The Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF) is back for and 12th year, and it’s ready to rock the annals of Marrickville with its madness.
Here’s a list of films we reckon you should take a look at at this year’s SUFF. Of course, if you get the Festival Pass, you can spent the entire weekend at the festival and catch them all. Just like Pokémon, only bloodier. (Sidebar: pitch Pokémon film with Nicolas Cage).
Be sure to check out our full 2018 SUFF coverage, including news, reviews, interviews and the chance to swipe through more listicles! A full list and tickets are through suff.com.au.
Mandy
US, Dir: Panos Cosmatos
RogerEbert.com writer Nick Allen won us over for this by saying that Cosmatos operates “as if its sole goal was to take the heavyweight title of Nicolas Cage’s Craziest Movie Ever.” That’s quite a claim, but the director of Beyond the Black Rainbow is more than up to the task. It sees Cage chase a telekentic biker messiah who is intent on kidnapping the titular Mandy (Andrea Riseborough). Yes. More please.
Blaze
US, Dir: Ethan Hawke
One of several Ethan Hawke projects out this year, in this one he takes on the role of director to explore the life of songwriter Blaze Furley (newcomer Benjamin Dickey). Co-starring Alia Shawkat and Sam Rockwell, this outlaw country film will find plenty of checkered shirts in SUFF’s spiritual homeland of Marrickville.
Bugs
Australia, Dir: Jack Moxey
There’s a number of Australian films on the program this year, including the Ozploit! short film sessions. Described by SUFF as a cross between Harmony Korine and River’s Edge, Jack Moxey’s debut looks for the darkness in Australia’s suburban life. Will surely be blamed for why Millennials can’t afford property.
Christmas Blood
Norway, Dir: Reinert Kill
Anybody who has followed this site or its predecessor for any length of time will know that we can’t walk away from a Christmas-based horror film, be it Silent Night, Deadly Night, Black Christmas, or Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2. The appropriately named Reinert Kill combines the genre with Norwegian detective thrillers for a holiday massacre that lets us open our presents early this year.
The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man
US, Dir: Tommy Avallone
Bill Murray has been our internationally recognised spirit animal for many years now. Apart from entertaining us for decades, the actor has become known for turning up randomly at parties and events and disappearing into the night like a legendary creature. Tommy Avallone follows Bill Murray stories across America in the hopes of uncovering his own. You can tell people you’ve seen this movie…but no one will ever believe you.
Downrange
Japan/US, Dir: Ryûhei Kitamura
“From the director of Midnight Meat Train” is one hell of a quote for a CV. This minimalist addition to his resume, co-produced in the US, sees a group of young men and women pinned down by a sniper after their car breaks down. Sounds like a perfect setup for a grindhouse classic to us.
Let the Corpses Tan
France/Belgium, Dir: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani
Based on the cult novel by JeanPatrick Manchette and Jean-Pierre Bastid, this film is guaranteed to please fans of spaghetti westerns, European crime thrillers from the 1960 and 1970s, and giallo cinema generally. So basically anybody that reads this list and managed to get this far.
How Far Tomorrow
China, Dir: Wang Jinsong
Skirting around the edges of China’s notorious censorship system comes Wang Jinsong’s film tackling recreational drug use in China. Also pointing fingers at the public welfare system and excesses, it follows a string of indie Chinese films in the last year or so (such as An Elephant Sitting Still and Looking for Lucky) that question the influence of consumerism in China.
Satan’s Slaves
Indonesia, Dir: Joko Anwar
First of all, there’s that title. This Indonesian horror film is both a remake of a 1982 Indonesia film and Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm. Receiving a record 13 nominations at this year’s Indonesian Film Awards, it tells the story of four orphaned children who are reunited with their mother, except she wants to drag them into hell with her. Something for the whole family.
Tokyo Vampire Hotel
Japan, Dir: Sion Sono
If there is Sion Sono film playing at a festival, you should go and see it. If that film involves vampires, it’s mandatory. Originally created as a 10-episode series for Amazon Prime, this compressed version is all the mayhem of the end of the world without the back pain of 6 hours of binging.
Bonus: Liquid Sky
This post-punk classic is regarded by many as the quintessential film of the New Wave era, and not for nothing. Blondie and Talking Heads fill the soundtrack of a film that was so far ahead of its time, we’re still struggling to catch up with it 36 years later. This is a chance to see a restoration of Slava Tsukerman’s film, and relive a little slice of the 1980s right here in Sydney.
