The Lighthouse International Film Festival has announced their second edition of Darkhouse this afternoon, a genre-centric screening category focused on the best in boundary-pushing horror, science fiction, and fantasy cinema.
The festival’s Darkhouse program, which will take place June 7-11 on Long Beach Island, NJ, will showcase five new features, one special spotlight screening, and 28 short films.
Selected titles include Ted Geoghegan’s SXSW hit BROOKLYN 45, about a group of veterans who gather for a séance at the end of World War II; Evan Marlowe’s mannequin horror film ABRUPTIO, featuring the voices of Jordan Peele, James Marsters, and Robert Englund; and Matt Kiel’s animated dark fantasy UNICORN BOY, starring Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, and Harold Perrineau. The programming block will also feature a special screening of 2009’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO with director Niels Arden Oplev in attendance.
In addition to their Darkhouse category, Lighthouse will celebrate the art of surfing with their signature SURF FILMS programming block, featuring two feature documentaries and four stunning shorts about the coastal sport/lifestyle.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s lineup…
DARKHOUSE
Abruptio (dir. Evan Marlowe)USA, 94 minutes // East Coast PremiereLes Hackel is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him.
Brooklyn 45 (dir. Ted Geoghegan)USA, 92 minutesFive military veterans gather in the ornate parlor of a Brooklyn brownstone. Best friends since childhood, they’ve reunited to support their troubled host – but when his invitation for cocktails turns into an impromptu séance, the metaphoric ghosts of their past become all too literal.
Enter Mycel (dir. Daniel Limmer)Austria, 74 minutesAfter the death of her mother, thirteen-year-old Lena struggles to keep her family life and her own sanity together, juggling the challenges of caring for her newborn baby sister and her depressed father, who seeks relief in a communication system enabled by a natural fungal parasite called Mycel.
Ghost Babe (dir. Pipe Delgado)USA, 80 minutesThree surfer bros get tangled up in an 80-year-old murder mystery after inheriting a mansion haunted by the foxy spirit of a legendary 1930s Hollywood starlet. Is this the end for them, or just the beginning?
Unicorn Boy (dir. Matt Kiel)USA, 90 minutesWhen a heartbroken young artist is sucked into a unicorn-run alternate dimension, they must help conquer a dark force in order to bring peace to the kingdom and themselves.
Special Screening:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (dir. Niels Arden Oplev)Sweden, 152 minsThe first installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series (2009). A troubled computer hacker and a disgraced journalist are hired by the wealthy Henrik Vanger to investigate the suspicious disappearance of his niece 40 years earlier. As the pair dig deeper, they discover evidence pointing to a scripture-minded serial killer.
SURF FILMS
Big Wave Guardians (dir. Luke Stirtz)USA, 91 minutesHawaii’s North Shore is the world’s most dangerous seven-mile stretch of beach. As surfers push the limits and crowds increase, a small group of heroes have reinvented water safety on a parallel track to the rising dangers.
Stop Playin’ with ‘Em (dir. Sean Madden)USA, 63 minutesQuest Soliman and Paul Godette are Rockaway Beach-based skaters turned surfers. Trading frigid winter waves for Panamanian shores, the two celebrate diversity, brotherhood, and adventure.