‘CHRISTINE’ / ‘KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE
In an eerie coincidence, there are two films about the life and tragic death of news reporter Christine Chubbuck premiering at Sundance - one a narrative feature from the Borderline Films guys, the other a meta-documentary starring indie fave Kate Lyn Sheil. Both explore the same morbid event that rocked the nation: Chubbuck’s on-air suicide in 1974.

‘DARK NIGHT’
The lives of six strangers are forever altered after one violent night at a multiplex. Sound familiar? It should; the film’s narrative is loosely based on the Aurora, Colorado, “Dark Knight Rises” massacre, when James Holmes opened fire on moviegoers attending a midnight screening of the Batman film.

‘YOGA HOSERS’
Love him or hate him, Kevin Smith returns to the fest with another psychotic horror flick he probably thought up while under the influence - that’s how “Tusk” came to fruition anyway. “Yoga Hosers” is set in the same weird world of “Tusk”, with many of its characters - including Johnny Depp - returning for a riotous mix of parties, yoga, and evil.

‘OUTLAWS AND ANGELS’
Clint Eastwood’s daughter, Francesca, makes her leading lady debut in this wild, wild western that’s easy on the twang and heavy on the red sauce. When some gunslingers seek shelter within the household of a seemingly credulous family, things get dirty and situation gets hairy.

‘UNDER THE SHADOW’
Set in Tehran in 1988, Babak Anvari’s semiautobiographical thriller follows one woman’s fight to save herself and her daughter from supernatural forces while her husband goes off to war. Insiders are comparing it to last year’s mommy dearest horror, “The Babadook”.

‘THE GREASY STRANGLER’
This film had us at Alamo Drafthouse and SpectreVision. Alamo is widely known for it’s over-the-top grindhouse flicks and Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision always produces quality scares. Together, they present Jim Hosking’s feature debut, a dark comedy mash-up that pits father versus son versus unkempt killer.

‘THE BLACKOUT EXPERIMENTS’
In case you missed it, Blackout is the effed-up psychosexual immersive theater in NYC and LA that goes to town on the psyches and bodies of paying customers. Rich Fox’s docudrama catches up with some of the thrill seekers only to find that those who enter these haunts aren’t the same ones who exit.

‘31’
Rob Zombie in snow boots, that’s definitely a sight. But not as disturbing as the bone-chilling extravaganza he has in store for Midnight moviegoers this year. The extremist’s latest film takes five carnies, throws ‘em in a pit with a mob of evil clowns, and lets the mayhem commence.–Reuters/London