The 25th Annual Boston Underground Film Festival Returns to Cambridge March 19th–23rd With Incredible Line-UpOf Genre-Shattering Films 

The Boston Underground Film Festival Returns for Its 25th Year of Cinematic Mayhem

Boston’s wildest cinematic event is back! The Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) storms the Brattle Theatre from March 19th–23rd, 2025, celebrating 25 years of mind-melting horror, transgressive comedy, and unclassifiable genre chaos. This year’s lineup promises a high-voltage mix of world premieres, festival favorites, deep-cut rediscoveries, and films that outright defy polite description.

Opening Night: Nicolas Cage Takes on the Surf

BUFF kicks off with the East Coast Premiere of Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer, starring Nicolas Cage as a man who returns to his childhood beach, only to find himself in a psychological death match with territorial locals. A sun-drenched descent into madness, Cage delivers a tour-de-force performance that will have audiences gripping their armrests.

Spotlight Screening: 40 Years of Re-Animator in Stunning 4K

Horror icon Barbara Crampton will be in attendance for the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon’s legendary Re-Animator. This 40th-anniversary screening showcases a brand-new UHD restoration from Ignite Films and Eagle Rock Pictures—an unmissable event for horror devotees.

World Premieres & Special Guests

BUFF is honored to world premiere Alma & The Wolf, the latest from Michael Patrick Jann (Drop Dead Gorgeous), starring Ethan Embry as a troubled cop investigating a vicious wolf attack that spirals into the unexplainable. Jann and Lukas Jann will be on hand to discuss their eerie Oregon-set mystery.

Also debuting: Stefan MacDonald-Labelle’s Head Like a Hole, a Canadian existential horror about an ever-growing void lurking in a basement. MacDonald-Labelle will be in attendance.

East Coast & New England Premieres

Among the festival’s many regional premieres, highlights include:

• Fucktoys (East Coast Premiere) – A Tarot-fueled, 16mm hallucinogenic odyssey directed by Annapurna Sriram, who will be in attendance alongside actor Sadie Scott.
• Best Wishes to All (New England Premiere) – A skin-crawling J-horror from Yûta Shimotsu, revealing the dark secrets hidden beneath family traditions.
• The Ugly Stepsister (New England Premiere) – A body-horror fairy tale that gleefully shreds Cinderella, directed by Emilie Blichfeldt.
• Sister Midnight (New England Premiere) – A genre-blending fever dream from Karan Kandhari, diving into misanthropic mayhem and self-destruction.
• Escape from the 21st Century (New England Premiere) – Sci-fi lunacy from Yang Li, where three teens sneeze themselves 20 years into a dystopian future.
• Chain Reactions (East Coast Premiere) – A documentary dissection of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s seismic influence, featuring insights from Stephen King, Karyn Kusama, and Takashi Miike.

Resurrecting Lost Gems & Forgotten Nightmares

BUFF isn’t just about the new and next—it also revives forgotten, forbidden, and freshly resurrected classics. This year’s rare repertory screening is Muerte en la Playa (1991), a queer-coded, blood-soaked Mexican thriller ripe for rediscovery, presented by the American Genre Film Archive.

Shorts That Will Disturb, Delight & Possibly Traumatize

BUFF’s signature shorts programming returns with blocks like:

• The Dunwich Horrors – A New England horror showcase featuring eerie entries like Katie’s Skin and Forever War.
• Trigger Warning – A midnight block of maximum transgression, including Brothers Beastly and The Night Has 1000 Desires!.
• Love to Love You Maybe – A genre-comedy showcase featuring shorts like Make Me A Pizza and SexySweat.

Join the Madness: March 19th–23rd at The Brattle Theatre

Whether you’re here for world premieres, boundary-pushing genre insanity, or the sheer joy of descending into the darkness with fellow weirdos, BUFF 2025 promises an unforgettable lineup of films, special guests, and late-night delirium.

A limited number of festival badges are available now for purchase at The Brattle Theatre’s website. Badgeholders get first dibs on screenings starting Friday, March 7th, before general ticket sales open Monday, March 10th.

For tickets and more info, visit:

🔗 www.brattlefilm.org
🔗 www.bostonunderground.org

Prepare yourselves—Boston’s most beautiful, deranged, and utterly unmissable festival is about to unleash its silver-anniversary insanity!