Fantastic Fest is easily one of the best, most fun, most insane, and most booze-soaked film festivals in the world. Held every year at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, the festival created by Drafthouse owner Tim League is filled with genre film selections from all over the world, offering a unique experience and atmosphere. This year's fest includes highly-anticipated films like Green Room, High-Rise, The Martian, and The Witch, as well as smaller and equally exciting titles like The Devil's Candy, Demon, and Son of Saul.

Fantastic Fest is easily my favorite week of the year, but it's hard to convey how and why with a typical collection of film reviews. So this year we're keeping a festival diary, taking you through the day-to-day experience of this awesome week — the great and sometimes unexpected films, the parties, the interviews, the joys of not sleeping, the pains of not sleeping...all of it.

Day One – Thursday, September 24

9:30AM: I kicked off my festival week a little early by taking some friends out to a traditional Texas BBQ dinner — FYI, you cannot legally enter the state of Texas without consuming one of the following upon arrival: barbecued meats, queso, or beer...or an unholy trifecta of all three. We ended up hanging out until midnight, and I made it to bed by 1:00AM. This is the earliest I will make it to bed all week.

12:00PM: Picked up fellow ScreenCrush nerd Matt Singer from the airport and took him out for tacos and queso. We tweeted a photo to our dear leader Mike Sampson, who officially declared us dead to him.

4:45PM: Just finished an interview with The Keeping Room star Brit Marling and screenwriter Julia Hart, who were both incredibly charming and lovely. The Keeping Room is a sharp, atmospheric western that tells the story of three women trying to survive on their own during the Civil War era. We bonded over The Craft and I've convinced them to make an Oregon Trail film next. You're welcome.

8:30PM: I just got out of my first film of the festival, The Lobster, from Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos. The Lobster is an incredibly smart, thoughtful and darkly comic rumination on relationships — the ways they work, the ways they don't, what and who and how we sacrifice so we don't have to be alone, and the pressures placed on us by society to find a mate lest we die alone. There are so many excellent ideas and performances. How great is The Lobster? Colin Farrell's performance will make you forget the tragedy of True Detective Season 2. (Full review)

12:00AM: The Highball is the Drafthouse-adjacent bar with a killer selection of karaoke rooms. This is the location of the opening night party, filled with balloons and fake snow and seasonal trees — inspired by the moody, wintry horror drama February (directed by Anthony Perkins' son, Osgood Perkins), the Highball has been dressed up for Christmastime, and while wearing an adorably ugly holiday sweater seemed like a bad idea in this Texas weather, I envy all the brave souls who are sweating out their beers just as quickly as they consume them. I did have my photo taken on the lap of a very sweaty, drunk Santa, though.

1:30AM: Karaoke in the satanic-themed karaoke room. You have not experienced true joy until you've witnessed a room full of film critics, filmmakers and movie nerds singing along to Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone."

Credit: Phil Nobile Jr.
Credit: Phil Nobile Jr.
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Day Two – Friday, September 25

9:30AM: I ended up joining some friends and Birth.Movies.Death colleagues for a small post-party gathering. I did not go to bed until 5:00AM. Death feels great.

12:00PM: I skipped the first time slot this morning and feel zero guilt about this — one of the (many) great things about Fantastic Fest is how easy it is to catch up with something later in the week. The ticketing system at this festival is exceptionally painless and ensures that even if you don't get into your top pick for a time slot, you will get into something else interesting and you'll have another chance to see your top choice later in the week.

I decided a shower and feeling somewhat human was more important than seeing Victoria, which has been getting great buzz at other festivals, but it plays again in a couple of days and it's hitting theaters soon. For now, coffee and work.

4:30PM: My first film of the day was Anomalisa, co-directed by the great Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson. As our own Matt Singer expressed in his review out of TIFF, Anomalisa may very well be one of the best films of the year — an utterly genius, subdued piece of stop-motion filmmaking that would actually pair quite well with The Lobster with its examination of relationships and insecurities. It is very much autobiographical, and as such feels both intimate and intensely, strangely relatable. Don Hertzfeldt's animated short World of Tomorrow played before Anomalisa, and its whimsical, humorous and highly inventive presentation was the perfect match for Kaufman and Johnson's narrative film. World of Tomorrow is like watching a super adorable, animated episode of Black Mirror.

5:30PM: It has abruptly begun to rain and no one is happy.

8:00PM: I just got out of Men and Chicken, another upcoming Drafthouse Films release, this one directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (the writer of the upcoming Dark Tower film) and starring Mads Mikkelsen and David Dencik. The pair play two odd, hare-lipped brothers who discover the identity of their birth father and meet their three incredibly weird, socially-challenged, hare-lipped half-brothers. A wacky, bizarre and very hilarious film, Men and Chicken is also surprisingly sweet and moving. Beforehand, we watched a totally insane short called The Chickening, which I am 100 percent certain broke almost every brain in the audience.

Arnold Wells
Arnold Wells
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9:00PM: Time for the first Secret Screening of the festival — these are usually either "discovery" films, like last year’s Austrian indie horror Goodnight Mommy, or big studio films, or screenings of old, insane hidden gems unearthed from archives. Alamo founder Tim League comes out and tells us tonight's screening is a "discovery" film from an up and coming, young Latin director and...he introduces Guillermo del Toro. Tonight's secret film is Crimson Peak, and the Drafthouse has provided awesome commemorative pint glasses filled with a brand new Crimson Peak-branded red beer. It is tasty.

11:45PM: We're not allowed to review Crimson Peak just yet, but I can tell you that I had an absolutely wonderful time with del Toro's gothic romance and I can't wait to discuss it.

Next up are the Fantastic Debates, an annual event that combines traditional verbal debates with a couple of rounds of boxing. Tonight's contenders include my dear pal and professional internet troll Nick Robinson, defending the band Creed against Brian Walton from Nerdist, who is speaking on behalf the upcoming Creed film. You may remember seeing Robinson's Change.org petition going around last month, in which he called for Warner Bros. to change the title of the Creed movie. This was the best fight of the night — Robinson's arguments were hilarious and well-planned, and although Walton was a formidable boxing opponent, Robinson ultimately destroyed him. And then he embraced Walton with arms wide open, as is the Creed way.

Jack Plunkett
Jack Plunkett
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Alamo founder Tim League also fought this year (as he does every year), defending the annual Fantastic Fest helicopter hog hunt, which inspired a group of disapproving attendees to circulate their own Change.org petition calling for an end to the annual event.

2:00AM: I am actually going to bed at a time that could be considered downright elderly at this festival. I'm more surprised about this than anyone else, but I'm so excited to sleep for more than four hours. My ticketing assignments came in for tomorrow, and I'm seeing one of my most anticipated films: Ben Wheatley's High-Rise.

Day 3 – Saturday, September 26

12:00PM: I feel so alive!

12:30PM: Stopped by Whole Foods to grab an immune-boosting juice cocktail and some herbal supplements — the plague runs rampant at Fantastic Fest and I am determined to avoid getting sick for the second year in a row if I can help it. I also picked up a cake for my buddy Russ Fischer's birthday:

4:30PM: Just got out of The Brand New Testament, a Belgian film in which God is real and he lives in Brussels. It's such an incredibly joyful, wonderfully funny and inventive film. And there is nothing more punk rock than God's 10-year-old rebellious daughter walking on water in a pair of Doc Martens.

5:30PM: It's time for Ben Wheatley's High-Rise, one of my most anticipated films this week. Based on the novel by J.G. Ballard, Wheatley's film centers on a group of people living in a sleek London apartment block and the class war that breaks out among them.

7:30PM: High-Rise is supremely slick, (very, very) darkly satirical and totally wild. Tom Hiddleston is just having the best year, but Luke Evans also gives an intense performance that's so pitch-perfect it feels as if he belongs in another time. I've heard several negative and underwhelmed reactions, and I get it — High-Rise is a bit cold and intentionally off-putting, so it may be difficult for some to find an empathetic point of entry, but this is definitely a Movie For Me. It's a film in which the inciting incident is a children's birthday party, and there's no real gradual escalation; the residents of the building become barbaric almost without warning, the film playing out as a fierce and funny war of the classes.

8:30PM: The more I think about it, the more I believe my favorite part of High-Rise is Portishead's cover of ABBA's "S.O.S.," the first new Portishead track in years. It is so perfect.

11:00PM: My third film of the day was Son of Saul, a holocaust drama that's impressed critics on the festival circuit this year. This is not a movie to watch at 9:00PM during a film festival — it's relentlessly bleak and daunting, and shot almost entirely over-the-shoulder of the film's protagonist, a Hungarian Jew working in a camp and searching for a Rabbi to bury his son properly. I haven't seen anything quite like it before, but it's a tough film to connect with given how emotionally distant the protagonist is.

1:30AM: Final film of the night was The Mind's Eye, directed by Joe Begos (Almost Human). It's a fun and gory take on David Cronenberg's Scanners with the tone of the horror films you'd pick up at the video store in the late '80s based entirely on their cover art.

1:45AM: I want to do some karaoke but it's too late and the satanic karaoke room (the best karaoke room) is packed. I do a shot of whiskey with a friend and stand around outside chatting with friends, trying to convince myself I can go to this after-party.

2:30AM: I am tired. There is no way I am after-partying.

Day 4 – Sunday, September 27

9:00AM: There's this part in The Brand New Testament in which God is creating the rules of annoyance, and one of them is "The correct amount of sleep is 10 more minutes." This is my truth.

2:30PM: My first film of the day is a repertory screening of Farewell Uncle Tom, a '70s exploitation film presented as a "documentary" about slavery in America. Director Nicolas Winding Refn personally curated the film and seems quite giddy at the prospect of offending everyone in attendance.

4:00PM: Farewell Uncle Tom is a fascinating curiosity of cinema. Given the exploitative bent, much of it reads more like a mockumentary. Viewed in the context of its time it's easy to see how it might have offended audiences upon initial release, but it's also interesting to view in the context of contemporary cinema — so many films since Farewell Uncle Tom have addressed the savage brutality of slavery, which sort of undermines the efficacy of the brutality in this particular film. The original theatrical release had about 13 minutes cut, which was supposed to be interspersed throughout the entire film and would have changed its presentation entirely. Even with the restored material presented in bulk at the end, it transforms Farewell Uncle Tom into a sort of experimental art statement.

5:45PM: It's time for The Witch, a film I've already seen a couple of times, but I couldn't resist seeing it a third time.

7:30PM: The Witch is just as amazing the third time — atmospheric, gorgeous, completely unsettling and highly effective. I ordered a pizza during the screening and I feel as if I am living my best life.

Snoot
Snoot
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11:00PM: I just got out of The Devil's Candy, the sophomore feature from Sean Byrne, who previously directed beloved Australian horror film The Loved Ones. His follow-up effort just completely melted my face and the faces of several others in the audience. This movie SHREDS. Byrne's latest delivers a new, metal-drenched take on possession / satanic hauntings, with excellent performances from Ethan Embry, Shiri Appleby, Pruitt Taylor-Vince and young Kiara Glasco. This film hits my fist-pump reflex.

11:30PM: The Highball is hosting the annual Chaos Reigns Karaoke, where festival attendees can sing their hearts out on the main stage. Our own Matt Singer got up there and rocked it out, and my pal Katie annihilated the crowd with her rendition of Pat Benetar's "Heartbreaker." I also took a turn on the stage with Madonna's "Like a Prayer."

Rick Kern
Rick Kern
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12:00AM: Matt and I have the Jem and the Holograms-themed karaoke room upstairs for the rest of the night with a few people trickling in and out. We sing until the bar closes and I scare people out of the hallway with my take on Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back."

2:00AM: After-party with a bunch of friends in [REDACTED]'s backyard. Boxes and boxes of alcohol arrive as if sent by gods.

3:30AM: I make an Irish exit before I drink any more than I should (except I already sort of did).

Day 5 – Monday, September 28

9:30AM: 10 more minutes.

12:00PM: I head over to see my pals, Jen Yamato of The Daily Beast and filmmaker / producer Roxanne Benjamin. We're prepping for tonight's Fantastic Feud — the annual event is basically like Family Feud but with a few rounds of trivia and a ridiculous amount of beer. This year it's women against men, and my team also includes director Karyn Kusama, Nerdist's Clarke Wolfe, and The A.V. Club's Katie Rife.

Feud organizers Scott Weinberg (who also hosts) and Maxim Pozderac send out an annual survey for the Family Feud portion, and this year's questions include "Best Genital Mutilation in Film" and "Best Movie Explosions." This is going to be great.

1:15PM: Just finished interviewing The Invitation director Karyn Kusama and co-writer Phil Hay. I am such a huge fan of Kusama's work and I couldn't help but tell her how much I love Jennifer's Body. We had a great chat, which you sadly will not be able to read until closer to the film's release date, and we also did some quick Feud brainstorming.

2:00PM: I am skipping my first film of the day, Victoria, so I can work. But Victoria is hitting theaters soon so I don't feel very guilty about this. I might go see High-Rise again in a few hours. It's that good.

2:30PM: Matt blames my intense Celine Dion karaoke for his lack of sleep.

5:15PM: I have decided to see High-Rise again. It's a film that encourages a second viewing whether or not you enjoyed it the first time.

7:15PM: High-Rise may have been even better the second time. The fictional residents of the titular building all seem as if they are teetering on the edge of madness when we meet them — it's not important how they got there or why, but how they react, and they all do nothing but react. There's a bit of a French revolution flavor to it, presaged by an early dinner party scene with an 18th century France theme and echoed subtly throughout.

7:30PM: More people disappointed by High-Rise. For some reason I take joy in their disappointment.

9:00: Next up is Rabid Dogs, a French remake of an old, buried Mario Bava film. Bava's film was originally made in 1974, but got tied up in some court drama when his investor died suddenly and the producer went bankrupt. The film was eventually rescued and released on VHS in 1998.

11:00PM: Rabid Dogs is brutal — I hesitate to say "brutal in the best way" because it's such a mean piece of work, but it's the kind of mean that's dramatically compelling and highly visceral. The soundtrack is an exquisite homage to Bava's original, and this is probably the last film you'd expect to have a post-credits sequence, but it does.

11:30PM: It's almost time for Fantastic Feud! The women's and men's teams gather for our group photos and head around the back of the theater to await our introduction to a huge crowd of fest attendees. We've named the women's team The Fabulous Stains.

1:30AM: The Feud is over and The Fabulous Stains lost by just a few points to the men's team. Some of these questions were super hard, like "Name the respective fur colors of Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans in Earth Girls Are Easy." If no one on stage knows the answer, a member of the audience is allowed to answer the question and award the points to the team of their choosing. The women proved very popular, and a few audience members tossed (unused!) tampons at the stage.

Over on the men's team, Elijah Wood dipped a tampon in beer and drank from it. One of their team members sent us a round of Cosmopolitans. Roxanne and I dumped ours on the floor. Our team also had a cross-dressing cheerleader who "Iced" the guys' team for us — for those unaware, Icing is when you surprise someone with a bottle or bucket of Smirnoff Ice. The receiver must then drop to one knee and chug the entire bottle. These are just the laws of the universe. I don't make them.

2:30AM: I get some attitude from my cat when I arrive home. I don't care about anything but sleep.

Day 6 – Tuesday, September 29

10:00AM: I can't believe it's already Day 6. On the schedule today: the second Secret Screening, Green Room, and maybe Tale of Tales. We've been told this Secret Screening is a Drafthouse Films acquisition of an older film, referred to as the "holy grail of holy fucking shit." Expectations are high.

2:05PM: The Secret Screening is Dangerous Men, a film unearthed from the American Genre Film Archives. Dangerous Men was directed, produced, written and edited by John S. Rad over the course of 20 years. Drafthouse Films will be putting it out soon, and they show us a delightful teaser to get us excited for what we're about to see.

3:30PM: Dangerous Men is one of the most singularly bizarre and wacky films I've ever seen. Like Miami Connection (which Drafthouse Films also released), Dangerous Men isn't a very professional film — the acting is awkward, the movie itself is tonally all over the place and mostly deaf, and the plot makes almost no sense at all. Essentially the film centers on a young woman who discovers delight in seeking revenge for the murder of her boyfriend, and embarks on a journey of luring in lecherous men and killing them. One of her would-be victims is left to wander in the desert naked. The last we see of him, he's dancing and talking to himself (and his own penis), and then he just disappears from the film entirely.

It also has the most hilariously abrupt and baffling ending I've ever seen. This is definitely a movie you watch in a theater with a crowd, not at home alone.

A24
A24
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7:00PM: I just watched Green Room, another of my most anticipated films of the fest. Director Jeremy Saulnier was here last year with Blue Ruin (available on Netflix, please watch immediately), and this year he returns with a small dramatic thriller about a punk band facing off against a group of Nazi skinheads led by Patrick Stewart. The action takes place almost entirely in a small, grungy punk club. Saulnier is the rare filmmaker who knows how to create and sustain tension impeccably.

I'm also struck by how many films this year feel so confident. Green Room, The Witch, The Devil's Candy, The Invitation, Anomalisa — these are all films which are assured in both conception and execution. These directors know exactly what movie they're trying to make with zero hesitation. The Witch is particularly notable as it comes from first time director Robert Eggers. How many first time directors are this confident? How often does that confidence pay off with such an effective film? Rarely.

9:00PM: A few of my friends and I have decided to get dinner somewhere that is not the Alamo Drafthouse. I love you, Alamo, but your high sodium content may kill me.

10:00PM: All karaoke all the time.

11:30PM: I am now hopping between two karaoke rooms. I have sung ABBA's "S.O.S." twice tonight.

2:30AM: I come home to find a giant moth outside my door. My friend tells me this is a Black Witch moth. I take it as a good omen. Hail satan.

Day 7 – Wednesday, September 30

8:00AM: 10 more minutes.

10:00AM: ...Or two more hours.

4:00PM: My first film of the day was Too Late, a movie that's been generating some incredibly divisive reactions among attendees — everyone I've spoken with has either loved or hated it, and Matt shared his own thoughts about it in his great piece on how his viewing of films has begun to change as he anticipates the birth of his first child.

Too Late is the feature debut from Dennis Hauck and features the great John Hawkes in a predictably great performance, pulling off the seemingly impossible feat of elevating a screenplay that's far too precious about its "twist" on conventional sayings. For instance, a character actually says, "There's more than one way to skin a cat got your tongue." The entire film is filled with this arch dialogue, slavishly devoted to a traditional noir narrative / tone to the point that it does its women a disservice. I have to echo Matt's complaint that every woman in this film is either a stripper or a former stripper, all in need of rescuing. And while part of me instinctively enjoys the idea of John Friggin' Hawkes running around L.A. and hanging with strippers, Too Late remains devoted to a fault to this outdated trope.

4:15PM: Too Late reminds me of Birdman — during the screening I thought, "Eh, this is fine, but not really my thing." The more I talk about it with other people and hash out my thoughts, the more I'm quickly growing to actively dislike this thing.

Like Birdman, Too Late has a technical gimmick: there are five long takes, one for each 35mm reel, but without that enjoyable conceit, Too Late isn't very special...just like Birdman isn't really much without those long takes. It's another post-Tarantino film. It makes me think of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and, weirdly, Scream. Each of those films acknowledged and honored genre conventions, but Tarantino and Craven also find clever ways to subvert those genre expectations. Too Late does not.

5:00PM: But John Hawkes does answer a very important question: what if Sean Penn were more likable?

7:00PM: I haven't seen a single Asian film this week, so my friend Sam dragged me into Assassination Classroom, a Japanese movie based on a popular manga about a group of students tasked with killing their teacher, who just happens to be an alien who wants to destroy the world. This is the absolute silliest, most enjoyable movie. Apparently an animated series and movie sequel are in the works, and I would definitely spend another few hours hanging out in this 100 percent wacky world.

9:40 PM: Next is a repertory screening of '80s horror flick Evilspeak, with a pre-film presentation from Kier-la Janisse for her new book, Satanic Panic. The presentation goes on a bit longer than anticipated (though it is really great and informative), so I end up leaving the film early because I have to give the introduction for tonight's screening of Green Room. Duty calls!

11:30PM: Karaoke Apocalypse is happening on the main stage at the Highball, offering a live band to accompany karaoke performances of rock and punk songs. I am with my people. This is my home.

12:30AM: Maybe I will go home and sleep. I have to be up kind of early.

2:30AM: Maybe I should go home.

4:30AM: I'm home.

Day 8 – October 1

8:00AM: 10 more minutes.

10:00AM: I get someone to cover for my intro of Evolution so I can get some extra sleep. I feel like my body has been annihilated.

I saw Evolution before the fest and haven't had a chance to mention it yet, but it's gorgeous and surreal and utterly captivating. Evolution was directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic, the longtime collaborator of Gaspar Noe, but this film is nothing like Noe's shocking and provocative films. Evolution is provocative in its own right, but far more subdued and dreamlike.

1:30PM: I am officially tired of talking about Too Late. I went through the reaction cycle on this one in less than 24 hours — from feeling like it's just fine, to sort of disliking it, then actively disliking it, and now I'm just sick of talking about how I don't like it.

I've seen so many great films this week, and yet my negative feelings about one film in particular are taking up far too much real estate in my brain, which has me considering how much time and energy we devote to negative opinions instead of positive ones. I may be having an existential crisis.

2:00PM: Seated for Darling, the third film from up and coming director Mickey Keating. I hear good things.

3:30PM: Opinions on Darling are divisive, but aren't all opinions divisive? I feel like I've crossed some Fantastic Fest exhaustion threshold. I have become the fest philosopher. Being alive and awake right now is like existing in Herzogian or Lynchian nightmare logic. I need a beer.

3:45PM: A few of us wander over to a nearby coffee shop which appears before us as an air-conditioned, quiet caffeine oasis in the midst of the festival wasteland. This coffee is the best thing I've experienced this week. Five stars.

4:00PM: Right! Here are my thoughts on Darling: it's an assured exercise in tone, style and atmosphere, a confrontational homage to Roman Polanski's Repulsion that utilizes sound design and music to great effect. It's a simple film with simple aims, but it's very solid for what it is and I count myself a fan. I should watch Keating's previous films.

6:00PM: I have spent my time between screenings just talking with friends and alternating beer and water to maintain some weird equilibrium. We're also trying to help the staff locate a mobile petting zoo that will supply the closing night party with a black goat. Four films this year feature black goats, though none more prominently (and effectively) as The Witch.

6:15PM: We cannot find a black goat to be delivered.

7:00PM: Seated for the closing night film, Bone Tomahawk. Kurt Russell was supposed to fly in for the festival but we've been informed that he had to cancel due to "non-threatening" injury. Whatever that is.

RLJ Entertainment
RLJ Entertainment
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9:30PM: Bone Tomahawk is fine — a basic western that's far more engaging and visceral when it becomes Cannibal Holocaust in the wild west. When a deputy and a local man's wife are abducted from their small western town, a group of men (Kurt Russell, Matthew Fox, Patrick Wilson and a hilarious Richard Jenkins) venture out into unknown territory to rescue them from primitives. There's some really gnarly violence here, but not much else. I feel uninspired by it, but it's a decent film to end the festival, and it features Jenkins giving a delightful John Hammond monologue about a flea circus.

10:00PM: We've packed ourselves into buses to head to the closing night party, which is taking place at a western ghost town on the edge of the city.

11:00PM: This ghost town is wonderful! There are fun activities like a mechanical bull, a dunk tank, and a miniature shooting range. A few people have been commissioned to compose personalized poems on typewriters. The buildings each feature various attractions: one houses karaoke, another is a small church complete with pews and screening satanic films if you need a break from the outdoor chaos.

11:05PM: Oh, and there are tables set up everywhere with free liquor and beer. The lines for alcohol are so long, but a few of us discovered a way to game the booze system — you can get two drinks at once!

11:15PM: How am I still alive.

11:30PM: We are handed cascarones (hollow, colorful egg shells filled with confetti) to smash on each other's heads during the Fantastic Fest awards announcement. Just as we begin smashing them, Tim League tells everyone that unlike traditional cascarones, these are filled with flour. I am covered in flour.

12:30AM: There's a donkey here named Cracker and he is the cutest thing in the world! I got to pet him! He was also at Fantastic Fest for last year's closing night party, so he's something of a donkey celebrity. As such, he's picky about photos and has his own handler. His handler tells me that this may be Cracker's last public appearance in Austin as she's moving to Colorado this winter. We will miss Cracker.

1:00AM: A group gathers to watch as pairs of people play Slap Shots. How to play: two people enter the ring, each with a shot of liquor, and take turns throwing back their booze and slapping each other in the face — hard. I did this two years ago. It's intense. Never again.

2:00AM: We're being kicked out of the ghost town. Back to the buses. Back to life. Back to reality.

2:30AM: We get back to the theater, and with no access to toilets some people have taken to urinating in alcoves and various bushes. There is pee everywhere. Goodbye, Fantastic Fest. See you next year.

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