Germany’s one and only touring film festival dedicated to the fantastic is back! Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Fantasy Filmfest spends the summer travelling to eight major cities around the country. Committed to showcasing the most bizarre, fantastic and downright disgusting cinema has to offer, this year’s selection is no less shocking/scary/brilliant/deviant* (delete as applicable).
Originally based in Hamburg before becoming the city-hopping summer-long behemoth it is today, over the years the festival has featured the international premieres of classics such as Pulp Fiction, Scream, American Psycho and, erm, Freddy Vs. Jason. 2011 looks set to continue that reputation with some significantly outrageous and controversial pictures.
Highlights include mainstream exclusive European premieres such as Harrison Ford’s latest, an addition to the awful-crowded Cowboys meets Aliens sub-genre (Cowboys And Aliens) and independent vagabond Kevin Smith’s first foray into horror, Red State.
Elsewhere there are decidedly more evil and sinister celluloid happenings with Ti West’s new haunted house shocker, The Innkeepers. If it's anything like his 2009 genre classic, The House Of The Devil, then prepare yourself for plenty of sleepless nights afterward. Director Lucky McKay’s gut-wrenching, feminist survival horror masterpiece The Woman is also getting its European premiere. Fingers crossed there won’t be any shouting matches or accusations of lacking a moral compass - see below for one sensitive soul's reaction at this year’s Sundance Festival.
Whatever film taste you may have there is definitely something for everyone, sick of mind or not. The Fantasy Filmfest begins Tuesday 16th August and runs for two weeks before creeping off to Frankfurt to corrupt more unfortunate souls. For a timetable and more info head over to fantasyfilmfest.com DUH!
