The FP is exactly the kind of movie I hope to see at Fantastic Fest, or any film festival. Just a crazy creation by original artists who show up out of nowhere, at least in my world. I hope they benefit from being part of the SXFantastic portion of SXSW.

In Frazier Park, gangs 248N and 245 S battle for territory via the dance game Beat Beat Revelation. When JTRO (Jason Trost) loses his brother BTRO (Brandon Barrera) in a BBR match, he swears off the game. But KCDC (Art Hsu) brings him out of retirement to take The FP back from the 248.

All the costumes and gang battle lairs are fantastic, but what really makes The FP a new world is the language. The Tros brothers (Jason and Brandon) have taken rap dialect and turned it into a sci-fi world. People in The FP speak aggressively profane but they’re so sincere and emotional about it. KCDC’s story about how losing the homeless affects the ducks in the pond is so passionate. ‘DC also explains the philosophy of Never Ignorant in Getting Goals Accomplished.

The plot follows the sports movie formula with sincere irreverence. Of course JTRO is traumatized by BTRO’s death, but it plays out like a Rocky movie as BTRO loses control of his legs and falls, gets counted out and gives JTRO some dying words in his arms. JTRO even screams to the heavens. KCDC introduces JTRO to BLT (Nick Principe), a mysterious master with unorthodox training methods.

The love interest is Stacy (Caitlyn Folley), a former JTRO fan who he discovers is being abused by her trailer park dad. Stacy’s heartfelt sob story is ridiculous, but part of the FP tone. It all culminates in a BBR cage match, as if it matters whether you dance in a cage or an open space.

The dance scenes look like Trost and his opponents really are stepping to the moves on screen. Most Hollywood Dance Dance Revolution scenes just look like someone’s jumping around. The music in BBR is better than the music in the real DDR.

This seems to be the Trost family project, since half the crew also shares the last name. The Trosts are one talented family. They created a new world that transports us away even with their limited means. That’s what we want film to do in general, let alone a weird home movie. The FP will be the Trosts’ calling card. Like Evil Dead introduced Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, I expect this to be the beginning of the Trost genre.