Denis Villeneuve’s eagerly anticipated new sci-fi drama Arrival is set to open Fantastic Fest. The film – which stars Amy Adams as a linguist asked to translate alien communications – will kick off eight days of weird and wonderful cinema in Austin, Texas. Tim Burton’s latest Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is also playing the festival, alongside new films from Paul Schrader (Dog Eat Dog), Paul Verhoeven (Elle) and Park Chan-Wook (The Handmaiden). If you’re a fan of the Phantasm franchise latest instalment Phantasm: Ravager will be making its debut, while a remastered version of the original will screen, with director Don Coscarelli in attendance. The Ring will be taking on The Grudge in J-horror Sadako vs Kayako, while other titles to look out for include Cannes hit American Honey, Colm McCarthy’s adaptation of acclaimed novel The Girl with All the Gifts, and Ana Lily Amirpour’s follow up to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Bad Batch. Continue reading…