SXSW just released this year’s Film & TV titles, and we spotted a lot of horror, thriller, sci-fi, and plain weird shit. Genre kids can expect many cool new movies at this year’s festival. If you are a genre kid needing something to look forward to, this year’s lineup might be the serotonin boost you need this week. Check out these 18 titles that grabbed our attention at first glance!
Ash
Director: Flying Lotus
Screenwriter: Jonni Remmler
A woman wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed. Her investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events.
Cast: Eiza González, Aaron Paul, Flying Lotus, Iko Uwais, Kate Elliott, Beulah Koale (World Premiere)
Clown in a Cornfield
Director: Eli Craig
Screenwriters: Carter Blanchard, Adam Cesare, Eli Craig
A fading midwestern town in which Frendo the clown, a symbol of bygone success, reemerges as a terrifying scourge.
Cast: Katie Douglas, Will Sasso, Cassandra Potenza, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Verity Marks, Dylan McEwan, Daina Leitold, Vincent Muller, Kaitlyn Bacon (World Premiere)
Dead Lover (Canada)
Director: Grace Glowicki
Screenwriters: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie
A lonely Gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man. However, their affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.
Cast: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Leah Doz, Lowen Morrow (Texas Premiere)
Death of a Unicorn
Director/Screenwriter: Alex Scharfman
A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes (World Premiere)
Descendent
Director/Screenwriter: Peter Cilella
After a traumatic brain injury triggers terrifying visions of extraterrestrials and a newfound talent for drawing, a father-to-be begins to question his reality and becomes obsessed with the need to protect his family from an unseen threat.
Cast: Ross Marquand, Sarah Bolger, Susan Wilder, Charlene Amoia, Dan O’Brien, Brandon Scott, Alexandra Barreto, Alex Ruiz, Clare Cooney, Emily Pendergast (World Premiere)
Drop
Director: Christopher Landon
Screenwriters: Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach
A widowed mother, on her first date in years, arrives at an upscale restaurant where she meets her handsome date. But their chemistry curdles as she begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.
Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Ed Weeks (World Premiere)
The Dutchman
Director: Andre Gaines
Screenwriters: Andre Gaines, Qasim Basir
A successful black businessman, haunted by his crumbling marriage and identity crisis, is drawn into a psychological game of cat and mouse with a mysterious white woman he encounters on a New York subway.
Cast: André Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Aldis Hodge, Lauren E. Banks (World Premiere)
Good Boy
Director: Ben Leonberg
Screenwriters: Alex Cannon, Ben Leonberg
Do you ever wonder why your dog stares at empty corners, barks for no reason, or refuses to go into the basement? Good Boy is the story of a dog who sees everything that goes bump in the night. No talking pets, just terrifying scares.
Cast: Indy, Shane Jensen, Larry Fessenden, Arielle Friedman, Stuart Rudin, Anya Krawcheck, Max (World Premiere)
Hallow Road (Czechia, Ireland, United Kingdom)
Director: Babak Anvari
Screenwriter: William Gillies
Two parents enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Megan McDonnell (World Premiere)
Holland
Director: Mimi Cave
Screenwriter: Andrew Sodroski
In this unpredictable thriller, Nancy is a teacher whose life with her husband in Holland, Michigan, tumbles into a twisted tale when she and her colleague become suspicious of a secret.
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill, Gael García Bernal (World Premiere)
The Home (Estonia, Iceland, Sweden)
Director: Mattias J Skoglund
Screenwriter: Mattias J Skoglund, Mats Strandberg
Joel reluctantly returns to his childhood town to help his mother, Monika, move into a home for people with dementia after she suffers a stroke. She is unrecognizable, and Joel becomes convinced that something has followed her back from the other side.
Cast: Philip Oros, Anki Lidén, Gizem Erdogan, Malin Levanon, Peter Jankert, Lottie Ejenbrant, Ayan Ahmed, Bengt CW Carlsson (World Premiere)
The Infinite Husk
Director/Screenwriter: Aaron Silverstein
An alien consciousness, sent to Earth to spy on one of its own kind, learns what it means to be human.
Cast: Peace Ikediuba, Foreste Jean Feely, Circus-Szalewski, Michael Jon Murphy, Geena Alexandra, Gary Lee Reed, William Thomas Jones, Smaran Harihar, Jyl Haruye Kaneshiro (World Premiere)
O’Dessa
Director/Screenwriter: Geremy Jasper
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is a rock opera about a farm girl on a quest to recover a family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a dangerous city, where she must use the power of destiny and song to save her true love’s soul.
Cast: Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, Regina Hall, Kelly Macdonald, Pokey LaFarge (World Premiere)
Odyssey (United Kingdom)
Director: Gerard Johnson
Screenwriters: Gerard Johnson, Austin Collings
Natasha Flynn is an estate agent on a mission—and she’s going to make a killing.
Cast: Polly Maberly, Mikael Persbrandt, Jasmine Blackborow, Guy Burnet, Ryan Hayes, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Kellie Shirley (World Premiere)
Mermaid
Director/Screenwriter: Tyler Cornack
A Percocet-addicted ‘Florida Man’ finds a wounded mermaid at his lowest point. Fascination becomes a drug infused, one sided relationship — sending him further into decline. When word spreads about his secret, he’ll stop at nothing to protect her.
Cast: Johnny Pemberton, Avery Potemri, Kevin Nealon, Kirk Fox, Tom Arnold, Robert Patrick, Kevin Dunn, Devyn McDowell, Tyler Rice, Julia Valentine Larson (World Premiere)
Redux Redux
Directors/Screenwriters: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus
In an attempt to avenge her daughter’s death, Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, killing her daughter’s murderer over and over again. She grows addicted to the revenge streak, putting her own humanity in jeopardy.
Cast: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus, Jeremy Holm, Jim Cummings, Grace Van Dien, Taylor Misiak, Dendrie Taylor (World Premiere)
The Surrender
Director/Screenwriter: Julia Max
When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual that will bring him back from the dead.
Cast: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Neil Sandilands, Vaughn Armstrong, Mia Ellis, Pete Ploszek, Chelsea Alden, Alaina Pollack, Riley Rose Critchlow, Lola Prince Kelly (World Premiere)
We Bury The Dead (Australia)
Director/Screenwriter: Zak Hilditch
In the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment, a desperate woman joins a “body retrieval unit” in the hope of finding her husband alive. However, her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses start showing signs of life.
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith (World Premiere)
SXSW runs March 7-15 this year in Austin, Texas. We cannot wait to hit up the beloved festival again, and we’ll hopefully see some of you there. Head to the SXSW site to purchase your tickets now.
