Horrorcrush was at the Sundance Film Festival this past week getting the scoop on the best that independent film has to offer. Whether it is Reservoir Dogs or The Blair Witch Project we’re talking about, Sundance has consistently set the bar for genre bending, pulp filmmaking. This year was certainly no exception.

The first flick of the week was a sold-out screening of Vincenzo Natali’s horror-porn creature feature, Splice, about the moral and ethical clusterf*ck that ensues once two young, rebellious scientists (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polly) successfully combine human and animal DNA. The result is an offbeat, palpable piece of psychological horror, complete with some of the most cringe-worthy (and original) shock scenes in a good long while.

The central experiment starts out as a crude blob of flesh (though, somehow, it does feel like a medical breakthrough), then gestates quickly into hyper-evolved, sinister female hybrid. Dren, as they call it, can play the “poor human” or the “maniacal monster” card at her own will, providing a nice edge-of-your-seat experience with plenty of payoff. Not giving too much away, Splice embarks on some pretty taboo territory that makes it one cringe-worthy showstopper. Natali does a remarkable job of keeping balance between the ideas behind the film and the ick-factor, synthesizing both into a completely entertaining experience. The talent of this fellow has been apparent since his minimalist triumph, Cube back in 1998, but Splice sets him in the upper echelon of body-horror with the likes of Cronenberg and Carpenter.

Think Species with a twisted indie vibe, mixed with the enduring themes of Frankenstein and you’ll arrive somewhere in the neighborhood of Splice. The bidding war for the film started hot and heavy in the early days of the festival, and I see no reason why this absolute blast of a film won’t be hitting some of the more liberal theatre chains this summer. Let’s just hope that the director’s disturbing vision is fully intact upon release.

Midnight screenings at Sundance are like midnight screenings anywhere else. They primary objective is for the audience to collectively react in an overtly “What the f*ck!?” manner. At the closing night of the festival, I was lucky enough to get into the midnight screening of Buried, an experimental thriller starring Ryan Reynolds that was undoubtedly the most buzzed about thriller of the week. Lionsgate bought the film for $4 million within the first 48 hours of its premiere and Sundance audiences couldn’t stop talking about it. The screening was accompanied by quick but informative Q & A with director Rodrigo Cortes and screenwriter Chris Sparling.

The film has an unimaginably simple yet nonetheless terrifying concept: being buried alive. There are no cheats here. It’s not a deceptive pitch. This is literally a film about Ryan Reynolds and a box. 90 minutes of futile oxygen to facilitate 90 minutes of a film. It’s an incredibly intense, claustrophobic experience that had a few patrons walking out in the first 10 minutes (in all fairness, it was 10 minutes of heavy breathing and a flickering Zippo), and those willing to stick around glued to their seats in what turns out to be a feverishly entertainingly cinematic experience.

Here whiff of what you can expect: Accompanied by only a lighter and a cell phone, Paul Conroy, an American civilian truck driver in Iraq tries to make sense of his horrifying new surroundings and figure how out who buried him. Inside the coffin, every detail is vital… battery life, markings, cracks, Conroy’s slowly diminishing sense of hope… and of course, there is the race against the clock trying to figure just how the hell he’s going to get out. It’s a tiny concept with enough dread to fill a thousand multiplexes.

Reynold’s portrayal of Conroy deserves and Oscar nomination, seriously. For 90 minutes he carries the film with sincerity as he willingly submerges himself in many people’s worst nightmare. Director Rodrigo Cortes expressed to the audience that this film would be unbearable without the presence of a special actor; not a movie star, just someone you want to live. Reynolds has an everyman sensibility that makes him ripe for the role and every bit as enthralling to watch as one can imagine. Don’t miss Buried, presumably to hit a theatre near you this summer.

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