Sundance 2012 Preview: Midnight & Next

It's day four of our Park City Preview Week and time to wrap up our big Sundance preview. You've already heard all about the competition films, the fest documentaries, and the premieres and spotlights. Now we turn to two of the most anticipated sections, the always raucous Midnight section and the ultra-indie Next films. Here are some of the flicks that caught our attention.

Midnight


V/H/S
Certainly one of our very most anticipated films of the festival, this anthology of found footage horror includes segments directed by Adam Wingard, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, and Ti West and features performances by most of those guys along with Sophia Takal, Kate Lyn Sheil, Calvin Reeder, and Lane Hughes. Can't wait!


JOHN DIES AT THE END
Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, and Doug Jones star in legendary Bubba Ho-Tep director Don Coscarelli's interdimensional horror-drug-adventure-comedy.


BLACK ROCK
Katie Aselton follows-up her relationship comedy The Freebie with this remote island thriller written by hubby Mark Duplass and starring Kate Bosworth and Lake Bell alongside her.


THE PACT
Caity Lotz and Casper Van Dien star in Nicholas McCarthy's feature follow-up to last year's haunted house hit short.


SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS
Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace direct this doc chronicling the final concerts by LCD Soundsystem. Turn. It. Up.


EXCISION
Richard Bates's feature debut is a psycho-sexual teen comedy about an outcast teenage girl out to pop her cherry. The film stars AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, and (wait for it...) John Waters.


GRABBERS
Jon Wright's Irish madcap drunken fishing monster flick looks like a classic midnight rollicker.


TIM & ERIC'S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE
Oh boy. Love' em or hate 'em, Tim & Eric are certainly one (err, two) of a kind. Their first feature, B$M, promises to be a movie.

Next


KID-THING
The Zellner Bros. of Red Vs. Blue and Fantastic Debates fame have written, directed, (David) produced, and shot (Nathan) this indie about a mischievous girl who finds a woman stuck down a well.


COMPLIANCE
Craig Zobel made a splash a few years ago with his part-reality/part-scripted The Great World of Sound. He returns with this fast-food restaurant interrogation drama starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, and Pat Healy (of The Innkeepers fame).


THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID
Carrie Preston (Arlene from True Blood) directs Anne Heche in this female driven comedy.


28 HOTEL ROOMS
Chris Messina and Marin Ireland star as love-struck adulterers in Matt Ross's mosaic-like debut feature.


I AM NOT A HIPSTER
Find out what happens when a misanthropic indie musician gets a surprise visit from his three sisters and estranged father in Destin Daniel Cretton's feature debut.

Up next... Park City Preview Week concludes with a looks at Slamdance!