The SXSW Festival is just around the corner. With it, this multi-faceted celebration of creation and the arts brings music, film, food, and a voracious appetite for the new. There are more than just a few films films of note especially in the horror and thriller genres. Below is a listing of a few of some that we are looking forward to seeing. While not all are horror, there are some worthwhile selections. Thi

US AND THEM

Horror, thriller about Danny, an ordinary working class kid who is tired of the rough deal he faces. His plan? To start a revolution by streaming attacks against the one percent on the web. His goal? To terrify the elite into bringing about change. His plan spirals out of control when he holds a banker and his family hostage and forces them to gamble for their lives.

Director: Joseph Martin

Cast: Jack Roth (Son of actor Tim Roth), Sophie Colquhoun (“The Royals”) 

ASSHOLES

Adah and Aaron are recovering addicts who are struggling to stay sober. After meeting in their psychoanalyst’s waiting room, they fall in love, relapse on poppers, and become the biggest assholes in New York City. Peter Vack cast his real-life family in this outrageous and very explicit comedy.

Director: Peter Vack

Cast: Peter Vack, Betsey Brown, Jack Dunphy, Patrick LaBella, Jane Brown, Ron Brown, Eileen Dietz

Other films of note in competition include…

A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES

The story of the final weeks leading up to the disappearance of Maya Dardel, an internationally respected poet and novelist who lived until 2016, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Maya announces on NPR that she is going to end her life and that young male writers may compete to become executors of her estate. The men compete to win and are challenged intellectually, emotionally and erotically.

Directors: Zachary Cotler & Magdalena Zyzak

Cast: Lena Olin, Rosanna Arquette, Nathan Keyes, Alexander Koch (“Under the Dome”) and Jordan Gavaris (“Orphan Black”)

SPETTACOLO

Documentary Spotlight – Once upon a time there was a tiny hill town in Tuscany that found a remarkable way to confront their issues – they turned their lives into a play. Every summer for the past 50 years, their piazza becomes their stage and villagers from 6 to 90 play a part – the role of themselves. Every issue the town has faced in its history – their near annihilation by Nazis, the disappearance of their farming heritage, the commercialization of their land – has been dramatized and debated by the villagers in the center of town.

Director: Jeff Malmberg (SXSW winner for the acclaimed documentary “Marwencol”) and Chris Shellen

This will also be the inaugural year for the VR Program which will yield some tantalizing surprises too. To get tickets, just visit the  SXSW Festival website here.