First Wave Of Fantastic Fest 2012 Films Includes 'Dredd 3D,' 'Room 237,' 'Wrong' And More

I haven't been to every film festival in the world, but I can't imagine many being more fun than Fantastic Fest. For one week in Austin, TX the coolest genre films in the world screen along with some of the sickest, most inventive parties all for a passionate, excited audience. The 2012 edition takes place September 20-27 and while we knew Frankenweenie was going to open the fest, now we have the "first wave" of films.

Some of the obvious standouts are: Lionsgate's awesome action film Dredd 3D; the amazing documentary Room 237 (playing along with The Shining, which is perfect); and Quentin Dupieux's latest, hilarious film, Wrong. After the jump, read about all the films in the first wave, which also include movies about a sniper attacking a building, a woman resurrecting her dead husband, and killer sushi monsters.

Here's the first wave of Fantastic Fest 2012 films.

COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES (2011)

US Premiere

Director – Matthias Hoene, 87min

When a badly planned bank robbery and a zombie outbreak collide, hilarity ensues in this balls-out, irreverent British comedy.

DEAD SUSHI (2012)

US Premiere

Director – Noboru Iguchi, 91min

Japanese splatter action comedy is on the menu when director Noboru Iguchi & karate girl Rina Takeda join forces to take on flying killer sushi monsters in DEAD SUSHI!

DREDD 3D (2012)

Gala Premiere

Director: Pete Travis, USA, 98 minutes

The future America is an irradiated waste land. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner.  Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge

THE ENTITY (1982)

Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series

Director – Sidney J. Furie, 125min

In this controversial film based on a true story, director Furie explores the domestically-abused-woman-as-masochist stereotype by veiling it as a supernatural horror film.

ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY (2012)

US Premiere

Director – Eron Sheean, 101min

Plagued by the memory of the infant son he could not save, geneticist Geoff Burton plunges into a web of intrigue, jealousy and lies in this icily precise thriller.

EVERYBODY IN OUR FAMILY (2011)

US Premiere

Director – Radu Jude, 107min

A simple domestic dispute becomes an explosive examination of stress in this powerful and unsettling Romanian drama.

I DECLARE WAR (2012)

Regional Premiere

Director – Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson, 91min

A group of exceptionally creative teens gets sucked into their own private Lord of the Flies scenario when an after-school game of "war" turns into a test of loyalty, strategy and friendship.

THE KING OF PIGS (2011)

Texas Premiere

Director – Yeun Sang-Ho, 97min

THE KING OF PIGS is an emotionally punishing animated indie film about a group of friends whose brutal childhoods continue to haunt them as adults.

LE MEMORIA DEL MUERTO (2012)

US Premiere

Director – Valentín Javier Diment, 89min

Alicia undertakes a bizarre cult ritual to restore her deceased husband to life – a ritual that will see her home and friends visited by the spirits of the dead.

THE MAFU CAGE (1978)

Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series

Director – Karen Arthur, 102min

One of the most compelling and uniquely dark films of the psychotic woman subgenre, Karen Arthur's adaptation of Eric Westphal's play You and Your Clouds stars Lee Grant as Ellen, an astronomer who lives with her feral sister Cissy (Carol Kane).

PARIS BY NIGHT (2011)

Texas Premiere

Director – Philippe Lefebvre, 100min

Philippe Lefebvre's PARIS BY NIGHT is a sleek French cop thriller that follows a pair of vice cops as they patrol the Parisian club scene over the course of a single evening.

ROOM 237 (2012)

Texas Premiere

Director - Rodney Ascher, 102min

Rodney Ascher's ROOM 237 is a fascinating documentary that explores bizarre theories about the subtext and symbolism underlying Stanley Kubrick's landmark film THE SHINING.

SECRET CEREMONY (1968)

Repertory Screening as part of the House of Psychotic Women series

Director – Joseph Losey, 105min

In Losey's underrated SECRET CEREMONY, an aging but still glamorous Elizabeth Taylor stars as Leonora, a prostitute grieving over the death of her daughter in a drowning accident.

THE SHINING (1980)

Repertory Screening

Director – Stanley Kubrick, 142min

Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece features an unhinged performance by Jack Nicholson and a setting that drips with menace.  Its imagery and characters have permeated all areas of pop culture throughout the decades, yet the film retains all its power to disturb and terrify.

TOWER BLOCK (2012)

US Premiere

Directors – James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, 87min

The last remaining tenants of a deteriorating, soon-to-be-demolished tower block must band together to survive when a killer with a high-powered sniper rifle starts picking them off through the windows of their flats.

UNIT 7 (Grupo 7) (2012)

Texas Premiere

Director – Alberto Rodriguez, 95min

Alberto Rodriguez's UNIT 7 is gritty realistic thriller about a crew of narcotics officers in Seville, Spain who go rogue during a citywide crackdown in the years preceding Expo '92.

WRONG (2011)

Regional Premiere

Director – Quentin Dupieux, 94min

Everyman Dolph Springer's (Jack Plotnick) world is turned wrong when he awakens at 7:60 one morning to find his beloved dog missing in Quentin's Dupieux's latest absurdist opus and follow up to 2010's killer tire film, RUBBER.

YOUNG GUN IN THE TIME (2012)

US Premiere

Director – Oh Young Doo, 95min

The director of INVASION OF ALIEN BIKINI returns with a quirky, low budget time travel romp filled with sex shops, robot hands and Hawaiian shirts.