In exactly four weeks, Fantastic Fest will begin its 12th year in Austin, TX.  As if the first wave of programming wasn’t impressive enough, well, they’ve managed to somehow top that with the announcement of the second wave of programming. Not only does the second wave contain works from talented filmmakers like Denis Villeneuve, Ana Lily Amirpour, Park Chan-Wook, Paul Verhoeven and Paul Schrader, but remember a certain 32-member band we interviewed two months ago? That’s right. Itchy-o has become a Fantastic Fest staple and will be unleashing their mayhem upon the fest. I. Can’t. Wait.

Some highlights from the second wave include:

Arrival
United States, 2016
Opening Film
Director – Denis Villeneuve
When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team – lead by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) – are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.
bad-batch
United States,2016
U.S. Premiere
Director – Ana Lily Amirpour
Ana Lily Amirpour follows up her alt-cult sensation A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE with her highly anticipated dystopian cannibal desert trip.
elle
France, 2016
US Premiere
Director – Paul Verhoeven
Paul Verhoeven’s debut in French cinema highlights an incredible Isabelle Huppert in a dramedy that first subverts then transgresses the rape-revenge narrative.
eyes-of-my-mother
United States, 2016
Regional Premiere
Director – Nick Pesce
After a traumatic event, a young girl begins to associate pain and death with love and friendship in increasingly dangerous ways.
girl-with-all-the-gifts
United Kingdom, United States, 2016
US Premiere
Director – COLM MCCARTHY
In a dystopian future, young Melanie must go on a trip with the soldier who needs to kill her, the doctor who wants to use her and the teacher who wants to help.
handmaiden
South Korea, 2016
U.S Premiere
Director – Park Chan-Wook
In the 1930s, country girl Sook-Hee is hired as a handmaiden to Japanese heiress Lady Hideko, who lives a secluded life with her uncle. However Sook-Hee is not what she seems… and neither is Lady Hideko, Count Fujiwara or Uncle Kouziki.
raw
France, 2016
US Premiere
Director – Julia Ducournau
Part sister bonding, part coming-of-age story, part gross-out horror flick, Julia Ducournau’s debut feature is the terror discovery of 2016.
sadako-vs-kayako
Japan, 2016
US Premiere
Director – Kôji Shiraishi
The showdown of the century is about to begin and no one in Tokyo will be spared: Ring’s Sadako vs The Grudge’s Kayako in a fight to determine the future of humanity.
safe-neighborhood
Australia, United States, 2016
World Premiere
Director – Chris Peckover
Chris Peckover, director of 2010’s UNDOCUMENTED, returns to Fantastic Fest with this playfully twisted suburban Christmas thriller in which babysitter Ashley must protect twelve-year-old Luke during an unusual home invasion.

More information on Fantastic Fest can be found here.