The films that debut – or simply make a special appearance – at the SXSW film festival are typically a mixed lot. Given the various categories and banners under which films can be premiered, it’s meant to be an absolute necessity for the festival in general. This means you can select an entire fest of thoughtful documentaries, if you were so inclined. If you want weird, blood, gore, and classics, they also have you covered.
Also: SXSW 2016 | This Year’s Film Festival Lineup
This year’s eclectic lot is a fun soup of oddball antic. Not only are we going to be seeing the premieres of new films by notable directors (Richard Linklater and Ti West are on the docket), but a few classics have been cleaned up, ripe for rediscovery. And, yes, you will indeed have the opportunity to see the fourth Leprechaun movie. The one where he goes to space. At SXSW. There is some magic in the air.
Here are ten selections from the fest’s whole lineup that we recommend. Peruse and select.
10 Movies You Need To See at SXSW 2016:
Top Image: TriMark
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at@WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
10 SXSW 2016 Movies You Need To See
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Beware the Slenderman
Irene Taylor Brodsky directs a documentary feature about the curious internet phenomenon of The Slenderman, an internet meme created in 2009... and the two girls who committed murder for him.
Image: HBO
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Born to be Blue
In Robert Budreau's new biopic, Ethan Hawke plays the turbulent jazz genius Chet Baker.
Image: IFC Films
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Collective:unconscious
A collective of five indie filmmakers take turns adapting one another's dreams to film.
Image: SXSW
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Everybody Wants Some
Richard Linlater's love story to the fashions and joys of youth in the early 1980s is being credited as a "spitirual sequel" to his Dazed and Confused.
Image: Paramount
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In a Valley of Violence
A town of oddballs become the site of a revenge plot. Ethan Hawke stars, and indie horror master Ti West directs.
Image: Focus World
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Karaoke Crazies
A bizarre-looking Korean musical about a failing karaoke house, the video game addict girl that saves it, and a serial killer on the loose.
Image: SXSW
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Pee-wee's Big Holiday
The decades-anticipated follow-up to Big-Top Pee-wee follows our eponymous manchild on his first-ever vacation.
Image: Netflix
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Phantasm REMASTERED
The 1979 cult classic starring a tall mortician and a bevvy of interdimensional imps has been meticulously restored by J.J. Abrams. This may be your only chance to see it on the big screen.
Image: AVCO Embassy
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The Liberators
A documentary film by Cassie Hay, The Liberators is about the investigation behind a clutch of missing Nazi gold, and its ultimate discovery in a small Texas town.
Image: SXSW
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Doug Benson interrupts Leprechaun 4
Comedian Doug Benson has an ongoing cinematic series wherein he controls when a film stops and starts so that he may give his own hilarious commentary. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, he will be interrupting Brian Trenchard-Smith's amazing weird-fest Leprechaun 4: In Space.
Image: TriMark
