MOVIES

A quick snapshot of Fantastic Fest

What you need to know about the annual genre mash

By Chris Garcia
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILM WRITER
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The most exciting offerings in worldwide genre cinema — horror, fantasy, science fiction, animation, erotica and action — are exalted with fanboy (and fangirl) fervor during the fifth annual Fantastic Fest, rolling out today through Oct. 2 at the Alamo South and Paramount Theatre. This is where you find exploding heads, combative robots, talking horses, sex, swords and sorcery in epic and sometimes extreme doses, with 120 movies from some 30 countries.

The schedule of rarities — most of the films won't be coming to a theater near you — is peppered with scads of theme parties and singular events, as well as four surprise screenings that traditionally come with very special guests. (Past surprise guests include Bill Murray, Mel Gibson and Paul Thomas Anderson.)

Announced guests include George Romero, who will screen his latest zombie jamboree 'Survival of the Dead' on Saturday, and, in his first North American film festival appearance, Euro-sleaze maestro Jess Franco, who will present three screenings of his naughty 'classics,' including 'Venus in Furs' (Monday) and 'The Bare Breasted Countess' (Wednesday).

Many more guests are lined up to present their movies and conduct Q-and-As, with a few of the biggest names and biggest films noted below.

'[Rec] 2' — Actor Javier Botet will be there to show the sequel to the Spanish smash '[Rec].' Expect more viral infections that render humans into viscera-slurping zombies, all captured with unnerving verite naturalism. (11:59 tonight and 11:55 p.m. Monday, Alamo South)

'Zombieland' — Actors Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone and director Rube Fleischer will present their tongue-in-cheek zombie romp. (6:45 p.m. Friday, Paramount)

'Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant' — Stars John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Johnson and Chris Massoglia will be on hand to show this fantasy-adventure about a suburban kid (Massoglia) who unwittingly gets sucked into a surreal world of the undead and circus sideshow freaks, featuring a vampire played by Reilly and Salma Hayek as a bearded lady. Based on the series of books by Darren Shan. (6:45 p.m. Saturday, Paramount)