Since its inception in Los Angeles in 2013, Past Fest has gone on to determine itself as the biggest movie pageant in the USA focusing totally on horror, science fiction, fantasy and associated genres, presenting a constantly robust program of recent releases (together with a lot of premieres), retrospective screenings, shorts applications, particular company and the proverbial a lot, rather more. For these of us not primarily based on the West Coast, their applications have been a constant supply of envy for a lot of film followers.
To that finish, Past Fest has in the end determined to unfold its goodness into a special time zone. From April 2-5, they, along side MUBI, shall be presenting Past Chicago, a program of 30 titles starting from the primary native appears to be like at a lot of extremely touted movies to a lot of cult classics, a lot of them introduced within the miracle of 35MM, all of which shall be exhibiting on the metropolis’s most hallowed film palace, the Music Field Theatre.
The pageant kicks off on April 2 with the native premiere of “Obsession,” the brand new movie from Curry Barker, who made a splash in 2024 when his $800 YouTube function “Milk & Serial” garnered quite a lot of consideration from the horror press, who questioned what he would possibly be capable of accomplish with a bigger funds. For his follow-up, he offers us the story of an amiable goof (Michael Johnston) who’s desperately in love along with his childhood pal/co-worker (Inde Navarette), however whereas she cares for him, it’s clearly solely as a pal.
Sooner or later, he goes right into a novelty store and finds a “One Want Willow,” a tchotchke that allegedly grants the consumer one want. Because it seems, a.) the factor really works and b.) wishing for somebody to really feel timeless love for you with none form of consent is maybe not the wisest of concepts. Judging from the response that the movie has already acquired following its screenings at Toronto (the place it was the middle of a bidding conflict that noticed it bought to Focus Options, who shall be releasing it on Might 15) and SXSW, it might appear as if he has certainly lived as much as the promise of his earlier work.
For the Closing Evening slot on April 5, the fest shall be holding the World Premiere screening of one other eagerly anticipated title, “Faces of Demise,” Daniel Goldhaber’s reimagining of the 1978 “Mondo Cane” riff that was little greater than a group of scenes of individuals dying in any variety of ugly ways in which, in case you believed the hype from everybody from ethical watchdogs to the child on the playground who snuck a take a look at an older sibling’s copy, had been actual. (Spoiler Alert: Most of them had been apparent fakes.)
Quite than redo the faux-documentary schtick, Goldhaber and co-writer Isa Mazzei (each of whom shall be readily available for a post-screening Q&A) have reconceived it as an overtly fictional narrative, during which a video platform moderator investigates whether or not or not a collection of obvious snuff movies are merely fakes or one thing a lot worse, starring the likes of Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Jermaine Fowler and—as a result of you possibly can hardly say to have a significant movie pageant in 2026 with out her showing in your display sooner or later, the increasingly-ubiquitous pop goddess Charli XCX.
Among the many different main titles on this system, Ben Wheatley’s “Regular” (4/3) finds Bob Odenkirk (who shall be showing together with co-writer/producer Derek Kolstad) as soon as once more entering into the function of unlikely motion hero, this time because the sheriff of a seemingly bucolic Midwestern city who finds himself working afoul of all of the locals (together with the likes of Henry Winkler and Lena Headey) within the wake of a financial institution theft that goes sideways.
The carnage continues with Kenji Tanigaki’s “The Livid” (4/4), a martial arts thriller a few seemingly bizarre father (Xie Miao) whose daughter is kidnapped by little one traffickers and who groups up with a journalist (Joe Taslim) to rescue her and different kidnapped youngsters in essentially the most bone-crunching methods possible.
In “One Spoon of Chocolate” (4/4), the newest work from musical icon-turned-writer/director RZA (scheduled to participate in a post-screening Q&A), a former navy veteran (Shameik Moore) is launched from jail and relocates to his small Ohio hometown to make a brand new life, solely to run afoul of a bunch of native racist goons in a collection of confrontations that rapidly and violently escalate within the custom of the basic blaxsploitation movies of outdated.
Much more blood spills in “Over Your Lifeless Physique” (4/5), a remake of the Norwegian darkish comedy “I Onde Dager” from Jorma Taccone (at present scheduled to attend) a few couple (Jason Segel and Samara Weaving) who go off to spend a while at a secluded cabin to repair their fraying marriage, not realizing {that a}.) every is definitely planning on doing away with the opposite and b.) an unexpected twist will power them each to place their plans on maintain, a minimum of quickly.
On the documentary entrance, “Butthole Surfers: The Gap Reality And Nothing Butt” (4/2) recounts the story of the legendary Eighties underground band co-founded by Gibby Hanes and Paul Leary, each of whom shall be readily available for the screening together with director Tom Stern, and charts the methods during which they’d go on to affect various tradition for years to come back.
Of the larger new titles, maybe essentially the most intriguing is “Rose of Nevada” (4/2), the newest work from Mark Jenkin, whose final movie, “Enys Males” (2022) was a quietly however deeply unsettling low-fi thriller a few wildlife volunteer whose keep on a supposedly uninhabited island to watch a uncommon flower begins to tackle the type of a waking nightmare. On this one, which, like its predecessor, was shot in 16MM to present it a grainy, tactile look, an empty fishing boat (whose identify provides the movie’s title) turns up on the shore of a fishing village in Cornwall 30 years after it set out and by no means returned.
Though the fates of these on board stay a thriller, the boat’s proprietor (Edward Rowe) however elects to place it again to work, a transfer that looks like a spectacularly dangerous thought even earlier than the invention of the phrases “Get off the boat now” carved into the wooden beneath deck. Nonetheless, two younger males—financially struggling household man Nick (George McKay) and drifter Liam (Callum Turner)—signal on for some fast and much-needed money and ship out with an appropriately grizzled captain (Francis Magee) for a couple of days of fishing.
What occurs subsequent, I cannot even trace at to permit you to uncover for your self. Suffice it to say, one thing occurs—one thing unusual and disturbing that the 2 males discover themselves responding to in more and more alternative ways. Though one might simply think about the essential parts gathered right here being put to the service of a conventional horror narrative, that isn’t what Jenkins has given viewers. As a substitute, as he did so memorably with “Enys Males,” he’s much less involved with creating standard-issue “BOO!” moments designed to get viewers leaping than with making a moody cinematic dreamscape the place the road between actuality and nightmare is so blurred that the viewers is simply as baffled because the characters are concerning which is which.
Those that are within the temper for affordable shocks and gallons of gore could develop annoyed with the movie’s enigmatic tone and low physique rely (until you embody the fish). Nonetheless, these searching for one thing that’s each undeniably unusual and quietly disturbing—significantly in case you had been an admirer of “Enys Males”—ought to make an effort to examine this one out.
On the retrospective entrance, the pageant is providing up a canny mixture of fan favorites and odd obscurities. Earlier than showing on the screening of “Regular,” Bob Odenkirk shall be internet hosting a exhibiting of a 35MM print of “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (4/3), Joseph Sargent’s enormously entertaining thriller a few New York subway prepare being held for ransom that includes Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Jerry Stiller and one of many best closing moments in display historical past.
Equally, earlier than his screening of “One Spoon of Chocolate,” RZA shall be presenting “The Child with the Golden Arm” (4/4), Chen Chang’s 1979 interval martial arts epic about members of a safety agency transporting a fortune in gold taels via a stretch of land stuffed with a large assortment of harmful criminals intent on stealing all of it.
The pageant can even host the world premiere of the brand new 4K restoration of the 2008 display adaptation of “Velocity Racer” (4/3), with co-writer/director Lilly Wachowski taking part in a pre-screening Q&A.
Iconic Japanese cult actress Meiko Kaji shall be making her first Chicago look for screenings of three of her basic movies—the world premiere of the 2K restoration of “Silver Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler” (4/3), a revenge thriller during which she co-stars with Sonny Chiba, and a double-feature of “Woman Snowblood” and “Feminine Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41” (4/4), two visually fashionable and super-bloody motion epics that might function key influences for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Invoice” saga.
For the late-night crowd, there shall be a midnight screening of Paul Morrissey’s still-jaw-dropping horror-comedy hybrid “Flesh for Frankenstein” (4/4), within the miracle of 3D, to function a tribute to the late, nice Udo Kier, who delivered one of the vital unhinged performances of his profession—which, if you’re accustomed to his profession, says quite a bit—because the mad physician seeking to create a brand new grasp race with the assistance of the severed head of Joe Dallesandro.
If that wasn’t sufficient, because of sponsor MUBI, the pageant can even be presenting a lot of free screenings, although tickets are nonetheless required for admission. “Camp” (4/3) tells the story of a seemingly cursed younger lady who goes off to work as a counselor at a camp for troubled youth however can’t shake her sense of doom. “The Yeti” (4/3) follows a workforce assembled to seek for a tycoon and an adventurer who’ve gone lacking in a harsh stretch of northern Alaska, solely to search out themselves within the territory of the titular creature.
“Flush” (4/3) is an outrageous French entry during which a man runs afoul of the incorrect individuals and finds himself left for useless along with his head caught in a squat bathroom and scuffling with all the things from doable drowning to an assault by a drug-addled rat. “Section” (4/4) is a British sci-fi movie a few pregnant lady who, after being exiled from an area station, goes off looking for the daddy of her little one.
“Bulk” (4/4) is one other movie from Ben Wheatley, this one a sci-fi mind-bender during which experiments in string principle go wildly uncontrolled with more and more surreal outcomes. In “Imposters” (4/4), after a pair’s toddler son is kidnapped, the mom discovers a method to convey the kid again, however over time, the daddy turns into more and more satisfied that what she has introduced again isn’t their son.
“The Kirlian Frequency” (4/5) is an Argentinian chiller a few radio present whose spooky and ostensibly fictional on-air tales have gotten a grisly actuality. The primary movie produced by the corporate belonging to Indonesian motion star Iko Uwais (finest identified right here for the “Raid” movies), “Ikatan Darah” (4/5) a few martial artist whose profession was reduce brief by damage who’s pressured again into motion when her brother runs afoul of a legal syndicate.
“Merciless Palms” (4/5) is an Australian thriller a few lady who, alongside along with her younger son, escapes from her abusive husband to a distant farmhouse, the place she ultimately has to defend them towards her husband, the police, and raging brushfires.
A trio of older titles can be a part of the free collection. “Blood Brothers (& Different Delights)” (4/4) is a group of super-gross, zero-budget movies made within the Eighties and traded via the mail by Mike Diana, an underground cartoonist whose self-published work, Boiled Angel, would result in his conviction within the Nineties for creative obscenity. “Small Kill” (1991) is an nearly indescribably bizarre thriller a few degenerate psychopath—performed by none apart from Gary “Radar” Burghoff (who additionally co-directed the movie—who goes round kidnapping youngsters and killing them if their dad and mom don’t cough up the ransom.
“Sheila and the Brainstem” (4/5) is an odd 1989 sci-fi satire a few man who travels to a subterranean world the place he finds the Brainstem, which he believes holds the facility of immortality, solely to have it stolen in a comfort retailer by a trio of punks who mistake it for beef jerky. As well as, there are two blocks of brief movies, “Unusual Frequencies” (4/4) and “And Then What” (4/5).
As tantalizing as most of those titles could appear, I’ve saved essentially the most notable a part of the lineup—one that will go down as one of many must-see screening occasions of the 12 months—for final. On April 5, the pageant shall be presenting the native premiere of “Boorman and the Satan,” the eagerly anticipated movie from director David Kittredge (who shall be in attendance) chronicling the wild historical past behind one of many strangest would-be blockbusters of the Nineteen Seventies, “Exorcist II: The Heretic,” John Boorman’s notorious follow-up to the groundbreaking 1973 horror basic “The Exorcist.”
Presumably realizing that anybody watching “Boorman and the Satan” will then instantly need to search out “Exorcist II” to see it for themselves, the pageant is following up the documentary with a uncommon screening of an authentic 35MM print of the movie, marking its first look on a Chicago display in a very long time. Though it acquired a lot derision again within the day and is often considered one of many worst sequels ever made, its repute has begun to enhance over time, with no much less an authority than Martin Scorsese making a case for its value.
Personally, I feel the movie is a straight-up masterpiece, one of the vital audaciously weird American movies of the Seventies—significantly for one produced on such an immense scale—and one which continues to look higher with every passing 12 months. (Disclaimer: Each I and fellow critic and Music Field’s personal Steve Prokopy are featured within the doc.)
Scoff in case you should, however I can guarantee you that it’s a movie that, as soon as seen, you’ll always remember, and sure, I imply that in a great way. Moreover, now that movies like “Heaven’s Gate” and “Sorcerer” have gone on to lastly obtain the acclaim they deserved, we want one other once-scorned auteurist epic reclamation challenge. I can’t consider a extra deserving work.
Past Fest Chicago runs April 2-5 on the Music Field Theatre (3733 N. Southport). Tickets for the primary screenings are on sale now. Tickets for the free screenings shall be obtainable to Music Field members on April 1 and to most people on April 2. Tickets might be bought on-line at musicboxtheatre.com. For added info on the pageant, go to beyondfest.com.
