This year’s SXSW Film Festival (March 8-16, 2024), taking place in Austin, TX, just unveiled their lineup, and what a massive year for horror.
The 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival’s Opening Night TV Premiere is the highly anticipated Netflix series 3 Body Problem created, executive produced and written by Emmy Award winners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and Emmy Award nominee Alexander Woo. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg for what’s in store.
The fest unveiled its Midnight lineup, which includes the Samara Weaving-starring Azrael. Elsewhere, look for NEON’s highly anticipated Cuckoo set to make its premiere.
Read on for the genre titles included in SXSW 2024’s lineup, and stay tuned for additional programming announcements.
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Unforgettable features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres.
Cuckoo (Germany)
Director/Screenwriter: Tilman Singer, Producers: Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell, Ben Rimmer
On a trip to the German Alps with her father and stepmother, Gretchen discovers that the resort town where they’re staying hides sinister secrets, as she’s plagued by strange noises and frightening visions of a woman pursuing her. Cast: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, Jan Bluthardt (International Premiere)
MIDNIGHTER
Exciting after-dark features for genre lovers and the terminally curious.
Azrael
Director: E.L. Katz, Producers: Dan Kagan, Simon Barrett, Dave Caplan, Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Cast: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Katariina Unt, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (World Premiere)
Family
Director/Screenwriter: Benjamin Finkel, Producers: Lynette Howell Taylor, Samantha Housman, Benjamin Finkel
Summer, 2002. Watching her sick father decline, 11-year-old Johanna makes a call for a good spirit to save him. But something else comes instead. Cast: Ruth Wilson, Ben Chaplin, Lucinda Lee Dawson Gray, Allan Corduner (World Premiere)
Hood Witch (France)
Director: Saïd Belktibia, Producer: Ladj Ly, Screenwriters: Saïd Belktibia, Louis Penicaut
Nour makes a living from smuggling exotic animals for her city’s marabouts, wishing to get her son out of the city and offer him a better future. But an exorcism turns into a tragedy and Nour has to face a wave of violence that could cost their lives. Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Jérémy Ferrari, Amine Zariouhi, Issaka Sawadogo (North American Premiere)
Hunting Daze (Canada)
Director/Screenwriter: Annick Blanc, Producers: Maria Gracia Turgeon, Annick Blanc
Nina, a young, tempestuous woman, is taken in by a group of hunters in a remote cabin. In the midst of this tough, yet endearing, male microsociety, she feels like she finally belongs. A mysterious stranger’s arrival disrupts her newfound haven. Cast: Nahéma Ricci, Bruno Marcil, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi, Marc Beaupré, Alexandre Landry, Maxime Genois, Noubi Ndiaye (World Premiere)
It’s What’s Inside
Director/Screenwriter: Greg Jardin, Producers: William Rosenfeld, Jason Baum, Kate Andrews, Raúl Domingo
A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase. Cast: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Devon Terrell, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarden, David Thompson (Texas Premiere)
Kryptic (Canada, United Kingdom)
Director: Kourtney Roy, Producers: Amber Ripley, Sophie Venner, Josh Huculiak, Screenwriter: Paul Bromley
Kryptic is a psycho-thriller about a woman’s search for a missing monster hunter and her growing realization that she is inescapably linked to the creature being pursued. Cast: Chloe Pirrie, Jeff Gladstone, Jason Deline, Ali Rusu-Tahir, Christina Meredith Lewall, Patti Allen, Pam Kearns, Jennifer Copping (World Premiere)
Oddity (Ireland)
Director/Screenwriter: Damian McCarthy, Producers: Katie Holly, Laura Tunstall, Evan Horan
In this new supernatural spectacle from Caveat‘s Damian McCarthy, a blind medium uncovers the truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Jonathan French, Joe Rooney (World Premiere)
Things Will Be Different
Director/Screenwriter: Michael Felker, Producers: Shane Spiegel, Jacob Rosenthal, Michael Felker
In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points. Cast: Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Chloe Skoczen, Justin Benson, Sarah Bolger, Jori Lynn Felker (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Incredible features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres.
Dickweed
Director: Jonathan Ignatius Green, Producers: David Ricksecker, Jefferis Grey
Two people got kidnapped. One man lost his dick. No one got any money. This heist-gone-horribly-wrong led one Newport Beach detective on an international manhunt for the most twisted criminal he’s ever hunted. (World Premiere)
VISIONS
Audacious, risk-taking artists who demonstrate innovation and creativity.
Birdeater (Australia)
Directors: Jack Clark, Jim Weir, Producers: Stephanie Troost, Ulysses Oliver, Screenwriter: Jack Clark
When a bride-to-be is invited to her own fiancé’s bachelor party in the Australian outback, a night to remember takes a feral turn. Cast: Shabana Azeez, Mackenzie Fearnley, Ben Hunter, Jack Bannister, Clementine Anderson, Caroline McQuade (International Premiere)
Dead Mail
Directors/Screenwriters: Kyle McConaghy, Joe DeBoer, Producers: Zachary Weil, Brett Arndt
An ominous, bloody help note finds its way to the desk of a seasoned “dead letter” investigator at a 1980’s Midwestern post office, leading him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his demented business associate. Cast: Sterling Macer, Jr., John Fleck, Susan Priver, Micki Jackson, Nick Heyman, Tomas Boykin (World Premiere)
FESTIVAL FAVORITE
Acclaimed standouts from festivals around the world.
The Moogai (Australia)
Director/Screenwriter: Jon Bell, Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings
The Moogai is the story of a family terrorized by a child-stealing spirit. Cast: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose, Clarence Ryan, Toby Leonard Moore, Bella Heathcote (Texas Premiere)
Sasquatch Sunset
Directors: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, Producers: Tyler Campellone, Lars Knudsen, George Rush, Screenwriter: David Zellner
A year in the life of a singular family. Cast: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner (Texas Premiere)
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