October is upon us so that means two things for horror film fans. It’s festival season and it’s time to watch as many horror movies as possible. Luckily the Chicago International Film Festival has us covered. The fest will be presenting eight brand new Chicago premieres of anticipated features. Plus, they’ll have a smattering of horror shorts as well. Take a look below to see what they have coming up.
Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no jûnin)
DIRECTOR Takashi Miike
COUNTRY Japan
Cursed by a witch with immortality, a disgraced samurai partners with a spunky orphan girl to take revenge on the school of master swordsmen who slaughtered her family. Based on the manga series by Hiroaki Samura, the 100th feature from Japanese maverick Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer) has heart, humor and a helluva body count courtesy of show-stopping action sequences that see the director at his bloody best.
Screening:
Fri, Oct 13, 2017 10:45 PM
and
Sun, Oct 22, 2017 8:45 PM
Creep 2
DIRECTOR Patrick Brice
COUNTRY United States
In this sequel to Brice’s innovative found-footage shocker, Mark Duplass (The League) reprises his gleefully menacing role as the world’s worst best friend. Sara, a video artist, answers a Craigslist ad promising $1,000 for a day’s worth of filming. Upon arrival, her employer Aaron (Duplass) reveals that she’s to make a documentary about him: a prolific serial killer. To his surprise, Sara agrees, kicking off a day-long psychological duel that may convince Aaron he’s finally met his true soulmate.
SCREENING: Fri, Oct 20, 2017 9:15 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Director Patrick Brice
and
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 21, 2017 9:00 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Director Patrick Brice
The Endless
DIRECTOR Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
COUNTRY United States
Stepping in front of the camera for their third feature, writer-actor-directors Benson and Moorhead (Resolution, Spring) play brothers who are lured back to the desert cult they escaped as teenagers by a mysterious tape predicting the end of the world. In this wildly inventive thriller, peppered with clever special effects and an underlying sense of dread, a series of eerie metaphysical events challenges their worldview and their fraternal bond.
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 21, 2017 10:30 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
and
SCREENING:
Sun, Oct 22, 2017 3:15 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
Four Hands (Die Vierhändige)
DIRECTOR Oliver Kienle
COUNTRY Germany
This shocking, twisted thriller follows sisters Jessica and Sophie who have remained in their family home even after they witnessed their parents’ murder there as small children. Now, 20 years later, learning that the killers will be paroled, Sophie begins to suffer blackouts during which she commits unspeakable acts. Is a vengeful spirit to blame? For his outstanding and unnerving second feature, Kienle gleefully ratchets up the tension by degrees to a knockout climax.
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 14, 2017 8:00 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Director Oliver Kienle, Producer Markus Reinecke
and
SCREENING:
Sun, Oct 15, 2017 12:45 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Director Oliver Kienle, Producer Markus Reinecke
Maus
DIRECTOR Yayo Herrero
COUNTRY Spain
In his electrifying debut, first-time director Herrero revisits the trauma of a crippling war through a genre lens. Lost in a Bosnian forest littered with old land mines, young couple Alec and Sasa find themselves trapped in a waking nightmare, tortured and victimized by two sadistic Serbian hunters. Desperate, Sasa summons a protective spirit, unleashing a long dormant force that violently lashes out, leaving carnage in its wake.
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 14, 2017 10:15 PM
and
SCREENING:
Sun, Oct 15, 2017 3:00 PM
mon mon mon Monsters (Bao Gao, Lao Shi! Guai, Guai, Guai, Guai, Guai Wu!)
DIRECTOR Giddens Ko
COUNTRY Taiwan
Teenage bullies pluck a man-eating beastie from the gutters of Taipei, torturing the creature and using its powers to wreak havoc on their peers. Then along comes the monster’s big sis, who ruthlessly hunts down the miscreants, leaving a trail of carnage in her wake. Ko’s second feature is a bloody, pitch-black satire that takes a wild, ravenous bite out of the YA genre.
SCREENING:
Fri, Oct 13, 2017 10:15 PM
and
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 14, 2017 12:00 PM
Mutafukaz
DIRECTOR Guillaume “Run” Renard, Shojiro Nishimi
COUNTRY France, Japan
After a nasty scooter accident, a pizza delivery boy named Angelino begins seeing strange, otherworldly things lurking in the alleyways of the urban jungle where he lives. Soon, he and his friends are on the run from gun-toting federal agents, monstrous shape-shifters, and a sinister alien organization bent on world domination. Hip-hop, anime, and cosmic horror collide to thrilling effect in this action-packed adaptation of co-director “Run” Renard’s best-selling comic book.
SCREENING:
Thu, Oct 19, 2017 10:15 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Director Guillaume “Run” Renard
and
SCREENING:
Fri, Oct 20, 2017 10:30 PM
SCHEDULED TO ATTEND:
Director Guillaume “Run” Renard
Tokyo Vampire Hotel
DIRECTOR Sion Sono
COUNTRY Japan
CATEGORY After Dark
Synopsis
On the verge of an apocalyptic global event, a clan of vampires lures a crowd of humans into a glamorous hotel in order to turn it into their own private blood farm. A rival family of vamps crashes the party and sparks a violent uprising, hoping to wipe their adversaries off the map for good. This special theatrical cut of genre madman Sion Sono’s new miniseries is a nonstop sugar rush of bloodsucking mayhem.
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 14, 2017 10:30 PM
and
SCREENING:
Mon, Oct 16, 2017 1:30 PM
and
SCREENING:
Sat, Oct 21, 2017 9:00 PM
Plus!
Shorts 3 – Living After Midnight: After Dark
COUNTRY Finland | Spain | Thailand | United States
This frightening, unsettling, and occasionally hilarious program gives voice to those things that go bump in the night.
500,000 Years (Thailand) is an eerie documentary about a traveling cinema, a religious shrine, and the ghostly world of the dead. Innards (U.S.) tells the story of a man who gets lost in his own memories when he stumbles across an old VHS tape. In Great Choice (U.S.), a woman trapped inside of a Red Lobster commercial is forced to fight her way out. Plus Ultra (Spain) is an ephemeral look at the secret histories and dangers of colonialism. We Together (U.S.) finds a fleshcraving zombie slowly remembering the human he used to be. The mild-mannered protagonist in Fucking Bunnies (Finland) comically struggles to make sense of his prejudices when a satanic sex cult moves in next door.
SCREENING:
Fri, Oct 20, 2017 10:15 PM
Don’t miss a second of these. Make sure to look at the entire schedule for the fest and buy tix here
