SXSW 2012: Midnight Features include 'V/H/S' and 'John Dies At The End'

We've been anxiously awaiting the announcement of SXSW 2012's Midnight Features-- the list of genre films (mainly horror and sci-fi stuff) that'd be screening late during this year's edition of Austin's biggest film festival-- and now, just moments ago, the announcement arrived:  Sundance favorites V/H/S and John Dies At The End headline a truly remarkable lineup of bizarre, scary, or science-fiction-y films.  Wanna see the full list?  Keep on reading, my gentle Examiner readers...

We were moderately pumped about this year's SXSW Film Festival before this year's Midnight Features-- the horror, sci-fi, and otherwise-weird selections that play late during SXSW each year-- were revealed, but now that those final films have been announced, it's fair to say that...well, opinions have changed.

Specifically, it would be fair to say that the Midnight Features screening at this year's SXSW Film Festival have completely changed our outlook on SXSW 2012:  where we were once "moderately pumped" about attending this year's week-long film-overdose, we are now "dangerously pumped" (basically, the threat level has been ranged from "yellow" to "fire-engine red").  

Here are the films that SXSW just announced as part of their "Midnight Features" lineup:

The Aggression Scale

Director: Steven C. Miller, Screenwriter: Ben Powell

 

4 hitmen + $500,000 of stolen cash + 1 family = WAR (World Premiere)

 

Director/Screenwriter: Ciarán Foy

 

An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children (World Premiere)

 

Director/Screenwriter: Austin Chick

 

A psychological thriller about two girls on a killing spree. With edgy and ironic humor and a darkly meditative tone, it is also a coming-of-age story about a girl learning how the world really works (World Premiere)

 

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Screenwriters: Nicolás Casariego, Jaime Marques

 

The haunting story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them (Finland, Germany, Australia)

 

Director: Timo Vuorensola, Screenwriters: Michael Kalesniko, Timo Vuorensola

 

In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon; in 2018 they are coming back (North American Premiere)

 

Director & Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli

 

On the street it’s called “soy sauce,” a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit.  Suddenly, a silent otherworldly invasion is underway. Can college dropouts John and Dave save humanity? No, they can’t.

 

Director/Screenwriter: Joko Anwar

 

A man tries to save his family who go missing during a vacation in the forest (World Premiere)

Director: Paco Plaza/Screenwriters: Luiso Berdejo, Paco Plaza

 

Koldo and Clara’s wedding is horrifically interrupted when some of the guests start showing signs of a strange illness. Before they know what’s happening, the bride and groom find themselves in the middle of a hellish ordeal, as an uncontrollable torrent of violence is unleashed on the wedding (World Premiere)

 

Be the first to see this feature film coming to theaters near you.

 

Director/Screenwriter: Pascal Laugier

 

When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children (World Premiere)

 

Directors: Ti West, Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg, David Bruckner, Glenn Mcquaid, Radio Silence/ Screenwriter: Ti West, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Radio Silence, Glenn Mcquaid

 

A group of misfits are hired to burglarize a house in the countryside and acquire a rare tape. The guys are confronted with a dead body and an endless supply of cryptic footage, each video stranger than the last.

 

Wow.  That's a helluva lineup.  V/H/S and John Dies at The End were two of the films we really, really hoped were coming to SXSW 2012, and we're absolutely thrilled to see that they made the cut.  It's also exciting to see that SXSW has landed more than a few world premieres (read: stuff that people didn't already see at Sundance);  odds are that at least one of these will be an exciting, no-one-saw-that-coming audience-pleaser, and that's one of the most exciting kinds of screenings one can hope for at a film festival.

We'll have more for you as we get closer to SXSW 2012's March 9th opening-- where Cabin in The Woods is the big, opening-night movie (it'll be playing at the historic Paramount Theater, whose 1200-seat capacity all but guarantees that we'll have no problem getting into the screening)-- so stay tuned for more as it becomes available.  If you missed our original announcement regarding SXSW's already-announced lineup of films, head on over to this page.

And--as always-- you can head on over to the SXSW website to check out some of the other recently-announced titles screening at this year's SXSW Film Festival, including all of the live-action and documentary shorts.

 And stay tuned for more funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, and more from Comedy Examiner HQ in the near future, folks. We've got all manner of nonsense to keep you informed and entertained during the week, so hit the 'Subscribe' button up top to get all future Comedy Examiner articles delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment they're published ... including any of our future SXSW, Cabin in The Woods, or film festival-related updates. You can also head on over to THIS PAGE to follow your humble Comedy Examiner on Twitter