Sundance 2022 Wrap-Up: all the best movies from the fest

And so, another edition of the Sundance Film Festival has wrapped, leaving us with a bunch of solid films to look forward to as the year goes on. While the festival had to pivot to a digital edition at the last minute (it had been planned as a hybrid fest), overall, the selection of movies was excellent, and I saw a whole bunch that should get people talking. That said, a berth at Sundance doesn’t always mean a release date is imminent. For example, an entertaining werewolf movie I saw there last year called Eight for Silver got retitled The Cursed (terrible title) and has yet to come out, nor has the hyped On the Count of Three, which sold to MGM/Orion last year.

In the end, virtually all of the films I saw and loved walked away with distribution deals, but here are five, in particular, you should keep an eye out for:

Speak No Evil

Horror was represented in a significant way at the Sundance Film Festival, but the genre offering that ultimately gripped me the most was Speak No Evil. The film lured you in with a false sense of security because it features some light satire and uncomfortable laughs, but soon its relatable real-world scenarios become excruciatingly more intense. It’s an unbearably uncomfortable movie that serves as a cautionary tale about putting your trust in the wrong people, and it’s also a taut exercise in anxiety-building dread. This movie will be released via Shudder later this year – Gaius Bolling

Fresh

Another solid horror outing at Sundance, with Sebastian Stan reinventing himself as a potential horror icon in this tale of love and cannibalism, opposite the talented Daisy Edgar-Jones. You won’t have to wait long to see this one, with it set for a Hulu release on March 4th, while it hits Disney Star everywhere else later in the spring.

Emily the Criminal

Aubrey Plaza has never been better than she is in this L.A set noir tale, which, in my opinion, completely reinvents her on-screen persona as a debt-ridden young woman who turns to a life of crime. This one sold to Roadside Attractions/ Vertical Entertainment.

Resurrection

Another head trip of a Sundance movie, with Rebecca Hall playing a woman who is shocked when the abusive partner (Tim Roth) she left twenty years ago, resurfaces. Now, I know that sounds pretty standard, but would you think from that description that there would be David Cronenberg references and body horror in it? Well, there is. IFC Midnight and Shudder have this one.

After Yang

Probably the only film I saw at the fest that I would label a masterpiece, Kogonada’s After Yang is a bittersweet sci-fi tale about what it means to love and be human…or an android. Colin Farrell stars. A24 is putting this one out in March, and it’s a beautiful piece of work.

Please read all of our Sundance reviews here!