Beginning March 27, AFI Dallas unspools its second annual international film festival in Big D -- an 11-day marathon of 210 feature, short and documentary films. Among those, TFW is your oh-so proud co-host of AFI's most frightful screenings. For ticket info, visit AFIDallas.com and keep an eye on our forum for screening updates -- and (if you're good) a free pass or two.

Click movie titles below to purchase tickets ($8.50) or click here for additional info on festival passes and tickets:

Blood on the Highway: Midnight Friday, March 28 (Angelika)
and 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 2 (Magnolia 4)

Big Man Japan: 11:15 p.m. Saturday, March 29 (Magnolia)

The Chair: Midnight Saturday, April 5 (Angelika)

Stuck: 10:15 p.m. Saturday, March 29 (Angelika)
and 10:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 (Northpark)

Midnight Shorts: Midnight Friday, April 4 (Magnolia)
and 10 p.m. Saturday, April 5 (Magnolia)

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story 12:15 p.m. Sunday, March 30 (Angelika) and 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 31 (Magnolia)

$8.50 per showing.

About the films

Blood On The Highway

After a gastrointestinal mishap with their map, three twenty-somethings on a road-trip accidentally wander into Fate, Texas, only to find the town populated by bloodthirsty, dimwitted vampires. A brutal run-in with two carnivorous convenience store clerks leads the three to take refuge with the town's only surviving humans and prepare for battle with an army of the undead.

Big Man Japan

Daisato lives a mundane life in a rundown house. This middle-aged slacker seems a puzzling subject to be followed by the documentary crew that films his banal daily routine. That is, until he prepares for his “job.”

As bolts of electricity rip through the sky, Daisato is transformed into a stocky giant several stories high, sporting tight purple briefs, tattoos and an Eraserhead-style hairdo. The sixth-generation superhero defends Japan from ridiculous villains that include the freak with the comb-over hairdo who pulls down skyscrapers with elastic arms or the revolting beast that lets rip stink clouds. Daisato’s battles are broadcast late at night to diminishing ratings. He has become the scapegoat of New Japan, whose citizens bitterly complain about the noise and property destruction he causes.

Director and star Hitoshi Matsumoto – one of Japan’s biggest comedians, on the same level as Takeshi Kitano – pulls off a whacked-out and imaginative filmmaking debut, yet still hits upon social issues.

The Chair

Brett Sullivan's The Chair weds iconic images of Japanese horror with North American storytelling, spawning a chilling tale of possession.

Danielle, a young psychology student, sublets a century-old Victorian house. After one night in the home, she discovers she’s not alone. A mischievous presence occupies the hallways at night. Danielle enlists the aid of her sister, Anna, to document this madness. While researching this phenomenon, Danielle discovers a hidden room and in it a music box that holds a horrifying secret. Opening the music box, she unleashes the soul of Edgar Crowe, a vicious child killer, who quickly seizes control of her mind and body. Crowe uses Danielle like a pawn to resurrect his ghastly 'Panic Chair'.

The Chair is the type of film that makes you jump when the toast pops up in a toaster. A slick ghost thriller that goes from creepy to full on smack in the head scary in the matter of minutes. This is one film that’ll make you squirm in your seat…pun intended.

Stuck

Stuart Gordon is known for Re-Animator and other fright films he made with Brian Yuzna. Technically, Stuck isn’t a horror film, but it’s scarier than anything featuring zombies or chainsaws.

Brandi and Tom’s worlds collide when Brandi, driving home from a club, hits Tom, smashing his body head-first through her car’s windshield. With Tom lodged in the glass, the panicked Brandi drives home and locks the car in her garage. She promises to take him to a hospital, until she realizes her fate is tied to that of her victim. Brandi waits for him to die so she and her boyfriend can dispose of the body. Tom knows he must escape if he wants to survive.

Stuck takes its inspiration from a true story in which a nurse near Fort Worth struck a homeless man and fled the scene with the body. Gordon has twisted the story into a thriller with a Hitchcockian flare.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

This fantastic and little-known Hollywood story reveals William Castle—largely remembered for installing electrical shocking devices in seats for added scares at his horror films—as a fascinating, multidimensional man.

A master of ballyhoo and a brand name in movie horror, Castle in the 50s and 60s treated delighted moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts and life insurance policies. But his career began as assistant to director Orson Welles, where he did much of the second unit location work for The Lady From Shanghai. Driven by a fear of failure and longing for respect from his peers, Castle's life was a rags-to-riches tale of a larger-than-life showman who reinvented himself as a modern P.T. Barnum. And his influential role in producing and nearly directing one of the most revered horror films of all times, Rosemary’s Baby, alone is worth the price of admission.

Director Jeffrey Schwarz tells the tale, lining up interviews with Joe Dante, Leonard Maltin, Stuart Gordon, John Landis, and the provocative John Waters.

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