Fantastic Fest Announces Five Secret Screenings ... But What Are They?

Like not knowing what film you're about to watch? Then Fantastic Fest is the perfect screening experience. Every year, the celebration of out-there cinema hosts secret screenings; the title is a mystery until the lights go down. This year's fest hosts a record five secret screenings – with an extra surprise for one lucky prognosticator.

The festival (running Sept. 19-26 at the Alamo South Lamar) has already announced a bumper lineup of films, including the world premieres of Terrifier 3 and V/H/S/Beyond, as well as a gala screening of Never Let Go, the eagerly awaited creature feature starring Halle Berry. However, the secret screenings only crank up the excitement, and this year sees the highest number ever.

The tradition started in 2007 at the third FF, when there was a big, mysterious hole in the schedule on closing night – a hole that was filled by the unannounced world premiere of There Will Be Blood, complete with an unexpected appearance by director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Since then, the 51 (and counting) secret screenings have become a hot ticket, even if the audience has no clue what they're getting. You're as likely to catch a sneak peek of an upcoming movie as you are a surprise restoration. (Case in point: In 2014, the festival hosted the U.S. premiere of German psycho-horror Goodnight Mommy and a new print of Ed Wood's 1970 skin flick Take It Out in Trade.)

Normally, there are only two secret screenings, but last year the fest pushed its programming with four: the local debuts of aristocratic shocker Saltburn, Nicolas Cage's Dream Scenario, the bizarro Dogman, and the world premiere of Saw X.

So with five titles on the cards, Fantastic Fest 2024 has a lot of surprises up its sleeve, and you can bet that people will try to guess what each movie is. Sometimes it's a no-brainer (last year everyone was ready to play a game well before Billy the Puppet rode into the Alamo South Lamar), but there are always curveballs that catch the crowd off guard, like the only theatrical screenings of the 2022 remake of Hellraiser and Marvel's Werewolf by Night.

This year, the fest is raising the stakes on the speculation with the Guess the Secret Screenings contest. Fill out the form at fantasticfest.com with your guesses for all five films, and if you're right, you'll be entered into a drawing for a fan badge to the 2025 festival, giving you entry to the entire film festival and all its events and parties. Even better, if you can guess the titles and the order in which they screen, you'll win a Cult badge, with oodles of bonuses, gifts, and extras.

The contest is open to everyone, so you don't even have to be attending this year's fest to play cinematic Cassandra.

Fantastic Fest 2024 runs Sept. 19-26. Get more info at fantasticfest.com.

And don't miss all the reviews, interviews, and breaking news at austinchronicle.com/fantastic-fest.