Sundance 2010 Park City at Midnight: Cortes’ Buried, Natali’s Splice and 6 Gems?

You can always count on Park City at Midnight section to deliver one groundbreaking film. It’s hard to predict which one, but I’d go with “concept” over such things as cast, aesthetics or production budget. This theory isn’t off the charts when you consider Black Dynamite, The Blair Witch Project and Saw got their starts in this section. Of the 8 selected below, I’m familiar with Rodrigo Cortes’s Buried (which reminds me of the torment that the Dutch film The Vanishing caused me) and Vincent Natali’s Splice which I believe received its world preem at Sitges. An odd factoid: Adrien Brody stars in two of the films. Here are the selections:

PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

Buried/Spain/USA (Director: Rodrigo Cortes; Screenwriter: Chris Sparling)-A U.S. contractor working in Iraq awakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap. Cast: Ryan Reynolds. World Premiere

Frozen/USA (Director and Screenwriter: Adam Green)-Three skiers are mistakenly stranded on a chairlift, forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death. Cast: Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers. World Premiere

HIGH school/USA (Director: John Stalberg, Jr.; Screenwriters: Erik Linthorst and John Stalberg, Jr. and Stephen Susco)-A random drug test coincides with a high school valedictorian’s first hit of pot. Cast: Sean Marquette, Matt Bush, Adrien Brody, Michael Chiklis, Colin Hanks, Mykelti Wiliamson, Andrew Wilson, Yeardley Smith, Michael Vartan, Curtis Armstrong, Erica Phillips, Adhir Kaylan. World Premiere

7 Days/Canada (Director: Daniel Grou; Screenwriter: Patrick Senecal)-A doctor seeks revenge by kidnapping, torturing and killing the man who murdered his young daughter. Cast: Rémy Girard, Claude Legault, Fanny Mallette, Martin Dubreuil, Rose-Marie Coallier. World Premiere

The Perfect Host/USA (Director: Nick Tomnay; Screenwriters: Nick Tomnay and Krishna Jones)-A criminal on the run cons his way into the wrong dinner party where the host is anything but ordinary. Cast: David Hyde Pierce, Clayne Crawford, Helen Reddy, Nathaniel Parker. World Premiere

Splice/France/Canada (Director: Vincenzo Natali; Screenwriters: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, and Doug Taylor)-Clive and Elsa are young, brilliant, and ambitious. The new animal species they engineered has made them rebel superstars of the scientific world. In secret, they introduce human DNA into the experiment. Cast: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac, David Hewlett. North American Premiere

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil/Canada (Director: Eli Craig; Screenwriters: Eli Craig and Morgan Jurgenson)-Two West Virginian hillbillies go on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin, but their peaceful trip goes horribly awry. Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss. World Premiere

The Violent Kind/USA (Directors and Screenwriters: The Butcher Brothers)—A group of rowdy young bikers party it up at a secluded farmhouse when, tormented by a mysterious force, things take a turn for the worst. Cast: Taylor Cole, Christina Prousalis, Tiffany Shepis, David Fine, Joseph McKelheer. World Premiere.