Mattie Do’s “The Sleeping Beauty” and Moorhead and Benson’s “Jacques the Giant Slayer” will make their US debut this week at Fantastic Fest. The shorts are the first two installments in the “Tales from the Woods” anthology series.
“Tales from the Woods” is the latest horror anthology series from Wayward Entertainment partner and producer John Hegeman, whose previous projects include “Holidays” and Hulu’s “Into the Dark.” It reimagines the dark origins of the world’s most beloved fairy tales with some of today’s boldest voices in independent film from around the world at the helm. Both Do and Moorhead and Benson are veterans of the festival.
“Most of the Fairy Tales we all have come to love were pretty dark and took the concept of ‘a cautionary tale’ to the extreme,” said Hegeman. “We are excited to team up with amazing filmmakers from around the world, and kicking things off with Mattie, Aaron, and Justin in launching the series.”
Directed by Do (“Dearest Sister”), “The Sleeping Beauty” tells the story of a colonial governor’s wife who confronts devastation after her aristocratic son removes a slumbering woman from an ancient temple in the jungles of Laos – only to bring home a curse that refuses to die.
The film features Sonedala Sihavong, Phonesavanh “Tata” Phimpha, Gabriel Soutphilabaideng, and Sivilay Ouanephongchareune.
“One of the most incredible moments I have is sharing ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ with audiences and seeing how horror and fairytales cross all boundaries and cultures, regardless of where we are from,” says Do. “I’m so excited to share my dark and exotic twist on a familiar fairytale.” Adding, “I’m delighted to be back at Fantastic Fest with ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, the first film festival I had ever attended and the fest that made me realize that I was and continue to be a storyteller. Fantastic Fest feels like coming home.”
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (“Daredevil”) serve double duty in this short, as both directors and the cast. “Jacquest the Giant Slayer” is a dark, early 1900s retelling of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” When French archaeologist Jacques unearths the bones of a giant, a mysterious feather leads him to a towering beanstalk. He then ascends into an otherworldly realm where a golden egg unites him and a wounded winged giant. Now, Jacques is forced to confront the line between explorer and thief. What he chooses atop the beanstalk will decide the fate of both discoverer and discovery.
“We’ve had the profound luck of making quite a few films in the last decade, but as time has gone on, we don’t always get to run wild with the weird spirit of our indie film work,” said Moorhead and Benson. “For us, ‘Jacques the Giant Slayer’ is a return to running wild – vintage Rustic Films, all of us guzzling distilled weirdness from start to finish. The fact that we get to premiere it at Fantastic Fest is not only fitting, but just as much of an honor as it was when we premiered ‘Spring’ in those hallowed, movie-postered halls in 2014. We hope everyone enjoys it, but if they don’t, we know it’ll still be cool – we’re back home with everyone in Austin, and that’s always special.”
Following a Fall Festival run, Wayward Entertainment’s “Tales from the Woods” anthology series is targeting an early 2026 launch on streaming platforms.
