By RICHELLE CHARKOT
The Calgary Underground Film Festival returns for its 22nd year, with 41 features, eight special events (including a 48-hour movie-making challenge) and 45 shorts, all showcasing a special blend tailor-made for the weirdest of cinephiles. (You know who you are!)
CUFF ’25 takes place from April 17 through 27, screening at The Globe Cinema. This year’s lineup has no shortage of horror films, featuring a special 15th anniversary presentation of Eli Craig’s Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, followed by the fest’s closer, Craig’s latest, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.
DON’T LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE, the claustrophobic story of two young brothers left without a babysitter; GOOD BOY, which features a haunted house from the perspective of a loyal pup; Becca Kozak’s SUGAR ROT, a punk rock fever dream in which women gradually morph into tasty treats to be consumed; TINSMAN ROAD, a gritty voyage into the depths of human sorrow (shot in 4:3 mini-DV!); and a PORTAL TO HELL about demonic happenings in a local laundromat round out the first weekend.
The week then kicks off with a slew of genre titles: Mark O’Brien is a Vatican exorcist in SHADOW OF GOD. Fans can expect an “over-the-top cult splatterfest” in PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT. A traumatized firefighter battles a cosmic horror in A MOTHER’S EMBRACE, and a mysterious virus merges people’s bodies with other objects in ELSE.
Other features include THE UGLY STEPPSISTER, a gruesome fairytale; THE GESUIDOUZ, a Japanese rock ‘n’ roll nightmare; the blood-soaked comedy VAMPIRE ZOMBIES… FROM SPACE, and THE LAST PODCAST, a humorous take on the supernatural in which a sceptical podcaster encounters the paranormal.
For the Calgary Underground Film Festival’s complete schedule and tickets, go to https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org.
