Are you excited for Sundance 2021? We know we are! Covid be damned, those lovely people out in Utah have put together quite a programme for 2021, and that includes some pretty eye-catching horror and horror-adjacent offerings. We’ve selected 10 that we find particularly exciting. Will these end up being the best of the bunch? Time will tell, but for now here are the horror films we think you should rush to buy tickets for – or at least keep an eye on, review-wise…
- Censor (Dir: Prano Bailey-Bond) – Film censor Enid is assigned a disturbing film that mirrors her own hazy memories of her sister’s disappearance. A debut from the UK’s own Bailey-Bond, and very buzzy…
- John And The Hole (Dir: Pascual Sisto) – A boy discovers a bunker, and to his immense joy manages to trap his family in it. Freedom for me, but not for thee!
- In The Earth (Dir: Ben Wheatley) – During a deadly pandemic a scientist and his scout head deep into a forest to reach a test site. But not everything in the forest is as it appears. Shot by genre legend Wheatley during lockdown. Another UK entry!
- Knocking (Dir: Frida Kempff) – Molly hears knocking coming from the attic of her new apartment. Is someone trapped? In a deep heatwave, she struggles to find the source, and as the situation escalates she wonders… why doesn’t anybody care? Sounds delightfully paranoid.
- Prime Time (Dir: Jakub Piatek) – In 1999, 20-year-old Sebastian locks himself and two hostages in a TV studio. He has a gun and message, but will anybody be listening? This thriller is the debut feature from Piatek.
- Eight For Silver (Dir: Sean Ellis) – 19th century Irish werewolf movie, from the director of Metro Manilla and Anthropoid. Hurrah!
- The Blazing World (Dir: Carlson Young) – A young woman’s traumatic memories of her sister dying in a family fight may or may not be real – to be sure, she must journey into the blazing world of her own mind. Looks stylish and absurd – two of my favourite adjectives.
- Prisoners of the Ghostland (Dir: Sion Sono) – A shotgun-toting Nicolas Cage must tear Samurai Town apart in a bid to find the Mayor’s daughter. Not that he wants to – it’s just that he’s been sown into a leather suit that’s set to self-destruct. Sono directing Cage in an unhinged, delirious spin on Escape from New York? SOLD.
- A Glitch In The Matrix (Dir: Rodney Asher) – This documentary explores that timeless undergrad talking point… might we all be living in a simulation?
- We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Dir: Jane Schoenbrun) – A teenage girl is drawn into an online role-playing game. From what we hear, this debut feature from Schoenbrun is completely off the wall, and a true original.
Keep an eye on our Twitter channel for first responses as the films play, and check back here for reviews and roundups!
Sundance is currently playing, and runs until Feb 3rd.
Whitlock&Pope 