Enjoy a double feature from the unbelievably prolific Fantastic Fest favorite Quentin Dupieux!

FULL PHIL:

Deep in the bush, mad scientists Chad (Tim Heidecker) and Andy (Eric Wareheim) make the discovery of a lifetime—a head-chomping dime-store creature from the lagoon who may unlock the secret to eternal life. Naturally, they’re the leads of a ‘50s B-movie being enjoyed by a famished Madeleine Doom (Kristen Stewart), languishing in a posh Parisian hotel with her estranged father, Phil (Woody Harrelson). Phil is hoping that an all-expense trip to the City of Love will help him reconnect with his daughter, but their increasing discontent arouses the suspicion of the hotel’s head of hospitality (Charlotte Le Bon), who takes it upon herself to surveil them throughout the evening.

Prolific prankster Quentin Dupieux is no stranger to Fantastic Fest audiences, and FULL PHIL will certainly not bring any new converts to the cause. This feature-length Aristocrats joke, with its disparate threads, monstah movie bona fides, and casual body horror, builds to a climax that’ll have your belly shakin’ with uneasy laughter. (JAKE ISGAR)

VERTIGINIOUS:

Ever wondered whether we all live in a simulation? The idea has fascinated many for decades, even before films such as THE MATRIX or philosopher Nick Bostrom propelled it into the mainstream. In VERTIGINOUS, Quentin Dupieux offers his own delightfully off-kilter take on the concept, brought to life through the voice of French actor Alain Chabat, whose character Jacky is desperate to prove to his friend Bruno (Jonathan Cohen) that they are living in a simulation. As anyone familiar with Dupieux's work might expect, this is neither a grand science-fiction dystopia nor a sleek technological utopia. Instead, it is a razor-sharp satire that turns the simulation hypothesis into an absurdly funny mirror of contemporary life.

Rendered with graphics that nostalgically evoke the aesthetics of early-2000s PlayStation 2 video games, VERTIGINOUS embraces its digital awkwardness and artificiality rather than disguising it. The deliberately dated visual style becomes more than a gimmick; it reinforces the film's playful questioning of reality while amplifying its surreal humor and blatantly going against the AI-animation boom. As glitches, repetitions, and bizarre encounters accumulate, the familiar world of these two characters begins to feel increasingly unstable, exposing the strange routines, conventions, and contradictions that govern everyday existence.

With his trademark deadpan wit and taste for the absurd, Dupieux transforms a metaphysical thought experiment into an irresistibly entertaining comedy. Beneath its deceptively simple premise lies a sly commentary on our relationship with technology and identity, allowing the filmmaker to explore deeper philosophical questions while keeping things light. Equal parts philosophical prank and comic provocation, VERTIGINOUS is quintessential Dupieux and invites audiences to laugh at the possibility that reality itself may be nothing more than a poorly rendered game, and that our greatest challenge is learning to play along. Whether or not we live in a simulation is ultimately beside the point. The real mystery is why everything feels so weird and why we can't stop laughing about it. (SARA LOPO)

HALF