Much of this festival edition has stayed the same as last year: We present a hand-picked assortment of the most wayward, tenacious, hilarious, insane, creative, and amazing works from the world of fantastic cinema— Austrian premieres one and all. And we have shipped in, travel restrictions permitting, some truly excellent guests. A few things we had to tinker with: All parties have been canceled (sorry, folks!), but we still have a fine selection of amazing events for you – continue reading to learn more!
“No parties” als means: No big party on our opening evening, which is a bummer, but this year’s opening film will be all you need for a memorable evening. We’re thrilled to open our festival with RELIC by director Natalie Erika James. Her stunning feature debut saw its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival and was applauded by both audience and critics.
Opening Film: RELIC
17.09. | Gartenbaukino
Director: Natalie Erika James | AU/US 2020 | 89‘ | DCP | eOV
Cast: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote
After her mother disappears without explanation, Kay takes her daughter Sam to their weather-beaten, crumbling family home. There, the mother suddenly reap- pears but doesn’t seem herself anymore, showing increasing signs of dementia. Is her progressively erratic behavior only due to her illness, or is something else nesting in the old house? Jet-black and labyrinthine, Natalie Erika James’s feature debut is a psychologically intricate single-location horror movie in which three generations of women fight against oblivion and decay.
A very sinister affair.
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SALON KITTY REVUE: CHEEKY FREAKS
19.09., 20:30 | METRO Kinokulturhaus
Salon Kitty Revue is back! And just in time to soothe our infected souls. Burlesque, Boylesque Travesty and Cabaret – performed by the who is who & WTF of the local burlesque scene, including the following Cheeky Freaks: Pandora Nox, Madeleine De Sade, Monica Di Montebello, Lou De Boudoir and US-guests Russell Bruner and Sirène.
Images: Damendarstellerin Daniel, Pandora Nox, Russell Bruner
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SLASH @ BRUNNENPASSAGE: CRAZY WORLD
24.09. | Brunnenpassage
Director: Nabwana IGG | UG 2019 | 63‘ | DCP | OmeU
Cast: Kirabo Beatrice, Isaac Newton Kizito, Kayibaare Fausitah, Mukiibi Alex
Wakaliwood is back in Supa-Action! In their latest offering, the Ugandan gods of no-budget DIY cinema remain true to their passion for ’80s and ’90s face-punch actioners. The movie follows a group of kung-fu-fighting kids who are kidnapped by the local Tiger Mafia. All rescue attempts are attended by a staccato of one-liners and crude CGI, while we hear the ingenious VJ Emmie commenting on the whole shebang as a one-man Greek chorus. Once again, Wakaliga, a slum in Uganda’s capital of Kampala and home to Wakaliwood, proves to be the cradle and lode- star of Supa Action Cinema!
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MATINÉE DER 1000 MESSER
26.09., 10:00 | Filmcasino
The Night of the 1000 Knives fell victim to COVID-safety guidelines – but we’re not stopped that easily. So get ready for our Matinée of the 1000 Knives! Four of the wildest, bloodiest and most beautiful hideosities you can imagine. Survivors of this spine-chilling film marathon are rewarded with a limited pin and delicious pizza, courtesy of Domino’s!
4 films – 1 ticket!
#SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM | SCARE PACKAGE | SLAXX | RISE OF THE MACHINE GIRLS
#SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM
Director: Lloyd Kaufman | US 2020 | DCP | eOV | 94 min
Cast: Catherine Corcoran, Kate McGarrigle, Amanda Flowers, Erin Patrick Miller, Abraham Sparrow
On its way to North Korea, the luxury yacht of a big pharma company is destroyed by a major, extremely literal shitstorm. The survivors get stranded in Tromaville, where the brilliant scientist Prospero is plotting his revenge on all the pharma execs who have immorally capitalized on his not-for-profit research. In what he calls his last movie, Troma boss Lloyd Kaufman has adapted Shakespeare’s Tempest as a shrewd, vulgar, anarchic gross-out satire of corporate culture and its lackeys—complete with gallons and gallons of bodily fluids, musical numbers, mutants, and the most magnificent anilingus in film history. A Tromasterpiece!
SCARE PACKAGE
Directors: Emily Hagins, Aaron B. Koontz, Chris McInroy, Noah Segan, Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar, Anthony Cousins, Baron Vaughn | US 2019 | 107‘ | DCP | eOV
Cast: Toni Trucks, Joe Bob Briggs, Dustin Rhodes, Chase Williamson, Baron Vaughn, Noah Segan, Zoe Graham
Finding a video store like Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium must be every horror geek’s wet dream. The verbal slugfest between boss-man Chad and his new employee at the outset is a framing device for a half dozen meta-leaning episodes so packed with hackneyed horror tropes that any fan of blood and guts is sure to get their fill. Despite its hyper-referentiality, Scare Package is far from a smarty-pants effort and was clearly made by people who’ve fallen just as hard for the genre as the SLASH community. The icing on the cake: this movie might have the most awesome analog gore effects of the year!
SLAXX
presented by THE GAP
Director: Elza Kephart | CA 2020 | 78‘ | DCP | eOV
Cast: Romane Denis, Brett Donahue, Sehar Bhojani, Kenny Wong, Tianna Nori
A hip and happening fashion store goes into lockdown overnight to keep this season’s it-piece from the public eye until its release date the next morning. But the jeans, which automatically adapt to individual body shapes, come alive and start killing off the locked-in sales clerks. Elza Kephart’s Slaxx gloriously harkens back to an- ti-consumerist B movies from the golden days of Reaganomics, like Larry Cohen’s The Stuff. And the scene with several pairs of jeans dancing Bollywood-style through the salesroom elevates this satirical splatter grenade to one of the year’s best midnight movies.
RISE OF THE MACHINE GIRLS
Director: Yûki Kobayashi | JP 2019 | 75‘ | DCP | OmeU
Cast: Kanon Hanakage, Yûya Ishikawa, Rie Kitahara
Orphaned sisters Ami and Yoshie are scraping by with appearances in variety shows when one of them is kidnapped by the criminal Dharma family and the other one loses an arm in an attempt to help her sister. As she regains consciousness, she attaches a machine gun to the bloody stump, and the revenge rampage begins. This reboot of No- boru Iguchi’s J-gore masterpiece Machine Girls goes to battle with the same arsenal as the orig- inal: Rat-tat-tatting giant tits, cyborgs, blood by the bucket, and a relentless staccato of dement- ed ideas and exorbitant effects make this WTF thing one of the festival’s essential jaw droppers.