senior SXSW film & tv festival programmer. filmmaker. not a robot. MAN FINDS TAPE, world premiering at Tribeca Festival. THE DEAD FRIENDS SOCIETY out now.
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So, @Paul_Gandersman and I are nominated for Best Novel... Gawked at this news like an idiot for 10 minutes.
Thank you, Shirley Jackson Awards. Thank you @EnPocalypsePub for supporting us. Now back to gawking at my screen like an idiot, albeit an incredibly honored one.
More on this in our newsletter on Friday, but HUGE congrats to @Paul_Gandersman & @PeterHallHuman as their debut novel THE DEAD FRIENDS SOCIETY has been nominated for a #ShirleyJacksonAward!
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Hey, genre people! I am lucky enough to program for SXSW across film and TV, but I also specifically program the Midnighters section. I’m going to try to not overhype our SXSW2023 lineup, but I looove this section and these movies, so it’s going to be hard. Here goes…
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The script for AIR is just so damned good. I don't think the trailers adequately sell how freaking funny it is. It's remarkable to see that stellar cast make every exchange sing, and Affleck's impeccable direction making sure not a single moment or role gets lost or underserved.
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Dear Warner Bros., please re-create this ad for EVIL DEAD RISE. I'm sure @curleecronin and EDR superfan @KiDCuDi would be game.
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First, it’s not a Midnighter, but… EVIL DEAD RISE: hahahahaholyfuckingshit. 2022 was an incredible year for studio horror, but all I could think was “Just wait until EVIL DEAD RISE.” Lee Cronin’s film is unreal. Watching this at SXSW is going to be a one-of-a-kind experience.
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A DIFFERENT MAN is utterly hypnotic filmmaking. A24 just casually dropping back-to-back phenoms at Sundance.
Also, the score! THE SCORE!!!!
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Can't wait for people to discover THE IDEA OF YOU tonight at SXSW. Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine radiate so much movie star energy their chemistry should power entire cities.
Amazon MGM Anne Hathaway Romance Pic 'The Idea Of You' Most Watched Trailer Ever For Streaming Movie; SXSW World Premiere Tonight deadline.com/2024/03/anne-ha…
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Big, huge, mega thanks to everyone who came to SXSW to watch and discover incredible films and filmmakers. It's been one helluva week.
Now, please, go forth and make cool shit so we can do it all again next year.
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EVIL DEAD RISE: Watching it tonight, two things stood out the most. @curleecronin is a wild, wildly talented craftsman. The shots, the staging, the editing, the sound, the music-- Just staggeringly complex filmmaking amid gallons of blood, I cannot wait to see what he does next.
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The 8th #SXSWFilmTV Midnighter, revealed! FURIES (d. Veronica Ngo): Hell yes! Fast-paced, highly entertaining, and brrruuutal. CHARLIES ANGELS with a THE RAID level of violence. Whomever you think is doing hardcore action best these days, put Veronica Ngo at the top of the list.
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Next up, BROOKLYN 45 (d. Ted Geoghegan). If you like movies that span one increasingly unhinged night, you’ll love this. Great ensemble, great performances, great sentiments. A ghost story with a lot of heart.
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SXSW 2024 is over and I am very tired, but a sincere thank you to everyone who came out: The filmmakers trusting us with their work, the audiences (who I truly think are some of the best in the world), and the volunteers. You’re why any of us do this.
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MONOLITH (d. Matt Vesely). Damn smart sci-fi and a damned good directorial debut featuring a commanding lead performance from Lily Sullivan, who just so happens to also be the lead of EVIL DEAD RISE. Sullivan blasting onto the genre scene big time in 2023!
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Incredible baller move for Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp to make PRESENCE independently instead of taking it to a studio. Precisely the kind of inventive, low budget genre film everyone wishes they could make. Helluva great ghost story.
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Oh, hey. This is happening.
Know all those times you've said/heard, "They don't make 'em like this anymore"? You're talking about AIR.
It's *fantastic*. Very funny, effortlessly charming, and about so much more than just a shoe. Be there.
Announcing the surprise debut of @BenAffleck’s @AirMovie, from @AmazonStudio, as the 2023 #SXSW Closing Night Film on Saturday, March 18. #AirMovie
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For a very different kind of ghost story we’ve got TALK TO ME (d. Danny and Michael Philippou). Scares so good I kept involuntarily shouting “Oh God!” and my wife in the other room thought I was reading a devastating news story. The Philippou brothers aren’t messing around.
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Sticking with haunting and emotional, IT LIVES INSIDE (d. Bishal Dutta) is about to inject some killer new lore into the suburban horror movie canon. NEVER HAVE I EVER’s Megan Suri is incredible in it, and Bishal Dutta is about to sneak up on a lot of people.
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And here's the first wave of #SXSW2023
You better turn out nerds, because DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is so, so damn fun. And there are still many more films to announce!!
deadline.com/2023/01/2023-sx…
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Lastly, there will be an eighth Midnighter, but I can’t tell you what it is yet! But SXSW 2023’s genre films aren’t contained to just the Midnighters. There are more spread throughout the program. Some have been announced, others will be. Stay tuned, and see you in March!
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Speaking of blasting onto the genre scene, who is down for a Mongolian cabin in the woods thriller? ABERRANCE (d. Baatar Batsukh) has made a very stylish, clever, and captivating feature debut. A great discovery.
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Coincidentally, another midnighter shares sibling directors. LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (d. Cameron and Colin Cairnes) features a truly fantastic lead performance from David Dastmalchian. Funny, haunting, emotional. I love this movie.
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Oh, hey, it’s the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival’s first announcement!
This year’s lineup is freaking fantastic, and I’ll talk more about the wider program later, but first I gotta highlight our killer Midnighter lineup. I love these movies. You will, too. Let’s dive in!
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SHATTER BELT (showrunner James Ward Byrkit). Want to know what the director of COHERENCE has been up to? Come to SXSW and find out! This anthology series is brilliant and funny and original and I selfishly want more, so come get in on the ground floor.
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SXSW second announcement just dropped!
MONKEY MAN - Dev Patel's brutal, brutal action movie.
IMMACULATE - Sydney Sweeney's horror reign begins here.
Y2K - Kyle Mooney's wild A24 comedy about the millennium going very, very wrong.
And those are just the headliners!!
Round two of the #SXSW Film & TV Festival lineup just dropped with 50 additional premieres including @MonkeyManMovie, @Immaculatemovie, #Y2K, #Doppelgängers³, and more! ow.ly/wxCm50QyVBJ
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Press friends: If you want to cover our haunted house slasher in any way, please let me know.
November book lists? A review? An excerpt? Need a podcast guest? Want to just tweet about it? Tell me to shut up? Whatevs, I’ll get you a copy. Hit me up.
ALT The Dead Friends Society audiobook cover
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Crushed at the loss of Doug Jones, truly one of the best people around.
I’ll miss seeing Doug every week in SXSW programming meetings. He had this twinkle to his entire personality, like he was always about to smile or make you smile.
(photo by Karen Rowe)
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AZRAEL - Director E.L. Katz (CHEAP THRILLS), writer Simon Barrett (THE GUEST), and Samara Weaving (everything you like) have made a post-apoc movie unlike any you’ve seen. Creative, brutal, AND gorgeous night scenes where you can see what’s actually happening?!?!?!
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I'M A VIRGO is on Prime. EVIL DEAD RISE is on Max. Good weekend to take in two wildly different but wildly ambitious SXSW projects.
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That means, on this day in 2000, I saw a double bill of COYOTE UGLY and HOLLOW MAN, which is basically 2000's BARBENHEIMER.
You trust your eyes. You rely on your senses. You think you're alone. Think again.
On this day in 2000: Kevin Bacon-starring HOLLOW MAN, directed by Paul Verhoeven, was released.
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Finished reading REVIVAL.
I thought I knew the ending because of those rascally @Kingcast19 kids, but I don't think they touched on the final horror of it all. What a beast.
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The ROAD HOUSE remake is from the writer of THE NICE GUYS.
Just sayin'...
Announcing the World Premiere of @RoadHouseMovie, directed by #DougLiman and starring #JakeGyllenhaal, as the Opening Night Film for the #SXSW 2024 Film & TV Festival! ow.ly/KpFe50QuqE5 #RoadHouseMovie @PrimeVideo
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It’s another @sxsw announcement day, which means another thread! Who wants to learn about some really, realllllly good movies?!
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Congrats to SXSW 2022 opening night film, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE!!! I'm not saying I called it, but...
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I'm just blown away by this movie. I've seen countless movies at SXSW in the Paramount.
Never seen an audience like that. EVIL DEAD RISE was borderline like the Stab screening in SCREAM 2.
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Once again, I implore you LA folk to go check out RAGING GRACE.
OMG! Back by popular demand 🔥RAGING GRACE 🔥screens at again at #LAAPFF23 + this time for FREE on Saturday 13 May at 10PM at the Regal Live LA.
Join us + share in some horror + healing of the cathartic kind!
Tkts 👇laapff2023.eventive.org/sche…
#RepresentationMatters
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This is a first. Just got shown an ad for our own book.
Thanks, Algorithm, you're doing great work!
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At SXSW this year, on the way into his LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL premiere, I watched David Dastmalchian thank every volunteer he came across. Literally the only celeb I've seen do that.
And that wasn't even the most selfless thing he took time to do. An incredibly kind soul.
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Oh, hey. I’m bad at self-promotion, but too bad for me because I’ve got something to promote. @Paul_Gandersman and I wrote a book. It’s called THE DEAD FRIENDS SOCIETY. It’s a slasher. With ghosts. You will like it. /1
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We wrote a book, and it's out today, but I think it being in the @AustinChronicle is blowing my mind a bit more. Thanks, @YorkshireTX!
austinchronicle.com/screens/…
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On the TV genre front, I also want to call out 3 BODY PROBLEM. I’m a big fan of the books. It’s innnnnnnnnnnnnncredible. I’m addicted and mad I can’t watch more right now. Gonna be a helluva big screen experience!
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Did you know that if you pay @FANGORIA money, @EricVespe and @ScottWamplerRIP have to say words you write on the @Kingcast19?
Was it worth it? I don't know. But it was fun and more people should do it.
This week on THE KINGCAST, we're joined by SOMETHING IN THE DIRT directors @JustinHBenson and @AaronMoorhead to discuss their latest film, cosmic horror, and Stephen King's JERUSALEM'S LOT!
Avail everywhere now via the @FANGORIA Podcast Network!
Listen: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
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Congrats to @Gabino_Iglesias and Sophie White on their Shirley Jackson Award wins for Best Novel!
It really, truly was a ridiculous honor just to be nominated. Now that there's proof people like it, maybe we should write another book?
Tonight!
@Paul_Gandersman & @PeterHallHuman's THE DEAD FRIENDS SOCIETY is up for a 2022 Shirley Jackson Award!
We are so proud of these guys & love that this book is finally getting more attention it deserves.
Tune in at 4:45pm PST and cheer them on!
piped.video/watch?v=NtI9klmr…
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EVIL DEAD RISE's premiere at SXSW was one of the loudest reactions I've ever seen in a theater.
Lee Cronin is a brilliant, diabolical writer-director. Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland give such scary, commanding performances. Just unreal.
So. Yeah. Don't miss it in theaters!
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At SXSW, I thanked Anthony Mackie for making indies like IF YOU WERE THE LAST and SYNCHRONIC because not all at his level do. His response? "Fuck them guys, everyone should do it!"
Anyways, IF YOU WERE THE LAST is now on Peacock. It's made by good people. You'll like it!
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THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT - Michael Felker’s directorial debut is my favorite kind of high concept, indie sci-fi that knows ideas and implications are the foundation of any great time travel story. An original, smart, twisty puzzle.
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Tonight, IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE - the last of the SXSW Midnighters - makes it Paramount debut. I highly, highly recommend you see it.
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Baby's first book signing. If you're in Austin, come on by. If you already bought a copy, bring it on by. @Paul_Gandersman and I would love to see you!
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And the performances. Everyone is so good, but Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland are next level. Very few actors can pull off this scale of full body physicality while also telling entire stories with closeups on tiny facial movements. Incredible work.
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The Australian murder mystery comedy DEADLOCH now on Prime is the most flawlessly executed first season I've seen in I don't know how long. An absurdly tricky tonal high wire act. Incredible cast, characters, and script. Hilarious and diabolically smart. Cannot recommend more.
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It really sucks that @claudasaur's power has been out all day during the second @sxsw announcement, so I hope everyone knows she leads a killer #SXSWFilmTV festival. It is a very small film team for such a huge event, and she's making the impossible possible.
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Now it's 2024, I'm starting the SXSW Film & TV hype train.
"Scary" is so, so subjective, but I'll tease one of our submissions made me stop it and turn on the lights. Old school yet original horror I can't wait for more to discover.
I hope it ends up on Trace's list.
People always ask me for really scary movie recs, but "scary," is subjective. So here's a(n ongoing) list of films I've seen that have legitimately scared me (aka films that had a physiological effect of some kind on me while I was watching them). letterboxd.com/tracedthurman…
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"You cannot burn what was always a flame."
Paris' acceptance speech for RAGING GRACE winning the SXSW Narrative Competition Grand Jury Award rippled through the Paramount like a wave. I heard people quoting it a day later. Very cool to be present for.
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Rewatching PITCH PERFECT, it occurred to me both Brittany Snow and Anna Kendrick made their directorial debuts this year. And Rebel Wilson is about to make hers. And Elizabeth Banks already made hers.
Anyways, someone write about PITCH PERFECT's actors-to-directors legacy.
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So happy to see this! AMERICANA is a great, sneaky, gallows humor debut.
Saw a great little movie this afternoon @sxsw called Americana. It stars @sydney_sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, @SimonRex, @halsey, and @ZahnMcClarnon and manages to have all the eccentricities of of an early Coen Bros movie while not copying their style.
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THE GUEST, EXISTS, OCULUS, STAGE FIGHT, CREEP, BABADOOK, IT FOLLOWS, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, STARRY EYES, UNFRIENDED, HOUSEBOUND, SPRING, HONEYMOON, BACKCOUNTRY, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, THE TAKING OF DEBORAH LOGAN
Indie fans ate well.
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And that entire sequence would either be axed in development entirely or reduced to a 3-minute cold open if it were made today. Notes would demand they be on the bus by 10 minutes.
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Nicolas Cage + John Carpenter chatting = not nearly long enough, but just delightful. documentjournal.com/2022/11/…
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Do not miss IMMACULATE at SXSW.
I hope Sydney Sweeney and Michael Mohan make a billion more horror movies.
IMMACULATE.
A film by Michael Mohan.
Starring Sydney Sweeney, Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli, and Álvaro Morte.
#SXSW2024 | World Premiere | Official Selection.
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👀⬇️⬇️⬇️
Do you keep an eye on what’s selected for the #SXSW Film & TV festival and have wondered how you may be able to get involved? We're looking for film screeners to help with the 2024 program! Submit your form now: ow.ly/noOA50NUR9x
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Another new SXSW title announced!
p.s. JOY RIDE is very, very, very, very, very funny. You should come to it, so you can laugh very, very, very, very, very much.
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Adele Lim’s feature directorial debut ‘Joy Ride’ from Lionsgate will make its world premiere at SXSW on Friday, March 17 at 9pm at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX deadline.com/2023/02/sxsw-jo…
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Unexpected credits in INFINITY POOL: Stop Motion Animation by Lee Hardcastle, mask design by FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY director Richard Raaphorst.
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First CIVIL WAR, now CUCKOO. Anyone at SXSW doing this double bill is my kind of people. Helluva night.
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I know the two big movies in theaters are getting all of the oxygen, but don't overlook THEY CLONED TYRONE on Netflix. Smart, biting sci-fi that's also hella funny. Great cast. Every line out of Jamie Foxx' mouth is solid gold.
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ODDITY - Damian McCarthy’s movie about a blind medium investigating her sister’s death is the kind you watch with friends and then someone* is like, “I’m not scared, I’m turning on the lights for a different reason.”
*It me, watching alone. This damn wooden man still haunts me.
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Goddamn, this trailer for TALK TO ME is fantastic. Gives so little away but captures the vibe perfectly. Danny and Michael Philippou deserve the mountainous profiles they're about to earn (smart, funny, humble dudes!), but this trailer also reminds me... piped.video/watch?v=aLAKJu9a…
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I'm telling ya', this year's lineup is not even remotely messing around. Each and every one of these is pure genre dynamite. Hope to see you there.
Explore the after-dark features of the #SXSW Film & TV Festival.💀 Midnighters features eight provocative films with edge and energy including Furies, Monolith, It Lives Inside and more.
Stay up late and add these premieres to your SX Schedule. ow.ly/sWFJ50NbxuT
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I know it will never happen, and I can't explain it, but a mustache and FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER makes me desperately want Bruce Greenwood to play Roland in THE DARK TOWER.
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THE ARTIFICE GIRL was one of my favorite SXSW discoveries this year.
If you love high concept indie science fiction, you *will* love this. Great script, great performances, great concept. Franklin Ritch is an inspired (and inspiring) filmmaker.
"Alexa... watch The Artifice Girl." 🤖
NOW AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY ON PRIME
amazon.com/.../B0BZC2S489/re…
@theartificegirl
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Congrats, @imranjkhan, @bduttafilms and all the other SXSW 2023 filmmakers whose Twitter handles I don't know!
Now presenting the Audience Awards winners for the 2023 #SXSW Film & TV Festival! ow.ly/uNjV50Nn7ir
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SATAN WANTS YOU (d. Sean Horlor, Steve J. Adams) is a terrific deep dive doc on the Satanic Panic and how it certainly didn’t die in the ‘80s.
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I hope everyone involved with IT'S A WONDERFUL knife wakes up every day with a smile on their face, remembering this perfect premise and title. piped.video/watch?v=yLdAYrG0…
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Now that I'm caught up, it's absurd how good ANDOR is. ROGUE ONE is my favorite Star Wars movie, and even I didn't care about seeing a TV show prequel, but... it's the best STAR WARS has ever been?
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Heads up, @LiamODin @VyceVictus @hibachijustice, #ActionTwitter is going to love FURIES. Now, as for everything else SXSW announced today… the lineup is so insanely stacked, I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s start with something people might not be expecting.
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psssst.... a little, but very well informed, birdie told me you should come to the 2024 SXSW Film & TV festival
Pssssst.....the 2024 #SXSW Film & TV Festival's first announcement is coming January 10! 👀👀👀 ow.ly/8xNK50QkmcZ
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Trying to sort out a Halloween costume, it's maddening that Nike hasn't just released all of Ben Affleck's outfits from AIR.
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Darabont's THE MIST ending gets all the talk, but John Cusack's "You can't take her twice" delivery in 1408 should be up there for Cruelest King Moments.
Also, 1408 gets better every time. Top tier cinematic King.
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Similarly, if you go to SXSW primarily for the interactive conference, you owe it to yourself to crossover into film and see THE ARTIFICE GIRL (d. Franklin Ritch), which expertly spins the ethics of AI into a riveting story that might already be taking place all around you.
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This interview with Samuel L. Jackson by @BilgeEbiri is so, so good I want to screenshot ten different parts. Maybe just read it instead? vulture.com/article/samuel-l…
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Genuinely one of my favorite horror movies of the '00s. If it came out today, people would praise the way it portrays vampirism by way of toxic masculinity, all while still being wildly fun. I look forward to its inevitable JENNIFER'S BODY-esque re-evaluation.
Special things often reveal themselves in hindsight. Like, for example, in 2011 we got a $30 million FRIGHT NIGHT remake starring COLIN FARRELL and TONI COLLETTE?! I appreciated it then but I appreciate it even more today. Holds up really well. Incredibly fun update of a classic.
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Forget CinemaCon, apparently it's SXSW 2023 Midnighters Trailer Week!
Get a look at THE WRATH OF BECKY and set a May 26 reminder to watch shitheads get their shit heads absolutely wrrrrecked. @MattAngel23 and Suzanne Coote, you two crazy for this one.
Fandango
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For a story that’s definitely not present day, we’ve got MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (d. Michael Lukk Litwak), a very funny, very creative spin on the romcom that spans years, galaxies, and alien races. This movie is super, duper charming and creative.
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Those are the Midnighters. We play genre in any section, so keep an eye out for…
BIRDEATER - Brilliantly directed Australian mind games.
CUCKOO - This. Movie. Rules.
DEAD MAIL - Like someone else’s dream beamed into your brain.
DICKWEED - A doc that plays like a thriller.
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Very smart trailer for SXSW 2023 Midnighter Audience Award Winner IT LIVES INSIDE, especially since it doesn't reveal some of its most powerful imagery. @bduttafilms coming out swinging strong with his first film!
NEON
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Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner are incredible in STRANGE DARLING. Long been fans of both, so great to see them getting such fantastic characters to sink their teeth into. Also, excited to see what JT Mollner does next.
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Today will be a good day for people who like to know about good things. Especially if you're a genre fan.
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Can't wait for more to discover LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL thanks to IFC and @Shudder.
Also, now all of the SXSW 2023 Midnighters have distribution, which is awesome. Long live indie horror!
Now back to programming for 2024...
The David Dastmalchian-starring supernatural thriller 'Late Night with the Devil' has been picked up for release by IFC and Shudder:
bloody-disgusting.com/movie/…
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