2016 Nevermore Film Festival

THE CAROLINA THEATRE PRESENTS

N T E ES NE V TE N HT E E AN TNH N U A L ANNUAL

F IFL IM L FME S FT EI VSA TL

FEBRUARY 12-14, 2016

NEVERMOREFILMFEST.ORG

IVA

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL

A 3-DAY FEAST

OF THE MACABRE

For more information about films and programs, including in-depth synopses, reviews, images and trailers go to:

N E V E R M O R E F I L M F E S T. O R G /Nevermore @CarolinaDurham

309 W Morgan St, Durham, NC 27701 919.560.3030 | carolinatheatre.org /CarolinaTheatreDurham @CarolinaDurham

TICKETS On Sale Now 10-PASS / $80 SINGLE TIX / $10 COMMITTEE MEMBERS

FILM FEST

Stacey Weger, Chair Cookie Beyah Melissa Browning Derek Easley Curtis Greeson Sarah Preston Amanda Ray Chris Santucci Wendy Webber

13 CAMERAS (US, 90 min)

For Claire and Ryan, moving represents a second chance to save their marriage. They hope to have found the perfect house to establish their love nest. The only hiccup is the strange landlord, whose hygiene leaves much to be desired. The change of scenery, however, doesn’t quite go as planned. As Claire sinks into her own sorrow, Ryan loses himself in an affair, but he is unaware that a stranger knows all about his extramarital activities. Hidden in the shadows, Gerald, the crazy-eyed landlord, observes his tenants’ every move through his elaborate surveillance system. Intimacy counts for naught in 13 Cameras, a surprising horror film that transposes Peeping Tom into the modern era.

BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLE (Martinique, 108 min)

Battledream Chronicle is the first animated feature to come from Martinique. This computer-animated film depicts the power of true friendship, and its drama invokes the necessity of integrity, the consequences of betrayal, and the boundlessness of evil. In the year 2100, the empire of Mortemonde has subjugated the whole world to digital slavery. Every slave is forced to collect 1000 XP (coins) every month in “Battledream”, a video game where—if you die—you cease to exist in real life.

Only those fortunate enough to succeed in the game are granted the right to live another month.

In French with English subtitles.

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU Committee’s Mixed Bag Shorts (Various Countries, 95 min)

Here’s a collection of amazing shorts that the Nevermore committee just could not live without…due to talk about blood on the floor. And although we couldn’t squeeze them into our traditional programs, we instead decided to showcase them in this program packed with more terror than Camp Crystal Lake on Friday the 13th. United States: When an aging gangster risks it all to quit the life, he discovers his young protégé has been keeping a secret of his own in A Way Out. You may think you know the set-up of Choice Cuts: A pair of sadistic sibling serial killers. A beautiful young woman handcuffed and gagged.

But you’d be wrong. Canada: After attempting to cross the US/Mexico border in search of a better life, Armando awakens in an unknown room,and his only chance for survival is a wrestling match against El Gigante. United Kingdom: Frank’s had enough. A spirit medium whose unique method of channeling the dead is putting his own life at risk, and he wants out in The Stomach. Hungary: In #Help, Virág is a student who has lots of friends on the internet, but one night she gets into trouble and needs help, in real life. The most important question is: Have you recorded it? Sweden: In 25m2, HP moves into a new apartment and accidentally makes a small mark on a wall.

He thinks no more of it, but soon the wall starts to change into something…strange.

CHATTER (US, 76 min)

Chatter is an original and terrifying ghost story shot almost entirely through Skype. David (Brady Smith) and his wife, Laura (Sarena Khan), are a couple separated by thousands of miles while she is overseas on business.

David’s holing up in their new house back in the States, and it’s through the technology of video phone calls that they’re able to remain in touch for all things cyber-social and romantic. Meanwhile, they are being secretly monitored by a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. Agent Martin Takagi watches as David and Laura become aware of—and then terrorized by—a supernatural entity that uses computer technology to move among the people it encounters online.

CLINGER

(US, 81 min)

In this extraordinary tribute to ’80s horror comedies, 24 year-old first-time director, Michael Steves, will make you laugh till you die. Fern Peterson is your average high school teen. She runs track, has good grades and has her heart set on MIT. Fern meets and falls for Robert and they begin a romance. Initially, Robert appears to be perfect but, as time passes, Fern realizes that her boyfriend is rather overly-possessive with his love for her. After he dies in a gruesome accident—while she’s trying to break up with him—Fern’s life is thrown into turmoil. But when she starts getting visits from Robert’s ghost, things get a little weird for her… and when Robert starts wanting to kill her so they can be together forever, Fern decides to get some help from a local ghost hunter—who turns out to be her high school track coach (Alicia Monet Caldwell).

Once Robert realizes that he can’t take Fern down on his own, he enlists the help of his fellow graveyard ghosts to wage battle against the living at Fern’s upcoming track meet—but, with the help of her friends, family and coach Valeria, Fern is ready to fight to stay in the world of the living. Clinger is a hilarious blood-soaked coming of age story about the horrors of first love.

DOG’S BREAKFAST

(Mexico/Australia, 85 min)

Dogs’ Breakfast is a dynamic, agile, fast-paced comedy-crime thriller in the vein of Reservoir Dogs and Boondock Saints which was shot in Australia by Mexican director Rich Valverde on an astonishing budget of just five thousand dollars. Blackmailed by dirty Australian cops, rookie thieves Nathan and Jeff are sent to steal a briefcase from a warehouse. But what seems to be an easy mission to avoid jail, unleashes their worst nightmares from the underworld of crime.

EVERLASTING (US, 86 min)

In Everlasting, Matt, a teenage filmmaker finds his life thrown into turmoil when he receives a mysterious package containing a blood-stained rope and a DV tape that shows the murder of his girlfriend, Jessie. Still reeling from her untimely passing, Matt decides to make a documentary that recounts the weeks leading up to Jessie’s death. He plans to use the film to document his trip to Los Angeles—the site of Jessie’s murder—to confront her killer. As he makes his way to California, Matt moves closer to peril as his thirst for the truth grows greater.

The story is told through a mix of homemade footage, real-time sequences, and news clips, with Matt guiding the film through ever-present narration. Everlasting is an honest and heartfelt look at young love, and the darkness that engulfs people at times.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR MOVIE ANTHOLOGY Long-Form Narrative Shorts (Various Countries, 92 min)

This anthology ranges from the sublime and sweet, to subversively campy, peculiarly obsessive, then heads to way-beyond-over-the-top. You’ve never had this much fun being scared. Russia: After failing to commit his first murder, an aspiring serial killer decides that the most rational way to get started is to kill a friend who trusts you in He Was His Friend. Spain: Mister Wong is a third generation fisherman in Hong Kong, struggling to keep this tradition alive. One night, his luck changes when he catches something that does not belong to this world in The Fisherman. Puerto Rico: When Manolo’s girlfriend invites him for a sleepover in a faraway cabin, fear possesses him because—secretly—he’s terrified that his girlfriend might be possessed by the Devil in Don’t Fall Asleep, Motherfucker. Latvia: In Dance of Death, a group of friends are driving to a picnic when one of them inadvertently videotapes a kidnapped girl being held hostage in the backseat of a passing car. Or was she truly a victim? Can he believe what he thinks he filmed?

Not understanding the consequences of his actions, he deletes the video...and all hell breaks loose.

IDYLL (Slovenia, 84 min)

After a night of carousing, a group of amateur photographers and models head for a fashion shoot in the remote Slovenian woods. On their way, they come across some mysterious locals, but pay them no attention. On an idyllic meadow, they are violently attacked by its supposed owners, and a fashion shoot turns into a fight for survival.

Idyll plays with the genre pattern of a horrifying confrontation between the rural and the urban. The film shatters all the conventions of its genre, combining “lost in the woods” and The Hills Have Eyes/The Texas Chainsaw Massacre approaches. Underneath the story structure there are some subtly positioned problematic themes that modern-day Slovenia faces nowadays.

In Slovenian with English subtitles

“…IN THE DARK” (US, 82 min)

Skeptical grad student Veronica and paranormal specialist Lois get more than they bargain for during their investigation of a house in Brooklyn that might be haunted. They meet Joan Mills and quickly discover she needs help with her daughter Bethany, who insists on spending her time in their dark basement, where she paints bizarre images.

Dark and disturbing forces come into in play, and haunted pasts will come to light as a fight to save a young woman begins. But Veronica and Lois hold different ideas about what will work. Veronica prefers the traditional mental health approach; Lois thinks drastic unconventional methods must be considered. That decision leads to dire consequences for everyone involved.

IT’S ONLY A NIGHTMARE, CHARLIE BROWN

PG-13 Animation and Dark Fantasy Shorts (Various Countries, 109 min)

Leave the kiddies at home for this wonderfully creepy ride from around the globe. United Kingdom: After years of stalking her, Ethan decides to murder Sophie, the object of his obsession in She’s Mine. Germany: A child is accidently raised by a TV in Pipo. United States: While zombies attack the village in House of Monsters: Frank and the Zombie Girl, Frank connects with an old friend.

But the reunion is bittersweet as her inevitable decay puts a hitch in their budding romance. Christopher Lloyd stars as Dr. Gaulstone. In Flight of the Soul, Clone 4 is a scrapped experiment who is willing to discover freedom, even if it means facing the unknown. In Little Brother, Herbert decides to get rid of his new baby brother. In The Red Thunder, a nerdy teenager steals her mom’s car to go on a date. Little does she know the vehicle is actually a secret her mother keeps, and this discovery will change her life forever. In Jack is Pretty, a girl finds the solace of friendship with an old, discarded Jack-in-the-Box. In Millennium: Eternal Sunrise, an 11-year-old girl discovers an ancient legend that may help to resurrect her dead mother. Greece: In the future where corporations seize all natural resources, a rebel tries to break the rules in The Seed. China: Life Smartphone is an animated commentary about people who stare at their Smart phones all the time. Portugal: Monstrous beings come together to celebrate a birthday in Cristal Junket.

Singapore: Trolled is the animated story of two barbarian hunters and their encounter with a mountain troll. Iran: A lonely dragon encounters a little girl in the animated fantasy, A Brief Encounter.

NOT FROM AROUND HERE International Shorts (Various Countries, 116 min)

These electrifying shorts celebrate an array of genre voices that span the globe. Horror, science-fiction, comedy, mystery, and melodrama collide in these amazing films that are sure to delight even the most-hardened genre palette. Cyprus: A middle-aged man hilariously explores different ways of death in 5 Ways 2 Die. United Kingdom: Alan searches for answers in all the wrong places and finally thinks he’s found them...on the internet in the form of a highly trained deadly assassin in dark_net. Whilst furnishing their new home, Jack & Ashley get more than they bargain for when they welcome an evil guest into their midst in Gnomes.

Claud the vampire has not been on a date in over 40 years in A Bite to Eat. France: After living together for five years, two roommates celebrate their Last Night by having a threesome. Netherlands: A seemingly innocent visit from a young boy turns very grim for an elderly man in The Grandson. Belgium: Four absent-minded hikers forget the rules about feeding the wild animals and soon find themselves becoming lunch in the gorily over-the-top The Black Bear. Spain: One by one, the cryogeniclly-frozen crew on a starship is being awakened. But something is not quite right, and the horrifying truth will leave no one untouched in They Will All Die in Space.

REVERIES OF A SOLITARY WALKER

Fantasticherie di un Passeggiatore Solitario (Italy, 84 min)

A fantastical combination of live-action and animation, this is the tale of a twenty-something pair of friends who discover a mysterious manuscript in a library.

Taking its title from an unfinished work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the film interweaves three parallel stories, all in search of their own ending. In one, Theo (Lorenzo Monaco), haunted by unresolved traumas from his childhood, struggles to finish a thesis on Rousseau’s unfinished texts. In another, told in Claymation, a boy and an old man enact Rousseau’s fairytale walks through the woods. And in a third episode, Rousseau (Luca Lionello) himself battles the green fairy of absinthe and the ghost of his wife as he tries to confront his demons—or at least a demon—through finishing his writings. The amazing visuals, in the vein of Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton, dazzle the eye.

In Italian with English subtitles

SCRAWL (United Kingdom, 81 min)

Director Hearn describes Scrawl as Big meets A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors. Simon Goodman is a 16-year boy living in a rundown seaside town. With his best friend Joe Harper, they create a comic book called “Scrawl” as a way to escape their reality. Annie gets wrapped up in the boys’ new world, along with Joe’s sister Rosie and suddenly, with the appearance of a mysterious girl, Hannah (Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Daisy Ridley), events in the comic book start to come to life. At first it’s great, but then the monsters of the comic book begin to show themselves, and the boys realize that the comic depicts a bloody great massacre at page 21. With the help of Joe’s father, family and friends, the boys are forced to face their horrific imagination made real.

THEY’RE COMING TO GET YOU, BARBARA!

North American Shorts (Various countries, 102 min)

United States: A representative from Hell is phoning potential customers to find out if their souls qualify for permanent residence in The Fear Box (666 Telemarketing). In the practical effects-driven splatter comedy, Bad Guy #2, a man discovers that moving up in the crime ring has its downsides. In Hag, Scott mysteriously experiences sleep paralysis whenever his wife sleepwalks. A man locked in a room faces inter-dimensional terrors in Thresher. As part of his psychotherapy treatment, a mental patient is allowed to return to his deserted childhood home, so he can face his fears involving a demonic creature in Knob Goblins. In The Trap, a man invites his friend over to show-off his latest invention: a device for catching aliens. In Night of the Slasher a teenage girl must commit horror movie sins in order to lure a masked killer and exact revenge.

Canada: An elderly man goes outside his bedroom to look for his wife and ends up lost in a black nightmarish labyrinth in Home Sweet Home. When two friends approach a small cabin in the woods, the sweet-natured old folks they’re looking for turn out to be crazed back woods cannibal killers in Never Tear Us Apart. Shhh is a dark fairy tale about a young boy who uses his imagination to overcome a monstrous bully.

THE UNRAVELING (US, 83 min)

Michael Silver is pushing thirty, about to get married to his pregnant girlfriend, and slowly relapsing into a heroin addiction. One day at work, Michael is kidnapped by his friends and taken into the woods for a surprise bachelor party. Caught off guard, Michael’s heroin withdrawal begins to kick in and maintaining a sober exterior is becoming an excruciating challenge. That’s soon to be the least of his worries, once Michael’s groomsmen begin vanishing one by one, and start returning with hoods on their heads and nooses around their necks. Attempting to escape, the group is forced into a desperate game of survival.

FEBRUARY–JUNE F AN TAS M A

FEBRUARY 26 Barry Sonnenfeld’s THE ADDAMS FAMILY (PG-13, 99 min, 1991) BATMAN: THE MOVIE (PG, 105 min, 1966)

MARCH 25 Sam Raimi’s ARMY OF DARKNESS (R, 1993, 81 min) Wes Craven’s NEW NIGHTMARE (R, 1994, 112 min)

APRIL 29 THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (PG, 1984, 103 min) BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (PG, 1989, 105 min)

MAY 27 James Whale’s THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932, 71 min) DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1920, 79 min)

JUNE 24 Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (US, PG, 1975, 125 min) Ridley Scott’s LEGEND: DIRECTOR’S CUT

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL FILM FEST

FRI F E B 1 2

FLETCHER hall

Ends at 4:21 pm

IDYLL

Ends at 4:34 pm

REVERIES OF A SOLITARY WALKER

3:20 pm

Ends at 4:44 pm

DOG’S BREAKFAST

5:00 pm

Ends at 6:25 pm

SCRAWL

5:10 pm 5:20 pm

CINEMA two

CLINGER

3:00 pm 3:10 pm

CINEMA one

Ends at 6:31 pm

CHATTER

Ends at 6:36 pm

IT’S ONLY A NIGHTMARE, CHARLIE BROWN

7:00 pm

Ends at 9:02 pm

7:10 pm

Opening Night Selection!

13 CAMERAS

Ends at 8:40 pm

9:10 pm

BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLE Ends at 10:58 pm

NOT FROM AROUND HERE

9:20 pm

SAT F E B 1 3

Ends at 11:16 pm

FLETCHER hall

CINEMA one

1:00 pm

Ends at 2:45 pm

CLINGER

1:10 pm 1:20 pm

Ends at 2:31 pm

“…IN THE DARK”

Ends at 2:42 pm

THEY’RE COMING TO GET YOU, BARBRA!

3:00 pm

Ends at 4:55 pm

DOG’S BREAKFAST

3:10 pm 3:20 pm 4:50 pm

CINEMA two

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU

Ends at 4:35 pm

REVERIES OF A SOLITARY WALKER Ends at 4:44 pm

IT’S ONLY A NIGHTMARE, CHARLIE BROWN Ends at 6:52 pm

S

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E

D

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Saturday cont.

5:00 pm

THE UNRAVELING

Ends at 6:36 pm

HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR MOVIE ANTHOLOGY

5:15 pm

Ends at 6:47 pm

7:00 pm

Centerpiece Selection!

EVERLASTING

Ends at 8:44 pm

NOT FROM AROUND HERE

7:10 pm 9:10 pm

Ends at 9:06 pm

IDYLL

Ends at 10:34 pm

13 CAMERAS

9:20 pm

SUN F E B 1 4

Ends at 10:50 pm

FLETCHER hall

CINEMA one THEY’RE COMING TO GET YOU, BARBRA!

2:00 pm

Ends at 3:55 pm

THE UNRAVELING

2:10 pm

Ends at 3:43 pm

SCRAWL

2:20 pm

Ends at 3:41 pm

4:00 pm

Ends at 5:24 pm

IDYLL

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU

4:10 pm

Ends at 5:55 pm

EVERLASTING

4:15 pm 6:00 pm

Ends at 5:56 pm

BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLE Ends at 7:48 pm

HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR MOVIE ANTHOLOGY

6:15 pm

Ends at 7:47 pm

8:10 pm 8:20 pm

CINEMA two

“…IN THE DARK”

Ends at 9:33 pm

CHATTER

Ends at 9:26 pm

SEVEN

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