Fantastic Fest: Terrifier 3 and more horror/thrillers premiering in 2024

Fantastic Fest is bigger and better this year, which is its 19th. For 2024, Fantastic Fest is presenting 28 world premieres, 15 U.S. premieres and 23 international and North American premieres, plus some great events and plenty of special guests.

FF will take place at the iconic Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas from September 19 through September 26.

The fun begins on opening night with the premiere of The Rule of Jenny Pen, starring Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow. Rush plays a judge who ends up in a nursing home. One of the other residents (Lithogow) is a strange man who takes great pleasure in terrorizing the others who live there.

Also premiering is Alexandre Aja’s new film Never Let Go. Aja will be joined by the film’s star Halle Berry at the premiere. In Never Let Go, a woman and her twin children must literally stay connected within their home when evil invades the world. When one of the boys begins to question whether the evil force is real, their connection is severed, and they must fight to survive.

Director Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 will join the roster on opening night, bringing us a new holiday horror film featuring the notorious Art the Clown.

Closing night will feature the premiere of Hulu film Mr. Crocket, which is based on Bradon Espy’s short film. Elvis Noasco stars as a nefarious children’s television host, and Jerrika Hinton is a mother determined to protect her son.

Other major studio horror and thrillers at Fantastic Fest include:

• House of Spoils (Amazon MGM and Blumhouse Television)
• V/H/S/Beyond (Shudder)
• Apartment 7A (a sequel to Rosemary’s Baby)
• Dead Talents Society
• The Wild Robot
• A Different Man (A24)

Two series will be making their world premieres at Fantastic Fest:

• The Legend of Vox Machina (Prime Video)
• Teacup (Peacock)

Not enough world premieres for you yet? You can also look forward to:

Little Bites – Shudder’s “chillingly original tale of a mother who will do anything for her daughter”

Bone Lake – An erotic thriller brought to us from Mercedes Bryce Morgan

What Happened to Dorothy Bell? – Danny Villanueva’s new found footage horror film

The feature film lineup for horror and thrillers at Fantastic Fest 2024 looks like this:

Animale – An aspiring bullfighter experiences changes in reality after she is brutally attacked.

Apartment 7A – Julia Garner (Ozark) is a dancer who has suffered a career-ending injury. When an older couple promise her they can give her the fame she wants, she starts to experience dark events in her life.

The Babadook – Fantastic Fest hosts a 10th anniversary screening of this infamous psychological horror movie.

Binary – Nisha is just waiting for gender confirmation surgery when her nightmares begin to affect her real life.

Bone Lake – Diego and Sage rent a place on Bone Lake to spice up their love life, but the arrival of a mysterious couple turns the dream into a nightmare.

Carnival of Blood – The press release describes Carnival of Blood as a “dreamy proto-slasher” set in New York City.

Chain Reactions – Alexandre O. Philippe takes a close look at five international artists, and the effect 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had on them.

Chainsaws Were Singing – A spree killer cannibal and his vicious family members torment a young couple in this slasher musical.

Children of the Wicker Man – Robin Hardy directed the 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man. This doc focuses on his sons Justin and Dominic, as they discuss the film and their relationship with their father.

Cloud – In this Japanese film, Ryosuke is an online seller whose business has grown, along with his paranoia.

Daddy’s Head – After his father’s death, a boy is visited by something that looks like his dad, but isn’t. This is a Shudder original, coming to the horror streamer in October.

Dead Talents Society – “Dying is just the beginning of one young woman’s problems when she learns that the afterlife is a competitive world of celebrity scarers and desperate wannabes.”

A Different Man – Edward is an actor desperate to become famous. He has a medical procedure to alter his appearance, but discovers that his new face only makes him want to go back to what was lost.

Disembodied – This is a 4K restoration of the 1998 film, in which a young woman checks into a creepy hotel.

Don’t Mess with Grandma – When thieves try to break into his beloved grandmother’s home, a young man will do whatever it takes to protect her.

The Draft! – Described as meta-horror, this film sees five friends checking into the stereotypical cabin in the woods. Of course violence and blood happens.

Else – A worldwide pandemic spread through eye contact strikes the world, and two lovers seek refuge in an apartment.

Frankie Freako – Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman) directed this film, which features a gang of goblins.

Gazer – In this body horror film, a woman named Frankie is trying to reclaim her life in declining America.

Get Away – The Smith family vacations on a seemingly charming island in Sweden, despite warnings from the mainlanders. They end up regretting that decision.

The Guest – In this beloved (and very violent) 2014 thriller, a soldier shows up at the door of a family, claiming to have served with their deceased son. This is a 4K restoration.

Ick – A high school science teacher fights off an alien in this sci-fi/horror offering.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies – This 1964 film is considered the first monster musical. This is a Severin restoration of the original film.

The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee – Christopher Lee was one of the most legendary horror actors, portraying Dracula in seven Hammer films. In this documentary, we learn about his struggles to make a living in acting…until he dipped his toe into horror.

Mads – This 88-minute long film focuses on French club kids trying to fight off a rage virus, and claims to have been filmed in a single unbroken shot.

Mr. Crocket – What’s a single mom to do when her child is overactive? A mother finds a VHS tape that includes a children’s show called Mr. Crocket’s World, and it seems to do the trick. But this tape is cursed.

Raze – After Jamie is kidnapped, she wakes up to discover that she is trapped in a concrete bunker. But she is not alone.

Respati – Indonesian horror is having a moment, and in this film, an orphaned teen is connected with victims of an evil demon.

Satan War – Newlyweds move into their dram home, only to find it’s actually a nightmare. Is the devil the cause of their troubles? This is a restoration of the 1979 film.

The Severed Sun – A woman stands up to her religious father, causing a violent creature to unleash its power on the members of her community.

She Loved Blossoms More – When their mother dies, her three sons try to bring her back.

The Spirit of Halloweentown – St. Helens, Oregon is a town that celebrates the spooky season year-round, basing their version of Halloween on cult classic movie Halloweentown.

Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire – This documentary “follows the investigation of one of the worst, yet least reported and discussed serial killers.”

Touched by Eternity – Fatso is a middle-aged hermit who yearns to be immortal. He thinks he has found the answer when a couple of friendly vampires show up, but soon has second thoughts.

Trizombie – When the zombie apocalypse happens in Belgium, a group of best buds go in search of their missing friend.

For tickets and more information, visit the Fantastic Fest website.