+ COTTONMOUTH
THE PIZZAGATE MASSACRE (London Premiere)
Dir: John Valley. Starring: Tinus Seaux, Alexanderia Payne, Lee Eddy. USA (2020) 90mins
Social satire comes no more biting and unfliching than this resonately apropos spirital-successor to Carpenter's THEY LIVE, splitting open the corrupt crackling underbelly of 21st century America and the toxicity of extreme wing rhetoric.
After hearing about an alleged child sex ring run by an infamous Lizard Illuminati, amateur journalist Karen Black sets out to document her own criminal investigation. Convinced that the U.S. government is actively covering up the scandal, she enlists the help of an eccentric militiaman to help navigate the dangerous underbelly of political conspiracy theories. Duncan Plump, orphaned son of a local cult leader, answers Karen's call. Between them, the two opposites form a unique bond as they traverse a rural America as culturally divided as the two of them. But things take a brutal turn when individuals from both of their past resurface to try and silence them...
Close to the reality of today- sometimes dangerously so-, John Valley's incredible debut takes an 80s grindhouse aesthetic and uses it as a black mirror to the muddy mire that is our current confusion on what is "truth" and what is Fake News...
Screening with COTTONMOUTH
Dir: Danny Salemme, Zach Wincik. Starring: Heather Langenkamp. USA (2020) 6mins
Do you ever get that feeling someone is watching you while you sleep? As if Heather Langenkamp hadn't had enough nighttime trauma in her life, here we find another nocturnal demon may be sneaking into her bedroom while she sleeps...