For the past two weeks, I was in Austin, Texas, but I wasn’t eating barbecue and drinking beer at every chance imaginable. This is because I was at Fantastic Fest 2016, the world’s greatest genre film festival, getting an early view of some truly great films that will be coming out over the next few months.
Here are my 12 favorite movies from the festival, with links to their reviews. A note: I didn’t see every film that played there, and in fact had to avoid a few because they weren’t in io9’s wheelhouse. But more importantly, even though these are ranked 1-12, I would recommend seeing every single one of them.
1) Raw
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-the-coming-of-age-cannibal-film-raw-is-di-1787091306
2) Arrival
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-arrival-is-a-scifi-masterpiece-you-wont-s-1786996616
3) The Girl with All the Gifts
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-the-girl-with-all-the-gifts-has-joined-th-1787137939
4) A Dark Song
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-the-black-magic-movie-a-dark-song-flips-h-1787036183
5) The Untamed
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-the-untamed-may-be-the-most-unlikely-scif-1787207616
6) Colossal
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-anne-hathaway-is-literally-a-giant-monste-1787286259
7) A Monster Calls
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-a-monster-calls-is-a-monstrously-powerful-1787250571
8) Split
Note: My actual favorite thing I saw at Fantastic Fest was the final two minutes of Split. The movie itself is still really good, though.
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-m-night-shyamalans-split-is-a-genuinely-1787130237
9) Rats
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-morgan-spurlocks-rats-is-one-of-the-gross-1787056741
10) Science Fiction Vol. 1: The Osiris Child
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-the-osiris-child-is-a-fun-throwback-to-b-1787056273
11) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar-childre-1787194381
12) The Autopsy of Jane Doe
https://gizmodo.com/movie-review-the-autopsy-of-jane-doe-brings-scares-su-1787228409
Honorable Mention: Shin Godzilla, The Void, Buster’s Mal Heart
