german premiere

companion

When Iris looked for the first time into Josh’s smiling face, suddenly everything made sense for her. She knows that she is his soulmate, and that everything is perfect! Perfect, until the friends’ weekend at the dreamlike mansion by the lake. No matter how hard Iris tries to be accepted by Josh's clique, it doesn't work. Isn't his best friend Kat bluntly hostile towards her and doesn't the super-rich Sergey scrutinize each of her moves with a lewd look? When an unexpected disaster tests the fate of everyone involved, Iris is forced to finally realize what is really going on. And she picks things up deadly fast... 

COMPANION is one of those fascinating scripts that astonish us with unpredictable twists and turns, which makes it very hard to say anything about the plot. But just this much: the producers of BARBARIAN have once again got themselves a mega-cool project and a great talent in feature debut director/writer Drew Hancock. Perfectly crafted and performed by a sensational cast led by Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, COMPANION is a real gift for genre fans.

german premiere

the wailing

A video chat turns into a trauma for Andrea when a horrific crime is committed in front of her eyes. But no one believes her story of the sinister man she saw standing in the doorway. Searching for answers, Andrea follows a scarry wail to an abandoned house... Twenty years earlier, on the other side of the world, film student Camila secretly shoots snapshots of the fascinating Marie – until she notices a sinister figure in the background. And again a terrible wailing is to be heard, and leads for sure to perdition… It’s too late to escape anyway. 

Pedro Martín-Calero's feature film debut immediately gets under your skin and leaves you with that ice-cold feeling of hopeless menace with which J-horror à la THE RING or THE GRUDGE terrorized its then unprepared audience a few decades ago. The brute, effective sound design, combined with nervewrackingly schock moments makes THE WAILING a flagship of the next generation of Spanish horror.

german premiere

street trash

Cape Town in 2050: Homeless Ronald and his street pals make their way through life with a lot of ingenuity. Most of the time, however, they are beaten up by the anti-social Rat King gang and especially by the authorities. The sleazy mayor wants to be re-elected and the vagabonds are seriously spoiling the view of high society. That's why the experimental poisonous gas Viper must dissolve the bum problem into slime as quickly as possible! 

FRIED BARRY maniac Ryan Kruger knows exactly what made the original STREET TRASH the most bizarre cult classic of the 1980s: the legendary slime-and-mud scenes! His remake increases the number of taste-breaking melting moments to an unrestrained disgusting excess. In this joyous festival of abominations, neon-colored bodily fluids soup and splash and bubble and explode by the hectoliter from every (im)possible body opening. STREET TRASH: In 1987, as in 2025, is a grotesquely bizarre and wonderfully disgusting splatter satire to melt your heart!

german premiere

presence

The camera roams through the empty house, examining every room, every corner. Until the estate agent appears and with her the family who is moving into its new home. Everyone in this family, the parents and their two teenage children, is absorbed by his or her own problems. Only daughter Chloe immediately seems to sense the strange presence in the house. Is it perhaps the ghost of her recently deceased friend? At first the signs are harmless: a book in the wrong place, a door slamming inexplicably. But then no one can ignore anymore what's going on, since the voice from the afterlife becomes increasingly aggressive – to the point of an open outburst. The four are shocked and feel powerless. What should they do? Should they move out, consult a medium or simply ignore the threatening events? If only they would understand the signs better… 

Director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp have teamed up once again. The result of these two exceptional talents’ unification is a stylistically remarkable film that is highly emotional despite its almost documentary-like, touching simplicity.

german premiere

above the knee

Amir has a terrible secret: his left leg is starting to turn black. The rotting process will soon reach all of his body. Unless he can get rid of the leg. That is the solution he dreams of day and night. But unfortunately he is the only one who can see this horror. His girlfriend Rikke is completely clueless and doesn't take Amir's secretiveness too seriously. So how can Amir's burning desire come true? After all, even in liberal Norway, you can't just get a prescription for an amputation. 

Director Viljar Bøe has already shocked us with a very weird story in GOOD BOY. Unpleasant topics seem to be his specialty and so he once again succeeds in making us feel really uncomfortable with his monstrous body horror and Amir's martyrdom, which feels painfully real.

special screening

cassandra

Cassandra sees everything, hears everything, Cassandra is everywhere! She is the driving force behind the visionary first smart home system developed in the 1970s. However, the perfectly styled electronic household helper has been switched off for many years. When a new family moves into the empty house, it has no idea what the reawakened computer technology is capable of. Cassandra has very specific (rather old-fashioned ones) ideas about how life under one roof should work. And she is programmed to use quite drastic methods to comply with them.

Director and screenwriter Benjamin Gutsche does everything right with this mini-series produced by Rat Pack. From the superbly staged horror scenes to the impressive design of the house and the bossy robot lady – the attention to detail is impressive and the plot is told with a lightness, wit and suspense that German series rarely achieve. As a special screening in presence of the team the first two episodes will be shown exclusively in Munich and Cologne.

german premiere

night call

“It’s simple: You’re a friend, or a problem!” Mady knows that gangster boss Yannick's threat is serious and that it brings him one step closer to his grave. All started to go wrong when the harmless locksmith on night duty got framed by the pretty Claire. The apartment he broke into was obviously not hers. There is no doubt about that anymore, when he gets an expected visit. Things just get worse, as Mady sticks his screwdriver in self-defense into the skull of the unpleasant thug. A nerve-wracking chase through a night full of violence and crazy coincidences, in which the young man challenges his fate again and again with every decision he makes. 

Belgian director Michiel Blanchart must be a perfectionist. After all, his debut is the best French-speaking thriller in years. With Petula Clark's rousing sounds of “La Nuit n'en finit plus”, breathless action and its emotional, shocking and ironic twists, the film is a real gem of the genre!

german premiere

mads

Romain is high and on his way to a party when a woman suddenly jumps into his car. The stranger is completely panicked, can't speak and slits her own throat minutes later. Liters of blood splatter around the car. Romain barely manages to get to his father's fancy apartment and under the shower. How does he get out of this – is it all a bad trip? When he returns to the garage, the body has disappeared. Unfortunately, the problem is far from solved: Romain starts to feel more and more awkward... 

Breathless tracking shots and a perfectly polished soundtrack make David Moreau's (THEM, SEULS) thriller into a highly suspenseful and intense cinematic experience. We follow Romain and later his girlfriend Julia through a night of excess that becomes increasingly brutal and drifts towards nothing less than the end of our crazy world.

german premiere

dead talents society

Anyone who is familiar with haunted films will know: Ghosts want to come back to life, protect their refuge, take revenge or all of this at once. But that's not true! In reality, they are competing for the “Golden Ghost Award”, a distinction for the dead who can most effectively shock the living. What you need are a once spectacular cause of death, a bloodcurdling background story and a perfect jump-scare timing. The absolute stars in the afterlife showbiz are: the old-fashioned diva Catherine and her former protégée, the scheming Jessica. But the next generation is already lurking! The aspirants must first get through the tough audition casting, though. 

It is a real pleasure to see how cleverly every cherished detail of ghost movies is turned upside down. The sheer mass of ingenious details keeps you put so intensively that you may laugh too much to creep out – and vice versa. At the same time, DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY delivers a heartfelt reflection on the value of remembering and letting go.

german premiere

the surfer

Nicolas Cage aka “The Surfer” takes his teenage son to Australia to show him the dream beach of his own childhood. But when they arrive, the spot is occupied by aggressive locals who beat up anyone who dares to move his or her board towards the waves. The anti-gentrification credo of local patriot and bully Scully (Julian McMahon) is that no one is allowed into the water, unless he or she is an official resident. Since Cage is unwilling to back down, the increasingly ruthless harassment by Scully's followers brings the normally righteous man to his limits. Until he finally can’t take it anymore! 

Lorcan Finnegan's (VIVARIUM) delightfully over-the-top revenge movie was the reason for a great party at the Cannes Festival Midnight section. It offers 99 minutes of full screen presence for the Oscar winner with his indisputable instinct for roles that are literally tailor-made for him. “All I want is to take my son surfing, that's all!” Exactly!