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South by Southwest · 2021

South by Southwest 2021

Midnighters

Programme

8 films · 7 reviews

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Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Review preview for Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Timely in its exploration of how we determine what’s real and how easy it is for what seems like legitimate research to become unbalanced and lead to strange places.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
In the late Nineties, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jacob Gentry; Writer: hil Drinkwater, Tim Woodall; Stars: Harry Shum Jr., Kelley Mack, Chris Sullivan, Jennifer Jelsema, Arif Yampolsky, Justin Welborn, Michael B. Woods, Steve Pringle)

Full review See: Interview with Jacob Gentry about Broadcast Signal Intrusion

The Feast (Gwledd)

Review preview for The Feast

The way that director Lee Haven Jones frames male and female characters is intriguing, with classic gendered shots reversed.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Over an evening a wealthy family gathers for a sumptuous dinner with guests in their ostentatious house in the Welsh mountains. Served by a mysteriously disturbing young woman, the assembled party do not realise they are about to eat their last supper.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Lee-Haven Jones; Writer: Roger Williams; Stars: Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Lisa Palfrey, Rhodri Meilir)

Full review See: Interview with Lee Haven Jones and Annes Elwy about The Feast

Gala

In the depths of an ancient forest, something has been growing. Something older than humanity itself, and perhaps greater too. When a park ranger discovers a man and his son living wild, she stumbles onto a secret that is about to change the world.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2021; Director: Jaco Bouwer; Writer: Tertius Kapp; Stars: Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex van Dyk, Anthony Oseyemi)

Jakob's Wife

Review preview for Jakob's Wife

Stevens uses the Nosferatu framework to tell a story about a marriage.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The disappearance of a young woman threatens to change the beige and banal lives of Anne Fedder and her pastor husband Jakob Fedder forever.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Travis Stevens; Writer: Travis Stevens, Kathy Charles, Mark Steensland; Stars: Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, Bonnie Aarons, Mark Kelly, Sarah Lind, Robert Rusler, Nyisha Bell, Phil Brooks)

Full review

Offseason

Review preview for Offseason

Keating is a master of building up atmosphere and is much more interested in that than in conventional plot mechanics.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
After receiving a mysterious letter, a woman travels to a desolate island town and soon becomes trapped in a nightmare.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Mickey Keating; Writer: Mickey Keating; Stars: Joe Swanberg, Jocelin Donahue, Melora Walters, Richard Brake, Jeremy Gardner)

Full review

Sound Of Violence

Review preview for Sound Of Violence

A stylistically innovative, intelligent piece of work.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A young girl recovers her hearing and gains synesthetic abilities during the brutal murder of her family. Finding solace in the sounds of bodily harm, as an adult, she pursues a career in music composing her masterpiece through gruesome murders.

(Country: Finland, US; Year: 2021; Director: Alex Noyer; Writer: Alex Noyer; Stars: Jasmin Savoy Brown, Lili Simmons, James Jagger, Tessa Munro)

Full review See: Interview with Alex Noyer about Sound Of Violence

The Spine Of Night

Review preview for The Spine Of Night

The central problem here is a common one in fantasy epics: it does go on a bit.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
In this ultra-violent fantasy epic, ancient dark magic falls into sinister hands and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind. A group of heroes from different eras and cultures must band together in order to defeat it at all costs

(Year: 2021; Director: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King; Writer: Philip Gelatt, Morgan Galen King; Stars: Richard E Grant, Lucy Lawless, Patton Oswalt, Betty Gabriel, Joe Manganiello, Larry Fessenden, Nina Lisandrello, Abby Savage, Tom Lipinski, Patrick Breen)

Full review

Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror

Review preview for Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror

Rather than trying to establish a thesis of her own, Janisse allows her interviewees to deliver contradictory viewpoints on key issues, and the film is richer for it.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A documentary about the history of folk horror cinema from the 1960s to today.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Kier-La Janisse; Writer: Kier-La Janisse)

Full review See: Interview with Kier-La Janisse about Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror