Fantastic Fest 2024: A First Timer’s Experience
by Tito W. James
We had a Bad Movie Club in my college where it was our practice to watch films that were either bad or cult favorites and make fun of them. The B-Movie club lives on with my current friend group where we continue to find obscure horror films and Japanese Exploitation cinema. Because of B-Movie Club, I went from a basic consumer who liked big Hollywood Blockbusters to someone whose heart and soul is defined by alternative film.
Fantastic Fest is everything me and my peers were trying to do with B-Movie Club but cranked up to 100! It’s wonderful to see such passion and professionalism surrounding alternative film. The selection of films Fantastic Fest curates is completely my aesthetic. You can see my attempts to capture this Underground Film vibe in my articles titled Streaming and Screaming and my own personal comics like Gangsters vs Gators.
Fantastic Fest is like the Russian Roulette of entertainment. Some movies blew my mind and will remain in my heart for years to come. Other films had me squirming in my seat like a caged baboon dying to escape. All the films regardless of quality make for one-of-a-kind viewing experiences.
Fantastic Fest is also a welcome break from other film festivals that can lean too pretentious and churn out maudlin Oscar-bait. Fantastic Fest delivers High End Low-Brow entertainment for the discerning cinema buff. I hope more people who value transgressive filmmaking will branch out and discover Fantastic Fest. You can check out the films I saw below:
