Movies
[SXSW ’12] The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In Guitarist Channels Miike For ‘Los Chidos’?
Pictured: Maria and youth through osmosis.
With the SXSW Film Festival kicking off this Friday in Austin, Texas, I thought I had all my ducks in a row. I’m personally being poked by the publicists behind a film that they’re calling “Fassbinder meets John “Shit Eating Grin” Waters meets Takashi Miike.” That’s definitely my cup of tea and also sounds right up our ally. I’ll give it a go here and then report back with more details if warranted.
Said film is Los Chidos and was written-directed by Omar Rodriguez Lopez who’s most well-known as the Grammy winning axeman for The Mars Volta and At The Drive-In.
Outside of the “official” plot, this is how it was personally described (sold) to me: “The film follows a gringo by the name of Kim who falls in with a sycophantic Mexican family when his car breaks down at their tire shop in Guadalajara. We soon find out that this family is royally f*cked up with a lot of hidden secrets. This gem is a deep, dark comedy and is allegorical, confronting many aspects of Western (US & Mexican) culture.”
Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez, Erasmo Rodríguez, Bruno Champiz, Maimuna Achleitner Jiménez, Alejandro Rodríguez and Monica Gúzman Tovar all star.
“Genre films are one of the strongest weapons in allegory, they are the new form of fable which serve the purpose and intention of providing the necessary shock to the human spirit and unconscious mind with the hopes of awakening her/him from habitual patterns of thought that are a result of living in a docile, oppressed and homogenized society,” Lopez tells Bloody Disgusting speaking on our beloved genre.
You can pick up tickets here if interested. 
Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) is staying busy here in 2024, directing not only the werewolf movie Big Bad but also an upcoming thriller titled Drop.
The project for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes is being described as a “fast-paced thriller,” and Deadline reports today that Violett Beane (Truth or Dare) has joined the cast.
Newcomer Jacob Robinson has also signed on to star in the mysterious thriller. Previously announced, Meghann Fahy (“White Lotus”) will be leading the cast.
Landon recently teased on Twitter, “This is my love letter to DePalma.”
Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach wrote the script.
Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Brad Fuller and Cameron Fuller — “who brought the script in to Platinum Dunes” — are producing the upcoming Drop. Sam Lerner is an executive producer.
THR notes, “The film is a Platinum Dunes and Blumhouse production for Universal.”
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