Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. SXSW has announced their midnight slate, which is always one of my favorite parts of the festival. Attack the Block, A Serbian Film, Monsters, Behind the Mask and many more saw their debuts in this category. So, let's see what is on offering for us crazy late-night horror fans at SXSW this year, shall we?
Big Ass Spider!
Director: Mike Mendez, Screenwriter: Gregory Gieras
When a giant alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages across the city of Los Angeles, it
is up to one clever exterminator and his security guard sidekick to kill the creature before the city is
destroyed. Cast: Greg Grunberg, Lombardo Boyar, Clare Kramer, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Patrick
Bauchau (World Premiere)
Cheap Thrills
Director: E.L. Katz, Screenwriters: Trent Haaga, David Chirchirillo
Recently fired and facing eviction, the married father of a newborn has his life turned upside down
when he meets a wealthy couple who offer a path to financial security...but at a price.
Cast: Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner, Amanda Fuller (World Premiere)
Haunter (Canada)
Director: Vincenzo Natali, Screenwriter: Brian King
Lisa Johnson is one day shy of her 16th birthday and will be forever. She and her family are doomed
to repeat the fateful day before they were all killed in 1985. Cast: Abigail Breslin, Stephen McHattie,
Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden, David Hewlett (World Premiere)
Kiss of the Damned
Director/Screenwriter: Xan Cassavetes
Beautiful vampire Djuna tries to resist the advances of human screenwriter Paolo, but eventually gives
in to their passion. When her sister Mimi comes to visit, Djuna’s love story is threatened, and the
whole vampire community becomes endangered…
Cast: Joséphine de la Baume, Milo Ventimiglia, Roxane Mesquida, Anna Mouglalis, Michael
Rapaport, Riley Keough, Ching Valdes-Aran (U.S. Premiere)
The Lords of Salem
Director/Screenwriter: Rob Zombie
From the singular mind of horror maestro Rob Zombie comes a chilling plunge into a nightmare world
where evil runs in the blood. Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken
Foree, Patricia Quinn (U.S. Premiere)
Plus One
Director: Dennis Iliadis, Screenwriter: Bill Gullo
When the party of the decade is disrupted by a supernatural phenomenon, the night soon descends in
to chaos. Cast: Rhys Wakefield, Logan Miller, Ashley Hinshaw, Natalie Hall (World Premiere)
The Rambler
Director/Screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder
After being released from prison, a man known as The Rambler stumbles upon a strange mystery as
he attempts a dangerous journey through treacherous back roads and small towns en route to
reconnecting with his long lost brother.
Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, Natasha Lyonne, James Cady, Scott Sharot
V/H/S/2
Directors: Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Screenwriters: Simon Barrett, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth
Evans, Jamie Nash, Jason Eisener, John Davies
Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his abandoned house and find
another collection of mysterious VHS tapes. In viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they
realize there may be terrifying motives behind the student’s disappearance.
Cast: Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L. C. Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes
You're Next
Director: Adam Wingard, Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
A fresh twist on home-invasion horror. A gang of masked murderers descend upon a family reunion,
and the victims seem trapped...until an unlikely guest proves to be the most talented killer of all.
Cast: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg
Of those, I've only seen You're Next (which I love) and hear really good things about V/H/S/2 out of Sundance and Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem out of Toronto.
I'm probably most intrigued by Cheap Thrills and Haunter. Cheap Thrills reunites The Innkeepers duo of Pat Healy and Sara Paxton and Haunters is the new flick from Vincenzo Natali, who made quite an impression with his debut feature, Splice. (UPDATE: I'm an idiot. Yes, I've seen Cube. It's awesome. I had this information somewhere in my brain, but it refused to surface and slap me silly when I wrote that Splice was Natali's debut feature. Flame away, I deserve it.)
But like any film festival, it's always the ones you aren't expecting that knock you on your ass. Hopefully at least one of the above movies does that for me this year.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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