Fantastic Fest Daily Dispatch #2: Drawn and Quartered with Goats

It's nearly the end of the first full day of Fantastic Fest, officially day #2, but unofficially day #3, and where am I writing this up? Why, the Highball of course, with a view of the dance floor and the bar, where the servers and some of the bar staff are wearing happy jackets. There is a lot more staff working, and now there is table service for drinks and some menu items.

Unfortunately, if you showed up before the "Sake, Shochu and Karaoke: Meet the Japanese!" officially started, you were SOL for drink tickets.  I wasn't told that when I came in and was overly greeted by two overly cheerful people at the door, and at least two other versions of what was going on were told to other people (one within earshot of me). Or they just didn't like me.  A lot of non-badgeholders showed up, and it got really crowded, so I'm finishing this at home.

Interviews in the morning kept me from the early screenings, but I had an impromptu interview with Solomon Kane director Michael Bassett (pictured above). I felt even worse for missing the one screening of the film, which I really wanted to see, but I would have missed the beginning, and I hate that even more. It doesn't have distribution in the U.S. yet, which is a shame, as my friends said it was good, and Bassett's description of a complex tale of redemption made it even more intriguing.  Sleep dep is evil, I should have recorded it, because he's a great interview.

The newly named "Drawn and Quartered" shorts program, as selected by Zack Carlson, was very strong. Unfortunately, technical difficulties kept us from seating on time, and then a couple of non-English language films had no subtitles. Because of the late start, we couldn't do a Q&A (if they did, I didn't make it, only had a few minutes until Antichrist).  I didn't love every film, but I really liked most of them. Consoul was really fun, a cycle of life story told in datapop with old style game animation.  Git Gob was all of two minutes, and hilarious.  Pigeon Impossible, made by local filmmaker Lucas Martell, could have been a Pixar short.  Alma was a twisty little tale, and Little Dragon brings new meaning to "enter the dragon." But I think my favorite was The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9! Poor, Terrible Thing!

Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist didn't have any walkouts I noticed, but it left me unimpressed. It's intellectual narcissism at its most annoying, and not much more provocative than gratuitous T&A.

Robogeisha played opposite as Secret Screening #1. I didn't see it, but apparently it was quite wild, given the costumes of two dancers doing promo for it. Jette was over at the Paramount for a gala screening of Zombieland -- she and Debbie worked the red carpet beforehand.

Secret Screening #2 had gotten a lot of rumors going, but it seems the Fantastic Fest team was working the rumor mill, because most people weren't expecting The Men Who Stare at Goats.  Let's just say at least I got that one out of the way and won't have to watch it again. 

At this point, I got tired, and didn't make it to Doghouse, despite wanting to. I need sleep.  Tomorrow's another long day.

Fantastic Fest runs through Thursday, October 1 at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and the Paramount. Follow @fantasticfest and @slackerwood on Twitter for updates.