Tribeca 2014: Midnight Section Includes Zombeavers, Extraterrestrial, and More; New Stills!
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The second half of the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival’s features slate is here, and with films like Zombeavers, Extraterrestrial, Preservation, and Indigenous included in the Midnight section, there’s a lot for horror fans to love.
In the Spotlight section there are a few thriller/horror-ish sounding films, plus a documentary on Alice Cooper that should be of interest to genre fans, so we’re including them here as well.
From the Press Release:
The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight, Midnight, and Special Screenings sections as well as the selections for the Storyscapes program.
The Midnight section will open with the feature film Preservation and includes a lineup of genre-bending titles from fresh voices around the world that run the gamut from tongue-in-cheek comedy to chilling horror films. “Whether they made us laugh, squirm, or plain scared the heck out of us, each of the films in this year’s Midnight section never failed to genuinely surprise us with wildly original and unexpected reimaginings of classic genre stories,” said Cara Cusumano, Programmer. “From ghost stories to creature features, and even an underdog sports comedy, we’re proud to present an eclectic and adventurous slate of films that we believe represent the year’s most interesting new voices in genre filmmaking.”
The 13th edition of the Festival will take place from April 16th to April 27th in New York City. For more info visit the official Tribeca Film Festival website, “like” the Tribeca Film Festival on Facebook, and follow Tribeca Film Festival (@TribecaFilmFest) on Twitter and join the conversation by using the hashtag #TFF2014.
MIDNIGHT
What do alien invaders and chupacabras have in common with a sword-wielding maniac and the ghost of a turn-of-the-century murderer? They can all be found in Tribeca’s 2014 Midnight program, a collection of this year’s most boundary-pushing genre films from around the globe. Opening Night selection Preservation is a moody, intelligent take on the maniac in the woods genre and an apt foreshadowing of the slew of inhuman baddies that emerge from the darkness to terrify sexed-up teens in Extraterrestrial, Indigenous, and sure-to-be-a-conversation-piece special screening Zombeavers. Meanwhile, a rookie cop takes on his deranged doppelganger in bizarre German horror-cum-arthouse film Der Samurai. Too terrifying, strange, or downright hilarious for daylight hours, these films wear their Midnight Movie moniker with pride.
The Canal, directed and written by Ivan Kavanagh. (Ireland) – World Premiere, Narrative.
Film archivist David and his wife are perfectly happy—or so he believes. When a looming secret shatters their marriage at the same time as a turn-of-the-century film reel he is studying reveals their house to be the site of a 1902 multiple-murder, David begins to unravel, and the house’s eerie history threatens to repeat itself. Dripping with tension and chilling to the core, this visceral Irish ghost story is a visually arresting and genuinely shocking journey into the darkness within.
Der Samurai, directed and written by Till Kleinert. (Germany) – International Premiere, Narrative.
A samurai-wielding figure wearing a white dress lurks menacingly in the forest, waiting to descend upon an unsuspecting village in the muddy backwaters of rural East Germany. As heads roll with each stroke of his sword, dutiful, straight-laced cop Jakob becomes increasingly
powerless to resist the draw of the Samurai’s feral otherness. The two enter into a bizarre folie à deux as Jakob is forced to confront his own carnal impulses that he has long sought to repress.
Extraterrestrial, directed by Colin Minihan, written by The Vicious Brothers. (Canada) – World Premiere, Narrative.
The Vicious Brothers (Grave Encounters) return to Tribeca with their latest heart-pumping thriller. Five friends set out to a cabin in the woods for a fun weekend getaway—that is, until extraterrestrial visitors turn it into a fight for their lives. The group is pulled from their reverie when a flickering object crashes deep in the woods. As they investigate, the friends stumble across an alien spacecraft, and its inhabitants have not arrived in peace.
Indigenous, directed by Alastair Orr, written by Max Roberts. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
A group of five American friends on the cusp of adulthood travel to Panama to relax and reconnect. They befriend a local woman in their hotel bar, and despite some ominous whispers, she goes against the specific instructions of her brother and takes the Americans on a day trip into the pristine falls at the nearby jungle. What begins as an innocent outing to a picturesque waterfall quickly turns terrifying after she suddenly goes missing. As night closes in, the friends realize too late the truth behind the rumors—the legendary, blood-sucking Chupacabra is now stalking them. In English and Spanish with subtitles.
Preservation, directed and written by Christopher Denham, (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
Three family members head deep into the woods for a hunting trip that doubles as a distraction from their troubles at home. When all of their gear is stolen, they turn on each other but soon realize there are much more treacherous forces at work. Actor Christopher Denham takes his second turn in the director’s chair with this finely crafted horror-thriller starring Pablo Schreiber (“The Wire,” “Orange Is the New Black”), Aaron Staton (“Mad Men”), and Wrenn Schmidt (“Boardwalk Empire”).
Zombeavers, directed and written by Jordan Rubin, co-written by Al Kaplan and Jon Kaplan. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
You know the story: Sexy teens head to a secluded lakeside cabin for a weekend of debauched fun, only to be menaced by a mysterious force picking them off one by one. But here, the culprit proves to be a horde of rabid zombie beavers! The B-movie creature feature is making a comeback, and with 2 million views of its trailer in its first two weeks alone, Zombeavers is a veritable phenomenon. And it’s finally here. Special midnight screening.
SPOTLIGHT (Co-Sponsored by The Lincoln Motor Company )
Every Secret Thing, directed by Amy Berg, written by Nicole Holofcener. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
One clear summer day in a Baltimore suburb, a baby goes missing from her front porch. Two young girls serve seven years for the crime and are released into a town that hasn’t fully forgiven or forgotten. Soon, another child is missing, and two detectives are called in to investigate the mystery in a community where everyone seems to have a secret. An ensemble cast, including Elizabeth Banks, Diane Lane, Dakota Fanning, and Nate Parker, brings to life Laura Lippman’s acclaimed novel of love, loss, and murder.
In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten), directed by Hans Petter Moland, written by Kim Fupz Aakeson. (Norway) – North American Premiere, Narrative.
Upstanding community leader Nils (Stellan Skarsgård) has just won an award for “Citizen of the Year” when he learns the news that his son has died of a heroin overdose. Suspecting foul play, Nils begins to investigate and soon finds himself at the center of an escalating underworld gang war between Serbian drug dealers and a sociopathic criminal mastermind known only as “The Count.” Hans Petter Moland’s action-thriller is an entertaining and intelligent black comedy set in the dead of frozen Norwegian winter. In English, Norwegian, and Swedish with English subtitles.
Super Duper Alice Cooper, directed and written by Reginald Harkema, Scot McFadyen, and Sam Dunn. (Canada) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Emerging from the Detroit music scene of the 1970s in a flurry of long hair and sequins, Alice Cooper restored hard rock with a sense of showmanship, while simultaneously striking fear into the hearts of Middle America with the chicken-slaughtering, dead-baby-eating theatrics that would cement his identity as a glam metal icon. Meticulously crafted from rare archival footage, Super Duper Alice Cooper tells the story of the man behind the makeup, Vincent Furnier, the son of a preacher, who got caught in the grip of his own monster.
Venus in Fur (La Vénus à la fourrure), directed and written by Roman Polanski, co-written by David Ives. (France, Poland) – North American Premiere, Narrative.
Thomas (Matthieu Almaric) is a theater director staging an adaptation of an obscure 19th century Austrian novel. Frustrated by the quality of actresses he has auditioned, Thomas is about to give up when mysterious Vanda (Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski’s wife) arrives in his theater unannounced, knowing every line by heart. As the two begin a fevered, intense, and at times aggressive collaboration, the lines between passion and obsession (and theater and reality) begin to blur in auteur Roman Polanski’s latest New York stage adaptation. In French and German with English subtitles. A Sundance Selects Release.
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