Today at Fantastic Fest, Movieline got its hands on a VHS tape labeled "September 1988," packaged in an unmarked manila envelope. Perhaps (probably) not coincidentally, the date corresponds to recently released footage from Paranormal Activity 3, the forthcoming found footage prequel about spooky goings-on in the lives of a family haunted by unseen forces. Could this have something to do with tomorrow's hotly anticipated secret screening?
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Within the insular Traveller community in Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom, among clans that are closely related by marriage and birth, conflicts are solved through ritualized bare-knuckle fights buoyed by blood pride and machismo. Think Brad Pitt in Snatch and you get the lighter side of the boxing tradition, but in real life, as documentarian Ian Palmer discovered as he filmed one clan's champions over the course of 12 years, there's a dark and tragic nature to the custom that drives the culture.
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Following the success of his 2007 cop drama Elite Squad, Brazilian filmmaker Jose Padilha turned his lens back on Rio de Janeiro's corrupt system in a sequel, Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within. A critical and commercial smash that set box office records and was selected as Brazil's official Oscars entry, Elite Squad 2 played Sunday at Fantastic Fest where Movieline caught up with Padilha to discuss why his incisive films have resonated in Brazil and the philosophical questions raised in his remake of RoboCop, which he's currently writing. And what's up with those Michael Fassbender casting rumors?
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A quick update from Austin, where the Fantastic Debates took place at midnight pitting filmmakers, actors, and astrophysicists against each other in spoken debates before pounding it out in the boxing ring: If you were betting on Elijah Wood to reign victorious over Lord of the Rings buddy Dominic Monaghan (or in Hobbit terms, Frodo vs. Merry, who were debating the awesomeness of another fantasy nerd obsession, World of Warcraft), you'd have lost.
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Four years after bringing his feature debut Timecrimes to Fantastic Fest (where it won the Best Picture award), Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo returned to Austin, a place so warm and familiar he liked it to returning to the womb. "It's like going back into my mother's vagina," exclaimed Vigalondo, addressing the friendly crowd at the debut of his sophomore film, Extraterrestrial. "So I get inside my mother's vagina, and for some reason you are all there inside!"
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A cool bit of graffiti art popped up overnight at Fantastic Fest for Adam Wingard's buzz film You're Next, which screens later tonight. Passes to the hotly anticipated horror pic, which was picked up by Lionsgate after a Toronto Film Festival bidding war, sold out quickly online and with fest faves A.J. Bowen and director Ti West (who both star in the film) in town it's one of the hot tickets for tonight. Is Banksy in our midst as well, spraying movie promos all over Austin? Or Mr. Brainwash? (Or both, if they're the same person??)
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Somewhere toward the end of The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence), Tom Six's follow-up to the notorious 2010 dare of a horror film The Human Centipede (First Sequence) -- after the sequel's new villain had performed makeshift "surgery" on his twelve victims but before the film's gruesome, stomach-churning denouement -- the woman sitting next to me fell ill and fainted. She came to minutes later, she told me as we waited for medics, only to be greeted by a wall of disorienting, horrifying sounds, a cacophony of screams and even worse noises, accompanied by some of the vilest images ever captured on film. Needless to say, it was agony to live through. But, she said with a brave smile, it reminded her that she was human after all.
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Fantastic Fest's annual Fantastic Debates pit filmmakers, critics, and celebrities against each other in a two-part battle that begins with a podium debate and ends with the ultimate showdown in the boxing ring. This year's Debates, held Saturday night in Austin, Texas, will get even more fantastic than usual as Elijah Wood and Lord of the Rings pal Dominic Monaghan duke it out with some Hobbit vs. Hobbit fisticuffs. Watch their challenge videos after the jump!
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Sure, Rider Strong has done a ton of stuff since his days on the ABC series Boy Meets World, but far be it from me to pass up a chance to name drop that TGIF classic! Since his days playing Cory Matthews's BFF Shawn, Strong's continued to act and began directing, co-helming the Dungeons & Dragons-themed short The Dungeon Master with brother Shiloh, which is set to screen at next month's Fantastic Fest. After the jump, watch the film's trailer and get the full list of genre shorts playing at the Austin festival.
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Park City got downright crazy Sunday night, with Kevin Smith's Red State "auction" alienating sales agents and bloggers alike and reports of audience unrest at a midnight screening of Lucky McKee's latest horror pic. And then Korean director Bong Joon-Ho (The Host, Mother) took the mic at the raucous Fantastic Fest/Magnet Releasing karaoke party to warble a little Billy Joel as hundreds of partygoers cheered him on.
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