DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE Headlines Absolutely Killer Full Beyond Fest Lineup

Starting next week, everything goes completely bonkers around this place. First, you have Fantastic Fest from September 20th - 27th. Then, immediately after (literally 6:45 AM on Friday the 28th), this writer's hopping on a plane and headed to LA for Beyond Fest, where I'm catching their utterly bonkers David Cronenberg retrospective, and then the rest of their magnificent lineup, which was just announced today. 46 features. 24 West Coast debuts. Over a week of Best Coast excess!

Opening Beyond this year is Gaspar Noe's "Step Up Sequel From Hell" Climax, on Wednesday, September 26th, which will run wild into the night right up until Closing, when the latest from Brawl In Cell Block 99 exploitation maestro S. Craig Zahler returns to the big screen with Dragged Across Concrete on Tuesday, October 9th. In-between, you have the hotly-anticipated West Coast debuts of Bad Times At The El Royale (with writer/director Drew Goddard in person), along with Steve McQueen’s star-studded heist thriller, Widows.

But if even that's not enough to get you going, the Fest is hosting a whole Saturday of Halloween chills, with a triple-feature celebration of The Shape that starts with Bob Clark's slasher grandaddy Black Christmas, moves to John Carpenter’s haunting Halloween, then concludes with David Gordon Green's hotly anticipated direct sequel. Fans should know that Christmas was personally selected by Green and co-writer Danny McBride as a key inspiration behind their new nightmare. "Halloween Day" festivities also include a flash tattoo parlor, a Mondo/Death Waltz pop-up store (featuring exclusive products!), and a live, in-theater recording of the Shock Waves podcast featuring OG Shape, Nick Castle. 

Screening outside Beyond Fest's main two weeks are sneak preview screenings of Luca Guadagnino's epic re-envisioning of Dario Argento’s surreal classic, Suspiria. Those will happen on October 22nd, at the world famous Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

But enough out of my ass, take a peek at the full, totally bonkers slate, right here: 

BEYOND FEST 2018 PROGRAM

HULU THEATRE (Egyptian)

AKIRA in 35mm
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Country: Japan
Runtime: 124 min.
Year: 1988

AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN
West Coast Premiere
Director: Jim Hosking
Country: USA
Runtime: 108 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Aubrey Plaza, Craig Robinson, Jim Hosking in Person

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE
West Coast Premiere
Director: Drew Goddard
Country: USA                                                                   
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Drew Goddard and Jeremy Latchman in Person

BEST F(R)IENDS: VOLUME TWO
World Premiere
Director: Justin MacGregor
Country: USA
Runtime: 120 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Tommy Wiseau, Greg Sestero and Justin MacGregor in Person

BLACK CHRISTMAS
Director: Bob Clark
Country: Canada
Runtime: 98 min.
Year: 1974

BUBBA HO-TEP in 35mm (Free Screening)
Director: Don Coscarelli
Country: USA
Runtime: 92 min.
Year: 2002
GUESTS: Don Coscarelli and Reggie Bannister in Person

CLIMAX
West Coast Premiere
Director: Gaspar Noé
Country: France
Runtime: 96 min
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Sofia Boutella in Person

DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE
West Coast Premiere
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Country: USA
Runtime: 159 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: S. Craig Zahler, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Dallas Sonnier in person

DOBERMAN COP
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Country: Japan
Runtime: 90 min.
Year: 1977
Guests: Sonny Chiba in person

THE WICKER MAN in 35mm
Director: Robin Hardy
Country: UK
Runtime: 88 min.
Year: 1973

ELI ROTH’S HISTORY OF HORROR
Co-presented with Cinematic Void + Friday Night Frights
World Premiere
Country: USA
Runtime: 42 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: William Lustig and Eli Roth in Person

FLASH GORDON in 35mm
Director: Mike Hodges
Country: USA
Runtime: 111 min.
Year: 1980  
GUESTS: Lisa Downs, Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson in person

HALLOWEEN
West Coast Premiere
Director: David Gordon Green
Country: USA
Runtime: 109 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Malek Akkad in person

HALLOWEEN
Director: John Carpenter
Country: USA
Runtime: 91 min.
Year: 1978
GUESTS: Malek Akkad in person

LIFE AFTER FLASH
West Coast Premiere
Director: Lisa Downs
Country: UK
Runtime: 94 min.
Year: 2017
GUESTS: Lisa Downs, Sam J. Jones, Melody Andersonin person

LIQUID SKY - 4K Restoration
Director: Slava Tsukerman
Country: USA
Runtime: 112 min.
Year: 1982
GUESTS: SlavaTsukerman in Person

LORDS OF CHAOS
West Coast Premiere
Director: Jonas Åkerlund
Country: UK, Sweden
Runtime: 112 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Jonas Åkerlund in Person

MANIAC – 4K Digital Restoration
West Coast Premiere
Director: William Lustig
Country: USA
Runtime: 87 min.
Year: 1980
GUESTS: Bill Lustig and Eli Roth in Person

THE MONSTER SQUAD
Director: Fred Dekker
Country: USA
Runtime: 79 min.
Year: 1987
GUESTS: Andre Gower, Ashley Bank, Ryan Lambert, Duncan Regehr, Stephen Macht, Lisa Fuller, Adam Carl, Tom Woodruff Jr., Michael MacKay, Fred Dekker

SHADOW
West Coast Premiere
Director: Zhang Yimou
Country: China
Runtime: 116 min.
Year: 2018

WIDOWS
West Coast Premiere
Director: Steve McQueen
Country: USA, UK
Runtime: 128 min.
Year: 2018

WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS
Director: Andre Gower
Country: USA
Runtime: 91 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Andre Gower, Ashley Bank, Ryan Lambert, Duncan Regehr, Stephen Macht, Lisa Fuller, Adam Carl, Tom Woodruff Jr., Michael MacKay, Fred Dekker

SHUDDER THEATRE (Egyptian) 

A BLUEBIRD IN MY HEART (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: JérémieGuez
Country: Belgium, France
Runtime: 85 min.
Year: 2018

ABSURD presented by Rendezvous (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere - New 4K Scan
Director: Joe D’Amato
Country: Italy
Runtime: 89 min.
Year: 1981

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK - Restoration (Free Screening)
Presented by Cinematic Void
Director:  Sergio Martino
Country:   Italy, Spain
Runtime:  88 min
Year:  1972

ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: John McPhail
Country: USA, UK
Runtime: 92 min.
Year: 2017

THE BOAT (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Winston Azzopardi
Country: UK
Runtime: 100 min.
Year: 2018

BORDER (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Ali Abbasi
Country: Sweden
Runtime: 101 min.
Year: 2018

DJANGO - Restoration (Free Screening)
Presented by Cinematic Void
Director:  Sergio Corbucci
Country:   Italy, Spain
Runtime:  91 min
Year:  1966

THE GUILTY (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Gustav Möller
Country: Denmark
Runtime: 85 min.
Year: 2018

LUZ (Free Screening)
Director: Tilman Singer
Country: Germany
Runtime: 70 min.
Year: 2018

MONSTER PARTY (Free Screening)
World Premiere
Director: Chris von Hoffmann
Country: USA
Runtime: 90 min.
Year: 2018

THE NIGHTSHIFTER (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Dennison Ramalho
Country: Brazil
Runtime: 110 min.
Year: 2018

THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD BLVD. (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Orson Oblowitz
Country: USA
Runtime: 90 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Orson Oblowitz

THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Henry Dunham
Country: USA
Runtime: 88 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Henry Dunham, Dallas Sonnier and cast and crew in person

TERRIFIED (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: DemiánRugna
Country: Argentina
Runtime: 87 min.
Year: 2017

THE WIND (Free Screening)
West Coast Premiere
Director: Emma Tammi
Country: USA
Runtime: 89 min.
Year: 2018
GUESTS: Emma Tammi and cast and crew in person

I guess I'll have to sleep when I'm dead. For those still looking to snag passes for any of these screenings, head on over to Brown Paper Tickets. I'll see ya'll in LA in a few weeks.