[NIGHTSTREAM 2020] Five Films We Can't Wait To See and Five We Think You Should Watch

We’ve been talking about NIGHTSTREAM since its announcement last month and it’s hard to believe it’s just around the corner. The festival runs from October 8-11 and has a huge mix of feature films, short films and events (including our friends the Horror Queers). If you’re interested in attending but are curious where to start, I’ve compiled a list of five films I’ve seen and would recommend as well as five films I’m personally very excited for.

Five Films We Can’t Wait For

RUN

Director Aneesh Chaganty and writing partner Sev Ohanian surprised us with their fantastic second screen mystery Searching and now they’re back with an equally intriguing sophomore feature.

Sarah Paulson and newcomer Kiera Allen star in this Hitchcockian new thriller about a wheelchair-bound teenager whose fragile, isolated existence with her doting mother is threatened when she begins to notice strange occurrences around her house.

FRANK & ZED

I’m such a huge proponent of different ways of telling a traditional story and I absolutely love that we’ve been getting animated, claymation/stop-motion and, now, puppet horror films. With Frank & Zed, we’re getting the cutest-grossest looking puppets that I have immediately fallen in love with.

Lovingly crafted entirely with hand puppets, this hilarious, blood-drenched practical marvel sees the peaceful, secluded lifestyle of two monsters threatened when a group of desperate villagers come to repay an age-old pact to a wretched demon.

THE NIGHT

Kourosh Ahari’s transfixing submission to the ranks of hotel-stay-from-hell horror canon is an endlessly unnerving tale of a couple and their infant forced to confront their darkest secrets after choosing the wrong place to sleep for the night.

To top it off? The Night is the first US/Iran co-production in recent history and marks Hosseini's first performance in a US-produced film. The crew is diverse, every department head–production through post–being Iranian or of Iranian descent.

BLOODY HELL

I’ve heard good things about this one and what I watched of the trailer seems incredibly intriguing (I stopped because the trailer seemed too spoilery).

In this relentlessly energetic, pitch-black horror-comedy, an ex-bank robber fleeing the country after a video of him goes viral, heads to Helsinki only to find there’s something in store for him there that is much more difficult to escape.

BREAKING SURFACE

I love survival thrillers and Breaking Surface has received some buzz as being very intense.

An emotional deep-water diving trip for two sisters turns disastrous when a landslide causes one of them to be pinned to the ocean floor in this heart-rending and fear-inducing survival thriller.

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Five Films We’ve Seen and Recommend

LUCKY

It should be no surprise that we’re fans of Brea Grant’s work this year, from her powerful turn in After Midnight to her directorial debut 12 Hour Shift to this very smart turn on the unstoppable slasher trope. This movie was probably my favorite from Fantasia Fest and I absolutely would heartily recommend it.

Self-help author May Ryer finds herself the victim of increasingly violent home intruder attacks that no one, including her husband, seems all that worried about. What results is a cut-throat feminist thriller from director Natasha Kermani and screenwriter/star Brea Grant where May must face down the threat alone.

JUMBO

On paper, the premise of this romantic dramedy sounds preposterous: A woman falls in love with a piece of circus equipment. But it’s probably the queerest romance I’ve seen in awhile and I fell in love with the story and its characters. Highly recommended.

Noémie Merlant (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) gives a fearless performance as a shy amusement park worker whose life changes when a new star attraction shows up and immediately enthralls her with “his” magnificent machinery in this fantastical and heartfelt debut from writer/director Zoe Wittock.

DETENTION

Detention isn’t perfect and I think the video game aspects of it actually hurt the overall theme it’s going for. That said…I do think this is the best video game adaptation I’ve seen as the story tackles real world fears and is grounded in a historical event.

Set during the Tawainese martial law of the 1960s, this shockingly gruesome and terrifying coming-of-age drama based on a hugely popular video game sees two classmates who go looking for their missing friends and teachers, all of whom took part in an illegal book club, only to come face to face with ghosts and deformed monsters that have taken over their school.

SURVIVAL SKILLS

The intent behind this film surprised the heck out of me as it explores socio-political issues and how the frameworks we’ve created to protect us fail us at every turn. A very “of the now” movie posited as a lost 80s Police Training Video.

Presented as a lost police training video from the 1980s, an at-first comedic look to the early days on the force for a newly-minted, naive officer quickly turns into a dark, satirical critique on the way our society and law enforcement institutions fail us in this timely, clever and unexpectedly sobering examination of a broken system.

CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER

This is a dark horse entry that I debated including because it’s so incredibly idiosyncratic and weird that it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s absurd and pushes against what a movie can and should be about. I personally really liked it but I think it’s one of the more acquired tastes, shall we say, of the movies on this list. But for the right person, this comedy of manners will really tickle the funny bone.

Prolific underground director Mickey Reece’s oddball humor and otherworldly retro flair are on full display in this delightful tale of two sisters whose love-hate relationship is stirred up when they reunite with a childhood friend who they suspect may or may not be a vampire.