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Some stories speak softly but leave you stunned. SORRY FOR YOUR COST is a perfect example of how to nail that idea. Writer-director Rosie Choo Pidcock crafts a deeply affecting short that doesn’t try to shout over its audience—it simply invites you to sit with uncomfortable truths. Running a brisk 15 minutes, this is a film that understands the power of restraint. Through intimate moments, cultural nuance, and quiet, yet devastating decisions, it captures a particular kind of heartbreak rarely addressed on screen: the toll of grief when it meets financial hardship.

What happens when rebellion melts into horror and rage gets mixed into something unnervingly sweet? SUGAR ROT explodes onto the screen with all the subtlety of a Molotov cocktail in a candy store. This is body horror with purpose, satire soaked in syrup and spiked with venom — a film that dares to look obscene, feel grotesque, and shout back at every force trying to control the female body.

There’s a kind of dread that doesn’t arrive with screams, but with silence. THE SPARROW IN THE CHIMNEY is soaked in that specific discomfort — an eerie stillness that hovers over every frame, each interaction brimming with withheld emotions and domestic disquiet. The final chapter in Ramon Zürcher’s loosely connected “animal trilogy” is his most blistering and refined yet — a psychological slow burn that turns a seemingly mundane family gathering into an experience as suffocating as it is hypnotic.

There’s a fine line between recovering the past and being consumed by it. SITE plants itself firmly at the intersection of memory, trauma, and metaphysical unease, unraveling a slow-burn psychological thriller that’s just as much about family and grief as it is about sci-fi horror. While the concept may evoke something familiar, the execution feels personal and ambitious, driven by a lead performance that elevates its darkest moments.

THE SCHOOL DUEL demands your attention, shakes it, and leaves it wrecked. Set in a twisted, secessionist Florida where gun control is outlawed and school shootings have metastasized into a normalized part of adolescence (okay, so maybe not too far from reality), Todd Wiseman Jr.’s debut feature isn’t science fiction so much as it is prophecy. It takes the notion of "what if things keep going this way" and strips it of metaphor, replacing it with state-sponsored bloodsport—and still, somehow, it doesn’t feel that far-fetched.

If there’s a modern horror equivalent to “never start a band with your friends,” it’s probably “never start a monetized content house with unstable influencers.” THE QUIET ONES takes that premise and runs with it—sprinting into a fever dream of egos, algorithms, and chaos disguised as camaraderie. Written and directed by Nicholas Winter, this indie LGBTQIA2S+ thriller is sharp, mean, sexy, and laced with a streak of irreverent pitch-black humor. It has more style and substance than you would ever expect, in the best way possible.

PLATONIC returns for a second season with the same irreverence, sharpness, and chaotic chemistry that made its debut such a refreshing entry in the “messy adult comedy” genre. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne still lead the charge as Will and Sylvia, two longtime friends navigating adulthood from wildly different angles but often colliding in the same emotional struggles.

There’s something potent about watching a person prepare to say goodbye—not to someone, but to something that has shaped their identity for decades. In BARBIE BOOMER, that "something" is a collection of dolls. But Marc Joly-Corcoran’s documentary makes it clear early on: these aren’t just toys. They’re time capsules, symbols of imagination, and witnesses to an entire life. Through the lens of his cousin, Sylvie Longpré, Joly-Corcoran captures a deeply personal and surprisingly universal story about memory, loss, and the unspoken emotions that connect us with the things we love.

In MESSY LEGENDS, the party never quite ends—it just changes, spirals, and explodes into something far more unhinged. Expanding on their acclaimed 2023 short, co-directors Kelly Kay Hurcomb and James Watts deliver a full-length, chaotic deep dive into Montreal’s nightlife, slacker culture, and the millennial generation’s lingering malaise. What begins as a loose, vibrant love letter to the Plateau’s underground scene turns into something messier, more introspective, and at times unexpectedly vulnerable.

There’s no such thing as a simple road trip in Robert Kramer’s world. ROUTE ONE/USA isn’t about sightseeing or making the best time—it’s about the soul of a country through the lens of lives most people drive past without noticing. Originally released in 1989 and newly restored for a 2025 Blu-ray debut by Icarus Films and Vinegar Syndrome, this epic, four-hour-plus documentary stands as one of the most quietly radical explorations of America ever captured on camera.

It works, even though it shouldn’t, it really shouldn’t! Simon Glassman’s BUFFET INFINITY doesn’t just bend the rules—it microwaves them on high until they bubble and explode. What begins as a satire of small-town local television quickly spirals into a hallucinatory, absurdist descent into the mind of a community being devoured by its own identity. This is weird cinema at its best: committed, chaotic, and unnervingly hypnotic.

SHRIMP FRIED RICE weaponizes weird into a full-blown, puppet-powered battle royale between crustacean and rodent. In just twelve minutes, Dylan Pun’s wild short manages to cram in more laughs, ingenuity, and full-blown madness than many feature-length comedies even attempt. It’s a culinary chaos warzone where egos boil over, loyalties flip like flapjacks, and the rice isn’t the only thing being fried.

SHE RIDES SHOTGUN doesn't try to be revolutionary on the surface—it just quietly earns your attention. What starts as a classic on-the-run thriller grows into something far more layered and emotionally intense. This is a story about a father and daughter struggling to reconnect while the world hunts them down, and it’s executed with a level of grit and soul that sneaks up on you. What you don’t necessarily expect is two performances that outshine the experience itself. Even if the film isn’t perfect, the heart and acting at its core deliver.

MONDO KEYHOLE: THE PSYCHOTRONICA COLLECTION #2 is a contradiction in motion—a grimy relic of 60s underground cinema that manages to be both brutally exploitative and strangely artistic. Part of VCI’s ongoing restoration series (although this is #2 in the series, it looks like #1, 3, and 4 will be coming in September), this 2K scan breathes new life into one of the earliest—and most uncomfortable—entries in the “roughie” genre. And while it’s not for everyone, it’s a revealing time capsule of America’s sleaziest cinematic corners.