2012 Events

    • Fantastic Arcade Happy Hours and Tournaments
    Every day from Thursday the 20th through Sunday the 23rd, Fantastic Arcade will feature a different heated head-to-head indie game battle- with valuable prizes from AMD and Sony up for grabs. Try to escape from the enclosing clutches of the Super Hexagon, with developer Terry Cavanagh watching on, trade bomb tosses with 3 other daring explorers in the pits of Spelunky Deathmatch, twist your body into a pretzel on the Mega-Girp mat, make a desperate leap to catch the Barabariball, Grab a legendary sword in God of Blades: Slayers and see if you are worthy to wield the Samurai Gunn! Contestant sign-ups are first-come first-served before each event, so check the schedule and don't miss out!
    • Fantastic Fest Opening Night Party: Monsters’ Ball
    Join us for the Monsters’ Ball!* In honor of our opening night film FRANKENWEENIE, we are decking The Highball to the nines as Dr. Frankenstein’s lab! Prepare for the most frightfully entertaining night of your life at the Monsters’ Ball! In honor of the Fantastic Fest opening night film, we are transforming the Highball into Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory of good times. Annie Ray will be there to capture this party as it comes to life, so dress as your favorite classic terror of the silver screen (black and white fomal-wear is encouraged). We hope to see a few Wolfmen in tuxedos and plenty of Frankenstein’s brides compete in the costume contest at 10PM. The winner will receive $100 in Alamo gift cards to be used during the festival, with a $50 card going to the second place winner and a $25 card to the third place winner. We’ll also be serving up some monstrously delicious cocktails, and Fantastic Fest badge holders will be given a drink ticket to try one of them out for free. Danger, danger, these drinks are high voltage! Maggots at Midnight Cucumber infused gin, crème de violet and fresh lime with cucumber seed “maggots” The Zombie The powerful and potent tiki classic. Jamaican rum, gold rum, Herbsaint, Falernum, grenadine, bitters, fresh lemon and a secret we’ll keep to the grave. The Corpse Reviver #2 Gin, orange liqueur, lillet blanc and fresh lemon, with an absinthe rinse. Beware. “Four taken in quick succession will unrevive the corpse again.” Dark & Stormy Black Seal Rum, Ginger Beer and a hint of lime. Please note that if capacity becomes an issue, Fantastic Fest badge holders will receive priority entrance.   *note: not the depressing movie where Halle Berry has awkward sex with Billy Bob Thornton
    • Kokoromi + Venus Patrol present: THE DANCINGULARITY
      This Friday, September 21st, the newly-launched videogame culture supersite Venus Patrol will be presenting the first iteration of THE DANCINGULARITY, a free, interactive dance-party experience being put together for Fantastic Arcade and Fantastic Fest guests by Kokoromi, the game collective helmed by Heather Kelley, Cindy Poremba, Damien Di Fede, and Fez creator Phil Fish. Self-described as “a hypothetical but unavoidable point in time when people come together and dance to create the visuals of an interactive DJ set”, THE DANCINGULARITY will carpet the floor of the Highball lounge with a grid of disused Dance Dance Revolution mats and give players full foot-control over the projected display, in hopes of triggering the dancingularity itself. Fish & Di Fede will be providing the music (with the latter also doing double duty on the creation of the hardware and software itself), and Kelley taking on the role of DM (Dance Master), in charge of manipulating the software live. Get ready for a strange brew of boozy sock-hop and DIY tech!   Schedule this event
    • Asian Invasion: Chaos Reigns Karaoke Party featuring DRAGON SOUND! Presented by Well Go USA
    Come experience demented revelry and potential humiliation on what is sure to be one of the greatest nights of your life.  A highly anticipated evening of the year for karaoke maniacs and the bail-bondsmen of Austin.  In honor of the Drafthouse Films re-release of 1987’s gonzo masterpiece of taekwondo anti-sanity MIAMI CONNECTION, we’ll kick things off with the 25th anniversary reunion concert of multi-national martial arts synth rock band Dragon Sound!  For one night only we’re turning The Highball into the hottest nightclub this side of Florida AND all of Asia.  Don’t be late for the opening act and stay for an unforgettable evening of outrageous karaoke.
    • Fantastic Fest presents: Air Sex
    If you’ve been to any Air Guitar shows, you’ve probably got some ideas about what Air Sex will be like. Except that competitors in this show won’t pretend to play an invisible guitar, they’ll pretend to make love with a partner who isn’t there.  Attendees are welcome to spectate or join onstage as a competitor.  Admission is free with Fantastic Fest badge.  Find out more about Air Sex at www.airsexworld.com
    • Fantastic Arcade Awards: Starcade
    Join host Wiley Wiggins and two lucky contestants as we face off in a battle of wits and reflexes in the world of classic arcade games. Only one can survive in this test of trivia and gaming skill, to be crowned 2012’s CLASSIC ARCADE MASTER.    
    • Nerd Rap Throw Down
      Come watch the battle unfold as a handful of nerd worthy contenders vie for lyrical supremacy in this movie-themed rap competition all set to the pumping jams of  Fatboy Roberts. We’re looking for 4-6 worthy contenders to challenge Damon at this year’s event.  Send a sample of your own rap to info@fantasticfest.com and we’ll see if you have the chops.  The winner will receive a 2013 VIP Fantastic Fest badge and a $50 Highball gift certificate.   Nerds! Here is your chance to live like the baller you’ve (not-so) secretly always wanted to be by combining your encyclopedic knowledge of movies with that rap flow you’ve been working on for years in your mom’s basement! Fatboy Roberts, your fellow movie-obsessed basement dweller, has also been hard at work for years… making transcendent, funkified remixes of his favorite movie, TV show, and video game themes — everything from Star Wars to Barney Miller, the Princess Bride to Super Mario Bros. His Geek: Remixed albums are things of beauty all their own, but here’s where you come in, would-be gift of gabbers: We want you to throw down and perform a rap to a Fatboy Roberts track in our all-out Battle Royale for nerd lyrical supremacy at Fantastic Fest! But before you go all 8 Mile on us, son, let’s review the rules. 1. You must perform a rap* to a Fatboy Roberts track of your own choosing. Check out the tracks here. *Or your definition of “rap” — just make it good, kehd! 2. Practice it. This is a real competition. 3. Submit a video of your best performance 4. Submissions will be whittled down to a smaller group, and those finalists get to audition all-the-way-live and in person for the NERD RAP judges. 5. The best rappers (you can also dance, too, Humpty) will be selected to perform at the mega-epic official Fantastic Fest NERD RAP par-tay at The Highball on Sept 23. There, the audience will decide the One True Winner (aka the person who will probably get laid that night). After the competition, grab a microphone and geek out with your karaoke out on our main stage with a catalog of nerd and hip hop classics, including Doctor Demento, Weird Al Yankovic, Will Smith and Run DMC. The event is open to the public but contestants must be Fantastic Fest badge-holders.
    • THE AMERICAN SCREAM Homemade Haunted House Hellbash! presented by Chiller network
    Following the world premiere of THE AMERICAN SCREAM, you’ll be invited to enter a homemade haunt created on-site for Fantastic Fest by the film’s subject Manny “The Halloween Guy” Souza. If you can survive the maze of werewolves, specters and unspeakable terrors, you’ll experience a post-screening celebration in an indoor cemetery, with all the Halloween candy and witches’ brew you can handle. Present for the post-mortem partytimes will be the filmmakers as well as the documentary’s stars, with live music provided by sinister synthesizer sadist Xander Harris. All this plus more surprises, so sharpen your stakes and/or fangs, and steel yourself for the ultimate Homemade Haunt Hellride!!
    • Board Game Happy Hour at Highball
    Join pop culture writer (and board game addict) Kevin Kelly at the first ever Board Game Happy Hour during Fantastic Fest. We’ll be playing the terribly awesome Cards Against Humanity, complete with audience participation. If you’ve never played this game before, it bills itself as “A Party Game For Horrible People.” After a couple of rounds, you’ll see exactly why. Come join us for games, drinks, fun, and some special board game prizes provided by Austin’s own Dragon’s Lair Comics and Fantasy, and boardgamegeek.com.
    • Fantastic Fest Awards
    Not for the faint of heart… when you win an award at Fantastic Fest you better be ready for a shotgun-blast of appreciation to the face. Strap on your drinking horns and join us for a night of ceremonial tomfoolery.  Awards will be given for best shakeyface, best bumper, best shorts, best features, audience awards and the AMD Next Wave award.  Our awards are beer mugs that come full, so winners need to arrive thirsty.
    • Data Pop
    Austin’s premiere celebration of 8-Bit music and culture, this pulse-pounding concert features four of the world’s leading musicians and two top visualists all employing a plethora of low-res technology. Come dance the night away to music made by everything from classic Amigas to original Nintendo Gameboys.  Admission to this event is free and open to the general public, badge is not required. 10:30PM – Sievert 11:20PM – Fuckjazzforaminute 12:10AM – IAYD 1:00AM – Touchboy Visuals by Party Time! Hexcellent! and Wiley Wiggins
    • Fantastic Feud
    The Fantastic Feud, brainchild of FearNet’s own Scott Weinberg, pits the greatest American horror scholars against the feeble competition from foreign lands. Much drinking and feats of mental agility ensue.   Fill out my online form. var k7s6w7;(function(d, t) { var s = d.createElement(t), options = { 'userName':'drafthouse', 'formHash':'k7s6w7', 'autoResize':true, 'height':'1400', 'async':true, 'header':'show', 'ssl':true}; s.src = ('https:' == d.location.protocol ? 'https://' : 'http://') + 'wufoo.com/scripts/embed/form.js'; s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function() { var rs = this.readyState; if (rs) if (rs != 'complete') if (rs != 'loaded') return; try { k7s6w7 = new WufooForm();k7s6w7.initialize(options);k7s6w7.display(); } catch (e) {}}; var scr = d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0], par = scr.parentNode; par.insertBefore(s, scr); })(document, 'script');
    • Fantastic Fest presents: Tittie Bingo
    In the greatest partnership since tequila and karaoke, we’ve combined bingo with edited versions of porn parodies and classic adult films and the result is Tittie Bingo!  Admission to this event is free and open to the general public, badge is not required.
    • 100 Best Kills
    Fantastic Fest celebrates the great legacy of stomach-churning, blood-spurting movie magic with this interactive showdown party. You are invited to join the FF and Alamo programmers in reliving 100 of the all-time greatest on-screen headbursts, rib-rips and gutblasts! To find out how to submit a kill and win either $500 or a 2013 VIP Fantastic Fest badge click here.
    • Fantastic Fest presents: Doug Loves Movies
    Come enjoy a cocktail and play the Leonard Maltin game with comedian Doug Benson, star and subject of Fantastic Fest pot-umentary THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER ROLLED.  This 4:20 taping should prove to be a very special editiion of the Doug Loves Movies Podcost.  Admission to this event is free and open to the general public, badge is not required.
    • Fantastic Trivia presented by Geeks Who Drink
    A special Fantastic Fest edition of our weekly trivia challenge Geeks Who Drink at the Highball.  Admission to this event is free and open to the general public, badge is not required.
    • Welcome to HELLFJORD Norwegian Party
    This year, the Norwegians have once again descended on US soil.  To honor their triumphant return, we are hosting the "Welcome to HELLFJORD Norwegian Party" featuring the reunion of Austin's premier one-man metal band ASSACRE!! From the twisted, frost-bitten minds behind COLD PREY, DEAD SNOW along with Fantastic Fest favorite YOU SAID WHAT? comes the distinctive – and distinctly odd – world of HELLFJORD, a seven-part Norwegian miniseries that will celebrate its world premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest.  In honor of this magnificent gift from our friends of the North, we are holding the Norwegian rager to end all Norwegian ragers at The Highball, with plenty of Jarlsberg, Akvavit and all the rakfisk you can eat (and we can put away the rakfisk). We'll burn the night to cinders with performances by ASSACRE and WIDOWER plus black metal DJ selections from a mystery authority on Nordic viciousness. We’ll also be snapping your funnybones with a set from America's favorite black metal stand-up comic AZZEROTH THE JOVIAL. Stop by for a cold one and enjoy a complimentary corpsepainting makeover! We'll also be offering a complimentary Shiner or well liquor drink to all our Norwegian guests in attendance.  Show a Norwegian passport to the bartenders at The Highball and Fantastic Fest will buy your first drink! Attendees will enjoy free Norwegian canapes designed by Alamo executive chef John Bullington Rakfish, egg, scallion, white sauce, gold potato, pickled chard Lutefish, potetlefse, crisp garlic, pea puree, brown butter Lumpfish Roe, purple potato, sour cream, fried caper, mustard seed,  Pickled Herring, rhubarb, spiced cream sauce, shallot, rye   Norwegian drink specials for the evening are: BLOODY MAYHEM A delicious Norwegian twist on a traditional bloody mary, made with aquavit THE FORNØYD MEL (Norwegian Happy Meal) Jester King Weasel Rodeo beer, a collaboration with cult Norwegian brewer Mikkeller served with an icy cold aquavit shot.  
    • Fantastic Fest Closing Night Party: Wolverines!
    Update!  Austin's own loveable foot-fetishizing songsmiths FOOT PATROL have joined the musical line-up for the closing night!  If that weren't reason enough to get a tingly feeling in your toes, we'll also be treating guests to a special appearance by the legendary DK of DK Sushi, who will be making mischief at the karaoke party upstairs!  After DK drops the mic, the Badass Digest kids will pick it back up to bring a new dimension in pain to our festival's favorite tradition with Torture-oke!  Participants will have a shockingly good time as they perform for the Badass judges, who will be authorized to use incapacitating force on lackluster performers via transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Fantastic Fest will transform the Austin American Legion into a maximum-security prison for the ultimate Red Dawn shindig.  Prisoners will experience mandatory enjoyment from delousing stations as well as free prison tattoos and head-shaves.  Executive Chef John Bullington will be doling out wild-game bulgogi, kimchi and piping-hot shots of deer blood while the uniformed detainees enjoy the musical stylings of festival favorite Future Folk and the mysterious DJ Smokey. The closing night party menu is also here!  This is some pretty tasty-looking prison food guys: Fantastic Fest Closing Night Menu Kimchi Mandoo Steamed and fried dumplings of  lamb, glass noodle or tofu kimchi with deer blood sauce Bulgogi Korean taco - pork or mushroom bulgogi wrapped in corn tortilla with kimchi, chile sauces Korean Fries Fried Potato tossed in peppers with cilantro scallion mayo, chile sauce Kimbap Korean sushi, rice, egg, carrot, cucumber, radish, spinach, crawfish Bokimbap Korean fried rice The party will kick off at the American Legion Hall (located at 404 Atlanta at the intersection of Mopac and Lake Austin Boulevard, right behind Run Tex) at 10pm.  For those in need of transportation, shuttles and buses will begin loading at the Alamo South Lamar at 9:30pm. PLEASE NOTE: This event will be open only to Fantastic Fest badgeholders.  

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Fantastic Fest 2012 Welcome to HELLFJORD Norwegian Party
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