Sundance reveals Midnight line-up

Rob Zombie and Kevin Smith among directors featured.

by Amber Wilkinson

Under The Shadow - Tehran, 1988: As the Iran-Iraq War rumbles into its eighth year, a mother and daughter are slowly torn apart by the bombing campaigns on the city coupled with the country's bloody revolution. As they struggle to stay together amidst these terrors, a mysterious evil stalks through their apartment.
Under The Shadow - Tehran, 1988: As the Iran-Iraq War rumbles into its eighth year, a mother and daughter are slowly torn apart by the bombing campaigns on the city coupled with the country's bloody revolution. As they struggle to stay together amidst these terrors, a mysterious evil stalks through their apartment. Photo: Kit Fraser
The Sundance Film Festival has announced the line-up for the Midnight section of its 2016 festival, which will run from January 21 to 31 (view images from the film as a gallery here).

The announcement is a couple of weeks earlier than usual and features 31 by Rob Zombie and Yoga Hosers by Kevin Smith, which will star Johnny Depp and his daughter Lily-Rose. All the films are from the US with the exception of UK/Jordan co-production Under The Shadow, directed by Babak Anvari, set against the backdrop of the Iran/Iraq war.

The full line-up, including synopses by the festival, is below.

31 (Director/screenwriter: Rob Zombie)
Five friends are kidnapped on the day before Halloween and held hostage in a terrifying place named Murder World. While trapped, they must play a violent game called 31, in which the mission is to survive 12 hours against a gang of evil clowns.
Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie, Malcolm McDowell, Richard Brake, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Meg Foster.

Antibirth (Director/screenwriter: Danny Perez)
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.
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Mark Webber, Meg Tilly, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos.

The Blackout Experiments (Director: Rich Fox)
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.
Cast: Josh Randall, Kristjan Thor, Russell Eaton, Bob Glouberman, Allison Fogerty, Abel Horwitz

Carnage Park (Director/screenwriter: Mickey Keating)
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.
Cast: Ashley Bell, Pat Healy, Alan Ruck, Darby Stanchfield, James Landry Hébert, Larry Fessenden.

The Greasy Strangler (Director: Jim Hosking, Screenwriters: Jim Hosking, Toby Harvard)
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.
Cast: Michael St Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo, Gil Gex, Jesse Keen, Joe David Walters.

Outlaws And Angels (Director/screenwriter: JT Mollner)
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.
Cast: Chad Michael Murray, Francesca Eastwood, Luke Wilson, Teri Polo, Madisen Beaty, Nathan Russell.

Trash Fire (Director/screenwriter: Richard Bates Jr)
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.
Cast: Adrian Grenier, Angela Trimbur, Anna Lynne McCord, Fionnula Flanagan, Matthew Gray Gubler, Ray Santiago.

Under The Shadow (Director/screenwriter: Babak Anvari)
Tehran, 1988: As the Iran-Iraq War rumbles into its eighth year, a mother and daughter are slowly torn apart by the bombing campaigns on the city coupled with the country’s bloody revolution. As they struggle to stay together amidst these terrors, a mysterious evil stalks through their apartment.
Cast: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian, Arash Marandi.

Yoga Hosers (Director/screenwriter: Kevin Smith)
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.
Cast: Lily-Rose Depp, Harley Quinn Smith, Johnny Depp, Justin Long, Austin Butler, Tyler Posey.

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