the funeral

The body of the mysteriously murdered young woman has to disappear before her family gets into trouble with the police. The hearse driver, Cemal, is supposed to hide with it in the countryside. But the woman isn’t that dead – not exactly alive either, though. THE FUNERAL has its own take on the genres of demons, vampires, and zombie films, unveiling a dark side of Turkey.

german premiere

concrete utopia

Seoul has been devastated. Only one housing complex is still standing. While its inhabitants are still in shock, more and more survivors ask for admission. The goods are rapidly running out, and the community has to decide if they will help the desperate men, women, and children or let them face the hard winter outside. CONCRETE UTOPIA is Korea’s entry for the international Oscar and a thriller that stirs you up.

german premiere

suitable flesh

Dr. Elizabeth Derby is so fascinated by her new patient that, against all professional ethics, she visits him at home. That ends in a blood bath. From then on, the psychiatrist’s life gets more and more out of control since the handsome young man, who suffers from demonic delusions, has a horrible secret. Joe Lynch presents SUITABLE FLESH, a tribute to the horror films of the 1980s.

dream scenario

Here, three fantastic talents come together to create a literal DREAM SCENARIO: after SICK OF MYSELF, Kristoffer Borgli once again aims at the neurotic excesses of our media-consuming society and, with Ari Aster as co-producer, delivers a biting satire and a perfect fit for Nicolas Cage's perhaps best per- formance to date.

Paul doesn't know what's happening to him. At first it's just his daughter who has surreal dreams about him. But then, inexplicably, more and more people start getting visions of him at night, even complete strangers! Until now, the pale family father and not very witty college professor has never been in the centre of attention or cool. But now he is suddenly being praised as the "hottest man in the world" and the media is all about the new internet star everyone is dreaming of. However, as the collective night-time episodes become increasingly nightmarish, the general mood changes and Paul is overwhelmed by a shitstorm of gigantic proportions.

i’ll crush y’all

Who dares to descend into the depths of Spanish exploitation cinema, and join a cast like Antonio Mayans and TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD icon Lone Fleming? This over-the-top action feast, whose title delivers exactly what it promises, is the ticket to it: Tarado, fresh out of jail, finally wants to lead a normal life. But when his father dies unexpectedly, a tour-de- force unchains that gets massively out of hand, seeing more and more rival parties suddenly turning up on the family farm. Who exactly claims what against whom is unclear until the cunning finale – but also doesn’t matter.

Mario Mayo delivers as Tarado a rough performance mixing Jason Statham and Bruce Willis. He shreds his way through his opponents with stoic calm and using a series of (im)possible props. There is no one who gets out of this without getting punched in the face – so bluntly that it hurts. A cathartic and completely over-the-top bloodbath difficult to foresee!

daaaaaali!

Young journalist Judith has one big wish: to interview Salvador Dalí! However, there are some obstacles like never-ending hotel hallways, still water, a crashed camera, and, of course, the diva Dalí himself. But Judith doesn't give up! Dalí, on the other hand, increasingly despairs because of time paradoxes, his old alter-ego and the never-ending dream of a priest.

The same is true of all of Quentin Dupieux's wackily inventive creations, such as RUBBER and SMOKING CAUSES CAUGHING: engage and be amazed! As magically the icon of surreal painting manages to make time melt, the master of surreal film unhinges all causality and, as usual, all viewing habits. A Dalí painting literally comes to life and our poor Judith has to deal with five incarnations of the Spanish eccentric. DAAAAAALI! is a dream of a film! A feverish vision full of weird details and piled up craziness.

the last stop in yuma county

It was supposed to be just a quick stop on the way to his daughter's birthday, but the new gas delivery for the gas station is late and the salesman has no choice but to wait in the diner next door. The fact that the air conditioning is broken and makes the heat unbearable is another hint for how bad this day is going to be. Shortly afterwards, the next car is stranded in the countryside and two menacing guys arrive. When waitress Charlotte secretly tries to alert her husband, the county's police chief, the phone is already dead...

With a simple premise, director and screenwriter Francis Galluppi manages to knit a thoroughly gripping thriller. More and more strange characters gather in the diner, the situation becomes increasingly complex and curious, while the tension rises. The skilful camerawork, a good pinch of black humour and, last but not least, the furious final act do the rest to make THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY a real surprising hit.

alienoid: return to the future

A group of escaped aliens at her tail, Ean searches for the divine sword that could open a time-travelling portal which would bring the in the past trapped warrior and the cyborg Thunder back to the year 2022. There is also the bounty hunter Muruk, who has rescued Ean from many difficult situations, who begins to suspect that an alien presence has entered his body. When the group finally manages to cross over to the present, they find brutal devastation: The powerful alien Controller has released the extraterrestrial substance Haava and thousands have died. Ean, Thunder and Muruk don’t have much time to hunt down the enormous number of hostile aliens and save humanity.

With ALIENOID, one of the most original science fiction sagas in a long time has been brought to the big screen. RETURN TO THE FUTURE, the sequel to the time travel comedy packed with SFX, makes all the ends of the story brilliantly meet, but also works splendidly as an individual film.

red rooms

Kim (16), Justine (14) and Camille (13) are dead. Kidnapped, tortured, sexually abused and dismembered, they found their bestial end on the darknet in front of the cameras. Months later, their presumed tormentor is on trial: with an emotionless expression and behind safety glass, Ludovic Chevalier attends the prosecutor's disturbing deployment of the evidences and stares at the traumatized relatives. His lawyer pleads "not guilty". Two young women are captivated by the "Demon of Rosemont"’s trial as well: Clémentine, who is ardently defending Chevalier in front of the camera, has fallen in love with him. Kelly-Anne, a model and hacker, becomes even more consumed by her curiosity about what has probably happened in Chevalier's "Red Rooms."

RED ROOMS leaves no one cold, makes you angry, speechless and sticks to you long after the credits have rolled. This sensitive, never lurid psychological thriller is celebrating one festival success after another, and quite rightly so.

nightwatch: demons are forever

The courageous medical student Emma works as a night watchwoman at the forensic institute. The job pays well. Secretly, however, she hopes to find out more about her troubled family history. It was here that her parents once just barely escaped the serial killer Wörmer – a trauma that they never got over. In fact, there are plenty of gruesome details circulating at the institute about the crimes committed in the morgue. But the most explosive discovery: Wörmer is not dead, as Emma assumed, but is living in an asylum nearby. This awakens in the young woman the obsessive idea of meeting the perverse murderer who scalps his victims. At the same time, the neighbourhood is once again shaken by a series of mysterious deaths...

Ole Bornedal once more presents Scandinavian thriller fare at its eeriest: the dark corridors and tiled autopsy rooms full of corpses in glaring neon light are the perfect setting for his horror scenario with a top cast.