I just got back from Fantastic Film Festival in Austin, Texas. First time in Austin, first time at Fantastic Fest. It’s one of the geekiest, nerdiest, and intense film festival experience ever imagined and I loved it. If you love horror, then you must come to this festival one day. They held it at the famous Alamo Drafthouse theater aka “BADASS CINEMA” where all the seats had tables in front of you to order food and drinks (even beer) throughout the screenings. Of course, every seat (besides the front row) still had a great view of the screen. My one big lesson in horror that I learned was that I averaged seeing one penis getting cut off a day. I guess its the norm. WOW! The fest wasn’t totally filled with horror but also many other genres so I’d thought I would share with you of what I thought were some great films that I saw. Of course, don’t consider me a true critic who uses confusing big words to sound like a genius but merely a fan of cinema. Here we go.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC
This French stop-motion feature won the Audience Award at the festival and it was well deserved. A very simple story about a Horse, a Cowboy, and an Indian living together and following their struggles and just their downright weird sense of thinking. There were so many great moments in this movie and although it’s not your typical Hollywood blockbuster movie, it still had love, drama, and comedy all in one. The most memorable scene is when Horse’s neighbor comes in and devours his breakfast and coffee like he was on crack. I still can picture the scene in my mind even five days after I’ve seen it and it still makes me laugh. If you ever get a chance to watch it on the big screen or on dvd, DO IT!

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

A very well made period piece of a 70’s horror flick where strange things happen on the night of an eclipse. A young college female takes on a babysitting job because she’s broke like all of us in real life. The house where she has to chill at is in the cutties, not to mention with tons of rooms. Perfect to scare you shitless. What was amazing was that the filmmaker got the tone, pacing, and tension perfectly. It was as if you were at home back in the days watching a random horror flick at 1am when you can’t fall asleep. I loved this movie because overall it probably didn’t have too many “AHHH” moments but damnit, it had me squinting more than usual just waiting for those moments to come up. Another must see for horror fans. Comes out on VOD in October.

FISH STORY
Probably my favorite movie of the festival. We luckily got in through the standby line to see this gem. Its a story about a struggling Japanese punk band (pre-Sex Pistol’s) in the 70’s, because basically who the hell listened to punk back then, staying true to their passion to record their last and only song called “Fish Story”. The story opens in a deserted Tokyo in the year 2012 with a huge comet on a crash course into Earth to end the world. And these two music lovers share their last moments listening to this song, Fish Story. There’s a pause in the middle of the song where the guitar has his solo. Everyone loves urban legends about songs being made. Bascially a THAT THING YOU DO trying to save the world, in Japanese, sorta. Its got comedy, lotsa heart, and the song becomes so catchy, you can’t deny your love for it. You have to marry it.

100 BEST KILLS
This wasn’t a movie, but only a program from the festival. Basically the programmers started this tradition a few years ago to celebrate with other horror geeks the 100 BEST KILLS of all time in movie cinema. Of course, everyone has their own but these guys went pre 1990’s and showcased some AWESOME kills! Finally, a place where I can be accepted. This one was my favorite at about 4:55 on the youtube clip.

PRIVATE EYE

South Korean film that every film lover must see. No, not a typical OLD BOY revenge plot. But a whodunit period piece set in the 1910’s in Korea shown with beautiful cinematography and brilliant acting by the entire cast. A med student stumbles upon a dead corpse and takes it home to practice his dissecting skills. But later finds out its the dead body of the son’s notorious town gangster. He then hires the witty and street savy private investigator to save his butt. The duo go on a case solving frenzy and entertains the pants off you. Almost like a Sherlock Holmes, Bond, ktown mix. BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT. You just have to take my word for it.

TOY STORY 1 & 2 3D DOUBLE FEATURE
Well, its in 3D. What more can I say? Except when it got to part 2, I think I took a 45 minute nap. Those glasses can really get you tired. But the 3D experience looked out of this world. And they didn’t over do it which was what I liked. And its just an awesome movie.

NINJA ASSASSIN
If you plan on watching this movie, DO NOT MISS THE FIRST SCENE. Why? Because I deem it the best scene of the movie, if not the best scene of all ninja movies. You’ll know why when you watch it. But basically, as a ninja fan all my life and dressing up as a ninja for most of my childhood halloweens and just normal days in general, it was a must watch for me. Great special effects, AMAZING ninja scenes, and Rain actually speaks decent English. It made me wanna take off my shirt and use it as a ninja mask immediately. But that’s all I can really say about this movie.

ZOMBIELAND
I didn’t want to claim this as the best movie of the festival since it is a Hollywood blockbuster but damnit, this movie is AWESOME!!! If you are a firm believer such as myself that zombie domination will one day happen, then you must watch this movie. Why? Because this is the how-to of survival in a zombie infested planet. Sure, this movie may sound scary since it has zombies but quite the opposite. It has a few “AHHH” moments but its purely an entertaining, super comedic cast, and worth every penny of my bargain matinee movie. You won’t be disappointed. And super cool intro sequence. They were even doing a free makeup trailer for whoever wanted to look like a zombie for the day of the screening. How cool is that?

And some notable mentions – GENTLEMEN BRONCOS: the new film from the director of Napoleon Dynamite. Honestly, if you thought Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre was the best movie ever w/o jumping on the bandwagon at the time, then you probably will like his new film. Moving on. BRONSON: superb acting but please more story, less yelling. The guy who plays Bronson in real life looks nothing like himself in the movie. Good find Ashley. LOVE EXPOSURE: A FOUR hour long Japanese flick. First two hours are AWESOME and hilarious. Then the third hour gets a little challenging. In the end, it gets a bit nutty. But overall, it felt like I was just watching a TV show. Super low budget. If you got 4 hours to kill, Love Exposure is perfect. THE CHILDREN: if you want nightmares and always dreamt of a flick where kids get ruthlessly killed, this is your movie. Its a love/hate relationship for me. I also really wanted to watch BREATHLESS, another South Korean movie, which everyone was saying was AWESOME but it was sold out twice. Luckily BREATHLESS, PRIVATE EYE, & LOVE EXPOSURE will be screening at the San Diego Asian American Film Festival and Hawaii International Film Festival this month.