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Nevermore Film Festival 2020 is slated to hit Durham, NC’s Carolina Theatre. The annual celebration of horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and suspense sees a juicy selection of independent feature-length and short films grace the big screen. What started in 1999 waltzes into its 21st year. And the lineup may be the best yet.
Buy individual Nevermore Film Festival 2020 tickets or 10 passes
Dates: Friday, Feb. 28-Sunday, March 1 2020
Carolina Theatre Hosts 21st Annual Nevermore Film Festival
Durham’s Carolina Theatre isn’t merely one of the hottest spots in North Carolina’s Triangle area. Rather, it’s a state and even national treasure. On the film side, CTD keeps cinephiles satiated with not only current-day indie and arthouse flicks, but old school cinema as well. Most Fridays, Carolina Theatre hosts a double feature of throwback movies as part of its unique Retro Film Series. While you can regularly catch staples in cinemas across the country, Retro includes a pleasant mix of blockbusters and under-the-radar gems. From the likes of “The Big Lebowski,” “Beetlejuice,” “Aliens,” and “Grease” to cult favorites such as “Suspiria,” “Naked Lunch,” and William Girdler’s “Grizzly,” the Retro Film Series has it all. The only criteria: movies must be at least 20 years old, and have debuted theatrically. No straight-to-video titles (sorry, Steven Segal).
Plus, CTD provides the opportunity to catch retro cinema at various weekend-long fests such as FantasticRealm which ranges from sword and sorcery to science fiction, MysteryRealm consisting of noir, whodunits, and more, the horror-themed Splatterflix, and Anime Magic. Moviediva highlights films with strong female characters, while Cinema Overdrive concentrates on over-the-top cult films.
Nevermore Film Fest presents a different breed of film, however. Many titles are seeking distribution. Whereas certain features are major productions, others are microbudget projects. There’s a solid contingent of short films in various blocks. Check out the full Nevermore Film Fest 2020 schedule!
Nevermore Film Festival 2020 Schedule – Feature Films
From slashers to horror comedy, mind-bending cerebral sci-fi, and more, here’s your 2020 Nevermore roster!
1. Patrick Donnelly’s “The Alien Report”
An alien abductee devises a method of filming his own alien encounters. Thus begins a tale of mysterious “Men-in-black,” alien-human hybrids, and telepathic extraterrestrials. Shot using the perspective of a micro-camera, “The Alien Report” places the audience into the role of the abductee with its clever cinematography. Filmed on iPhones and with tiny cameras, it’s a lesson in creativity, and a must-watch micro-budget film.
2. Justin Dix’s “Blood Vessel”
With World War II coming to a close, the surviving members of a torpedoed English ship are left floating in the North Atlantic. Happening upon a German minesweeper, the remaining crew take shelter in the ship. Until they discover that it’s full of vampires.
3. Daniel & Walt Woltosz’s “Do Not Reply”
Tapping into fear of the virtual reality (VR) and social media gone wrong, “Do Not Reply” finds high school-aged teen Chelsea abducted by an online predator. In captivity, Chelsea discovers her abductor Brad’s nefarious plan to film his grisly murders, then re-live them in VR.
4. Manolo Munguia’s “Hous3”
“Hous3,” not to be confused with the Steve Miner-directed 1986 “House,” or the Japanese cult classic “Hausu,” Manolo Munguia’s “Hous3” finds a group of friends grappling with a decrypted WikiLeaks file from the Dark Web that unleashes a string of sinister happenings.
5. Justin Darding & Rob Brunner’s “Making Monsters”
A celebrity YouTube couple renowned for scare pranks accepts an invitation to a friend’s countryside converted church. Unfortunately, the weekend getaway turns frightening, taking the prank out of scare pranks.
6. Lisa Ovies’ “Pupper Killer”
In what promises to be a delightful Nevermore selection, “Puppet Killer” follows Jamie (Aleks Paunovic) who claims that his puppet, Simon, murdered his stepmom when he was a kid. Although Jamie’s friends believe it was Jamie, their holiday stay at a cabin in the woods may reveal otherwise in this promising horror-comedy.
7. “Scare Package”
Anthology film “Scare Package” features a whopping seven directors with seven chilling tales of terror, and no working cell phones. There’s an overarching plot about horror buff and video store owner Chad Buckley who teaches an unsuspecting applicant about the rules of horror.
8. Audrey Cummings’ “She Never Died”
A spiritual sequel to Henry Rollins cult hit “He Never Died,” the aptly-named “She Never Died” serves as a female-centric re-telling. This Audrey Cummings-directed flick is sure to impress as loner Lacey (Olunike Adeliyi) copes with immortality and suppressing her compulsions.
9. Jason Axinn’s “To Your Last Death”
An animated horror flick “To Your Death,” boasts ain incredible cast of voice actors including William Shatner, Bill Moseley, Ray Wise, Dani Lennon, and Morena Baccarin. In a sort of “Spawn” set up, Miriam (Lennon) survives a deadly revenge game concoted by her father to punish his children, and is presented with the chance to warp back in time and try again. This time, Miriam tries to save her siblings.
10. Erin Berry’s “Majic”
An anti-conspiracy vlogger (Paula Brancati) begins to believe that she’s falling into a parallel universe. Reluctantly meeting an elderly man who claims to possess classified information about the 1947 UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico, he may have worked for the infamous and mysterious Majestic 12.
Nevermore 2020 Shorts
Aside from its feature films, Nevermore 2020 screens a few different blocks of shorts. “They’re Coming to Get You Barbara Volume 1” groups together North American horror and sci-fi comedy shorts while “They’re Coming to Get You Barbara Volume 2” focuses on North American horror and sci-fi dramas shorts.
“Four Minutes til Midnight” boasts a selection of long-form narrative shorts. Watch a treasure trove of dark fantasty and horror shorts in “It’s Only a Nightmare, Charlie Brown.” International shorts grace the big screen in “Laughter of the Foreign Invaders,” and “Scream of the Foreign Invaders,” which highlight horror and sci-fi comedy and drama respectively.
Cup of Moe’s Nevermore 2020 Best Picks
The beauty of Nevermore is that you can’t go wrong with any movie or block of shorts. If you can’t hit every feature and block of shorts, I’ve come up with a few best picks. “Majic” appears to be a mind-bending sci-fi gem. “Blood Vessel,” with its Nazi vampire plot seems plucked from the Indiana Jones universe and promises to be a bloody good time.
“The Alien Report” reminds me of past Nevermore selections “Tangent Room,” and “The Ascent” as a must-watch micro-budget film. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for modest budget movies since they’re forced to concentrate on technical filmmaking rather than overcompensating with special effects. “Hous3” sounds delightful, and “Puppet Killer” should quench your thirst for horror-comedy. “She Never Died” looks superb, as does the animated feature film “To Your Last Death” with its star-studded cast.
Buy individual Nevermore Film Festival 2020 tickets or 10 passes
Cup of Moe Nevermore 2020 best picks:
- Majic
- Blood Vessel
- The Alien Report
- Hous3
- Puppet Killer
- She Never Died
- To Your Last Death
What Nevermore Film Festival 2020 picks are YOU most excited to watch?
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