PREVIEW: BEYOND FEST 2020

Unfurling a bare-knuckle middle-finger to COVID-19 on behalf of the West Coast horror community, Beyond Fest 2020 will hold tight to the physical festival experience and present an eclectic mix of retro classics and hot-buzz current titles from October 2-8. Better still, horror and sci-fi fans will relive the golden years of genre filmgoing with the line-up screening at the iconic Mission Tiki Drive-In Theatre in Montclair.

Patrons must adhere to the venue’s strict pandemic prevention conditions, of course, but organisers are certain that attendees will respect and practice all that is asked of them. The festival, which exists in partnership with American Cinematheque and Death Waltz Recording Company, has ten new features set to unspool, including three World Premieres and two US Premieres, with the program further bolstered by seven genre classics.

In a special pre-Festival event, Beyond Fest will hold the West Coast premiere of Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor Uncut (pictured, right) on September 24. Featuring a startling lead turn from Andrea Riseborough as a hitwoman who uses technology to commandeer the minds of strangers, hijacking their bodies to carry out kills, the film has already vied for Best Picture honours at L’Etrange, Sitges and Sundance festivals. It will screen in must-see double-bill with John Frankenheimer’s 1966 paranoid-cinema cult classic, Seconds, with a dynamic Rock Hudson as the Malibu artist faced with a new life and all its unforeseen consequences.

The festival proper launches with writer/director Jim Cummings’ sophomore feature, The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Having made a festival splash in 2018 with his offbeat character study, Thunder Road, Cummings stars as the small town sheriff faced with what may be an unwelcome werewolf presence. The world premiere will be followed by a repertory session of Joe Dante’s biting suburban satire The ‘Burbs, the 1989 Tom Hanks starrer that has developed a devoted cult following of its own in recent years.

October 3 will leave many festival goers dazed and confused with a David Lynch triple-bill booked to run well into the night. The fun kicks off at 7.30 with Lynch’s 1986 version of a smalltown murder mystery, Blue Velvet (pictured, right; starring Kyle McLachlan and Isabella Rossellini); from 9.30, audiences can reassess whether or not, as dubbed by BBC Culture in 2016, Mulholland Drive, with Naomi watts and Laura Harring, is the new millennium’s best film; then, from 11.55, the non-linear 1997 headscratcher classic, Lost Highway, with Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette.

In debutant director Rose Glass’ stomach-tightening Saint Maud, carer Maud (Morfydd Clark) allows a malevolent force to dictate her nursing instincts, resulting in pure terror for the terminally ill Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). In a sublime piece of programming, Beyond Fest will screen a 30th anniversary session of that other ‘insane nurse’ classic, Rob Reiner’s 1990 Stephen King adaptation, Misery, with James Caan and the brilliant Kathy Bates in her Oscar-winning performance.

From October 5, contemporary works take centre stage. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s long-delayed follow-up to The Endless will have it’s West Coast premiere. Synchronic features Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan (pictured, right) as paramedics who find the world around them engulfed in madness when a new designer drug starts to spread along the streets of New Orleans. Justin Simien’s razor-sharp satire Bad Hair utilises 70s/80s-inspired psycho-thriller vibes and sensibilities in its brutal indictment of the inherent violence of the Western gaze.

Debuting on US soil on October 6 are Bryan Bertino’s The Dark and The Wicked, a nightmarish homestead shocker steeped in dark family secrets, and Neil Marshall’s witchfinder torture vision, The Reckoning, featuring a stunning central performance from Charlotte Kirk. Next day is the World Premiere of Archenemy, from Daniel Isn’t Real director Adam Egypt Mortimer, a tale of an intergalactic hero (appropriately portrayed by larger-than-life Joe Manganiello) cast adrift on Earth sans powers, followed by Steven Kostanski’s Psycho Goreman, a bloody ode to prosthetic monsters, guts & gore, and practical effects.

Wrapping up Beyond Fest 2020 in true party fashion will be the World Premiere of the latest from Blumhouse, the serial killer body-switch horror-comedy Freaky (pictured, top), starring Vince Vaughan and Katherine Newton, from Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon. To sweeten the deal, entry is free with every ticket purchased to the repertory screening of the hillbilly romp, Tucker & Dale vs Evil, celebrating its 10th anniversary.

BEYOND FEST runs October 2-8 at the Mission Tiki Drive-In Theatre. Session and ticket details can be found at the festival’s official website.