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Sundance Film Festival · 2016

Sundance Film Festival 2016

Midnight

Programme

9 films · 2 reviews

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31

Review preview for 31

It's exploitation cinema but it's made with care.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A group of carnival performers are kidnapped and forced to fight for their lives in a deadly maze.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Rob Zombie; Writer: Rob Zombie; Stars: Elizabeth Daily, Malcolm McDowell, Meg Foster, Sheri Moon Zombie, Daniel Roebuck, Richard Brake, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Lew Temple, Tracey Walter, Ginger Lynn, Judy Geeson, Torsten Voges, Jane Carr, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Devin Sidell)

Full review

World premiere

Antibirth

In a desolate community full of drug-addled marines and rumours of kidnapping, a wild-eyed stoner named Lou wakes up after a crazy night of partying with symptoms of a strange illness and recurring visions. As she struggles to get a grip on reality, the stories of conspiracy spread.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2016; Director: Danny Perez; Writer: Danny Perez; Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Meg Tilly, Mark Webber, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Emmanuel Kabongo, Neville Edwards, Morgan Bedard, Corey Pascall, Lili Francks, Marie-Josee Dionne, Jessica Greco, Kevin Hoffman, Chad Gibbons, Spider Allen)

World premiere

The Blackout Experiments

A group of friends discover the dark underworld of the ultra-scary, psychosexual horror experience called Blackout. But what starts as a thrill ride through the unknown becomes deeply personal, developing into an obsession that hijacks their lives and blurs the line between reality and paranoid fantasy.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Rich Fox; Stars: Josh Randall, Kristjan Thor, Russell Eaton, Bob Glouberman, Allison Fogerty, Abel Horwitz )

World premiere

Carnage Park

The year is 1978. A team of wannabe crooks botch a small-town bank heist and flee with their hostage deep into the California desert, where they inexplicably find themselves in a harrowing fight for survival against a psychotic ex-military sniper.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Mickey Keating; Writer: Mickey Keating; Stars: Darby Stanchfield, Alan Ruck, Larry Fessenden, Ashley Bell, Pat Healy, James Landry Hébert, Bob Bancroft, Michael Villar, Graham Skipper, Andy Greene)

World premiere

The Greasy Strangler

When Big Ronnie and his son Brayden meet lone female tourist Janet on Big Ronnie’s Disco Walking Tour - the best and only disco walking tour in the city - a fight for Janet's heart erupts between father and son, and the infamous Greasy Strangler is unleashed.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jim Hosking; Writer: Toby Harvard, Jim Hosking; Stars: Michael St Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo, Gil Gex, Abdoulaye NGom, Holland MacFallister, Sam Dissanayake, Jesse Keen, Joe David Walters, John Yuan, Matt Yuan, Mel Kohl, Sal Koussa, Carl Solomon, Dana Haas)

World premiere

Outlaws And Angels

With a notorious bounty hunter closing in on their trail, a gang of cold-blooded outlaws invades the home of a seemingly innocent frontier family, where an unexpected game of cat and mouse ensues throughout the night, leading to seduction, role reversal, and ultimately bloody revenge.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: JT Mollner; Writer: JT Mollner; Stars: Chad Michael Murray, Teri Polo, Luke Wilson, Francesca Eastwood, Frances Fisher, Ben Browder, Steven Michael Quezada, Madisen Beaty, Luce Rains, Reka Rene, Keith Loneker, Chris Ranney, Marty Lindsey, Beatrice Hernandez, Nathan Russell)

World premiere

Trash Fire

When Owen is forced to confront the past he's been running from his whole adult life, he and his girlfriend, Isabel, become entangled in a horrifying web of lies, deceit, and murder. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll be scarred for life.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Richard Bates Jr.; Writer: Richard Bates Jr; Stars: Ronnie Gene Blevins, Ezra Buzzington, Leonel Claude, Fionnula Flanagan, Sibyl Gregory, Adrian Grenier, Matthew Gray Gubler, Alexa Hamilton, Sally Kirkland, Michael Laren, Molly McCook, AnnaLynne McCord, Ray Santiago, Karl Schott, Angela Trimbur)

World premiere

Under The Shadow

Review preview for Under The Shadow

The sleeping and waking worlds begin to tumble together, with cinematographer Kit Fraser using his camera to add to the unsettling atmosphere, spinning the image at key moments or rocking it to ratchet tension.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A mum and daughter in fear of war find they are being stalked in their home by a malevolent djinn.

(Country: UK, Jordan, Qatar; Year: 2016; Director: Babak Anvari; Writer: Babak Anvari; Stars: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian, Arash Marandi, Bijan Daneshmand, Hamid Djavadan, Nabil Koni, Sajjad Delafrooz, Behi Djanati Atai, Aram Ghasemy, Soussan Farrokhnia, Amir Hossein Ranjbar, Houshang Ranjbar)

Full review See: Babak Anvari interview about Under The Shadow

World premiere

Yoga Hosers

Colleen Collette and Colleen McKenzie are teenage besties from Winnipeg who love yoga and live on their smartphones. But when these sophomores get invited to a senior party by the school hottie, the Colleens accidentally uncover an ancient evil buried beneath their Canadian convenience store.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Kevin Smith; Writer: Kevin Smith; Stars: Johnny Depp, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, Natasha Lyonne, Kevin Smith, Austin Butler, Justin Long, Stan Lee, Tyler Posey, Adam Brody, Jason Mewes, Kevin Conroy, Harley Quinn Smith, Lily-Rose Melody Depp, Tony Hale)

World premiere