[Note: Though the lineup was announced earlier this month, Shock will be attending January’s Sundance Film Festival and we’d like to catch up and preview the most anticipated titles here.]
The all-important, ever exciting Sundance Film Festival is again bearing down, this week announcing their U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Doc, World Dramatic, World Doc, NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight and perhaps most importantly Park City at Midnight lineups. Each year, the fest provides a stirring preview of the following months most buzzed and significant genre releases, with both highly anticipated titles and grand discoveries. Last winter, Sundance introduced Jennifer Kent and her tremendous The Babadook. Who might we meet this round?
Perhaps most well known in the 2015 Midnight lineup is genre mainstay Eli Roth, whose Keanu Reeves-starring Knock Knock will have its World Premiere in Park City, Utah alongside new films from Pontypools Bruce McDonald (Hellions), Room 237s Rodney Ascher (The Midnight), and Jon Watts, whose apparently very nutso CLOWN is still yet to see release.
Also playing is the celebrated (and deservedly so) It Follows, from David Robert Mitchell, Irish creature feature The Hallow and two films from which Ive seen footage already, both looking like something special: J.M. Craviotos Reversal and supercharged action/sci-fi Turbo Kid, from filmmakers Anouk Whissell, Francois Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell.
Most exciting for my own sensibilities is a film in U.S. Dramatic however, a section which has increasingly seen genre films included. That lineup will see the premiere of production designer/director Robert Eggers 1630s-set The Witch (which I hear is entirely in Old English).
Find info on all of the genre films playing Sundance, below. The 2015 Sundance Film Festival happens January 22-February 1 in Park City, Utah. For much more, visit the official site.
Park City at Midnight
Cop Car / U.S.A. (Director: Jon Watts, Screenwriters: Christopher D. Ford, Jon Watts) Two 10-year-old boys steal an abandoned cop car. Cast: Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford, Shea Whigham, Camryn Manheim. World Premiere
The Hallow / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Corin Hardy, Screenwriters: Corin Hardy, Felipe Marino) When a London-based conservationist is sent to Ireland to survey an area of ancient forest believed by the superstitious locals to be hallowed ground, he unwittingly disturbs a horde of terrifying beings and must fight to protect his family. Cast: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley. World Premiere
Hellions / Canada (Director: Bruce McDonald, Screenwriter: Pascal Trottier) Teenage Dora Vogel must survive a Halloween night from hell when malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door. Cast: Chloe Rose, Robert Patrick, Rossif Sutherland, Rachel Wilson, Peter DaCunha, Luke Bilyk. World Premiere
It Follows / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Robert Mitchell) After a strange sexual encounter, a teenager finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her. Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe.
Knock Knock / U.S.A. (Director: Eli Roth, Screenwriters: Eli Roth, Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo) Two beautiful young girls walk into a married man’s life and turn a wild fantasy into his worst nightmare. Cast: Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana De Armas, Aaron Burns, Ignacia Allamand, Colleen Camp. World Premiere
The Nightmare / U.S.A. (Director: Rodney Ascher) A documentary-horror film exploring the phenomenon of sleep paralysis through the eyes of eight people. They (and a surprisingly large number of others) often find themselves trapped between the sleeping and awake realms, unable to move but aware of their surroundings while subject to disturbing sights and sounds. World Premiere
Reversal / U.S.A. (Director: J.M Cravioto, Screenwriters: Rock Shaink, Keith Kjornes) A gritty psychological thriller about a young woman chained in a basement of a sexual predator and manages to escape. However, right when she has a chance for freedom, she unravels a hard truth and decides to turn the tables on her captor. Cast: Tina Ivlev, Richard Tyson, Bianca Malinowski. World Premiere
Turbo Kid / Canada, New Zealand (Directors: Anouk Whissell, Francois Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell, Screenwriters: Anouk Whissell, Francois Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell) In a post-apocalyptic future, The Kid, an orphaned outcast, meets a mysterious girl. They become friends until Zeus, the sadistic leader of the Wasteland, kidnaps her. The Kid must face his fears, and journey to rid the Wasteland of evil and save the girl. Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Aaron Jeffery, Edwin Wright. World Premiere
U.S. Dramatic
The Witch / U.S.A., Canada (Director and screenwriter: Robert Eggers) New England in the 1630s: William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness. When their newborn son vanishes and crops fail, the family turns on one another. Beyond their worst fears, a supernatural evil lurks in the nearby wood. Cast: Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Lucas Dawson, Ellie Grainger.
