If I Was at Fantastic Fest...
You can't do everything. As much as I'd love to partake of the incredible lineup that Fantastic Fest is dishing up, I can't. IF I were in Austin, however, here are the ten films I would make sure I'd catch. - Keith Simanton
List activity
17K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
10 titles
- 20141h 37mNot Rated7.5 (4.4K)DirectorDavid GregoryStarsRichard StanleyKier-La JanisseMichael GingoldA behind the scenes chronicle of how clash of vision, bad creative decisions, lack of interest and really bad weather plagued the disastrous production of the infamous The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996).THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, the 1996 film this doc. examines, is a beautiful disaster. It has Marlon Brando in a mu-mu playing God while Lizard-king Val Kilmer beds down in squalor with the animals as a fallen angel. The opening sequence, where David Thewlis describes the savage descent into violence of shipwreck survivors, is memorable all on its own. But the unraveling of this film, where director John Frankenheimer was brought in to try to salvage Stanley's unifinished work, and corral two of the most notorious prima donnas in cinematic history, has to be fascinating from start to finish.
- DirectorLiv CorfixenStarsLiv CorfixenNicolas Winding RefnRyan GoslingLiv Corfixen documents her husband, filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, during the production and release of his movie Only God Forgives (2013).I think Refn is a visionary and so watching a documentary as he films one of his most critically-rebuffed visions, ONLY GOD FORGIVES, is intriguing. That MY LIFE was made by his wife, Liv Corfixen puts a whole HEARTS OF DARKNESS spin on it.
- DirectorConor McMahonStarsNiamh AlgarStephen CromwellGed MurrayA couple on a trip through the Irish countryside find themselves hunted by a creature who only attacks at night.Let's review that outline again: "A couple on a trip through the Irish countryside find themselves hunted by a creature who only attacks at night." What's not to love?
- DirectorNacho VigalondoStarsSasha GreyElijah WoodNeil MaskellA jilted fan soon finds himself pulled into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse after he accepts the opportunity to spy on his favorite actress via his laptop.No, it's not Elijah Wood nor porn star Sasha Grey that intrigue me here it's the director Nacho Vigalondo. He made the excellent head-scratcher TIMECRIMES and the weird, but still intriguing love-triangle/alien film EXTRATERRESTRIAL.
- DirectorDavid Robert MitchellStarsMaika MonroeKeir GilchristOlivia LuccardiA young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.I kept missing this much-buzzed-about film through Cannes and then Toronto, only hearing quiet admiration all along. Now I've missed it a third time.
- DirectorJoe LynchStarsSalma HayekHiroyuki WatanabeLaura CepedaA kidnapped woman faces down hitmen sent by a mob boss/her captor while trying to protect her family from his wrath.I was sorely chafed by KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM, a missed opportunity by director Joe Lynch if there ever was one. But that film had a lot of strife in the front office which supposedly led to the messy results. One only has to look at the grimacing face of Salma Hayek as she brandishes a weapon to realize this may be a time when everything went right for Lynch.
- DirectorDan GilroyStarsJake GyllenhaalRene RussoBill PaxtonWhen Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.I'm putting this up here to make sure you know that this was my second favorite premiere at Toronto. A truly icky premise--the guys who film the accidents, fires and other "if it bleeds it leads" events of the L.A. police scanner, is strung tight by a robotic, psychotic performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.
- DirectorKiah Roache-TurnerStarsJay GallagherBianca BradeyLeon BurchillA talented mechanic prepares to battle his way through hordes of flesh-eating monsters after his sister is kidnapped on the eve of a zombie apocalypse.Zombies. Australia. Poster than invokes MAD MAX MEETS EXCALIBUR and a title that harks back to Revelations 8:10-11: " "The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood."
- DirectorRuben ÖstlundStarsJohannes KuhnkeLisa Loven KongsliClara WettergrenA family vacationing in the French Alps is confronted with a devastating avalanche.Sweden's candidate for Best Foreign Language Film for the Oscars has heard little but praise since its Cannes debut, cascading into Toronto.
- DirectorJonas GovaertsStarsMaurice LuijtenEvelien BosmansTitus De VoogdtOver-imaginative 12 year-old Sam heads off to the woods to summer scout camp with his pack convinced he will encounter a monster...and he does.The haunting poster for this Boy Scouts meet badness flick glowered from fences and telephone poles all over the Toronto film festival. That unease was echoed by the reviews of the film that declared it "creepy" and "terrifying."