If you love genre films, there truly is nothing like Fantastic Fest. While most festivals play a more balanced slate of films covering all genres, this Austin, Texas-based fest plays only the good shit. Other festivals sometimes refer to them as “Midnight Movies,” but it’s always midnight at Fantastic Fest. Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts, all the stuff that never gets nominated for awards, that’s what the festival is all about. In past years, big films such as Zombieland, Split, Frankenweenie, and Pan’s Labyrinth have played there, but really the focus is on the many, many smaller films general audiences don’t discover until much later, if ever.
Advertisement
For example, our favorite film from 2022, The Antares Paradox, still has yet to get a U.S. release while several others (The Menu, Werewolf by Night, Smile, Bones and All) became fan favorites later. But now it’s 2023 and we’re here with a list of the amazing, weird, wonderful genre movies that you should get on your radar now for the upcoming year. Some of these have release plans, others do not, but all are worth at least a glance.
Plus, we’ve added info on a few films we missed at the festival but heard amazing things about too.
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews