Indie Horror Summer at HOME
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
It’s long been true that you don’t need a big budget, or the power of big film studio backing to make a horror hit. Often all you need is a cabin in the woods, a handheld camera, and a man in a mask in order to make a mark — both within the industry, and the malleable minds of your audience. With this in mind, and an unusually buzz-y glut of new films scheduled for release, HOME have gathered together horror fans’ most anticipated movies produced outside of the main Hollywood studio system, for what they’re deeming Indie Horror Summer.
With new films from hip indie studios such as A24 and Neon scheduled for release each week, HOME have something of a bloody drip feed of movies for fans to cross off their watchlists over the coming months.
The terrors begins on Friday 5 July, with MaXXXine, the 1970s-set conclusion of Ti West and Mia Goth’s decade-spanning X trilogy and continues through to the release of Cuckoo, Tilman Singer’s stylish horror featuring Euphoria star Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, on Friday 23 August.
In between there’s nocturnal nightmares in South Korean horror Sleep (from Fri 12 July), dubbed “the most unique horror film and the smartest debut film I’ve seen in 10 years” by Parasite director Bong Joon Ho. While an FBI Agent uncovers evidence of the occult while tracking a serial killer cold case in the much talked about Longlegs (from Fri 19 July), starring Nicolas Cage alongside Maika Monroe and Blair Underwood.
More experimental low budget terror comes courtesy of Chris Nash’s In a Violent Nature, which depicts a slasher in the woods from the killer’s eye view; and our most anticipated film, I Saw the TV Glow (from Fri 2 Aug) — the latest from Jane Schoenbrun who follows up her terrific We’re All Going to the World’s Fair with another mind-melting horror that plays on the power of adolescent media consumption.
Whether you’re a die hard fanatic who’ll be front row for every film, or a curious observer excited to dip your toe into some independently-produced thrills, HOME’s Indie Horror Summer promises innovative, daring new work from some the genre’s most distinctive voices, week after week.
