Hollywood’s wildest film festival Beyond Fest returns this month and announces full slate
Beyond Fest has just announced its 2016 programming featuring 27 events and 23 West Coast premieres of mind-bending movie madness. Presented by Shudder, Beyond Fest returns to Hollywood’s famed Egyptian Theatre for 12 days of movies, music and mayhem spanning Friday, September 30th – Tuesday, October 11th to generate funds for co-presenter, the nonprofit American Cinematheque.
With a diverse slate that includes films from all corners of the globe Beyond Fest is proud to open with movie icon Paul Schrader presenting his new feature Dog Eat Dog and a special 40th anniversary screening of Taxi Driver. Other hotly-anticipated titles making their West Coast bows include the hyper-explosive coming-of-age cannibal drama Raw, Ana Lily Amipour’s much-anticipated follow up to her alt-cult debut, A Girl Walks Home Alone, the stunning, sonic desert trip The Bad Batch, the terrifying adaptation of M.R Carey’s post-apocalyptic horror The Girl with All the Gifts, and the Mo Brothers’ outrageously hyper-violent action epic, Headshot.
The most beloved genre films are highlighted with four event screenings over the course of this year’s festival. The legend himself Kurt Russell takes center stage with James Gunn moderating for a very special 30th anniversary screening of Big Trouble in Little China projected in glorious 35mm. The “ultimate trip” receives the ultimate treatment as Stanley Kubrick’s existential epic 2001: A Space Odyssey screens in 70mm with a 2001-scored Laserium cosmic laser concert and Q&A featuring the film’s two astronaut leads, Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. The Tall Man returns with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot meticulous restoration of Don Coscarelli’s cult classic Phantasm: Remastered. Coscarelli will be joined with members of the original cast before the West Coast premiere of the series’ final entry Phantasm: Ravager. In keeping with the restoration theme, producer Richard P. Rubenstein will be on hand to present the U.S. Premiere of Dawn of the Dead 3D. Romero’s cult nightmare has never looked better and will be the first laser 3-D feature projected at the famed Egyptian Theatre.
Once again, music features prominently with two seismic re scores taking center stage. Furiously blurring the lines between music, film and art, Beyond Fest welcomes a new disciple and an old friend with two seismic re scores. Director, producer, actor, Wu Tang Clan founder and the all-together mythic RZA enters the fray with a roundhouse kick for his epic takedown of a martial arts masterpiece. 18 months in the making, RZA: Live From the 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a mammoth live re scoring of Lau Kar-leung’s Shaw Brothers classic featuring over 40+ tracks culled from RZA’s monumental catalog. Instrumental tracks, beats, samples and vocal tracks amplify the narrative and Gordon Liu’s revelatory performance.
Returning to Los Angeles is legendary composer Fabio Frizzi and his seven-piece orchestra to perform The Beyond: Composer’s Cut. This bold, new take on Lucio Fulci’s gothic masterpiece features a live re score featuring a completely new composition and will play with all original dialog intact. The Beyond will be accompanied by an uncut 35mm screening of The Gates of Hell and a very special secret screening with surprise guests.
Celebrating LA filmmaking remains a priority for Beyond Fest with Ti West receiving this year’s ‘LA Spotlight’ for his transformative western, In A Valley of Violence. Beyond Fest alumni West will be joined by cast members Karen Gillan, Taissa Farmiga, Toby Huss, James Ransone, and the film’s four-legged star, Jumpy. LA also represents en masse with a midnight blast of animated anarchy as Chris Prynoski’s Nerdland also gets its LA premiere. The first feature from Prynoski’s Titmouse Animation Studios is a wild descent into LA’s soul-destroying entertainment industry and will feature director Prynoski, writer Andrew Kevin Walker, actor Patton Oswalt, plus others in attendance.
Beyond Fest welcomes the return of genre streaming platform Shudder as its Presenting Sponsor, a partnership that provides 13 screenings (9 West Coast premieres) absolutely free to film fans. Every night, the 90-seat ‘Shudder Theatre’ will feature a brand new film selected from across the world including Emile Hirsch’s super creepy The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Japanese scare-fest Sadako Vs. Kayako, Morgan Spurlock’s stomach-churning doc Rats, the revelatory Kubrick doc S is for Stanley, the hands down craziest film of the year The Dwarves Myst Be Crazy, and two Cinematic Void double bills featuring a premiere screening of Arrow’s 4K restoration of Romero’s The Crazies paired with Martin on 16mm and an American Genre Film Archive fundraiser featuring a 35mm monster mash up of Neon Maniacs and Street Trash.
Tickets for Beyond Fest 2016 are will be made available for purchase through Fandango and the American Cinematheque on September 8th.
For the latest developments, visit the Beyond Fest official site www.beyondfest.com and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
And check out this maniacal and genuinely clever trailer below…
