The Alien (UFO) Cinematic Agenda at SXSW 2025 and Nerdy Picks For the Horror Enthusiast

SXSW is shaping up to be the year the aliens took over Austin, Texas. Now that this event is in full swing, I’ll be paying attention to how well certain films will do, and how fast they will get (pardoning the pun) picked up by distributors.

Usually, all I do is pay attention to the midnight madness movie screenings over other debuts. When this mega event celebrates music, tech, and film, it’s often the latter two that I have more interest in. That’s because the movies give me a good idea of what to expect when Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival announces their lineup. When there’s five films that share concerns over UFO visitations, I hope these films will land elsewhere later this year!

And while this enormous event has much more entertainment to consider, I have to round out the list to ten than the usual five. There are some fabulous documentaries that have my attention, and as for other buzz worthy films, what I offer is a list of works that definitely have my interest beyond the usual midnight madness picks. What I present works in alphabetical order that are “coming soon.”

Ash

A woman wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed. Her investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events.

The Age of Disclosure

An unprecedented film–featuring 34 senior members of the U.S. Senate, House, military and intelligence community–revealing a cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life and a secret war to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin. (World Premiere)

The Astronaut

After returning from her first space mission, astronaut Sam Walker is placed under NASA’s care at a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences start happening, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.

Dead Lover (Canada)

A lonely Gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man, but their affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.

Death of a Unicorn

A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.

Descendent

After a traumatic brain injury triggers terrifying visions of extraterrestrials and a newfound talent for drawing, a father-to-be questions his reality and becomes obsessed with the need to protect his family from an unseen threat.

Good Boy

Do you ever wonder why your dog stares at empty corners, barks for no reason, or refuses to go into the basement? Good Boy is the story of a dog who sees everything that goes bump in the night. No talking pets, just terrifying scares.

The Home (Estonia, Iceland, Sweden)

Joel reluctantly returns to his childhood town to help his mother Monika move into a home for people with dementia after she suffers a stroke. She is unrecognizable and Joel becomes convinced that something has followed her back from the other side.

Starman

Legendary NASA robotics engineer and best-selling science fiction author, Gentry Lee, has spent a lifetime seeking an answer to the ultimate cosmic question: Are we alone in the universe? At age 82 he has come to a revelatory conclusion. (World Premiere)

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror

A wild journey into the origins of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the biggest cult film of all time, its impact on popular culture and socio-political resonance to this day. (World Premiere)