After Dark Shorts: Disturbing Diversions

Synopsis

This collection of uncanny and unhinged stories from around the world represent the growing global appetite for genre films. Full of inventive stories with stunning practical effects, this program will delight late night moviegoers of all stripes. Featuring works by Jake Myers, Marcus Anthony Thomas, Juefang Zhang, Tzuhsuan Peng, Suki-Rose, Cricket Arrison, Rodrigue Huart, Marinthia Gutiérrez, and Blake Simon.

A musician stuck in an office job tries the free kombucha that boosts his coworkers’ productivity, only to discover its sinister side effects in Kombucha! (United States). In Space Plug (United Kingdom), a baby is born into a mysterious white room in outer space. There, they grow up nourished by an extraterrestrial creature, but plagued by a desperate desire to break free. Where The Mountain Women Sing (Hong Kong, Taiwan, United States) blends documentary and found-footage narrative as two filmmakers attempt to capture a bloody shamanic ritual in Northeastern China. In Addiction (Taiwan), a policeman obsessively surveils a girl who owns a small store along a desolate road, unaware that he’s not the only hunter lurking in the area. In Chomp (United States), the relentless pace and high-stakes pressure of a bustling news studio creates the ideal environment for a new kind of monster to emerge. In Transylvanie (France), a newly transitioned vampire tries to transform a neighborhood boy into her eternal companion. But she’s underestimated the lengths it will take to prove her bloodthirsty identity. In She Stays (Ella se queda) (Mexico), Laura navigates a night out in downtown Tijuana, eagerly anticipating the moment her destiny will unfold. And Faces (United States) is a mind-bending portrayal of a shape-shifter’s use of appearances to lure in victims, showing that, at the center, they are only social disguises.