You should be warned up front: this is the first of many, many posts you will see about Fantastic Fest. Sure, we love going to Sundance and SXSW, but there's just something about the US' largest genre film festival that makes it one of the most unique film fests around. Actually, there's no reason to be vague. The "just something" is the fact that if you want to see all of the insane horror, sci-fi, fantasy and uniquely visionary movies that everyone will be talking about next year, you have to be at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX this September 22-29th.

Now, if you're new to what FF is all about and are looking at the list of 20 films below and thinking, "I haven't heard of any of these movies," there are two things you need to know. The first is that traditionally the first wave announcement is filled with movies that are programmed precisely because people in the US are unlikely to have ever heard of them, yet alone had the chance to see them. The second is that, yes, Fantastic Fest does program plenty of big name, Hollywood-friendly movies, but those will be announced between now and September. This is roughly 1/4 of the films that will end up blowing minds this September.

Here's the press release with the added bonus of trailers where available:

Austin, TX—Thursday, July 14th, 2011— Fantastic Fest is proud to announce our first wave of programming for the seventh edition of Fantastic Fest, happening September 22-29 in Austin, Texas.

This batch of 20 films spans the globe from Japan, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, Hong Kong, Korea and of course the USA. We’re debuting digital restorations of Italian horror classics and a stunning 3D epic with more objects flying in your face than Michael Bay and James Cameron combined. With favorite Fantastic Fest veterans returning with new projects and a new slate of debut directors, 2011 is shaping up to be an epic edition.

“Fantastic Fest is the high-point of my year. Every year old friends return and strangers become friends. Fantastic Fest is my extended dysfunctional family; each of us completely obsessed by the wildest and weirdest films on earth,” says festival creative director and co-founder Tim League.

Fantastic Fest is the film festival with the boring parts cut out. We scan the globe for the very best in action, horror, science fiction, fantasy to the truly bizarre in contemporary cinema for your viewing pleasure. Look for many more announcements in the weeks to come, including information on our gala events, parties and filmmakers in attendance.

For photos, trailers and full descriptions of the following films visit the Fantastic Fest press site . The Next Fantastic Fest content announcement is slated for mid-August. Stay tuned!

Comin’ At Ya! 3D “30th Anniversary” (2011)- Real D Presents

World Premiere

Star Tony Anthony and Producer Tom Stern live in person

Director: Ferdinando Baldi, USA, 118 minutes

The film that kicked off the '80s 3D Boom returns in a state of the art digital re-imaged restoration. Equal parts western and rollercoaster, COMIN' AT YA pulls out every stop to entertain you. If the modern wave of 3D were as fun as COMIN’ AT YA! 3D, the motion picture industry would have nothing to worry about. The only Spaghetti Western shot in 3D is now completely restored with the latest in 3D technology and stars Tony Anthony as H.H. Hart, an avenging hero out to retrieve his kidnapped bride, played by Victoria Abril. Gene Quintana plays the slave trader who is holding her hostage in this extremely memorable cult favorite.

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2011)

Regional Premiere

Director: Panos Cosmatos, USA, 110 minutes

A trance inducing, psychedelic head trip from visionary director Panos Cosmatos, BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW is a sci-fi dystopia sent with love from the Reagan years. Imagine STALKER meets LOGAN’S RUN.

Body Temperature (2011)

North American Premiere

Director: Takaomi Ogata, Japan, 72 minutes

Takaomi Ogata’s BODY TEMPERATURE chronicle’s a young man’s love affair with a life-sized sex doll. Think LARS AND THE REAL GIRL but with all the creepiness that story was strangely missing.

Borderline (2011)

North American Premiere

Director: Alexandre Coffre, France, 89 minutes

When David finds a bag in the park, he sees its nefarious contents as the perfect escape from his dead-end life; hopefully without losing it entirely at the hands of the bag’s former owner.

Boys on the Run (2010)

Texas Premiere

Director: Daisuke Miura, Japan, 114 minutes

Based on a manga (surprise), BOYS ON THE RUN’s central courtship starts with a bestiality DVD and ends with a Taxi Driver-style showdown. Guaranteed to warm the heart of the serial masturbator inside all of us.

Bullhead (2011)

US Premiere

Director Michael R. Roskam live in person

Director: Michael R Roskam, Belguim, 129 minutes

Testicular trauma, the underground beef hormone black market, steroid addiction and a vast swath of suppressed emotions swirl together to form one of the most powerful narratives we have seen in recent memory.

El Infierno (2010)- Cine Las Americas presents

Texas Premiere

Director: Luis Estrada, Mexico, 145 minutes

Luis Estrada’s El Infierno (Hell) finds pitch-black dark humor in a peasants rise to power amid the drug-war-torn streets of the Mexican border.

House by the Cemetery (1981)- Blue Underground Presents

Theatrical Premiere of the 2K digitally restored version

Director: Lucio Fulci, Italy, 87 minutes

Lucio Fulci's classic Italian gore rollercoaster, now presented in a digital restoration from Blue Underground.

Invasion of Alien Bikini (2011)

Texas Premiere

Director: Oh Young-Doo, Korea, 75 minutes

The no-budget bikini-clad alien invasion martial arts romp INVASION OF ALIEN BIKINI was so fun, it took the $25,000 jury prize at this year’s Yubari Fantastic Fest, a sum more than five times the budget of the film.

Kill Me Please (2010)

US Premiere

Director Olias Barco live in person

Director: Olias Barco, Belgium, 96 minutes

From the producers of MAN BITIES DOG, KILL ME PLEASE details the day-to-day exploits of one of the world’s foremost assisted suicide clinics. Dark comedy and pathos are as well mixed as Dr. Krueger’s lethal cocktails.

A Lonely Place to Die (2011)

Regional Premiere

Director: Julian Gilbey, UK, 98 minutes

This back-to-basics, no-BS modern take on the survival genre features a violent Russian girl in a cage, gun-toting maniacs, and a cat-and-mouse chase across lawless, rural Scotland.

Milocrorze, A Love Story (2011)

Regional Premiere

Director: Yoshimasa Ishibasha, Japan, 90 minutes

This bizarro musical/variety/samurai/love story from Japan is cinematic LSD from Yoshimasa Ishibashi, the mad genius behind the Fuccon Family, and Takayuki Yamada, who plays all three male leads.

New Kids Turbo (2011)

US Premiere

Dirctors: Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil, The Netherlands, 87 minutes

Gutter comedy escalates to ludicrous extremes in the Dutch smash hit that will leave you gasping for air. The mullets are magnificent, as are the moustaches.

Revenge: A Love Story (2011)

US Premiere

Director: Ching Po Wong, Hong Kong, 91 minutes

Ching-Po Wong’s REVENGE A LOVE STORY follows a severely wronged man in his quest to avenge a terrible crime. This is a new ultra-violent Hong Kong action, one deeply influenced by the best of Korean revenge films.

Snowtown (2010)

US Premiere

Director: Justin Kurzel, Australia, 120minutes

Justin Kurzel, part of the Australian Film Collective BLUE TONGUE FILMS whose members include Spencer Susser (HESHER) and NASH Edgerton (THE SQUARE), knocks out a stellar debut feature with SNOWTOWN, a dark hypnotic tale of a lower-class youngster who has the misfortune of finding a father figure in John Bunting, Australia's most notorious serial killer.

The Stoker (2010)

North American Premiere

Director: Alexei Balabanov, Russia, 87 minutes

Genius storyteller and two-time Fantastic Fest veteran, Alexsei Balabanov (CARGO 200, MORPHIA) delivers his unique blend of bloody crime drama by way of the darkest recesses of the Russian human condition.

Underwater Love (2011)

Texas Premiere

Director: Shinji Imaoka, Japan, 87 minutes

The simple life of a fish factory worker gets turned upside-down when she falls in love with a legendary Japanese creature in this kinky, musical romp of a pink film lensed by the legendary Christopher Doyle and directed by Fantastic Fest veteran Shinji Imaoka (UNCLE’S PARADISE).

Versus (2001)

US Premiere

Star Tak Sakaguchi and writer Yudai Yamaguchi live in person

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura, Japan, 119 minutes

The 10th anniversary screening of the yakuza vs. zombies action classic that cracked open Japan’s indie film business like a can of cheap beer.

Yakuza Weapon (2011)

Regional Premiere

Star/co-director Tak Sakaguchi and co-director Yudai Yamaguchi live in person

Directors: Tak Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi, Japan, 106 minutes

Ten years after starring in VERSUS, former street fighter-turned actor/director Tak Sakaguchi is back with this mondo trasho flick about a yakuza with a machine gun arm and a rocket launcher leg.

Zombie (1979)- Blue Underground Presents

Theatrical Premiere of the 2K digitally restored version

Director: Lucio Fulci, Italy, 92 minutes

Lucio Fulci's extreme masterpiece of post-Romero corpse mania is back in a gorgeous 2K digital restoration.