Compared to Sundance 2008 -- which featured nine genre films -- the 2009 Sundance Film Festival's horror offerings are skimpy, but seeing as how all nine of last year's entries will have been released in theaters by the time this year's festival ends, we can feel secure in the films' quality if not in their quantity.
The festival's Park City at Midnight event annually features horror, exploitation, surreal comedy and all things offbeat, in tribute to the midnight movies of the '70s and early '80s. This year's lineup runs January 15 to 25, 2009. Visit the Sundance website for ticket information.
Dead Snow (AKA Dod Sno)
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Vegard Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Jenny Skavlan, Jeppe Beck Laursen
Plot: In this Norwegian flick, a group of teenagers on a ski trip run into a battalion of Nazi zombies living in the mountains.
Trailer
Grace
Director: Paul Solet
Starring: Jordan Ladd, Samantha Ferris, Gabrielle Rose, Malcom Stewart, Stephen Park, Serge Houde
Plot: After her unborn child dies, a woman insists on carrying the baby to term. When she delivers, the child miraculously returns to life -- with a taste for human blood. This is a feature-length extension of a 2006 award-winning short.
Trailer
The Killing Room
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Chloe Sevigny, Peter Stormare, Clea DuVall, Timothy Hutton, Nick Cannon
Plot: Four volunteers for a psychological research study discover that they are now subjects of a brutal, classified government program.
Also playing outside of the Park City at Midnight schedule is:
Moon
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Plot: Before returning to Earth after spending three years alone on the moon, things go horribly wrong for an astronaut.
