The Austin Skyline Behind A Skeleton At SXSW 2023 - Photo by Adam Kissick

Seasons Screamings: SXSW Halloween Watchlist

May your days be scary and full of fright

By Olivia Cruz

10/2/2023

Film & TV


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Each year, the SXSW Film & TV Festival program summons some of the creepiest of creators during nine days of premieres and industry hobnobbing. Unfortunately for some attendees at SXSW 2023, the glamor of the red carpet and rush of celebrity sightings was quickly overshadowed by flesh-possessing demons, an embalmed hand, violent obsession, and more. Watch Evil Dead Rise, Swarm, Talk To Me, and other 2023 alumni to kick of your spooky season just right.

Follow along this season as we announce 2024 premieres with Screening Categories like Midnighters featuring twisted, outrageous, and alluring projects.

Extend your watchlist and explore our Festival Archive and Film & TV Awards recipients for more terrifying tales to set the mood.

Appendage

Narrative Spotlight | Horror, Thriller

Hannah, a young fashion designer, seems fine on the surface, but secretly struggles with debilitating self-doubt. Soon these buried feelings begin to make Hannah physically sick and sprout into a ferocious growth on her body: The Appendage.

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Appendage - 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Appendage - 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Evil Dead Rise

Headliners | Horror

Evil Dead Rise tells a twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

Watch Trailer
Evil Dead Rise – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Evil Dead Rise – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

It Lives Inside

Midnighters | Drama, Horror, Thriller

Sam, an Indian-American teen, lives in an idyllic suburb with her conservative mother and her assimilated father. Sam’s cultural insecurities grow due to her estranged friend, Tamira, who mysteriously carries around an empty mason jar all the time. In a moment of anger, Sam breaks Tamira’s jar and unleashes an ancient Indian demonic force that kidnaps Tamira. Sam searches for Tamira, following the trail of a young man who performed a deadly ritual, until the demonic entity starts targeting her, murdering her boyfriend and shattering her reality with terrifying visions. Sam must band together with her parents and a sympathetic teacher to save Tamira and put an end to the terror of the demon.

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It Lives Inside – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

It Lives Inside – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Raging Grace

Narrative Feature | Drama, Horror, Thriller

A bold coming-of-rage story. Joy is an undocumented Filipina immigrant who is struggling to do the best she can for her daughter when she secures the perfect job; taking care of an extremely wealthy but terminal old man. The new position pays well and guarantees a roof over their heads but very soon, Joy and her daughter Grace start to realize everything is not as it seems. Something is festering beneath the surface, threatening all they have worked for. Deeply personal, Raging Grace is a nightmarish fever dream from an exciting new voice.

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Raging Grace – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Raging Grace – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Satan Wants You

Documentary Spotlight | Crime, Documentary, Horror, Hybrid, Mystery

Satan Wants You tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited by Michelle Remembers, a lurid memoir by psychiatrist Larry Pazder and his patient Michelle Smith. Supported by the Catholic Church, the bestselling book relied on recovered-memory therapy to uncover Michelle’s childhood abduction by baby-stealing Satanists. Amplified by law enforcement and America’s Daytime TV boom, satanic rumors spread through panic-stricken communities across the world, leaving a wave of destruction and wrongful convictions in their wake. This film digs deep into the roots of moral panics and cult conspiracies, showing how these events still affect and distort our reality today.

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Satan Wants You - 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Satan Wants You - 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection
Opening Night TV Premiere, Swarm – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival

Opening Night TV Premiere, Swarm – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival

Talk To Me

Midnighters | Horror

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

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Talk To Me – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

Talk To Me – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

Visions | Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

Vicaria is a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life. Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster thematically challenges our ideas of life and death. Bomani J. Story, the film's writer and director, crafts a thrilling tale about a family that, despite the terrors of systemic pressure, will survive and be reborn again.

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The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster - 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster - 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection
 

See You in 2024

SXSW brings together international Film & TV students, industry leaders, creatives, press, and fans to Austin, TX each year. Join us from March 8-16 for one of the most anticipated events of the year. Discover more about SXSW registration and housing to ensure your festival accommodations are all set.

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(Teaser) Talk To Me – 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival Official Selection, – The Austin Skyline Behind A Skeleton At SXSW 2023 - Photo by Adam Kissick

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