2023 Films

Opening Night – RENFIELD

World Premiere
Nicolas Cage & Chris McKay In Person

Chris McKay | 2023 | USA | 93 min

Evil doesn’t span eternity without a little help. In this modern monster tale, Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula, played by Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage. Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, Shohreh Aghdashloo

Presented By Fotokem

Closing Night – EVIL DEAD RISE

Lee Cronin | 2023 | USA | 97 min

Moving the action out of the woods and into the city, Evil Dead Rise tells a twisted tale of two estranged sisters, played by Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland, whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

Cast: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher

Presented By Louisiana Entertainment

Centerpiece Film – SECRET SCREENING: TALK TO ME

Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou | 2023 | Australia | 95 min

Try and guess our Secret Screening. As is tradition, we’ll never tell. Leave your expectations at the door. Knowing in advance would defeat the purpose. To spoil the surprise would, of course, be cheating. Only those brave enough to enter the theater will revel in the reveal. Marvel at one of the most exciting new titles of the year. End your Friday night here, and you won’t be sorry. 

Cast: Sophie Wilde, Miranda Otto, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio

ABERRANCE

Filmmaker In Person

Baatar Batsukh | 2022 | Mongolia | 75 min

When a couple rents a cabin deep in the woods, their odd behavior causes their nosy neighbor to grow suspicious, even as he’s dealing with issues of his own. With wonderfully inventive camerawork that recalls early Raimi or Coens, the first Mongolian film ever presented at Overlook is a wild ride.

Cast: Erkhembayar Ganbat, Selenge Chadraabal, Yalalt Namsrai, Oyundary Jamsranjav, Sukhee Ariunbyamba, Bayarsanaa Batchuluun, Badamtsetseg Batmunkh

ACCUSED

World Premiere

Philip Barantini | 2022 | UK | 88 min

Alone at a remote country house, a young man (Chaneil Kular, Sex Education) watches helplessly as a social media frenzy wrongly identifies him as a wanted terrorist. When online threats lead to an IRL home invasion, he must fight for his life in this tense thriller of virtual witch-hunts and false accusations.

Cast: Chaneil Kular, Lauryn Ajufo

THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER

Bomani J. Story | 2023 | USA | 91 min

For Vicaria, death is just another disease, and she believes she has the cure. After her brother is brutally murdered, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life in this thrilling tale about a family that, despite the terrors of systemic pressure, will survive and be reborn again.

Cast: Laya DeLeon Hayes, Denzel Whitaker, Chad Coleman, Reilly Brooke Stith, Keith Sean Holliday, Amani Summer Boyles, Edem Atsu-Swanzy

APPENDAGE

Filmmaker In Person

Anna Zlokovic | 2023 | USA | 90 min

After years of suppressed anxiety and self-doubt, an ambitious fashion designer is horrified when all that bottled-up emotion begins to manifest itself as a growth on her back — one with a mind of its own. Body horror is only the beginning for this sharp look at inner voices and self-control.

Cast: Hadley Robinson, Emily Hampshire, Brandon Mychal Smith, Kausar Mohammed

THE ARTIFICE GIRL

Franklin Ritch | 2022 | USA | 93 min

In a covert effort to catch online predators, two special agents team up with a skittish computer programmer working on some revolutionary AI. What begins as an experimental technology turns into something entirely different and far more personal in this award-winning piece of hard science fiction featuring genre icon Lance Henriksen.

Cast: Tatum Matthews, Lance Henriksen, Sinda Nichols, David Girard, Franklin Ritch

birth/rebirth

Filmmaker In Person

Laura Moss | 2023 | USA | 98 min

Maternal instincts and scientific hubris collide in this chilling tale of two women — one a grieving mother, the other an obsessive pathologist — who are pushed beyond their limits in this powerful reimagining of the Frankenstein mythos.

Cast: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. Lister, Breeda Wool

BROOKLYN 45

Filmmaker In Person

Ted Geoghegan | 2023 | USA | 93 min

Restless spirits are not the only things haunting a group of longtime friends, reunited in the wake of WWII. Ted Geoghegan directs this chamber piece of horrors where the only thing more terrifying than what lies on the other side may be the secrets we’ve buried in the past.

Cast: Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Jeremy Holm, Larry Fessenden, Ezra Buzzington, Kristina Klebe

CLOCK

World Premiere
Filmmaker In Person

Alexis Jacknow | 2023 | USA | 93 min

On the eve of her birthday, a woman desperately attempts to fix her broken biological clock, but at what cost? Featuring a powerhouse turn from Dianna Agron (Shiva Baby), this cautionary tale warns that when the pressure to conform mounts beyond reason, something’s going to break.

Cast: Dianna Agron, Jay Ali, Melora Hardin

THE DEAD ZONE

40th Anniversary Screening

David Cronenberg | 1983 | USA | 103 min

Christopher Walken stars as a schoolteacher who wakes up from a five-year coma with psychic powers. Wary of his newfound abilities, he retreats from the world, but when he has a horrifying vision of things to come, he fights to find out if he can only see the future or if he can change it. David Cronenberg directs this Stephen King adaptation and the topic for this year’s Kingcast live podcast.

Cast: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lorn, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen

THE ELDERLY

Raúl Cerezo, Fernando González Gómez | 2022 | Spain | 95 min

As a vicious heatwave grips Madrid, octogenarian Manuel (Zorion Eguileor, Platform) is behaving in increasingly disturbing ways. In fact, all the senior citizens are acting odd — aggressive, angry and as if they know of awful things to come. As the temperature rises, so does the tension in this unsettling, slow burn of body horror and generational fear.

Cast: Zorion Eguileor, Gustavo Salmeron, Paula Gallego, Irene Anula

Presented By Dark Star Pictures

THE FIVE DEVILS

Léa Mysius | 2022 | France | 95 min

Struggling to decipher the adult world around her, an eight-year-old girl with an uncanny sense of smell discovers that her gift also allows her to travel back in time and observe her mother and her aunt’s mysterious past. At once intimate and inexplicable, this is a mesmerizing vision of powerful emotions and sensory overload.

Cast: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Sally Dramé, Swala Emati, Moustapha Mbengue, Daphne Patakia

GIVE ME AN A

Free Screening
Filmmakers In Person

Natasha Halevi, Meg Swertlow, Bonnie Discepolo, Danin Jacquay, Erica Mary Wright, Monica Moore-Suriyage, Sarah Kopkin, Caitlin Hargraves, Megan Rosati, Hannah Alline, Avital Ash, Mary C. Russell, Valerie Finkel, Kelly Nygaard, Loren Escandón, Francesca Maldonado | 2022 | USA | 100 min

With passion, strength and righteous anger, 16 women filmmakers make their voices heard with this anthology of genre-themed short films, all made in direct response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. A mix of horror, sci-fi and dark comedy, these shorts are a rallying cry for personal rights and bodily autonomy.

Cast: Alyssa Milano, Virginia Madsen, Gina Torres, Milana Vayntrub, Jennifer Holland, Sean Gunn, Molly C. Quinn, Jason George, Jackie Tohn

GODLESS: THE EASTFIELD EXORCISM

World Premiere
Filmmakers In Person

Nick Kozakis | 2023 | Australia | 92 min

Convinced that his wife is possessed by dark forces, a desperate husband puts his faith in the power of a pitiless self-proclaimed exorcist, who is convinced that salvation can be found only through his hands. Inspired by true events, this is a disturbing tale of misplaced faith and destructive zealotry.

Cast: Georgia Eyers, Dan Ewing, Tim Pocock, Eliza Matengu, John Wood, Rosie Traynor

IT LIVES INSIDE

Filmmakers In Person

Bishal Dutta | 2023 | USA | 99 min

Sam is desperate to fit in at school, rejecting her Indian culture and family to be like everyone else. When a mythological demonic spirit latches onto her former best friend, she must come to terms with her heritage in order to defeat it.

Cast: Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan, Betty Gabriel, Vik Sahay

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

Filmmakers In Person

Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes | 2023 | Australia | 92 min

Desperate for ratings, a Seventies-era late night talk show host invites a skeptic, a doctor and a young girl supposedly possessed by the devil for a very special Halloween episode. By the end of the show, his horrified audience would learn one awful truth: Evil doesn’t take commercial breaks.

Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Fayssal Bazzi, Ian Bliss, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri, Josh Quong Tart, Georgina Haig

THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG

With New Live Score By Think Less, Hear More

Alfred Hitchcock | 1927 | UK | 92 min

The streets of London are being stalked by a Jack the Ripper-like killer, and a young blonde showgirl is torn between her policeman sweetheart and a mysterious stranger. Alfred Hitchcock’s first thriller and his finest silent film, The Lodger will feature an all-new live score from NOLA faves Think Less, Hear More.

Cast: June Tripp, Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, Malcolm Keen

MATINEE

30th Anniversary Screening
Joe Dante and John Goodman In Person

Joe Dante | 1993 | USA | 99 min

In 1962, a Hollywood showman preps the Key West premiere of his latest B-movie masterpiece, Mant!, but for local teens, the atomic terror onscreen is no match to the Cuban Missile Crisis happening just offshore. John Goodman stars in Joe Dante’s affectionate tribute to a bygone era of moviegoing.

Cast: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Lisa Jakub, Kellie Martin, Jesse Le Soffer, Dick Miller, John Sayles

MISTER ORGAN

Filmmaker In Person

David Farrier | 2022 | New Zealand | 96 mins

Is Michael Organ the most mysterious man in New Zealand, or is he just the most annoying? A simple investigation into a parking lot scam leads down a deep and dark rabbit hole of half-truths, veiled threats and toxic personalities in this riveting documentary from journalist and filmmaker David Farrier (Tickled).

Featuring: David Farrier

MONOLITH

Filmmaker In Person

Matt Vesely | 2022 | Australia | 94 min

An anonymous email prompts a disgraced podcaster to launch a worldwide investigation into mysterious black bricks that have touched and sometimes destroyed people’s lives, and she’s doing it all without leaving the house in this ingenious thriller filmed with one actress and one location, but packed with plenty of surprises.

Cast: Lily Sullivan

MY ANIMAL

Filmmaker In Person

Jacqueline Castel | 2023 | Canada | 103 min

A coming-of-age tale equally concerned with the coming of the next full moon, this visually stunning queer romance follows two teen girls struggling to come to terms with their desires, their fears and, for one of them, a family curse of bloodlust and lycanthropy.

Cast: Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Amandla Stenberg, Stephen McHattie, Heidi von Palleske, Cory Lipman, Joe Apollonio, Scott Thompson

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE

10th Anniversary Screening
Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan In Person

Jim Jarmusch | 2013 | USA/Germany/UK | 123 min

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston star in Jim Jarmusch’s sly take on vampires. The two play centuries-old vampire lovers, more passionate about music and literature than bloodletting. Reunited in Detroit after decades apart, they explore the city and each other by night, until an unexpected guest causes everything to change.

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright

Presented By New Orleans Vampire Cafe

SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING

Quentin Dupieux | 2022 | France | 80 min

Iconoclast Quentin Dupieux (Deerskin, Mandibles) returns with a film that’s funny, gooey and guaranteed to surprise. When superhero team Tobacco Force is ordered by their talking rat of a boss to take a vacation before facing the world’s greatest supervillain, they pass the time by telling fantastical stories of mayhem and mutilation.

Cast: Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Amamra

THE TINGLER

Presented in “Percepto!”
Selected By Joe Dante

Live Introduction by Dr. Fearless

William Castle | 1959 | USA | 82 min

When asked which William Castle film he’d like to see at Overlook, Joe Dante replied, much to our delight, “The Tingler.” Vincent Price stars in this shocker about a doctor obsessed with capturing a deadly parasitic creature he believes lives in the spine of terrified people. To ensure your survival of this special screening, presented in full “Percepto!,” we suggest you scream. Scream for your lives!

Cast: Vincent Price, Philip Coolidge, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman

TRIM SEASON

World Premiere
Filmmaker In Person

Ariel Vida | 2023 | USA

Completely cut off from the outside world, a small crew of trimmers working on a remote marijuana farm discover the stalks there have disturbingly deep roots in ancient blood-soaked traditions. Now they must fight to escape the final harvest in this stylized and twisted tale of the Emerald Triangle.

Cast: Bethlehem Million, Alex Essoe, Ally Ioannides, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Jane Badler, Juliette Kenn De Balinthazy, Marc Senter, Paris Warner, Ryan Donowho, Chelsea Jurkiewicz, Lorenzo Antonucci, Cory Hart, Austin R. Grant, Arianna Scott, Corynn Treadwell

WE KILL FOR LOVE

World Premiere
Filmmaker In Person

Anthony Penta | 2023 | USA | 163 min

Take a deep dive into the sultry, shadowy world of direct-to-video erotic thrillers — films of mysterious strangers, sexual obsessions and crimes of passion that once dominated video store shelves and late night cable. This in-depth documentary celebrates the genre with insight, filmmaker interviews and an amazing array of clips that will leave you lusting for more.

Featuring: Kira Reed Lorsch, Andrew Stevens, Monique Parent, Amy Lindsay, Linda Ruth Williams, Jim Wynorski, Fred Olen Ray

THE WRATH OF BECKY

Filmmaker In Person

Matt Angel, Suzanna Coote | 2023 | USA | 83 min

Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman — a kindred spirit named Elena. But when a group known as the “Noble Men” break into their home, attack them and take her beloved dog, Diego, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.

Cast: Lulu Wilson, Seann William Scott, Denise Burse, Jill Larson, Courtney Gains, Michael Sirow, Aaron Dalla Villa, Matt Angel, Kate Siegel

SHORTS PROGRAM 1: QUEER HORROR

Filmmakers In Person

LGBTQIA+ characters and creatives have been part of the horror genre since its inception. This sexy, shocking, anarchic, unsettling and very queer collection of short films not only makes the personal political, it makes it terrifying as well.

GNAW Dir. Rosalee Yagihara | 2022 | Canada

SMOKING KILLS Dir. Dulcinee DeGuere | 2022 | USA 

ROLE PLAY Dir. Bill Neil | 2023 | USA

RINGING ROCKS Dir. Gus Reed | 2023 | USA 

SNATCHED Dir. Michael Schwartz | 2022 | USA 

VIOLET BUTTERFIELD, MAKEUP ARTIST FOR
THE DEAD Dir. Brooke H. Cellars | 2022 | USA

BITTEN, A TRAGEDY Dir. Monika Estrella Negra | 2021 | USA

87 Min

SHORTS PROGRAM 2: TALES OF THE UNCANNY

Filmmakers In Person

Sci-fi and horror are close cousins, and some of the scariest, most hair-raising films are ones that blur the lines between the two genres. Our Tales of the Uncanny shorts program lives in this liminal space, where fear comes in many shapeshifting forms.

GO TO BED RAYMOND Dir. Nicole Taylor-Roberts | 2022 | USA

SPLINTER Dir. Marc Bernardin | 2022 | USA

VARIATIONS OF A THEME Dir. Peter Collins Campbell | USA | 2022

DEAD ENDERS Dir. Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker | 2023 | USA 

ANGELS Dir. Samantha Aldana | 2022 | USA 

FROM.BEYOND Dir. Fredrik S. Hana| 2022 | Norway

NIGHT WORK Dir. Savanna Hunter-Reeves | 2022 | USA

DIASPORA Dir. Tyler Mckenzie Evans | 2022 | Canada

83 Min

SHORTS PROGRAM 3: SEX & DEATH

Filmmakers In Person

Two of humanity’s most fundamental experiences form the thematic through line to a shorts program that’s not afraid to go there — whatever “there” means to you. 

DEW CLAWS  Dir. Carolina Sandvik | 2021 | Sweden

A STREET CAT NAMED DESIRE Dir. Eric Layer | 2022 | USA

SCOOTER Dir. Chelsea Lupkin | 2022 | USA

RINGWORMS Dir. Will Lee | 2022 | USA

NIGHT OF THE BRIDE  Dir. Virat Pal | 2022 | India

ONE GOOD NIGHT Dir. Orok Duke | 2022 | Nigeria

FIRST BLOOD  Dir. Olivia Loccisano | 2022 | Canada

IN THE FLESH Dir. Daphne Gardner | 2022 | USA

KICKSTART MY HEART Dir. Kelsey Bollig | 2022 | USA

101 Min