Arkansas horror and fantasy film festival announces first wave of features.
It’s getting close to showtime for the Fantastic Cinema & Craft Beer Festival, the wild, weird movie and suds party going down from April 7-10 in Little Rock, Arkansas and co-presented by SHOCK TILL YOU DROP.
The festival just announced their first wave of scheduled movies, featuring critically acclaimed films, festival award winners and other pictures that have won accolades on the international festival circuit.
THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK
D: JOEL POTRYKUS | USA | 82 MIN | REGIONAL PREMIERE
DRAMA
Young outcast Sean has isolated himself in a trailer in the woods, setting out on alchemic pursuits, with his cat Kaspar as his sole companion. Filled with disdain for authority, hes fled the daily grind and holed up in the wilderness, escaping a society that has no place for him. But when he turns from chemistry to black magic to crack natures secret, things go awry and he awakens something far more sinister and dangerous.
Official Selection of South by Southwest (SXSW)
ARROWHEAD
D: JESSE OBRIEN | AUSTRALIA | 95 MIN | REGIONAL PREMIERE
ACTION | SCI-FI | MYSTERY
An interstellar Jekyll and Hyde, Arrowhead tells the tale of survival set amongst the distant stars. Kye is a prisoner of war caught between two armies that he doesn’t believe in. When offered an opportunity for freedom, Kye sets out on one last rescue mission only to become stranded when his ship crash lands. Kye soon realizes that the deadliest creature on the desert moon is himself.
Official Selection of Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, SciFi Film Festival (Australia) WINNER BEST FEATURE FILM
BUNNY THE KILLER THING
D: JOONAS MAKKONEN | FINLAND | 88 MIN | ARKANSAS PREMIERE
ACTION | COMEDY | HORROR | EXPLOITATION
LANGUAGE: FILMED MOSTLY IN ENGLISH, SOME SWEDISH
This wildly un-PC horror-comedy follows the amorous adventures of a 6-foot-tall sex-crazed rabbit who finds plenty of sexual conquests at a cabin in the woods inhabited by a group of Finns and some unsuspecting tourists. The young people, out to have a fun-filled winter weekend, instead find themselves involved in a game of life and death when the weird creature brandishing an incredibly long penis attacks anything that looks like a womans vagina. Created when a science project goes terribly wrong, the Bunny will stop at nothing in search of a warm place to park his appendage. A hilarious spoof of splatter and camp films, Bunny the Killer Thing is unapologetically offensive as well as hilarious weird and wonderful.
Official Selection of Fantasia Film Festival, Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Festival, Morbido Film Fest, Monster Fest, Arizona Underground Film Festival WINNER BEST EXPLOITATION FILM, Nocturna Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival WINNER MADNESS AWARD BEST FILM
***BUNNY THE KILLER THING RED BAND TRAILER FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY**
THE EYES OF MY MOTHER
D: NICOLAS PESCE | USA | 77 MIN | REGIONAL PREMIERE
DRAMA | HORROR
In their secluded farmhouse, a mother, formerly a surgeon in Portugal, teaches her daughter, Francisca, to understand anatomy and be unfazed by death. One afternoon, a mysterious visitor horrifyingly shatters the idyll of Franciscas family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also awakening some unique curiosities. Though she clings to her increasingly reticent father, Franciscas loneliness and scarred nature converge years later when her longing to connect with the world around her takes on a distinctly dark form.
Official Selection of Sundance Film Festival
Royalty Hightower in The Fits
THE FITS
D: ANNA ROSE HOLMER| USA | 72 MIN | REGIONAL PREMIERE
DRAMA | MYSTERY
Stole synopsis from Sundance. It will probably change.
Toni, an 11-year-old tomboy, trains as a boxer with her brother at a rec center in Cincinnatis West End, but becomes fascinated by the dance drill team that also practices there. Drawn to their strength and confidence, Toni eventually joins the group, tirelessly rehearsing the routines, befriending some of the girls, and even piercing her ears to fit in. But when members of the tight-knit group start experiencing mysterious fits of shaking and fainting, Tonis desire for acceptance becomes complicated.
Official Selection of Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, New Directors/New Films
IN THE DARK
D: DAVID SPALTRO | USA | 81 MIN | ARKANSAS PREMIERE
DRAMA | HORROR | MYSTERY
Skeptical grad student, Veronica Carpenter, interviews renowned paranormal specialist, Dr. Lois Kearne, for her thesis on the benefits of her supernatural research in regards to modern psychology, and joins her on a field study trip to a Brooklyn family home supposedly besieged by evil spirits. Once at the residence of nurse Joan Mills and Bethany, her recently returned daughter, the investigators are immediately confronted with dark secrets, darker energies, unexplainably horrific events, and a young girl whos affliction tests the boundaries of all their collective research and experience, forcing everyone to confront their own haunted pasts and demons. And what exactly is lying hungrily in wait
In the Dark.
Official Selection of Buffalo International Film Festival WINNER AUDIENCE AWARD, New Jersey Film Festival WINNER BEST FEATURE, Macabre Faire Film Festival – BEST ACTRESS, Fiona Horrigan
KILLER RACK
D: GREGORY LAMBERSON | USA | 98 MIN | ARKANSAS PREMIERE
COMEDY | HORROR | MUSICAL | EXPLOITATION
Screwball horror comedy about a woman (Jessica Zwolak) suffering from low esteem who gets breast enhancement surgery from Dr. Cate Thulu (Debbie Rochon). Her new assets turn out to be man-eating monsters, and only she can stop them. Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Thurber are in the cast, and Brooke Lewis is the Voice of the Boobs. Directed by author Gregory Lamberson, creator of the cult classic SLIME CITY.
Official Selection of Eerie Horror Film Festival, Fright Night Film Festival, Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, Crimson Scream Film Festival
LAKE NOWHERE
D: CHRISTOPHER PHELPS | USA | 51 MIN | REGIONAL PREMIERE
HORROR
From the vaults of the golden age of slasher films comes LAKE NOWHERE, a raucous, bloody romp which resurrects the thrill of gory midnight movies for an hour-long plunge into the depths of horror. Inspired by the dusty days of VHS, LAKE NOWHERE is preceded by original trailers & commercials, replicating the experience of watching a long lost bootleg tape.
When a group of friends arrive at a desolate lakeside cabin, they are stalked and murdered by a Masked Maniac, whose lust for blood transcends our world. This age-old tale of senseless slaughter quickly spirals into the realm of supernatural horror and classic monster movies, as we learn the true power that lies within LAKE NOWHERE.
Official Selection of Art of Brooklyn Film Festival WINNER BEST DIRECTOR, Eerie Horror Fest, Ithaca International Fantastic Fest
LOST CONQUEST
D: MIKE SCHOLTZ | USA | 70 MIN | LR PREMIERE
DOCUMENTARY
Vikings! Their thirst for conquest was quenchless! Historians claim the Viking Age ended nearly a thousand years ago. But there remains one place on Earth where Vikings still rule: Minnesota! It began when Leif Ericson secretly invaded the state and claimed it for King Olaf of Norway. Today, it remains as one of the last outposts of that once-mighty empire.
Or not. Archaeologists say none of this ever happened. They say Minnesota has fallen victim to the greatest practical joke of all time. They say its better to get history right than to tell a good story. But does anyone care what they say? Because Viking culture is alive and well in Minnesota, where you can dress like a Viking, eat like a Viking or even fight like a Viking.
Official Selection of Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Mirror Mountain Film Festival – WINNER BEST FEATURE, Flyway Film Festival – WINNER FLYWAY AXE AWARD FOR BEST MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN FILM
More films to be announced in the coming days!
To check out the fest’s equally amazing lineup of short films go HERE.
ICYMI – Craft Beer Festival Event on Saturday, April 9
