It's always good to know that you do not always have to seek a genre only festival to get your cult kicks.
Brush off your best tweed jacket, it's time to hob knob with the upper crust at the BFI London Film Festival, specifically their Cult Program.
The Cult Program has quite a few standout selections this year. The program will be led by a gala presentation of Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse. There is a bevy of feature films from genre cinema's statesmen as well. Fabrice du Welz is coming with Adoration. Richard Stanley's Color Out of Space will be there. Our friend Alexandre O. Phlippe's new Exorcist documentary Leap of Faith will delight fans of the William Friedkin classic horror flick.
French absurdist Quentin Dupieux's Deerskin will be there with all its fringe and tassles. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson's latest mind bender Synchronic will up your dose of cult greatness. There will be new films from Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala (The Lodge) and Babak Anvari (Wounds) as well.
Everything in the Cult Program is listed below. BFI London Film Festival runs from the 2nd to 13th of October.
ADORATIONDir. Fabrice du Welz.The ‘lovers on the run’ genre is reimagined as a childhood fairy-tale in this darkly unsettling odyssey from the acclaimed director of Calvaire and Alleluia.THE ANTENNADir. Orçun Behram.Paranoia reigns in this arresting hybrid of body horror and social commentary, which promises to be one of the year’s most subversive genre films.COLOR OUT OF SPACEDir Richard Stanley. Starring Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur.Richard Stanley, visionary director of horror classics Hardware and Dust Devil, makes a triumphant return with this dazzling adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s otherworldly tale.THE EL DUCE TAPESDir Rodney Ascher, David Lawrence, Ryan Sexton.Assembled from a treasure trove of archive VHS footage, the wild story of punk rock’s most outrageous provocateur, Eldon Hoke, lead singer of Seattle DIY punk outfit The Mentors, is not for the faint of heart.LITTLE MONSTERSDir Abe Forsythe. Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Josh Gad, Alexander England.Lupita Nyong’o shines in a delirious zom-com that guarantees you’ll never listen to Taylor Swift in the same way again.KOKO-DI KOKO-DADir Johannes Nyholm.If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a very nasty surprise…LEAP OF FAITHDir Alexandre O Philippe.46 years ago, The Exorcist terrified an entire generation of cinema-goers. Now we explore what really went into the making of a horror masterpiece.THE LODGEDir Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala.Goodnight Mommy directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala take us to a remote cabin in the woods for their spine-chilling sophomore feature.SYNCHRONICDir Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson. Starring Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Katie Aselton.Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring, The Endless) return to the LFF with their latest hallucinogenic excursion into the far reaches of the mind.VIVARIUMDir Lorcan Finnegan. Starring Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg.Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg play a pair of first-time buyers who get more than they bargained for in this twisted fable about the horrors of suburban living.WOUNDSDir Babak Anvari. Starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, Zazie Beetz.Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson are drawn into a bizarre nightmare in Babak Anvari’s fascinating and unconventional follow-up to Under the Shadow.YOU DON’T NOMIDir Jeffrey McHale.Paul Verhoeven’s much-maligned masterpiece is placed under the microscope in this fascinating rumination on the one and only Showgirls.