“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come”
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (“Ready or Not,” “Scream”) head back into the franchise’s booby-trapped playground, with Samara Weaving returning alongside Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, Kevin Durand, and David Cronenberg. If SXSW crowds love anything, it’s a sequel that knows exactly how to weaponize a room full of people laughing at the same scream. (Headliner—World Premiere.)
“Anima”
A young woman and an older man go on a road trip to preserve his consciousness at an experimental facility, a premise that raises big questions without promising easy answers. Brian Tetsuro Ivie directs and writes, with Sydney Chandler, Takehiro Hira, Marin Ireland, Lili Taylor, Maria Dizzia, Tom McCarthy, Emil Wakim, and Maximillian Lee Piazza starring. (Narrative Spotlight—World Premiere.)
“Dreamquil”
Set in the near future, Alex Prager’s film follows a woman returning from a virtual retreat who discovers that the helper robot sent to assist her family has started infringing on her life and identity. That premise alone has a sharp, unnerving edge, and the cast — Elizabeth Banks, John C. Reilly, Juliette Lewis, Sofia Boutella, Kathryn Newton, Lamorne Morris, Toby Larsen, and Anna Marie Dobbins — gives it the kind of off-kilter ensemble energy SXSW can amplify fast. (Narrative Spotlight—World Premiere.)
“Basic”
A romantic-comedy meltdown with an especially cruel twist: Gloria spirals through her boyfriend’s dating history and discovers the “basic, very hot ex” who might not just steal the boyfriend, but steal Gloria’s story. Chelsea Devantez writes and directs, starring Ashley Park and Leighton Meester alongside Taylor John Smith, Nelson Franklin, Kandy Muse, Ashley Nicole Black, Kenzie Elizabeth, Amber Ruffin, Jon Gabrus, and Georgia Mishak. (Narrative Spotlight—World Premiere.)
“They Will Kill You”
Kirill Sokolov (“Why Don’t You Just Die!”) aims for darkly comic danger: a timid woman takes a job at a remote motel and stumbles into a brutal triangle of lies. Zazie Beetz, Patricia Clarkson, Brian Cox, David Dastmalchian, Tom Waits, Jim Broadbent, Jane Levy, and Zach Cherry make it feel like the kind of nasty little pressure cooker SXSW audiences devour. (Headliner—World Premiere.)
