Starring: Steve Wang, Troy Fromin, Johnnie Saiko, Les Claypool III, ‘Evil’ Ted Smith
When their village is threatened by an ancient dark lord known as The Bamboo Man, a master thief and his two sidekicks steal a map and set off on a quest to find the only superpower in the land big enough to save their home and rid the world of evil. But these Rascals will have to kick, punch and fart their way through every ninja, monster and mutant in sight before they can restore peace.
A frantic, eccentric and loving homage to Asian cinema in all its forms, Kung Fu Rascals is part old school chop socky movie, Kaiju flick and Power Rangers episode rolled into one. The directorial debut from legendary Hollywood special effects artist Steve Wang (The Monster Squad, Predator, The Guyver, Drive), this Super 8 epic showcases both his monster make-up mastery and sharp action movie sensibilities.
Hosted by Matt Desiderio of Horror Boobs with free giveaways of Blu-rays, DVDs and collectibles. Followed by an after party in Lo-Res where Desiderio will DJ an all-vinyl set.
Starring: Thom Myers, Laura Ellis, Robert Bradeen, Glen Coburn, Pat Paulsen
In rural Texas, several farmers are transformed into bloodthirsty, chatty zombie killers when a mysterious mist from outer space infects the earth. A young couple must warn townsfolk and try to escape before inept government officials drop a bomb and nuke them all out of existence.
Glen Coburn’s hilarious, gag-and-gore filled homage to 1950s horror and sci-fi classics has remained a fan favorite for nearly four decades since its VHS debut in video stores across the country. And it remains one of the best, most successful examples of low budget regional filmmaking and 1980s gross out horror comedy.
Hosted by Matt Desiderio of Horror Boobs with free giveaways of Blu-rays, DVDs and collectibles. Followed by an after party in Lo-Res where Desiderio will DJ an all-vinyl set.
Starring: Rudy Ray Moore, Mark Glover, Nick Stodden, Rebecca Rose, Jenni Geigel
A new deadly drug named ‘Rapture’ has taken over the streets of New York City, and a pair of cops have been tasked with finding its source. Little do they know that the drug was created by an army of demons that live under NYC, who have also just conjured the Antichrist. Now the cops must rescue the spawn of Satan and get it across town to Pastor Williams (Rudy Ray Moore) in order to baptize and exorcise the baby beast.
Perhaps the most dense and extravagant effort from prolific SOV madman Todd Sheets, Violent New Breed features multiple plotlines, countless characters and a juicy helping of his trademark gore that all twist together into a unique stew of satanic panic horror and summer tentpole ambition on a camping tent budget.
Hosted by Matt Desiderio of Horror Boobs with free giveaways of Blu-rays, DVDs and collectibles. Followed by an after party in Lo-Res where Desiderio will DJ an all-vinyl set.
Starring: Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos
Celebrated filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange) makes a breathtaking return with Passages, a fresh, honest and brutally funny take on messy, modern relationships, starring Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom), Ben Whishaw (Women Talking) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour). Set in Paris, this seductive drama tells the story of Tomas (Rogowski) and Martin (Whishaw), a gay couple whose marriage is thrown into crisis when Tomas begins a passionate affair with Agathe (Exarchopoulos), a younger woman he meets after completing his latest film.
Perceptive, intimate and unashamedly sexy, Passages sees Sachs bridge his usually tender style with a uniquely European sensibility, providing an insightful and authentic take on the complexities, contradictions and cruelties of love and desire.
Starring: María Onetto, Claudia Cantero, César Bordón, Daniel Genoud, Guillermo Arengo, Inés Efron
While driving down a deserted road, Veronica (María Onetto) hits something with her car as she struggles to answer her cell phone. After admitting to her husband, Marcos (César Bordón), that she thinks she may have killed someone, all traces of Veronica’s activities in the previous days begin to disappear. What ensues is a psychological exploration of an unfaithful wife whose unconscious battle with guilt begins to unravel not only her life but also her grip on reality.
Starring: Jason Selvig, Kara Young, Ben Horner, Davram Stiefler, Reema Sampat
Jason (Jason Selvig), a disillusioned pharmaceutical employee, is fired after a drug-fueled social media post goes viral, but when he accidentally discovers a deadly opioid conspiracy hidden by his former boss (Davram Stiefler) he sets out to redeem himself. In this noir comedy-thriller set in the age of tech, Jason goes on the run as a reluctant whistleblower trying to expose the crime with the help of his computer wiz cousin Charlie (Kara Young) and his journalist ex-girlfriend Priya (Reema Sampat), but the CEO (Ben Horner) at the heart of the scandal has other plans.
Starring: Mirela Gorea, Marcel Iures, Dan Condurache, Ion Chelaru, Calin Cazan, Mircea Toia
Best described as an early 80s Eastern European space-prog album high on sugary breakfast cereal, Heavy Metal magazine, Hanna-Barbera cartoons and 8-bit arcade games like Galaxian and Asteroids, all of these elements will give you some idea of the otherworldly weirdness of the Romanian animated sci-fi film Delta Space Mission. In the year 3084, Alma, a Modigliani-esque alien journalist with blue-green skin, boards a state-of-the-art spacecraft named Delta whose highly advanced computer brain develops a mad teenage crush on her with disastrous results.
Starring: Gayle Rankin, Hari Nef, Annabelle Dexter Jones, Rad Pereira, Jared Abrahamson, Molly Ringwald
The Future of Film is Female presents a special one-night only screening of the new hotel horror film, BAD THINGS. Q&A with writer/director Stewart Thorndike. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.
When a group of friends escape the city to spend the weekend in an abandoned hotel, a pervading eerie energy begins to illuminate the cracks in their little family unit. Ruthie Nodd (Gayle Rankin) inherits the hotel from her grandmother and with bad childhood memories threatening to burst to the surface, Ruthiewants to sell the hotel and never return. But her partner Cal (Hari Nef) drags her there in the hopes of returning it to its former glory. They are joined by their amiable friend Maddie (Rad Pereira) and mysterious grifter Fran (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), whose unhinged seduction threatens to drive a wedge between the couple. As the friends dance, cook, flirt, and fight up and down the halls of the hotel, they begin to find themselves indelibly entwined in the hotel’s seductive embrace and start doing bad things to each other.
Starring: Gary Snars Allan, Olly Bassi, Shaun Davidson, Mark Burdett, Valerie Birss, Adam Harper, Andy Moore, Irvine Welsh
It’s the first day of April in 1945, the Axis shaken after a round of blockbusters decimate buildings around the Nazi occupied war-torn city of Kassel. A group of German soldiers huddle round to keep the heat, smoking cigarettes in buildings almost reduced to rubble telling tales of a one man wrecking ball who seems impervious to German bullets, striking fear into the hearts of Wehrmacht and Schutzstaffel alike. No, it’s not the skull cracking, baseball bat wielding Bear Jew, it’s not Stepan Petrenko the deadeye sharpshooting Russian, this man is those two combined and then some, It’s the Nazi-crushing, Panzer-eating Dick Dynamite.
Starring: Kit Zauhar, Scott Albrecht, Tiye Amenechi, Isabelle Barbier, Mae Claire, Jackson Crook
NoBudge Presents is a new series of feature films made by young and emerging filmmakers with limited budgets and distinct visions. For our third screening, we’re happy to present Actual People, the debut film of writer/director/actor, Kit Zauhar — one of our favorite micro-budget features from the last couple of years. Screening beforehand is Semen Retention for a Better Tomorrow, a striking stop-motion animated short from Alexandra Neuman. Both filmmakers will be present.
Actual People: In her final week of college, a young woman goes to great lengths to win the affections of a boy from Philadelphia and ends up confronting escalating anxieties about her love life, family and future. Written and directed by Kit Zauhar. Presented by NoBudge and Factory 25. Q&A following with Zauhar and NoBudge programmer, Kentucker Audley. (RT: 84 min)
Semen Retention for a Better Tomorrow: Motivated by the causal relationship between patriarchal domination and the climate crisis, the film integrates climate science, ecofeminism and tantric alchemy into a speculative ethos for bodily and planetary healing. Directed by Alexandra Neuman. (RT: 6 min)
