Film festivals are a glorious place to be a cinephile, a place where like-minded individuals wait in line all day to watch as many new films as possible, films that could very well change the face of the art form as we know it. SXSW 2017 was no exception. I attended this year’s festival and crammed as many screenings as I possibly could into a few short days, for fear of missing sometimes amazing. Fortunately, my efforts mostly paid off. I saw some extraordinary motion pictures at this year’s SXSW, most of them thrillers and horror movies, with only a handful of disappointments.
Also: Crave at SXSW 2017: Reviews, Interviews, Exclusive Clips and More
Of course, there is never enough time to see everything at a film festival. This is the tragedy of attending events like SXSW, where a decision to see one film can easily – through the complications of geography and scheduling – prevent you from seeing other several others. So although we were at SXSW 2017 and covering as many motion pictures as we possibly could there were a handful of prominent, hot ticket films that we weren’t able to see, like The Disaster Artist (about the making of one of the worst films ever made, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room) and the critically acclaimed comedy Mr. Roosevelt, written and starring and directed by Saturday Night Live alumnus Noël Wells.
Let’s take a look at the eleven films (and one tv show) I was able to watch over the course of the first weekend at SXSW 2017, many of which are destined to eventually arrive at a theater near you, and most of which are worth seeking out for yourself as soon as possible.
SXSW 2017 Film Festival Retrospective:
Top Photo: Sony Pictures
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
SXSW 2017 Film Festival Retrospective
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American Gods
An ambitious and ephemeral adaptation of Neil Gaiman's bestselling novel, starring Ricky Whittle as an ex-con who gets swept up into the hidden world of real-life deities, old and new. The pilot that screened at SXSW is packed with surreal imagery and engaging performances, and grim portents of things to come. American Gods looks to be one of the most distinctive and exciting shows of the year.
Read our interview with the cast of American Gods
Read our interview with the producers of American Gods
Photo: SXSW
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The Archer
A feminist fugitive thriller about a teen archery prodigy who escapes from a corrupt for-profit juvenile detention center, The Archer is a smartly acted motion picture that doesn't have quite as much action as you might expect from the premise. The Archer demands to be taken seriously, from the business end of an arrow, and you should probably do what she says.
Watch an exclusive clip from The Archer
Read our full review of The Archer
Read our interview with The Archer star Bailey Noble
Photo: SXSW
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Atomic Blonde
Charlize Theron stars as a Cold War spy who punches, kicks and shoots her way through Berlin just before the collapse of the wall in 1989. Atomic Blonde has all the kick-ass action you'd expect from the director of John Wick but the story is just as chilly as the political climate. The film's aggressive visual style can't compensate for the fact that whenever Charlize Theron isn't killing people, Atomic Blonde is a dud.
Read our review of Atomic Blonde
Photo: SXSW
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Baby Driver
Edgar Wright's latest is an inventive car chase thriller about a getaway driver who can't function without a kickass soundtrack. Baby Driver has an impressive cast and delirious action and a dynamite soundtrack. The story might be a little familiar for fans of the heist movie genre but Baby Driver tells it so well, it's pretty hard to complain. Don't miss this one.
Read our review of Baby Driver
Photo: SXSW
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Colossal
Colossal is a truly bizarre motion picture about an American alcoholic who discovers that she can control a giant monster in Korea. Nacho Vigalondo's film gets a little too caught up in the mechanics of how this works, but the strange metaphor for the unforeseen consequences of selfish actions does resonate, and the performances by Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis are surprising and strong. Colossal may be the weirdest movie of its type. It may even be the only movie of its type.
Photo: SXSW
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The Honor Farm
Prom was a bust so two teen girls hitch a ride with the stoner kids, who are on a trek to do psychedelic mushrooms at an abandoned prison where satan worshippers hold ritual sacrifices. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess. The Honor Farm isn't as horrifying as it sounds, and plays more like a consciousness expanding coming of age film than a horror movie. So it might be a little difficult for this trippy indie to find its audience, but if you can get on The Honor Farm's mind-expanding wavelength you might just get something meaningful out of it.
Photo: SXSW
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The Light of the Moon
Stephanie Beatriz plays a young woman is attacked and raped and struggles, for the majority of the film, with how to connect to her friends and family again. Jessica M. Thompson's film refuses to sensationalize the story, and forces the audience to consider how they would react to this situation and how many people they know who have lived through it. Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) stars, and he gives a truly impressive dramatic performance.
Read our interview with The Light of the Moon star Stephanie Beatriz
Photo: SXSW
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Mayhem
Joe Lynch's ultraviolent horror-comedy takes place at an office building under quarantine, because everyone inside is afflicted with a virus that makes them act on every impulse... especially the homicidal ones. There are similar movies out there (like this weekend's The Belko Experiment) but Mayhem's manic energy, electric performances and laugh-out-loud humor make Lynch's film stand out. This was one of the best films we saw at SXSW.
Photo: SXSW
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Mommy Dead and Dearest
Erin Lee Carr's true crime documentary exposes a tale of fraud, abuse, sex and murder in a seemingly saintly family. Mommy Dead and Dearest does its job, leaving you feeling pretty scuzzy and side-eyeing everyone else in your neighborhood, although it leaves you with a lot of questions that, perhaps, could have been tackled on screen.
Read our review of Mommy Dead and Dearest
Photo: SXSW
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PIG: The Final Screenings
Adam Mason's one-take torture porn movie is absolutely revolting, the sort of violent perversion that makes you want to abandon the theater. That's either a harsh criticism or a soaring recommendation. Pig is an experimental film that has only been screened a few times since it was produced in 2009, and after SXSW 2017 it will - allegedly - never be shown again. Gore hounds may find that disappointing, but they'r probably the only ones who would get a kick out of this outlandishly repugnant experiment in non-stop sleaze.
Photo: SXSW
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Prevenge
Alice Lowe writes, directs and stars in a droll and insightful horror comedy about a pregnant woman whose unborn child tells her to commit murder. The pacing is a bit slow but that just leaves more room for Lowe and her great supporting cast to explore the many insidious anxieties we all have about pregnancy. Let me me put it this way: if you loved Vampire's Kiss, you'll love Prevenge.
Photo: SXSW
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Tragedy Girls
The hilarious and hip Tragedy Girls stars Alexandra Shipp and Brianna Hildebrand as teen sociopaths who decide to commit a series of violent murders in order to promote their social media pages. Tyler MacIntyre directs a wicked little satire with just enough broad humor to keep us from ever turning on our evil protagonists, who seem likely to go down as cult horror heroes.
Read our review of Tragedy Girls
Photo: SXSW
