Parents, grab your babies and lock them away for safekeeping…it’s the 2o17 edition of the Boston Underground Film Festival! Taking place at Cambridge’s Brattle Theatre, BUFF brings to The Hub the best possible offering of crazy, disturbing, subversive, and out and out gonzo movies for fans to enjoy the hell out of!
Night #3 kicks off with Homegrown Horror, a program of shorts set in New England, one of several series throughout the next several days – here’s a brief description from the BUFF Website:
Here in New England, a rich storytelling tradition melds with contemporary fears materializing in a unique brand of cinematic creepiness. We’ve duly unearthed bursts of terror directly from our own backyard! Unquestionably, chilling political events over the past year have fueled many of this years offerings, and a shared theme is loss/seizure of control. BUFF’s Homegrown Horror program once again proudly provides a platform for emerging local artists to exhibit their hair-raising visions, and our fourth installment is a convention-defying collection of truly bizarre tales of maniacs, monsters, and madness.
Then it’s time for a BURR First – a Secret Screening: here’s a brief word about it from the BUFF Website:
This is a first for BUFF. Our very first Secret Screening. We’re asking you to trust us on this. You do not want to miss this. Let us lead you into the dark theater, then let the filmmaker take you on an unforgettable journey. This was one of our top three favorite films of the last year. We pursued this screening with tenacity. For every no, we countered with a how about… After much convincing, the decision makers in question agreed on condition of it being a secret, and so here we are, sharing a fantastic film with all of you, whose identity won’t be revealed until the lights go down. If you’re particularly astute, you may be able to infer from the rest of our programming what we have in store for you; sometimes the truth is hidden in plain sight. For the hundred or so of you who bought tickets and passes in good faith before we unveiled any of our lineup, this one’s especially for you. Enjoy.
The Secret Screening will kick off with the short film Three Point Dynamics from director Keaton Smith
Wrapping up the evening is 68 Kill, a thrill a minute comic story of murder and kidnapping from director Kevin Haage, according to the BUFF Website:
Director/screenwriter Trent Haaga is no stranger to BUFF. His directorial debut, Chop, took home the Director’s Choice award in 2011, and he has penned such past fest-faves as Deadgirl (2008) and Cheap Thrills (2013). In his sophomore effort in the director’s chair, Haaga injects author Bryan Smith’s road/heist-hybrid pulp novel with his own signature pitch-black humor, aided by the magnetic chemistry of his two leads (who both had significant supporting roles in last year’s closing film Trash Fire, despite not sharing any screentime together). Matthew Gray Gubler is effortlessly charming as the mercilessly unlucky Chip and one can only dream of having as much fun as AnnaLynne McCord looks like she’s having as the psychotic Liza. Buoyed by a strong supporting cast including Alisha Boe, Sheila Vand and James Moses Black, and fueled by Haaga’s relentless pacing, 68 Kill is screwball comedy at its most horrific.
The screning will start with the short Walden Pink from director Peter Bolte,
Wait just a darn minute…Whattayamean, “wrapping up the evening”?” Well it DOES. Because the annual Trigger Warning midnight shorts screening can hardly be considered “evening”, it’s NIGHT by now..and early morning as well – here’s the scoop:
Since 2007, the midnight shorts block has been a mainstay at BUFF, and since then it has attracted those with a… shall we say, morbid curiosity. Well, we don’t want to disappoint you sick fucks. Here’s the shorts package that loses me a few friends every year. There’s something to get under everyone’s skin in this lineup. In equal measures of shocking, disturbing and amusing, we again serve up your annual dose of nightmare fuel. Sleep tight, kids.
As noted above, screenings take place at the Brattle Theatre. Homegrown Horror screens at 5:15 PM, Secret Screening at 7:30 PM, 68 Kill at 9:45 PM, and Trigger Warning at 11:59 PM. Tickets for tonight and all the films being presented can be purchased at the Brattle website. And don’t forget to check out BUFF’s official website for complete info on all the films coming up!
The Boston Underground FIlm Festival continues throughout this weekend with more great underground films, shorts and the like. Be sure to check in with eCinemaBoston each day for film and schedule information. And don’t forget – coverage of the Boston Underground Film Festival is ALWAYS a highlight of Subject:CINEMA’s “Boston Springs A Fethival” two-show super weekend May 20-21 at eCinemaBoston and parent site eCinemaOne…don’t miss it!
There’s more craziness coming this weekend, including the only ‘safe for kids’ part of BUFF – the classic “Saturday Morning Cartoons” party – and eCinemaBoston will have the full lowdown for you – be here Saturday morning for all the details!