This year’s Cinepocalypse Genre Film Festival—being held at Chicago’s world famous Music Box Theater—features 9, count ’em 9 WORLD PREMIERES. Be among the first to lay your eyes and ears upon this wild selection of films!
Opening Night: THURSDAY, JUNE 21ST
7:30 PM: THE DOMESTICS (US / 2018 / 100m)
Written and Directed by: Mike P. Nelson
with Tyler Hoechlin, Sonoya Mizuno, Kate Bosworth, David Dastmalchian, Lance Reddick
Director Mike P. Nelson in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
We’re kicking off Cinepocalypse 2018 with a thunderous bang in what will certainly be one of the most talked about genre films this year. It’s MAD MAX meets THE PURGE in THE DOMESTICS, an absolutely savage survival love story following a young couple (Tyler Hoechlin & Kate Bosworth) as they fight to return home through a post-apocalyptic midwestern wasteland ravaged by terrifying and sadistic gangs. From the legendary Orion Pictures, THE DOMESTICS delivers nonstop action and explosive set pieces until the suspense-filled finale that will leave your jaw shattered on the floor. With his feature length debut, writer/director Mike P. Nelson establishes himself as a breakout filmmaker, weaving together incredible performances from Bosworth, Hoechlin, Sonoya Mizuno, and Lance Reddick into an epic white-knuckled roller coaster ride of cult-classic bound dystoploitation .
FRIDAY, JUNE 22ND
7:00 PM: HOVER (US / 2018 / 100m)
Director: Matt Osterman
Screenplay: Cleopatra Coleman
with Cleopatra Coleman, Shane Coffey, Craig muMs Grant, Fabianne Therese
Screenwriter/star Cleopatra Coleman in person for a post-film Q&A!
Set in a near future (more dystoploitation!) where environmental strain has caused food shortages around the world, the film envisions a world where technology provides a narrow path forward, with agricultural drones maximizing the yield from what land remains. Two compassionate care providers, Claudia (The Last Man on Earth star Cleopatra Coleman, who also wrote the screenplay) and her mentor John (Craig muMs Grant), work to assist sick farmland inhabitants in ending their lives. But after a mysterious death, a group of locals helps Claudia uncover a deadly secret about the technology they are using. Shane Coffey, Leo Fitzpatrick, and Beth Grant co-star in this science-fiction thriller.
9:30 PM: AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS (UK / 2018 / 96m)
Director: Johnny Kevorkian
Screenplay: Gavin Williams
with David Bradley, Abigail Cruttenden, Holly Weston, Grant Masters
Director Johnny Kevorkian in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
Take the techno-paranoia of “Black Mirror,” add the intergalactic body horror of John Carpenter’s THE THING, adapt them into a VHS board game, and wrap it all up in a bitingly satirical Christmasploitation package, and what do you get? AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, the new film from British director Johnny Kevorkian. David Bradley co-stars as a crotchety old grandpa in the story of a family that wakes up on Christmas morning to find their house surrounded by a mysterious, seemingly alien substance and a cryptic message on their TV: “Await Further Instructions.”
Short Film: MY MONSTER (Dir: Izzy Lee) plays prior to the start of the feature.
SATURDAY, JUNE 23RD
10:15 PM: BOOGEYMAN POP (US / 2018 / 90m)
Written and Directed by Brad Michael Elmore
with M.C. Gainey, James Paxton, Jose Julian, Alixandra von Renner
Director Brad Michael Elmore in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
Set over the course of one summer weekend, a bat-wielding, masked killer in a rusted-out black Cadillac weaves in and out of three interlocking stories awash in sex, drugs, punk rock, black magic, broken homes, and carsploitation.
Starring James Paxton (son of the late, great Bill Paxton) and produced by ROGUE ONE screenwriter Chris Weitz, who discovered writer/director Brad Michael Elmore’s micro-budget debut THE WOLFMAN’S HAMMER on YouTube, the film was eventually brought to the prolific Blumhouse team who hopped on board enthusiastically. That’s one hell of a creative force, and because of it, BOOGEYMAN POP oozes with everything we love about genre cinema. Our favorite festival moments are the ones when we get to discover the emergence of a talented & unique filmmaker. This is punk rock filmmaking at its finest, and it’s one of those festival moments you won’t want to miss.
SUNDAY, JUNE 24TH
5:00 PM: EMPATHY, INC. (US / 2018 / 100m)
Director: Yedidya Gorsetman
Screenplay: Mark Leidner
with Zack Robidas, Kathy Searle, Eric Berryman, Jay Klaitz, Eric Berryman
Director Yedidya Gorsetman, Producer Josh Itzkowitz, and Writer Mark Leidner in attendance!
In this twisted, sometimes-brutal, black-and-white startuploitation work from director Yedidya Gorsetman, hotshot venture capitalist Joel (Zack Robidas) and his actress wife Jessica (Kathy Searle) are forced to move in with her parents and start from scratch. At the lowest and most desperate moment in his life, Joel meets old friend Nicolaus (Eric Berryman) and his business partner Lester (Jay Klaitz), who are seeking investors in a new technology known as XVR—Xtreme Virtual Reality—for their company Empathy, Inc. Joel gets the startup its funds but soon discovers that the tech’s creators have far more sinister uses in store for their creation.
7:30 PM: MALICIOUS (US / 2018 / 100m)
Written and Directed by Michael Winnick
with Bojana Novakovic, Josh Stewart, Melissa Bolona, Delroy Lindo
Director Michael Winnick in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
When young college professor Adam (Josh Stewart) and his pregnant wife Lisa (Bojana Novakovic) suffer a traumatic event, they find themselves, along with Lisa’s sister Becky (Melissa Bolona) haunted—and connected—to a malicious entity. Only when Adam calls upon colleague Dr. Clark (the legendary Delroy Lindo), a professor of parapsychology, does the true horror of what is happening become clear. Pregsploitation from Executive Producer Shaun Reddick (GET OUT).
TUESDAY, JUNE 26TH
7:00 PM: THE RUSSIAN BRIDE (US / 2018 / 100m)
Written and Directed by Michael S. Ojeda
with Corbin Bernsen, Gregory O’Gallagher, Kristina Pimenova, Oksana Orlan
Director Michael Ojeda in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
A Russian woman (Oksana Orlan) travels with her 11-year-old daughter (Kristina Pimenova) to America, with plans to marry an eccentric billionaire baron (Corbin Bernsen) offering them hopes for a better life. Arriving at his luxurious estate in the dead of winter and miles from civilization, the two are quickly enchanted by the reclusive man’s charm. But the promise of a fairy tale existence ends as the rich man’s secret past is revealed and his resulting madness surfaces, turning their lives into mailorderbridesploitation.
9:30 PM: GAGS (US / 2018 / 100m)
Director: Adam Krause
Screenplay: Adam Krause & John Pata
with Lauren Ashley Carter, Tracy Perez, Aaron Christensen
Director Adam Krause, Cast and Crew in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
Remember the photos of a horrifying clown in Wisconsin that went viral and ended up on the nightly news scaring the hell out of viewers all across the world? This marketing stunt for Adam Krause’s short film, GAGS, sparked a nationwide resurgence in the clown-roaming phenomenon (yes, that’s a thing). Now a feature film designed to send those with coulrophobia (look it up) into a life-threatening panic, a mysterious clown named “Gags” appears in Green Bay, setting off a night of madness in which four separate subplots — involving a reporter, a right-wing podcast pundit, a pair of cops, and a trio of troublemaking teens — converge to solve the creepy case. Fans of clownsploitation will appreciate this flick’s new wrinkles, as well as its sly sense of humor that takes aim at socio-political issues and the news media (as represented by indie horror star Lauren Ashley Carter).Yes, you will be scared shitless, especially when you discover Gags’ true intentions.
Short Film: CANINE (Dir: Sean Richard Budde) plays prior to the start of the feature.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27TH
9:45 PM: THE APPEARANCE (US / 2018 / 90m)
Written and Directed by Kurt Knight
with Jake Stormoen, Kristian Nairn, Adam Johnson, Baylee Self
Cast and crew in attendance for a post-film Q&A!
Mateho (Jake Stormoen), an officer of the Inquisition and rational man of science, visits a remote monastery to investigate a bizarre murder of a monk. And you guessed it: something evil is afoot. But is the terror man-made or the result of witchcraft? You’ll have a gnarly time finding out in this incredibly eerie, evocative medieval monksploitation thriller. Plus, “Game of Thrones” fans should keep an eye out for Kristian Nairn (aka Hodor) as the Inquisitor’s loyal sidekick Johnny. The follow-up work from the director of the zombie-infused family drama WE ALL FALL DOWN.
All films are in English and shown in DCP format.
Tags: Adam Krause, Await Further Instructions, Boogeyman Pop, Brad Michael Elmore, Cinepocalypse, Cinepocalypse 2018, Cleopatra Coleman, Empathy Inc., Gags, Hover, Johnny Kervorkian, Malicious, Matt Osterman, Michael S. Ojeda, MIchael Winnick, Mike P. Nelson, The Appearance. Kurt Knight., The Domestics, The Russian Bride, Yedidya Gorsetman
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