The wave of fest news today continues with the announcement of the final lineup for the 20th annual Boston Underground Film Festival. The official poster has been issued as well, so keep reading!
This year’s BUFF takes place March 21-25 at Boston’s Brattle Theatre and Harvard Film Archive, and encompasses a slate of wild and unique movies in a variety of genres from all over the world. The fear fare on view will include:
LET THE CORPSES TAN (pictured; New England Premiere)
Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet; France/Belgium; 2017
After stealing a cache of gold, Rhino and his gang discover a near-abandoned Mediterranean hamlet hideout, occupied by an inspiration-seeking woman. Their bucolic surroundings become a horrific battlefield when uninvited guests arrive on the scene to foil everyone’s plans.
THE RANGER (East Coast Premiere)
Jenn Wexler; U.S.; 2018
When Chelsea and her friends get in trouble with the cops, they flee the city and go on the run. Fueled by a hallucinogenic drug called Echo, they hope to lay low—and get high—in an old family hideout in the woods. But Chelsea’s got reservations about going back to nature and secrets she’s not sharing with her friends. When a shot rings out, her past comes crashing back, and the punks find themselves pitted against the local authority—an unhinged park ranger with an axe to grind.
REVENGE (New England Premiere)
Coralie Fargeat; France; 2017
What starts as a weekend getaway between a married man and his mistress quickly devolves into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse when his hunting buddies arrive. Director Fargeat revamps and recalibrates the rape-revenge trope from a female perspective, creating a violent, visceral monomyth about the rebirth and survival of a woman wronged seeking to even the score.
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (World Premiere)
Jessica Barnthouse, Stacy Buchanan; U.S.; 2018
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is a full-feature exploration into the popular horror culture of New England. Through discussions with genre luminaries, horror fans and natives, the film discovers popular conventions within the genre and identifies how they’re driven by the history, eerie settings and social issues of the area. And through the stories of actors and local filmmakers, it aims to discover if the area’s passion is strong enough to help grow an independent film industry.
THE THETA GIRL (New England Premiere)
Christopher Bickel; U.S.; 2017
Gayce, a take-no-shit young woman, deals a hallucinogenic drug called “theta,” facilitating an audience for her friends’ all-girl rock band. When Gayce’s friends are brutally murdered, she must solve the mystery behind the murders and protect herself from the killer. She discovers the connections between theta and the murders—and learns a terrifying truth: that the world—indeed, her whole reality—is not as it seems.
TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (New England Premiere)
Issa López; Mexico; 2017
A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war (see our López interview here).
For tickets and more information, hit up BUFF’s official website.
