Heading east from Albuquerque on my annual drive to Austin’s Fantastic Fest, the sky starts to slap on my skin like a wet T-shirt. As night falls, I hunt for a vacant motel room, prowling through parking lots filled with shirtless men, drinking beer and firing up the BBQ. Sweat and fire and meat — it all feels like I’m at the end of the earth, but this is just Texas.

The Fantastic Fest is the USA’s most exciting genre film festival, held at the Alamo Drafthouse. This year’s theme, The End is Nigh, takes its cue from the approaching end of the Mayan calendar.

Over the next couple weeks, check in daily for my take on the World Premieres of Frankenweenie 3D and Red Dawn; documentaries about The Shining, The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, and the Icelandic Phallological Museum; and more new finds.

I’ll be your Doomsday Prophet, heralding all the films that you shouldn’t miss before global annihilation commences.

Skøl!