The festival was bustling with an array of films, including grisly horror, imaginative sci-fi, and many more, which will be soon available in theaters and on streaming platforms in the near future.
As is tradition, Sundance offers a comprehensive view of the films that are set to be released in theaters and on streaming services in the near future. This year, the festival returned to its traditional in-person format after several years of being held online, with a noteworthy lineup of films. Horror films, in particular, stood out, featuring tales of malevolent fairies, abhorrent holidays, haunted hands, and a contemporary version of Frankenstein. Additionally, the festival showcased innovative sci-fi films, including one that Hideo Kojima is sure to appreciate, as well as a diverse selection of other films.
Here is the list of our favorites to key an eye on.
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Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out
Itsy seeks to write a story about Calvin for a summer internship opportunity in New York City, but she soon uncovers Calvin’s unusual secret. Calvin is convinced that aliens took his parents and it’s his goal to reunite with them in outer space by finding them.
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Birth/Rebirth
We are all familiar with the clichéd joke “what if the doctor was a woman?” But what if the doctor was Dr. Frankenstein? Although there have been a few adaptations of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel with a female twist, such as the 1971 Italian exploitation film “Lady Frankenstein,” it is surprising that it has taken this long for the story of life-creation to be transformed into a Midnight-Madness-style tale about motherhood. However, better late than never. Laura Moss’s well-acted and intriguing “Birth/Rebirth” effectively showcases how the classic story of scientific arrogance and the pursuit of immortality can be adapted into a gory morality play about maternity. This film reemphasizes the truth that there is nothing more dangerous than a mother’s love.
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In My Mother’s Skin
Philippines, 1945. Nearing the end of World War II, an affluent family lives stranded in their country mansion, tormented by the occupying Japanese soldiers who are losing grip over the island nation. Rumors spread that the patriarch, Aldo, stole Japanese gold and stashed it somewhere nearby.
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Polite Society
A martial artist-in-training believes she must save her older sister from her impending marriage. After enlisting the help of her friends, she tries to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood.
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Cat Person
The New Yorker short story “Cat Person” invited debate, engaging directly with the gray areas of modern dating. Susanna Fogel and screenwriter Michelle Ashford make the surprising choice of treating the material more as genre fare than as a traditional rom-com, where the meet-cute isn’t and what follows is no one’s idea of a date movie. The result is a film that’s funny in places, horrifying in others, and all but destined to be a reference point in future discussions about courtship.
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Talk to me
When a group of friends discovers how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. This horror flick will keep you on the edge of your seat.
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Eileen
Based on the book of the same name by literary powerhouse Ottessa Moshfegh, Eileen follows a peculiar young woman whose dreary life stretches on toward unending misery. In frigid 1960s Boston, Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) shuffles between her father’s dingy, emotionally haunted home and the prison where she works alongside colleagues who have ostracized her. When an intoxicating woman (Anne Hathaway) joins the prison staff, Eileen is taken. Just when the possibility of a salvational friendship (or maybe more) takes hold and forms a singular glimmer in Eileen’s darkness, her newfound confidant entangles her in a shocking crime that alters all.
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Fair Play
Hot off the heels of their new engagement, thriving New York couple Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) can’t get enough of each other. When a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, Luke and Emily must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition.
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Infinity Pool
James and Em Foster take off to an all-inclusive beach getaway in the fictional state of Li Tolqa to help jump-start his writer’s block. Their lazy days are spent relegated to their pricey resort, isolated from the surrounding land. Gabby introduces herself and her partner, Al, as she’s a fan of James’ last novel, and they would like to spend some time together with the Fosters. The couples plan a secret day trip outside the compound that ends in a fatal accident with James to blame. For a hefty price, there are loopholes to aid foreign travelers convicted of crimes there, which is how James is first introduced to a perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism.
10. Landscape With Invisible Hand
Adam is a teenage artist coming of age in the aftermath of an alien takeover. The Vuvv, a species of hyper-intelligent extraterrestrials, brought wondrous technology to Earth, but only the wealthiest can afford it. The rest of humanity, their livelihoods now obsolete, have to scrape together money in the tourism industry. In the case of Adam and his budding love interest Chloe, that means live streaming their courtship for the amusement of the coffee-table-sized Vuvv, who find human love exotic and interesting. When Adam and Chloe’s scheme goes sideways, Adam and his mother have to find their way out of an increasingly nightmarish alien bureaucracy.
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