The Salem Horror Fest has announced this year’s first wave premieres! Greg Sestero, from cult classic The Room, will world premiere his directorial debut, Miracle Valley. Sestero’s memoirs about his experience making The Room were the source for Academy-Award nominated film The Disaster Artist. Check out the official synopsis.
An obsessive photographer and his girlfriend are invited to a desert getaway in search of an ultra-rare bird. Fortune, fame, and mending their fading relationship takes a turn at the hands of a sinister force where they face demons from both past, present, and future.
Prizes for the fifth annual Salem Horror Fest include a $1,000 cash jury award and consideration for The George A. Romero Fellowship program featuring industry mentors Mynette Louie (Swallow), Travis Stevens (Jakob’s Wife), and Jenn Wexler (The Ranger). The next submission deadline is July 31, 2021.
For festival badges, visit SalemHorror.com. Here’s a complete list of the first wave of programming:
2021 Official Selections
6:45
(USA, 2021)
New England Premiere, 100 min
Director – Craig Singer
A couple wakes up at 6:45 each morning to the same nightmarish chain of events that lead to them being viciously murdered.ALONE WITH YOU
(USA, 2021)
Northeast Premiere, 79 min
Directors – Emily Bennett, Justin Brooks
As she waits for her girlfriend to return home for their anniversary, Charlie discovers she’s trapped inside her apartment with an evil entity, and must fight for survival as nightmarish visions descend and a voice in the wall guides her towards a way out.
APPS
(Chile, 2021)
Northeast Premiere, 92 min
Directors – Lucio A. Rojas, José Miguel Zuñiga, Sandra Arriagada, Camilo León y Samon Marquez
Five stories in which a mobile app will open the doors to mystery and horror.
BAD GIRLS
(USA, 2021)
Northeast Premiere, 97 min
Director – Christopher Bickel
After robbing a strip club, three desperate teenage girls lead a misogynistic Federal Agent on a lysergic cross-country chase, scoring a duffle bag full of money, drugs, and a crew of willing kidnapees along the way.
DEATH CAST
(USA, 2021)
World Premiere, 77 min
Director – Bobby Marinelli
Six fame hungry actors are documented as they unknowingly trade their lives to star and die in an experimental horror film.HALL
(Canada, 2021)
USA Premiere, 80 min
Director – Francesco Giannini
Scattered victims are thrust into the fight of their lives, when a hotel hallway is ravaged by a mysterious virus.
HIDEOUT
(USA, 2021)
New England Premiere, 104 min
Director – Kris Roselli
Evading police at a remote farmhouse after fumbling a robbery, four criminals discover that the family living there are not who they appear to be.I NEED YOU DEAD
(USA, 2021)
East Coast Premiere, 107 min
Director – Rocko Zevenbergen
A young punk births a strange fleshy creature… it mocks him, hurts him, and takes over his whole world!
KEEPING COMPANY
(USA, 2021)
Northeast Premiere, 82 min
Director – Josh Wallace
A fateful chain of events begin to unravel after two brash insurance salesmen go knocking on the wrong door and find themselves trapped in a stranger’s basement.LAIR
(United Kingdom, 2021)
Northeast Premiere, 90 min
Director – Adam Ethan Crow
A fractured family are forced to face their demons, metaphorically and literally, as they unwittingly become embroiled in a man’s attempt to prove the existence of the supernatural in order to overturn a friend’s murder conviction.
LANDLOCKED
(USA, 2021)
East Coast Premiere, 74 min
Director – Paul Owens
Summoned to his soon-to-be demolished childhood home, Mason discovers a video camera that can see into the past, driving him to record as many memories as possible before the doomed house is destroyed.
ORIGIN UNKNOWN (SIN ORIGEN)
(México, 2021)
USA Premiere, 93 min
Director – Rigoberto Castañeda
A former drug runner battles supernatural assassins after taking a sick girl under his protection.
PARALLEL MINDS
(Canada, 2021)
East Coast Premiere, 83 min
Director – Benjamin Ross Hayden
In the near future, an A.I. called URM is investigated by a detective and researcher for a lab about to release a contact lens with the power to record what the eye can see to recreate memories.
SHE WATCHES FROM THE WOODS
(USA, 2021)
East Coast Premiere, 79 min
Director – Beau Ballinger
A troubled artist with a dark past attempts to make peace with her dying mother while investigating the mysterious death of her teenage sister.TWO WITCHES
(USA, 2021)
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Pierre Tsigaridis
A matriarchal witch passes on her sinister inheritance to her grand-daughter, triggering horrific curses.
THE UNSETTLING
(USA, 2021)
World Premiere, 93 min
Director – Harry Owens
When an African couple take a vacation to recover from tragedy, they find themselves terrorized by demons both real and supernatural. The house that was meant to provide refuge slowly stalks them, consuming their sorrow and trapping them in a nightmare.
Local Mass Hysteria – Showcase of Massachusetts Filmmakers
BRAIN DEATH
(Brighton MA, 90 min)
Directors – WL Freeman, John Harrison
After the disappearance of her girlfriend, a young trans woman comes into contact with an ancient evil.
CAPRICE
(Dracut MA, 108 min)
Director – Renée Elizabeth Lavoie
The road to recovery is paved in blood for Rose Marlow — her own included. But tormented by the memory of her traumatic injury, she’ll try anything to keep herself alive.
COCKAZOID
(Amherst MA, 85 min)
Director – Nick Verdi
Andrew, a delusional loner who dreams of killing all white men, returns to his hometown in the wake of family tragedy and goes on a murderous rampage.
SEEDS
(Uxbridge MA, 90 min)
Director – Skip Shea
A grieving mother holds on to her Catholic faith as her husband leaves to study and learn the secrets of an old New England cult.
