filmmakers of all time including Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, and William Friedkin. In his latest outing, he tackles the obsession David Lynch has with the film The Wizard of Oz and the impact it has had on his illustrious career.
Separated into six chapters narrated by film critic Amy Nicholson, directors Rodney Ascher (Room 237), Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body), Justin Benson (Loki, Moon Knight), Aaron Moorhead (V/H/S/Viral), and John Waters (Cry-Baby). The combination of the narration and arranging of side-by-side comparisons shows that David Lynch is the man behind the curtain or the Wizard of Oz if you will. The film answers so many head scratching questions for lifelong Lynch fans and makes all viewers want to re-watch his films as well the Wizard of Oz.
The official synopsis reads: “Lynch/Oz” explores one of the most fascinating puzzles in the history of motion pictures: the enduring symbiosis between America’s primordial fairytale, “The Wizard of Oz,” and David Lynch’s singular brand of popular surrealism.
French horror film Deep Fear is an 80-minute long wild ride featuring skin heads, World War II bunkers, the catacombs of Paris, and even a zombie Nazi all while set in the colorful 1980’s. Like any slasher movie, the ending is quite predictable, but I feel this is one that would be best watched on a big screen so in order to truly feel the pain the characters are going through while crawling through the tight areas of the catacombs. Some good jump scares are sprinkled throughout Deep Fear and while some of the subplots are not fully developed, this is a fun watch and would highly recommend it once it becomes available.
The first film I viewed from Fantastic Fest was the Spanish language horror film Everyone Will Burn. I honestly thought this would be my favorite film of the entire festival and down the road it may claim that spot, but the subject matter of Nothing, the fact David Lynch is my favorite director of all-time, and the absurdity of Deep Fear catapulted those films ahead of Everyone Will Burn.
Macarena Gomez gives a remarkable performance as Maria José, a woman who is set to end her life after the unfortunate suicide death of her son. She is met by a mysterious young child who appears to be a part of local legend set to stop an impending apocalypse. Maria José and the young girl quickly create a mother-daughter like bond and stand together against the corrupt community that was at the root of her son’s death. This supernatural thriller directed by David Hebrero is triumph and should be sought out by horror fans around the world.
Over a week has past since I began watching South African director Johannes Grenzfurthner latest outing Razzennest and I still have no idea exactly what I watched or whether I liked it or not. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in the “Burnt Ends” category, a “virtual showcase of outlier and outsider media that intersect definitions of genre, avant-garde, and trash art while shattering all traditional borders of taste and convention.”
To say the film is eccentric is an understatement. The film finds director Manus Oosthuizen meeting with Rotten Tomatoes indie film critic Babette Cruickshank at an Echo Park recording studio to record an audio commentary for his documentary Razzennest. The two are joined by Oosthuizen’s crew as well as the studios sound engineer. The viewer is forced to use all of its senses in order to dissect what is unraveling around the cast since the only thing on the screen is the documentary itself. Razzennest is a journey and should land perfectly with an art house audience.
My list is narrowing down and the anger is starting to set in. The one short I was able to view is one I had been wanting to see for a while. The Blood of the Dinosaurs is a short film that was screened as a part of the Chattanooga Film Festival earlier this year and one I had circled but for what ever reason I could not make a viewing happen, so imagine my surprise when I see it was a part of Fantastic Fest. Sadly, I wish I could have made things come up so I could still not see it because this 12-minute departure from sanity was just pure madness. Vincent Stalba’s performance as Kid’s show host Uncle Bobbo is unhinged and creepy af as the kids say. If you want to learn how oil is made in the most chaotic fashion then The Blood of the Dinosaurs is the history lesson for you.
I have only walked out of one movie in my entire life and that was the 1995 Kevin Costner piece of cinematic shit Waterworld. I have since seen some of the shittiest of the shittiest including Barb Wire, Inspector Gadget, Norbit, and Glitter but nothing and I mean, short of Jamie Kennedy making a sequel to Son of the Mask, nothing will be worse than Birdemic 3: Sea Eagles. I have not been so angry watching a movie from start to finish in I don’t know how long.
The film has an especially important message at the center of it in the sense that it is past time to correct the damage done to the environment especially when it comes to global warming. After that, the movie is a complete and utter hot mess. I knew I was in for a bumpy ride when it takes over 7 minutes from the opening credits before the first line of dialogue is spoken. I completely understand that this is a low-budget b-movie that’s filmed guerilla style but with the current state of technology that is easily available to practically everyone some of the horrendous errors in this movie could have easily been avoided.
When a cut to a different camera during the opening scene occurs the muffling of the audio is just horrible and it continues to happen especially during outdoor scenes. Dead Hooker #2 in any episode of Law & Order: SUV has more personality than the flat, monotone performance given by lead Ryan Lord. It was obvious in many scenes that he was reading his lines off in the distance. His performance is saved by the enchanting Julia Culbert who portrays marine biologist Kim, who he meets on the beach as she is gathering water samples for her research. From there, the film becomes super preachy in its message about global warming to the point where you want to invest in a fleet of Bugatti Chiron’s.
In one scene, we find Lord’s Evan sitting on the couch watching a climate control video and the viewer actually just watches a character watch tv for 5 minutes. Five of the movies 83 minutes is you watching someone watch tv. Add that with the seven minutes of the dialogue-less opening, and 18% of the film is completely wasted. So, what happens in the other 82%, you ask? Not a whole lot my friends.
According to the film’s Indiegogo page, the production budget was set at $500,000 and raised a whopping $596. Not exactly sure how much money was spent on the making of the movie, but it didn’t go to the writing or the lighting of the film. There is a scene at the end of the film with the cast walking through a path in the woods to hunt the sea eagles where the lighting is as good as some of the bootleg DVDs I used to buy on the corner.
The technology exists now where you can have AI software author a poem or song with just random words thrown together and the script and overall plot of the film appears to have been fed through such software. During the battle of the sea eagles, there is a point where one character drops an assault rifle and picks up a hanger to battle the birds. A. Fucking. Hanger. I don’t want to give away how the movie ends, but let’s just say the sea eagles just seem to get bored and fly away.
Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle is so all over the place, I didn’t even mention the musical numbers. I won’t spoil those for you. The one redeeming quality to the film is the performance of Julia Culbert and I am hoping in 10-15 years that this role is to her what Leprechaun was to Jennifer Anniston.
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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