MidWest WeirdFest announces its full 2017 program today. The inaugural film festival - a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird - will take place March 3-5, 2017 at the Micon Cinemas Downtown in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
“MidWest WeirdFest's programmers have put together a world class program of genre and underground cinema”, says festival founder and director Dean Bertram, who has been running film festivals in Australia for over a decade. “From some of the freshest horror and sci-fi feature films on the fest circuit today, through underground oddities to fascinating and frightening documentaries. There's also three short film blocks, including a hilarious program curated by UWEC graduates Andrew Swant and The Found Footage Festival's Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher.”
Some of the festival's other highlights include:
Friday FrightNight: Three terrifying horror feature films. Starting with the festival's spectacular opening night film, the high-octane and high body count HAPPY HUNTING. Followed by the blood drenched TONIGHT SHE COMES. Then the real-life horror documentary TRAIL TO TERROR.
Sasquatch Saturday Night: After a day packed with weird shorts and feature films, the fest will screen two fantastic Bigfoot movies back to back. First at 8:00pm the brand new documentary BOGGY CREEK MONSTER that examines one of the most famous Bigfoot cases, Arkansas's “Fouke Monster”. And following at 10:00pm the film that started it all! A special 45th anniversary screening of the drive-in classic, horror/docudrama THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. The most terrifying and influential Bigfoot movie ever made.
Sunday WeirdDay: A day and night loaded with the weirdest features and shorts from around the planet, including the madcap sci-fi festival hit NEIL STRYKER AND THE TYRANT OF TIME; and the festival's closing night film, the shocking, hilarious and compelling documentary VORE KING.
For more details check out the festival's fill program here.
A full list of feature films screening at MidWest WeirdFest follows:
ATMO HORROX (Dir: Pat Tremblay) Through a very surreal chase of spying and surveillance, Catafuse, a dubiously dressed "creature", hunts down specific human targets with the help of Molosstrap. But in a world completely run by the shadowy hands of the pharmaceutical industry, the lines of reality become so blurry and complex, that the mastering of insanity might just be the only way out...
BAD BLACK (Dir: Nabwana I.G.G.) The tale of a mild-mannered western doctor, who is trained in the art of ass-kicking commando vengeance by a no-nonsense ghetto kid named Wesley Snipes! BAD BLACK is the latest film straight out of Wakaliwood: Uganda's no-budget answer to Hollywood!
BOGGY CREEK MONSTER (Dir: Seth Breedlove) The true story behind one of the most infamous American legends ever recorded. This fascinating documentary centers around the true stories that inspired the famed Charles B. Pierce-directed, 1972 Bigfoot horror film, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK.
THE CHAIR (Dir: Chad Ferrin) A man struggles to escape a grisly fate on death row in this intense story of betrayal, revenge, and humanity's horrifying capacity for evil. Stars the late Roddy Piper in his last feature film role.
HAPPY HUNTING (Dir: Joe Dietsch, Lucian Gibson) An alcoholic finds himself the prey of the residents of a border town, whose pastime is rounding up drifters and hunting them as part of an elaborate sporting event. It builds to a violent, vile, live-or-die showdown in the desert.
INDIANA (Dir: Toni Comas) A disillusioned paranormal investigator decides he no longer wants to partake in the business of removing unwanted spirits from people's homes. But his partner convinces him to take on one last case, far more troubling than anything they've ever worked on before and possibly the one that changes their lives forever...
THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (Dir: Charles B. Pierce). A special late night, 45th anniversary screening of the classic Bigfoot docudrama / horror movie. A drive-in classic in its day, this film remains not only terrifying but acts as a fascinating anthropological document, capturing the character and feel of Arkansas backwoods/swamp culture of the early 1970s.
NEIL STRYKER AND THE TYRANT OF TIME (Dir: Rob Taylor) In a madcap future era, the world's greatest secret agent must race through time to rescue his son from the clutches of his infamous former mentor. And with STAR TREK's Walter Koenig on board, this film boldly goes to new comedic heights.
TONIGHT SHE COMES (Dir: Matt Stuertz) After a girl goes missing, two of her friends and a mysterious set of strangers find themselves drawn to the cabin where she disappeared. They will laugh, they will drink, they will kiss, they will have sex, and THEY ALL MUST DIE.
TRAIL TO TERROR (Dir: Dakota Laden) This jump-in-your-seat documentary is a real life horror film. The film's director takes his sister, and best friends on a five night journey to test the limits of their fear. This terrifyingly real experiment, and what the four friends experience is like nothing captured on film before.
VORE KING (Dir: Daniel Schneidkraut) This documentary is a detailed portrait of R.P. Whalen, world famous horror host, trash movie guru, carnival sideshow barker, and America’s premier purveyor of vorarephilia pornography. Vorarephilia, popularly known as “vore,” is a sexual fetish where arousal is brought about by the act of one creature consuming another creature, often manifested by monsters eating women. VORE KING features a rare glimpse into the production of a vore film and the mind of a magical (and volatile) super genius.