Starring: Cory McAbee, Rocco Sisto, Gregory Russell Cook, Annie Golden, James Ransone

20th Anniversary screening with writer/director/star Cory McAbee in person!

The story of a rare-goods trading astronaut’s intergalactic adventures, this playfully odd object is the creation of Cory McAbee, who wrote the music as well as writing, directing, and playing the lead. A gumbo of genres – musical, western, comedy, sci-fi, experimental – The American Astronaut obsesses over women, who are talked about but rarely seen, revealing a strange world of ruminating men, meeting in taverns and worshipping at the feet of “The Boy Who Actually Saw a Woman’s Breast.” Comparisons to David Lynch and Guy Maddin may be hard to escape, but this is inventive and inimitable in its own right, with muddy black and white cinematography and a line-up of craggy faced men who aren’t too tough to break out into song.

Starring: Brittany S. Hall, Will Brill, Gail Bean, Drew Fuller, Ben Levin

Young couple Renesha (Brittany S. Hall) and Evan (Will Brill) negotiate a variety of questions, judgments, and other comments on their interracial relationship. Yet, the most significant test for the strength of their bond arrives in the form of a brutal sexual assault Renesha suffers. A frantic Evan must then drive the distressed Renesha across the city in hopes of securing a rape kit, encountering further prejudice along the way.

Starring: Eusebio Poncela, Cecilia Roth, Will More

Brand-new 35mm print!

Arrebato’s dimension-shattering blend of heroin, sex, and Super-8 is the final word on cinemania. This towering feat of counterculture was the final feature of cult filmmaker and movie poster designer Iván Zulueta – is a film without genre, and is Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite horror film!

Horror movie director José is adrift in a sea of doubt and drugs. As his belated second feature nears completion, his reclusive bubble is popped by two events: a sudden reappearance from an ex-girlfriend and a package from past acquaintance Pedro: a reel of Super-8 film, an audiotape, and a door key. From there, the boundaries of time, space, and sexuality are erased as José is once more sucked into Pedro’s vampiric orbit. Together, they attempt the ultimate hallucinogenic catharsis through a moebius strip of filming and being filmed.

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, Magnus Millang

Four high school teachers consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives.

The second local shorts program from Brooklyn Horror Fest will chill you to the bone with tales that fall within the realm of real-life horror including a sick game of death, a bad romance, and a therapy session gone so, so wrong.

The Cell-Tale Heart
dir. Jess Jacklin

Hazel
dir. Jordan Doig

Twin
dir. Daniel Daly

Other Bodies
dir. Alyssa Loh

Gold
dir. Gi Gonzales

Someone’s In Here
dir. Ben Kitnick

Bed
dir. Emily Bennett

Where No One Will Find Her
dir. Ahnmin Lee

Andronicus
dir. Mark H. Rapaport

Starring: Libby Ewing, Evan Dumouchel, MacLeod Andrews

U.S. premiere

Wilson Shaw (Evan Dumouchel) and his sister Daphne (Libby Ewing) have suffered through disappointment after disappointment for their entire lives. Only during the final throes of their misery do they discover a malevolent entity has been behind their misfortune all along, and the siblings set out to eradicate it from their bloodline once and for all. With his third feature, following the acclaimed They Look Like People and The Siren (BHFF 2018 Closing Night), Perry Blackshear gathers the same great core acting trio of his previous films plus the excellent Ewing to tell his darkest story yet— one of fierce love and loyalty in the face of ultimate evil.

Starring: Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale, Jake Weber

NY premiere

A mother’s death hangs over her children’s lives in this haunting, Southern Gothic tale. As the story unfolds through four chapters, we’re introduced to the vastly different lives of a group of adult siblings from the codependent relationship between Thomas and his abusive father Josiah, to the criminal life of Eli and Mary, whose main concern is adopting a child of her own. Each new section brings a shift in genre while always maintaining a dark and foreboding tone culminating in a shocking reunion at their childhood farmhouse.

Starring: Isabelle Fuhrman, Rory Culkin, Shane Coffey

U.S. premiere; co-presented by Newfest

In mid-1800s New York, Mary has to keep her romance with her family’s maid, Eleanor, hidden, as it goes against every belief that her intensely religious family holds dear. Despite their efforts, they’re caught, and the consequences that befall Mary go beyond just the Lord’s ways—they tap into evil as well. Ornate in its period-specific production and basking in its slow-burn creepiness, first-time filmmaker Edoardo Vitaletti’s impressive debut explores the darker sides of faith-gone-wrong fanaticism with precision and a sneakily malignant force. A Shudder Original Film.

Starring: Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Lisa Palfrey, Rhodri Meilir

NY premiere

A luxurious dinner party inside a lush house in the Welsh countryside is doomed upon the arrival of the family’s mysterious new hired helper with a dark agenda of her own. Gorgeously shot and viciously cruel, award-winning director Lee Haven Jones’ transfixing knockout marries angry eco-horror with a brutal classism takedown, resulting in a first-class modern folk nightmare. It’s nirvana for arthouse horror lovers. An IFC Midnight release.

Starring: Regina Lei, Berant Zhu, Ying-Ru Chen, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Lue-Keng Huang, Wei-Hua Lan, Ralf Chiu, Emerson Tsai

East Coast premiere

In eerily prescient pandemic time Taiwan, the Alvin Virus is seemingly in retreat when it suddenly mutates and explodes. As the infected become depraved lunatics, acting out their sickest and most violent desires, a young couple caught in the infernal crossfire are hurtled into an unimaginable fight for survival. With The Sadness, director Rob Jabbaz takes a blood-and-puss-filled syringe to the zombie genre, injecting it with relentless visions of murderous carnage and sexual savagery. You’ve been warned.