SLIFF 2025 PREVIEW: INSIDE THE AFTER DARK LINEUP — PRIMATE, REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND, SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE & THE PLAGUE

Four bold films light up SLIFF 2025’s After Dark lineup — Primate, Reflection in a Dead Diamond, Sisu: Road to Revenge, and The Plague. (Primate)

The St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) returns this year with an exceptional mix of world cinema, documentaries, and narrative features — but for those of us who live on the darker side of the screen, the SLIFF After Dark program is where the real pulse kicks in.

This year’s late-night lineup is lean but lethal — four standout titles straight from Fantastic Fest 2025 that promise to keep audiences wired well past midnight. From island horror to Finnish fury, this year’s After Dark slate delivers some of the most exhilarating genre filmmaking of the season.

For full screening times, tickets, and updates, visit the official festival site: festivals.cinemastlouis.org/sliff2025/

PRIMATE (Dir. Johannes Roberts)

Opening SLIFF After Dark on November 7, Primate is the latest from Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down), starring Troy Kotsur, Johnny Sequoyah, and a group of teens whose island getaway turns into something much darker. Set in Hawaii, the story follows two sisters and their deaf father (Kotsur), living in a lush estate left behind by their late mother — a Jane Goodall-style primatologist — and the family’s unsettling connection to a chimp named Ben.

We covered Primate extensively at Fantastic Fest, including red-carpet interviews with the cast and crew. While Roberts’s creature-focused direction comes with familiar ethical complications — particularly the racial undertones tied to cinematic depictions of primates — the film’s pacing and intensity are undeniable. It’s brutal, uneasy, and one of the most discussed survival thrillers of the festival circuit.

SLIFF Tip: Tickets are still available, but expect this one to fill up quickly once word spreads.

REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND (Dirs. Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani)

Perhaps the most visually stunning entry in this year’s After Dark slate, Reflection in a Dead Diamond is the new film from Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani — the acclaimed duo behind Amer and Let the Corpses Tan.

Set along the glittering Côte d’Azur, the story follows a retired spy (the great Fabio Testi) whose quiet hotel life unravels when a mysterious woman vanishes next door. The film plays like a cinematic hallucination — a collision of Eurospy glamour, giallo sensuality, and existential paranoia.

I told the filmmakers during our Fantastic Fest interview (now streaming on our HMU YouTube channel and horrormoviesuncut.com) that this was one of the most distinctive films of the festival — which says a lot for a fest as wild as Fantastic. Equal parts Bond-era cool and surrealist nightmare, it’s one of the year’s can’t-miss experiences.

Screening: November 15, 10 PM – High Point Theater

SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE (Dir. Jalmari Helander)

The return of Jalmari Helander’s Finnish legend is everything fans hoped for and more. Sisu: Road to Revenge is a rare sequel that actually holds its ground — a bloody, snow-covered follow-up that expands the mythos of one of the most ruthless antiheroes in modern action cinema.

Set against the backdrop of the Red Army’s advance, this next chapter doesn’t just match the first film’s intensity — it exceeds it. The violence is poetic, the pacing relentless, and the energy in Fantastic Fest’s premiere screening was nothing short of electric.

That said, Sisu: Road to Revenge doesn’t belong in a midnight slot — it’s an action spectacle that deserves the biggest possible audience. Still, for those willing to stay up, this is easily one of the best genre films playing SLIFF 2025.

Screening: November 14, 10 PM – High Point Theater

THE PLAGUE (Dir. Charlie Pollinger)

The sleeper hit of the After Dark lineup, The Plague follows a socially awkward teen at a water polo camp whose summer spirals into psychological breakdown. Director Charlie Pollinger turns the suffocating pressures of youth athletics into a slow-burn nightmare about isolation, cruelty, and mental collapse.

The film drew rave reviews on the circuit, hailed as one of the most unsettling coming-of-age horrors of the year. It’s emotional, intelligent, and haunting — a perfect counterpoint to the bigger, flashier titles in this section.

Final Thoughts

SLIFF’s After Dark selections are proof that the festival continues to evolve — bringing some of the most daring, internationally acclaimed genre films of the year right to the Midwest. From France to Finland to the volcanic edges of Hawaii, these stories stretch the definition of horror, proving that “After Dark” doesn’t just mean blood and scares — it means risk, style, and cinema worth losing sleep over.

And don’t forget: Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice is also part of SLIFF’s programming — just not in this section (and wisely so).

For full schedules, tickets, and any updates on screening times, visit festivals.cinemastlouis.org/sliff2025/.