SXSW 2024 Announces Midnighters Lineup And other Genre Goodies

SXSW 2024 is right around the corner! As usual we will have a team on the ground to cover all the horror, thriller, and strange things we can find for you there. The festival released their first round of lineup announcements this week and we’ve combed through it to extract all of the bloody bits we think you fiends will be interested in!

While we can always count on some truly horrific features in the Midnighters category the fest has a good amount of horror and thriller films sprinkled up and down the lineup. Take a look at the list below for a peek at what coverage you may be able to expect from us as the festival gets rolling. With films from creators all over the world we’re excited to check out some up and coming filmmakers and new voices in horror!

Midnighters

Exciting after-dark features for genre lovers and the terminally curious.

 

Azrael

Director: E.L. Katz, Producers: Dan Kagan, Simon Barrett, Dave Caplan, Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman, Azrael, who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil that resides deep within the surrounding wilderness – yet she will stop at nothing to ensure her own survival. In what follows, Azrael makes a savage bid for freedom as her escape accelerates towards a vicious, revenge-fueled showdown. Cast: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Katariina Unt, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (World Premiere)

Family

Director/Screenwriter: Benjamin Finkel, Producers: Lynette Howell Taylor, Samantha Housman, Benjamin Finkel
11-year-old Johanna’s world is falling apart. She’s just moved across the country for her father Harry’s medical treatment, and as her father declines and her mother Naomi is consumed with caring for him, Johanna feels horribly alone. In desperation, she makes a call out into the universe for a good spirit to save her family. But as the long summer days wear on, and a series of increasingly disturbing events rips through her home, she begins to fear that something else has come instead — a terrifying presence from some dark corner of the universe that has latched on to her family and is now eating them from the inside. Cast: Ruth Wilson, Ben Chaplin, Lucinda Lee Dawson Gray, Allan Corduner (World Premiere)

 

Hood Witch (France)

Director: Saïd Belktibia, Producers: Ladj Ly, Screenwriters: Saïd Belktibia, Louis Penicaut
Nour makes a living from smuggling exotic animals and illicit products (birds of prey, venom, rare roots, etc.). Wishing to get her son out of the city and offer him a better future, she designs and develops a mobile app that connects clients and marabouts. It’s a success, but a patient’s consultation turns into a tragedy and Nour has to face a wave of violence that could cost her and her son their lives. Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Jérémy Ferrari, Amine Zariouhi, Issaka Sawadogo (North American Premiere)

 

Hunting Daze (Canada)

Director/Screenwriter: Annick Blanc, Producers: Maria Gracia Turgeon, Annick Blanc
Nina, a young and headstrong exotic dancer, finds herself stranded in the far North. She convinces her recent customers, five men on a bachelor hunting trip, to put her up for a few days. In this masculine microsociety, by turns hilarious and philosophical, Cynthia starts to feel a sense of belonging she never has before. But a mysterious stranger’s arrival changes the course of this improvised holiday forever. Both raw and dreamlike, Hunting Daze offers up a unique universe where humour, horror, the uncanny, and the sensual combine. Cast: Nahéma Ricci, Bruno Marcil, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi, Marc Beaupré, Alexandre Landry, Maxime Genois, Noubi Ndiaye (World Premiere)

 

It’s What’s Inside

Director/Screenwriter: Greg Jardin, Producers: William Rosenfeld, Jason Baum, Kate Andrews, Raúl Domingo
A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase. Cast: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Devon Terrell, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarden, David Thompson (Texas Premiere)

 

Kryptic (Canada, United Kingdom)

Director: Kourtney Roy, Producers: Amber Ripley, Sophie Venner, Josh Huculiak, Screenwriter: Paul Bromley
Kryptic is a psycho-thriller about a woman’s search for a missing monster hunter and her growing realization that she is inescapably linked to the creature being pursued. Cast: Chloe Pirrie, Jeff Gladstone, Jason Deline, Ali Rusu-Tahir, Christina Meredith Lewall, Patti Allen, Pam Kearns, Jennifer Copping (World Premiere)

 

Oddity (Ireland)

Director/Screenwriter: Damian McCarthy, Producers: Katie Holly, Laura Tunstall, Evan Horan
In this new supernatural spectacle from Caveat’s Damian McCarthy, a blind medium uncovers the truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Jonathan French, Joe Rooney (World Premiere)

 

Things Will Be Different

Director/Screenwriter: Michael Felker, Producers: Shane Spiegel, Jacob Rosenthal, Michael Felker
In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points. Cast: Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Chloe Skoczen, Justin Benson, Sarah Bolger, Jori Lynn Felker (World Premiere)

 

Other Genre Goodies

While these films don’t fall into the genre specific Midnighters category they certainly caught our eye and we hope to check at least a few of them out!

 

I Don’t Understand You

Director: Brian Crano, David Craig, Producers: Kara Durrett, Jessamine Burgum, Jon Glickman, Joel Edgerton, Nash Edgerton, Screenwriters: Brian Crano, David Craig
Following a devastating adoption scam, a couple go on an Italian vacation in an attempt to reconnect. After getting their rental car stuck in a countryside ditch, things begin to go awry. Between the torrential weather and language barrier, Dom, Cole and the Italians around them descend into a comical fiasco. Cast: Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Nunzia Schiano, Morgan Spector, Eleonora Romandini (World Premiere)

 

The Moogai (Australia)

Director/Screenwriter: Jon Bell, Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings
Sarah and Fergus, a hopeful young Aboriginal couple, give birth to their second baby. But what should be a joyous time of their lives becomes sinister when Sarah starts seeing a malevolent spirit she is convinced is trying to take her baby. Fergus, who can’t see it but desperately wants to believe her, grows increasingly worried as she becomes more unbalanced. Is the child-stealing spirit real or is she in fact the biggest threat to the safety of their family? Cast: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose, Clarence Ryan, Toby Leonard Moore, Bella Heathcote (Texas Premiere)

 

Birdeater (Australia)

Directors: Jack Clark, Jim Weir, Producers: Stephanie Troost, Ulysses Oliver, Screenwriter: Jack Clark
A bride-to-be is invited to join her own fiancé’s bachelor party on a remote property in the Australian outback. But as the festivities spiral into beer-soaked chaos, uncomfortable details about their relationship are exposed, and the celebration soon becomes a feral nightmare. A striking and powerful feature debut from Jack Clark and Jim Weir. Cast: Shabana Azeez, Mackenzie Fearnley, Ben Hunter, Jack Bannister, Clementine Anderson, Alfie Gledhill, Harley Wilson, Caroline McQuade (International Premiere)

 

Dead Mail

Directors/Screenwriters: Kyle McConaghy, Joe DeBoer, Producers: Zachary Weil, Brett Arndt
On a desolate, Midwestern county road, a bound man crawls towards a remote postal box, managing to slide a blood-stained plea-for-help message into the slot before a panicking figure closes in behind him. The note makes its way to the county post office and onto the desk of Jasper, a seasoned and skilled “dead letter” investigator, responsible for investigating lost mail and returning it to its sender. As he investigates further, Jasper meets Trent, a strange yet unassuming man who has taken up residence at the men’s home where Jasper lives. When Trent unexpectedly shows up at Jasper’s office, it becomes clear he has a vested interest in the note, and will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Cast: Sterling Macer, Jr., John Fleck, Susan Priver, Micki Jackson, Nick Heyman, Tomas Boykin (World Premiere)

 

Cuckoo (Germany)

Director/Screenwriter: Tilman Singer, Producers: Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell, Ben Rimmer
On a trip to the German Alps with her father and stepmother, Gretchen (Hunter Schafer from HBO’s “Euphoria”) discovers that the resort town where they’re staying hides sinister secrets, as she’s plagued by strange noises and frightening visions of a woman pursuing her. Soon, Gretchen finds herself pulled into a conspiracy involving bizarre experiments by the resort’s owner that echo back generations. Cast: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, Jan Bluthardt (International Premiere)

 

Krzyk – Losing Control (Germany)

Director: Ewa Wikiel, Producer: Ibrahim-Utku Erdogan, Screenwriters: Halina Rasinski, Ewa Wikiel
As bacteriologist Lena (38) drives past a burning car, she hears a scream of a dying woman. Lena does not tell her boyfriend how much the incident distresses her, just as she does not talk about the stillbirth she recently had. Instead, she throws herself into her work, intrudes into the life of the deceased, begins an affair with the widower and gradually takes on the role of mother to their son. Her persistent insomnia causes her to lose control between dreams and reality. Finally she accepts the help of a whisperer and then finds her own way to cope with her loss. Cast: Gina Henkel, Anton Weil, Pawel Delag, Wiktoria Gorodecka, Natalia Mateo, Marek Pys (International Premiere)