Oh folks…my favorite time of year is creeping closer…SXSW 31 just announced another round of Midnighter programming. A festival that has certainly become a name-maker for young directors (Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer, Babak Anvari, Mickey Keeting), and we do have a bit of that returning with E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills), but it’s always the fresh blood that’s thrilling to me.
Also announced were a few Headliners, showing the genre some love. Tillman Singer’s buzzy follow-up to Luz, Cuckoo, and Damian McCarthy’s supernatural spectacle, Oddity.
More information on the programs mentioned here can be found below, while the rest of the lineup for the 31st annual festival can be found on sxsw.com.
Take a look at the films below and comment what you’re most excited for.
MIDNIGHTER
Exciting after-dark features for genre lovers and the terminally curious.
Azrael
Director: E.L. Katz, Producers: Dan Kagan, Simon Barrett, Dave Caplan, Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Cast: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Katariina Unt, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (World Premiere)
Family
Director/Screenwriter: Benjamin Finkel, Producers: Lynette Howell Taylor, Samantha Housman, Benjamin Finkel
Summer, 2002. Watching her sick father decline, 11-year-old Johanna makes a call for a good spirit to save him. But something else comes instead. Cast: Ruth Wilson, Ben Chaplin, Lucinda Lee Dawson Gray, Allan Corduner (World Premiere)
Hood Witch (France)
Director: Saïd Belktibia, Producer: Ladj Ly, Screenwriters: Saïd Belktibia, Louis Penicaut
Nour makes a living from smuggling exotic animals for her city’s marabouts, wishing to get her son out of the city and offer him a better future. But an exorcism turns into a tragedy and Nour has to face a wave of violence that could cost their lives. Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Jérémy Ferrari, Amine Zariouhi, Issaka Sawadogo(North American Premiere)
Hunting Daze (Canada)
Director/Screenwriter: Annick Blanc, Producers: Maria Gracia Turgeon, Annick Blanc
Nina, a young, tempestuous woman, is taken in by a group of hunters in a remote cabin. In the midst of this tough, yet endearing, male microsociety, she feels like she finally belongs. A mysterious stranger’s arrival disrupts her newfound haven. Cast: Nahéma Ricci, Bruno Marcil, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi, Marc Beaupré, Alexandre Landry, Maxime Genois, Noubi Ndiaye (World Premiere)
It’s What’s Inside
Director/Screenwriter: Greg Jardin, Producers: William Rosenfeld, Jason Baum, Kate Andrews, Raúl Domingo
A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase. Cast: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Devon Terrell, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarden, David Thompson (Texas Premiere)
Kryptic(Canada, United Kingdom)
Director: Kourtney Roy, Producers: Amber Ripley, Sophie Venner, Josh Huculiak, Screenwriter: Paul Bromley
Kryptic is a psycho-thriller about a woman’s search for a missing monster hunter and her growing realization that she is inescapably linked to the creature being pursued. Cast: Chloe Pirrie, Jeff Gladstone, Jason Deline, Ali Rusu-Tahir, Christina Meredith Lewall, Patti Allen, Pam Kearns, Jennifer Copping (World Premiere)
Oddity (Ireland)
Director/Screenwriter: Damian McCarthy, Producers: Katie Holly, Laura Tunstall, Evan Horan
In this new supernatural spectacle from Caveat‘s Damian McCarthy, a blind medium uncovers the truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Jonathan French, Joe Rooney (World Premiere)
Things Will Be Different
Director/Screenwriter: Michael Felker, Producers: Shane Spiegel, Jacob Rosenthal, Michael Felker
In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points. Cast: Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Chloe Skoczen, Justin Benson, Sarah Bolger, Jori Lynn Felker (World Premiere)
MIDNIGHT SHORT COMPETITION
Indulge your cravings for horror, gore, and dark comedy.
Apotemnofilia(Spain)
Director/Screenwriter: Jano Pita, Producer: Clinton Uriarte
It is opening night, the theater is crowded and Clara, the leading actress, refuses to leave her dressing room. (US Premiere)
The Bleacher
Directors/Screenwriters: Nicole Daddona, Adam Wilder, Producers: Zeus Kontoyannis, Adam Wilder
The disappearance of her sock at a local laundromat sends a fragile Rita over the edge. Hellbent on finding it, she searches deep and gets sucked into a washing machine, entering an otherworldly cycle from which she may never escape. (Texas Premiere)
Dream Creep
Director/Screenwriter: Carlos A.F. Lopez, Producers: Megan Leonard, Bobby McHugh, Jonathan Caso, Zeus Kontoyannis
A couple awakens in the night to sounds emanating from an unlikely orifice. (Texas Premiere)
Inner Demons
Director/Screenwriter: Jasmine J. Johnson, Producer: Mary Bonney
Mya’s forced to confront the darkness lurking within. (Texas Premiere)
Lullaby(United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter/Producer: Chi Thai
A refugee is forced to confront her guilt. (World Premiere)
Make Me a Pizza
Director: Talia Shea Levin, Screenwriters: Talia Shea Levin, Woody Coyote, Producers: Kara Grace Miller, Talia Shea Levin
Bored Housewife seduces Hot Pizza Guy for free pizza, but is desire worth $29.99?
(World Premiere)
Meat Puppet(United Kingdom)
Director/Screenwriter: Eros V, Producers: Leah Draws, Masha Thorpe
On the day he promised his girlfriend he’d grow up, a man-child inadvertently traps his soul inside a puppet. (World Premiere)
Tight
Director/Screenwriter: Jessica Barr, Producers: Jessica Barr, Sarah Whelden, Kelly Wilcox, Nate Comay
A woman grappling with difficulty finding sexual pleasure after childbirth falls back on an old coping habit. (World Premiere)
Transylvanie (France)
Director: Rodrigue Huart, Screenwriters: Rodrigue Huart, David Alexander Cassan, Axel Würsten, Producer: Lucie Vigier
Ewa is a 10-year-old girl living in a high building in a quiet town. She’s an odd, lonely child and for good reason: she’s convinced of being a vampire. (Texas Premiere)