This year’s edition of SXSW runs from March 12–18 in Austin, Texas, and the thriller and chiller films scheduled have us drooling. We’re eagerly looking forward to seeing these five intriguing features.
Descriptions are from official press information, and links are to the films’ SXSW pages.
FAMILY MOVIE |Narrative Spotlight | Narrative Feature | World Premiere
Logline: A filmmaking family’s low-budget horror movie turns into a real-life slasher when a dead body shows up on set. Chaos ensues as the Smiths fight to keep the production on track. After all – the show must go on!
Director: A Kyra and Kevin Movie; Directed by Kevin Bacon
Writer: Dan Beers
Executive Producer: Benjamin Fuqua
Produced By: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Sosie Bacon, Travis Bacon, Vince Jolivette, Casey Durant, Greg Lauritano, Russell Wayne Groves
Principal Cast: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Sosie Bacon, Travis Bacon, Liza Koshy, John Carroll Lynch, Jackie Earle Haley, Andrea Savage, Austin Amelio, Scoot McNairy
https://schedule.sxsw.com/events/FS19384
MONITOR | Midnighter | Narrative Feature | World Premiere
Logline: A social media moderator unleashes a deadly terror when she refuses to publish a cryptic video.
Directed and Written by Matt Black, Ryan Polly
Produced by Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner, John Fischer, Adrian Guerra
Starring Brittany O’Grady, Taz Skylar, Viveik Kalra, Ines Høysæter Asserson, Gunner Willis, Sara Alexander, Camila Wahlgren
https://schedule.sxsw.com/events/FS19635
SENDER | Narrative Feature Competition| Narrative Feature | World Premiere
Logline: After receiving a series of unwanted packages containing unnervingly targeted items, a woman tumbles down a paranoid rabbit hole to find her mysterious sender.
Director: Russell Goldman
Writer: Russell Goldman
Executive Producers: Akshay Shah, Thomas Grabinski, Russell Goldman, Britt Lower
Produced By: Jamie Lee Curtis, Molly Hallam, Jake Katofsky
Principal Cast: Britt Lower, Rhea Seehorn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Baryshnikov, David Dastmalchian, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Mike Mitchell, Edward Torres, Alyssa Limperis, Inger Stratton
https://schedule.sxsw.com/events/FS19442
SERLING | Documentary Spotlight| Documentary Feature | World Premiere
Logline: SERLING is an immersive and intimate first-person journey exploring the life and legacy of one of television’s most visionary storytellers, Rod Serling. Told almost entirely in Rod Serling’s own words, drawn from never-before-heard recordings and personal dictations, the film captures the man behind The Twilight Zone in all his complexity and how he turned social conscience and imagination into timeless art. Shot in stark black and white with a 4:3 aspect ratio, the film weaves archival material with stylized atmospheric recreations that echo the eerie visual language Serling made iconic. The result is a dreamlike journey through the defining chapters of Serling’s life: from the trenches of World War II, to the golden age of live television, to the cultural flashpoints where fiction and truth collide. As his unmistakable voice guides us through these shadows, Serling emerges not only as a master of storytelling, but as a man grappling with the trauma of war, the moral compromises of fame, and the hope that America might one day live up to its own ideals.
Director: Jonah Tulis
Writers: Jonah Tulis & Blake J. Harris
Featuring: Rod Serling
Produced By: Chad A. Verdi, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, Phillip Watson, Michelle Verdi, Chad Verdi, Jr., Paul Luba, Jonah Tulis, Blake J. Harris
https://schedule.sxsw.com/events/FS19569
MALLORY’S GHOST
Director and Writer: Arabella Oz
Co-Director: Nick Canellakis
Producer: Claire Sinofsky
Cast: Arabella Oz, Nick Canellakis, Anjelica Bosboom, Delphi Harrington, Shahjehan Khan, Evangeline Beasley
Synopsis: Mallory, plagued by fears of being unremarkable, joins her playwright boyfriend Sam on a retreat to coastal Maine. When she learns he once brought his glamorous ex, Louise, there, she’s struck with an obsessive curiosity about his past. As her jealousy takes hold, Mallory becomes convinced she’s being haunted by the ghost of Louise herself… Pulled into a journey that slips between past and present, rivalry and affection, melancholy and creativity, Mallory drifts further from her old life and toward something essential. “Mallory’s Ghost” is a psychological and playful exploration of envy, and the strange path it can lead back to the Self.