SUNDANCE 2008

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Park City at Midnight

Park City at Midnight films amuse, surprise, or shock the bleary-eyed viewer and offer a lively last stop on the nightly social circuit or a final dose of cinematic nourishment for the film obsessed. A treat for true cinephiles and casual filmgoers alike, this section presents and eclectic mix of horror, over-the-top comedies, surreal tales, explicit animation, and bizarre stories that defy categorization. HELL RIDE (REVIEW, stills) Director: Larry Bishop Writer: Larry Bishop Starring: Larry Bishop, Eric Balfour, Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Dennis Hopper, Kanin J. Howell, Michael Beach, Cassandra Hepburn, Leonor Varela, Laura Cayouette, Julia Jones, Francesco Quinn, Alison McAtee, David Grieco, Theresa Alexandria Bishop will play bad-ass biker Pistolero, (named after the original title for Robert Rodriguez’s “Desperado”) who along with his brother The Gent and Comanche, hit the road to avenge the death of Pistolero’s old lady Cherokee Kisum, by the 666ers a rival motorcycle gang. THE BROKEN (REVIEW, stills) Director: Sean Ellis Writer: Lene Bausager Starring: Lena Headey, Richard Jenkins, Melvil Poupaud, Ulrich Thomsen, Michelle Duncan, Asier Newman "The Broken" is a psychological horror project, starring Lena Headey as a woman whose life descends into nightmare after she sees an apparent double of herself driving by in her own car. DONKEY PUNCH (stills) Director: Olly Blackburn Writer: Olly Blackburn, David Bloom Starring: Jaime Winstone, Tom Burke, Julian Morris, Robert Boulter The film centers on the freak death of a partygoer on a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean and the conflict that arises among the surviving passengers. DIARY OF THE DEAD (REVIEW, trailer, stills) Director: George A. Romero Writer: George A. Romero Starring: Shawn Roberts, Joshua Close, Michelle Morgan, Jon Dinicoi, Phillip Riccio, Scott Wentworth With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches. FUNNY GAMES (REVIEW, trailer, stills) Director: Michael Haneke Writer: Michael Haneke Starring: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart In this provocative and brutal thriller from director Michael Haneke, a vacationing family gets an unexpected visit from two deeply disturbed young men. Their idyllic holiday turns nightmarish as they are subjected to unimaginable terrors and struggle to stay alive. TIMECRIMES (REVIEW, trailer, stills) Director: Nacho Vigalondo Writer: Nacho Vigalondo Starring: Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences. OTTO; or, Up With Dead People (REVIEW, stills) Director: Bruce La Bruce Writer: Bruce La Bruce Starring: Jey Crisfar, Katharina Klewinghaus, Susanne Sachsse, Marcel Schlutt, Guido Sommer, Christophe Chemin, Gio Black Peter Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a boy of no wealth and some distaste. My name is Otto. I unlive in Berlin sometimes, sometimes farther north, depending on mood. Then again, I only have one mood: dead. Undead. I find it difficult to make an unliving because I am homeless. I recently starred in a movie called Otto, made by a crazy lesbian avant-garde filmmaker named Medea Yarn. She paid me a little, but I'm waiting for the royalties. Speaking of royalty, I was once anointed Prince of the Zombies. It was at a garbage dump. You had to be there. You'll have to excuse me for now. I have to go eat some roadkill. A bientot. x Otto ----------------------- *Not Midnight RED (REVIEW, stills) Director: Trygve Allister Diesen, Lucky McKee Writer: Stephen Susco, Jack Ketchum Starring: Brian Cox, Kyle Gallner, Tom Sizemore, Shiloh Fernandez, Robert Englund, Amanda Plummer, Richard Riehle, Angela Bettis, Ashley Laurence, Noel Fisher, Lauren Birkell, Marcia Bennett, Delaney Williams, Jesse Hlubik, Katie Piel, Keith Buterbaugh, Greg Stuhr A couple of kids kill just for fun a dog named 'Red', the trusty hound of an old gent. The owner finds out who they are, and tries to bring them to justice by informing the authorities. However, this amounts to nothing, so he decides to dish out his own brand of retribution. Writer Stephen Susco tells B-D, "RED was a passion project for everyone involved, a nearly-five-year uphill battle to bring Jack Ketchum’s brilliant novel to the screen. It’s truly a delight that everyone’s hard work and determination has culminated in this recognition by Sundance." We'll bring you an interview with him before the event. TRANSSIBERIAN (REVIEW, trailer, stills) Director: Brad Anderson Writer: Brad Anderson Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kate Mara, Eduardo Noriega, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley The story focuses on an American couple that travels on the famous Trans-Siberian train from China to Moscow and encounters another couple. What seems to be a simple train journey soon turns into a thrilling chase full of deception and murder as it becomes clear that not everybody is what they seem. FEAR[S] OF THE DARK (REVIEW, trailer, stills) Director/Writers: Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Jerry Kramsky, Lorenzo Mattotti, Richard McGuire, Michel Pirus, Romain Slocombe Starring: Guillaume Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Aure Atika, Arthur H, Louisa Pili, Francois Creton, Christian Hecq Six graphic artists and cartoonists have breathed life into their nightmares, bleeding away color only to retain the starkness of light and the pitch black of shadows. Their intertwined stories make up an unprecedented epic where phobias, disgust and nightmares come to life and reveal Fear at its most naked and intense.