Sundance 2009: Genre Movies and Oddities

As you might know, the Sundance film festival is going on this week. It's not much of a festival for horror films but a few always manage to slip in. We reported on the fainting-spell-inducing Grace a few days ago. Now lets take a look at a few other genre-related films making their debut at Sundance.

Dead Snow

The Norwegian import Dead Snow, or Død Snø Borkdi Borkdi Bork as it's known in its native tongue, follows a group of youngsters off on a ski holiday. After indulging in a bit of booze, drug and sex-drenched debauchery they find themselves facing reanimated Nazi zombies. Yes folks, we've officially hit the Nazi era of the zombie resurgence. Fans of Shockwaves rejoice!

The Killing Room

With credits like Darkness Falls and TCM: The Beginning to his name, it's hard to get too excited about a new movie from director Jonathon Liebesman, but the premise for The Killing Room sounds intriguing. A group of government test subjects find out that they've volunteered for an experiment that is much more than they expected. It's drawing comparisons to Cube and (the original) Saw and has a cast that ranges from great (Timothy Hutton, Peter Stormare), to debatable (Chloe Sevigny, Clea DuVall), to groan-inducing (Nick Cannon).

Moon

Sam Rockwell plays an astronaut returning home after a long stint mining on the moon. He's alone in his capsule with only the voice of Kevin Spacey (via the computer) to keep him company and he begins seeing and hearing strange things and learns that his company has a unique way of replacing him. Sounds like a little bit 2001, a little bit Solaris but hey, Sam Rockwell. And it's directed by David Bowie's son.

Black Dynamite

There's nothing I can say about Black Dynamite that this trailer doesn't say way better and way badder.

White Lightnin'

Maybe the most unlikely, uninspirational biopic ever, White Lightnin' follows the life of buck dancer, gas-huffer and Elvis impersonator Jesco White. Anyone who has seen Dancing Outlaw, the hard-to-find documentary about Jesco that propelled him to cult fame will probably be thinking "they made a movie about Jesco White?" Yes they did. If you haven't seen Dancing Outlaw head to eBay or your local dirt mall or your favorite internet buccaneers' site and enjoy. Here's a clip of Jesco sharing breakfast cooking tips: