Now for the final stretch! Sundance 2025 had its fair share of unexpected gems, divisive oddities, and films that sparked conversations. Let’s wrap things up with one last round of highlights.
Dead Lover
Not for the faint of heart or the easily bewildered, Dead Lover is a chaotic, campy dive into the surreal. Grace Glowicki pulls quadruple duty as writer, director, producer, and star, bringing manic energy to this offbeat horror-comedy. She plays a sex-obsessed gravedigger who finally finds true love, only for tragedy to strike. Naturally, she becomes obsessed with resurrecting her lost lover, no matter the cost. Imagine Frankenstein meets Rocky Horror by way of an experimental stage play, and shot entirely on a single, ever-evolving set. Dead Lover is delightfully bizarre and a total fever dream of a film.
Together
Real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco bring their off-screen chemistry to Together, a thriller with equal parts heart and body horror. They play Millie and Tim, a couple who move to a quiet town outside NYC to start fresh. But after getting trapped in a mysterious cave during a hike, their relationship (and their bodies) begin to unravel in ways they never could’ve expected. Balancing sharp humor with unsettling horror, Together is unsettling, unpredictable, and already set for an August 1st release from NEON. Expect this one to gain cult status fast.
The Thing with Feathers
One of the more hyped films going into the festival, The Thing with Feathers is based on the novel Guilt Is the Thing with Feathers and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a grieving father struggling to cope with the sudden loss of his wife. His grief manifests in the form of a human-sized crow—equal parts menacing and oddly tender—who forces him to confront his reality. The crow is cold and relentless toward the father but takes a softer approach with his two young sons, creating an unsettling push-and-pull dynamic. While the film delivers some truly powerful emotional moments, its impact is undercut by excessive use of jarring sound design and abrupt scene transitions. These choices, instead of enhancing the film’s atmosphere, end up pulling the viewer out of the experience. The Thing with Feathers isn’t a bad film by any means, but it doesn’t quite live up to the high expectations going in.
The Virgin of The Quarry Lake
Set in the slums of Argentina, The Virgin of The Quarry Lake follows Natalia, a teenager navigating the summer after high school alongside her two close friends and a would-be boyfriend, Diego. Their lives revolve around the usual mix of teen angst, jealousy, and the looming pressure of losing their virginity—until strange, eerie events suggest that Natalia is far more than she appears. With shades of Carrie and The Virgin Suicides, the film blends coming-of-age drama with something darker and more mysterious. Beyond its supernatural elements, The Virgin of The Quarry Lake also provides a glimpse into the struggles of life in parts of Argentina, making it both a compelling character study and an atmospheric, slow-burning mystery.
Find more of our Sundance 2025 coverage at this link.