Watch, If You Dare 

• Sundance Film Festival
• A still from Infinity Pool, a film by writer-director Brandon Cronenberg.

PARK CITY—When the lights went down on the opening night screening of birth/rebirth, kicking off the Midnight category programming at this year's Sundance Film Festival, there was a sense of palpable excitement that can't be found anywhere else. Across the festival, there's nothing quite like seeing the visions that look deep into the darkness with a crowd ready and willing to take the plunge.

After all, even during an entire week built around taking in exciting works of cinema, it is a select few who will actively choose to brave the perilously cold evenings by venturing out to see horror and genre films galore into the early morning hours at the new festival venue The Ray Theatre. Yet, to this fellow maniac who couldn't get enough of these moments—while also remaining taken by much of the other programming—there was no more consistently rewarding run of films than what I saw in the Midnight section.

The best of them managed to be both funny and frightful, utterly depraved and devastating, while still offering something sublime in their sinister visions. For those audiences willing to go with them, they will find some of the most thrilling works to premiere at Sundance this year as they tear through both flesh and form.

All, in one way or another, have a knowledge of history that they then use to craft reflective works all their own. Considering the history of horror at Sundance and Utah—with standouts like Ari Aster's locally-shot Hereditary, which premiered there back in 2018—there is no better place for these films to have their premieres.

In birth/rebirth, the rich ideas explored by the mother of horror Mary Shelley are given new life by writer-director Laura Moss in a goofy yet grim feature debut with a duo of distinctly outstanding performances by Judy Reyes and Marin Ireland. Though confined largely to a single apartment, the film's ambitions are vast and its comedic timing unparalleled as this duo of characters undertake an experiment that will also fundamentally alter both of them as well. The way it makes punchlines out of a perilous situation is just good, clean fun for the whole family.

Speaking of families and horror films that have dark humor, Infinity Pool is the third feature from writer-director Brandon Cronenberg who, yes, is the son of director David Cronenberg, which brings with it a history of its own. However, the younger Cronenberg has a real command of the craft that is disquieting in its own way.

Starring a wonderfully chaotic Mia Goth and a dog-collared Alexander Skarsgård, Infinity Pool is set to get a wide release, having secured distribution ahead of the festival—that means even more people will be able to see it soon. While still very much embracing the body horror tradition, it carves out some striking moments that defy any and all expectations.

• Sundance Film Festival
• In My Mother’s Skin, set during the end of World War II, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Then there is writer-director Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother's Skin, a film about history in a quite literal way as it takes us back to the closing of World War II, a time that remains quite dangerous for a Filipino family living in a remote mansion whose wealth has spared them from most harm up until now. As dangers from our world begin to grow, the children discover a mysterious being of immense power lurking in the woods that can either mark their salvation or their doom. It is both magical and menacing that proves to be mesmerizing as the characters become taken over by otherworldly forces.

While these are all strong works of horror, there is also writer-director Nida Manzoor's feature debut Polite Society that shows how the Midnight programming contains multitudes. Spanning a variety of genres across multiple chapters, it is held together by a wicked sense of humor. Yes, this ends up encompassing some light elements of horror that will not be revealed here, but it also manages to be so many other things at the same time.

All of these works are the top of the top in a category defined by discovery and risk-taking. This is a real gift when you've seen dozens of films at a festival that can start to blend together for how down-the-middle they can be. In a world where many such stories play it safe to find broad appeal, Midnight films make for the cinematic experiences that unabashedly embrace eccentricity—and are all the better for it. They won't be for everyone, but that makes them all the more joyous to take in for yourself.

• Chase Hutchinson
• Festival attendees prepare to enter a Midnight category screening, known for horror and genre fare.

So if you're wanting to find some real festival gems that challenge, entertain and unsettle in equal measure, seeking out the Midnight movies is a good call. Even when our bodies have frozen over as we wander out in the darkness to see them, they will always hold a special place in our hearts as they invigorate us back to some semblance of warmth just as they can subsequently drag us back to cold cinematic depths.

They melt faces, cut through flesh and break through boundaries to craft experiences that remain etched in your memory when all else has faded.

For additional coverage of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, see page 28 in this issue or visit cityweekly.net.