The programming block will also feature a special screening of 2009's THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO with director Niels Arden Oplev in attendance.
DARKHOUSE 2023 LINE-UP INCLUDES:
Abruptio (dir. Evan Marlowe)
USA, 94 minutes // East Coast Premiere
Les Hackel is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him.
Main cast: James Marsters, Jordan Peele, Robert Englund, Sid Haig and Darren Darnborough.East Coast Premiere
The screening is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum in NYC.
Ghost Babe (dir. Pipe Delgado)
USA, 80 minutes
Three surfer bros get tangled up in an 80-year-old murder mystery after inheriting a mansion haunted by the foxy spirit of a legendary 1930s Hollywood starlet. Is this the end for them, or just the beginning?
Unicorn Boy (dir. Matt Kiel)
USA, 90 minutes
When a heartbroken young artist is sucked into a unicorn-run alternate dimension, they must help conquer a dark force in order to bring peace to the kingdom and themselves.
Main cast: Matt Kiel, Patton Oswalt and Harold Perrineau
Special Screening:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (dir. Niels Arden Oplev)
Sweden, 152 mins
The first installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series (2009). A troubled computer hacker (Noomi Rapace) and a disgraced journalist are hired by the wealthy Henrik Vanger to investigate the suspicious disappearance of his niece 40 years earlier. As the pair dig deeper, they discover evidence pointing to a scripture-minded serial killer.
Director Niels Arden Oplev will be in attendance.DARKHOUSE Shorts:A Body Appeared at the Lake Today USA, 5 minsDirector: Brian Ratigan
A found footage examination of what happened at the lake today. Images randomly selected from found footage; poems written without images; music written without images or words. A collaborative work by Non Films. 8mm found footage: New York, 1953. Assembled in Brooklyn.
AlieNationCanada, 14 minsDirector: Ray Raghavan
A young Mexican girl, lost in the forest, must find her mother while being pursued by border patrol agents and something otherworldly.
Beneath Cracked PavementUSA, 16 minsDirector: Marcus Fahey
Three Brooklyn highschoolers set out to make a quick buck selling candy bars in their neighborhood… but after stumbling onto the scene of a gruesome murder, the teens wind up being kidnapped and taken hostage by the occult hipsters who’ve just moved in.
US Premiere
BirdhouseUSA, 11 minsDirector: Jesca Prudencio
A curious young boy and his family arrive at an AirBnb filled with birdhouses that are both whimsical… and haunting. East Coast PremiereBlack Dragon (Rồng đen)USA, 14 minsDirector: Alexander Thompson
Vietnam, 1968. A feared American colonel, nicknamed the Black Dragon by Vietnamese locals, must face his inner shadow when his platoon presents him with a captured Viet Cong girl who harbors some very unusual powers.
The BreakthroughUSA, 14 minsDirector: Daniel Sinclair
Jane and Teddy are on the brink of divorce, but when their marital problems come to a sticking point, they have an unexpected breakthrough.
Starring Greta Lee, Ben Sinclair, Kristin Slaysman, and Hana Marie Kim. Winner of Best Live Action Short Film at the Phoenix Film Festival and Special Jury Award for Performances at the Sonoma International Film Festival.
ConsumerUSA, 12 minsDirector: Stephanie Izsak
Tortured by toxic beauty standards, thirteen-year-old Rein discovers an unconventional and disturbing way to lose weight. She thinks she's found a fast track to perfection... but ends up biting off more than she can chew.
EchoUSA, 3 minsDirector: Matthew Brennan
A woman plays back a mysterious old tape.
ElisabethSwitzerland, 14 minsDirector: Monica De Almeida
Recently widowed, Mr. Bojac feels like he’s losing his mind. Oppressed by dreams, death, and a name repeated over and over again, he tries to understand their meaning. Even Jo, brought in to help him regain some mental clarity, leads him instead into psychological turmoil.
East Coast PremiereEmpty Windows USA, 14 minsDirector: Andrew Rosenstein
A little boy with schizophrenia survives a murder-suicide attempt at the hands of his mother. Haunted by the past, he stops taking medication to confront his demons.
EscalationItaly, 15 minsDirector: Christian Bachini
A paranoid and self-centered man has to decide what kind of person he is inside, or it may just eat him... alive.
Florence in Customer CareUSA, 14 minsDirectors: Jordan Sommerlad & Cory Stonebrook
A customer care representative at a furniture website begins to unravel as a mysterious rash appears on her body.
Get AwayUSA, 15 minsDirector:Michael Gabriele
A group of friends spending the weekend at a remote vacation rental in the desert play a mysterious VHS tape and realize that there are too many strange and terrifying coincidences.
East Coast PremiereGiven AgainUSA, 9 minsDirector: Jake Oleson
A painter’s obsession with a pattern in nature disrupts her sense of what is real. The more she fixates on this pattern, the more reality falls apart.
Half SamuraiUSA/Japan, 11 minsDirector: Rashad Haughton
A mysterious drifter wanders into a bar owned by a psychopathic Yakuza gang on Halloween night.
Higher GroundUSA, 17 minsDirector: Joe Kramer
On the fateful day intelligent life arrives to destroy Earth, a slacker alien gets sidetracked from his mission when he’s smitten with a bitter barista. Suddenly, our survival depends on whether this space-schmuck can get her number before his plucky partner blows us sky high.
JuneNew Zealand, 15 minsDirector:Dwayne Cameron
Willow and David receive serious news causing their world to disintegrate over the following 24 hours. This one day in June for the couple holds raw despair, unleashing carnal natures, but a transcendent occurrence offers them the hope of new life.
In the MountainsUSA, 5 minsDirector: Wally Chung
A couple go hiking and something weird happens.
The KeysAustralia, 18 minsDirector: Pann MuruJaiyan
Rupert, a real estate agent in 1949 Los Angeles, pilfers an estate listing to prove his merit but soon discovers that his actions have put him in grave danger.
The Lake Merritt MonsterUSA, 17 minsDirector: Benjamin Mulholland
When Ollie Henderson’s mother is attacked by a monster hiding in the depths of Lake Merritt, he sets out on a mission to find her — discovering instead a hidden network of monster hunters tasked with protecting Oakland from its own dark underbelly.
Late NightNepal, 12 minsDirector: Obeid Uddin
After a late-night study session, Tara decides to head home. But the driver she booked has a mysterious history with her family... and ulterior motives against her.
The Little MermanUSA, 13 minsDirectors: Cristian Paluso & Melanie Ooi
An isolated woman on the Puget Sound makes a mysterious discovery on the beach in this psychological fantasy.
World Premiere