Sundance 2021 Preview
For the first time in our young history, What Sleeps Beneath will be heading to the Sundance Film Festival! Our schedule is going to be packed with exciting new films, panels, discussions, and more, but—naturally—we are particularly interested in the genre offerings at this year’s festival. Sundance has debuted many important horror films over the years: Hereditary, The Babadook, Mandy, The Witch, Get Out, and The Blair Witch Project all made first appearances in Park City, and this year’s lineup is no less promising. Here’s a list of the top five films we’re excited about and the filmmakers behind them.
Sundance begins on Jan. 28 and will run until Feb. 3.
The Blazing World, Dir. by Carlson Young
In the Earth
Ben Wheatley, no stranger to off-kilter horror-adjacent fare—between 2011 and 2013, he made Kill List, Sightseers, and A Field in England—returns to his roots after a somewhat disappointing remake of Hitchcock’s masterpiece, Rebecca. Filmed in 15 days last August, In the Earth is a film set during a global pandemic (imagine!) and follows an expedition deep into the forest on a seemingly routine equipment run. I’m thrilled to see Wheatley embrace his self-imposed time and budget constraints, as that is where he seems to get most creative and weird. With bigger projects in the works like sequels to both Tomb Raider and The Meg, this might be Wheatley’s last chance for a while to really let loose.
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Speaking of letting loose, Sion Sono’s Prisoners of the Ghostland promises to be Nicolas Cage’s wildest movie—which, coming from the star of both 2018’s Mandy and 2020’s Color Out of Space, is cause enough for giddy enthusiasm. But for those that might need more convincing, know that the director is also the brain behind such bonkers films like Suicide Club (2001) and Love Exposure (2008)—I rest my case. The thriller is reported to be sort of a supernatural Escape from New York, where a notorious criminal is hired to rescue the governor’s daughter who has mysteriously vanished. There’s not much more known about it, but if you aren’t already pumped, I can’t help you.
Eight for Silver
**Editor’s Note: Since the time of writing, Eight for Silver has been renamed The Cursed.
Eight for Silver is a nineteenth-century take on werewolves. Director Sean Ellis said of the film, “It is my hope that this reinvention of the werewolf legend will be an unsettling portrait of a community grappling with unexplained horrors, as well as a deeper exploration of the animalistic impulses that manifest from our darkest demons.” While I’m always down for a werewolf film, what really has me psyched for Eight for Silver is the team putting it together, which includes Oscar-nominated (and frequent César Award-nominated) costume designer Madeline Fontaine (Jackie, Amélie, Yves Saint Laurent) and frequent Yorgos Lanthimos collaborator Yorgos Mavropsaridis (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Dogtooth), who was nominated for his editing of The Favorite (2018).
Violation
In their feature film debut, directors Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer are delivering an intense, visceral rape-revenge thriller in Violation. Sundance will be the film’s U.S. debut, having initially screened at TIFF in 2020. Variety called the film a “chamber piece with the existential mood of Lars von Trier,” and elaborated explaining that a “sense of Haneke-esque unsafeness and bitterness sinks into the atmosphere,” which in and of itself should send shivers down your spine. Though some initial reviews lamented some of the heavy-handed imagery, none could fault the film for lacking in emotional impact. Rape-revenge is a sub-genre that must be handled with great care—these films are inherently political and must add to the discourse while avoiding feeling exploitative—and Violation seems to be aiming to do just that.
Censor
Another debut feature, this time from director Prano Bailey-Bond, is a film that harkens back to ‘80s horror and the paranoia plaguing Britain that so-called “video nasties” were corrupting the nation’s youth. A tightly-paced film clocking in under 90 minutes, Censor follows Enid, a career film censor who, while viewing the latest video to slide across her desk, finds a strange link to her sister’s mysterious disappearance years earlier. Her investigation leads her down the rabbit hole to horror and madness.
These films are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exciting new films at this year’s virtual festival. We’re thrilled to be able to bring you first glances at the horrors yet to come.
Sundance begins on Jan. 28 and will run until Feb. 3.
Article written by Ande Thomas
Ande loves the intersection of sci-fi and horror, where our understanding of the natural world clashes with our fear of the new and unknown. He writes about monsters and foreign horror and can also be found over on Letterboxd.
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