
Extra, extra! Read all about it! Professional gore-slinger
Eli Roth to attend
South By Southwest this March, sit on a horror-geek panel, and show off a brand-new clip from his upcoming movie
Hostel: Part 2! Cool!
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
First the panel news: The event ("Panel of the Dead: Horror Films of Today") will be held on March 11, with
AICN's Harry Knowles moderating the discussion. Panelists will include Mr. Roth, filmmaker
Scott Glosserman (
Behind the Mask), producer
Lauren Moews (
Cabin Fever,
Borderland) and yes, yours truly, because if you're going to invite a film critic to sit in on a horror panel, you should probably choose one who actually appreciates the fine art of cinematic horror ... as I so definitely do. (There may be some more panelists announced down the road, so stay tuned!)
But what about the movies? Well, in addition to the aforementioned
Hostel: Part 2 clip, SXSW attendees will be able to enjoy the following fright-centric flicks:
Borderland (
World Premiere) --
Sean Astin,
Rider Strong and the amazingly gorgeous
Mircea Monroe star in this tale of lost kids, wrong turns and human sacrifices.
Grimm Love (
North American Premiere) -- Before he was handed the reins on the upcoming
Hills Have Eyes 2, German filmmaker
Martin Weisz created this unpredictable (and fairly controversial) tale of hardcore cannibalism. (Over the past year or so, I've been asked "Have you seen
Grimm Love yet?" at least a dozen times.)
Mulberry Street (
North American Premiere) -- SXSW producer
Matt Dentler described this one to me as "Zombies overtake New York, only they're like Rat-Zombies. It's pretty damn wild." Sign me up.
Sisters (
U.S. Premiere) -- All I know is that it's a remake of
the Brian De Palma flick, and it stars
Stephen Rea and
Chloe Sevigny ... which is all I need to get at least somewhat interested.
Them (
U.S. Premiere) -- A French chiller also known as
Ils, it's about a couple who get absolutely terrorized by a group of unseen assailants. And by "unseen," that means by the audience as well.
...and of course the SXSW brain-trust has its collective eye on a few more horror titles, so if you feel like visiting Austin and you really like scary, spooky, splattery movies -- I say you make your trip mid-March.