by Lane Kneedler
AFI FEST Programming Coordinator

Scene from ALIEN AUTOPSY, part of the inaugural section, Dark Horizons, at AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi. ALIEN AUTOPSY screens Saturday, November 11, 10:00 PM, and November 12, Noon.

Since the dawn of the film age, the horror genre has had its own subtext: the menaces lurking in the shadows.

Sometimes these are manifested as demons or monsters. But they also appear as existential dread. Sometimes the anxieties of so many American dreams - suburban bliss, childrearing and other forms of success - fuel the nightmares of American cinema.

Film is a blending of light and darkness, image and shadow. It's perfectly suited to address the places where hopes and fears violently collide.

An inaugural six-film section called Dark Horizons addresses these issues at AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi.

Filmmakers discuss a variety of socio-political issues using genre conventions, embedding in science-fiction, horror and comedy - even monster movies - serious issues about the world around us.

And grave forebodings of what is to come.

THE HOST is director Bong Joo-ho's new film, arriving in Los Angeles after storming the international film scene.

In it, a slimy, mutated and expertly-designed creature emerges from the Han River and terrifies the residents of Seoul, Korea. The film tears though the streets and sewers of Seoul with arrows and Molotov cocktails.

Scene from AFTER..., part of Dark Horizons at AFI FEST 2006, screening November 4, 9:30 PM, and November 5, 3:30 PM.

With as many surprises as a Korean snack shack, THE HOST is both frightening and tragic, with a hearty dose of comic absurdity.

Also in the Dark Horizons section, RE-CYCLE emerges from the minds of the Pang brothers. This Asian horror film contains so many genuinely innovative terrors it is going to be difficult to keep audiences in their seats.

Imagine for example the horror of walking down an alley and having land in front of you a suicidal jumper. Then another. And another. And another. You might begin to get an idea of what to expect.

Two other films in the Dark Horizons section deal with the most interesting fears of all: fears embedded in a safe, simple suburban life.

Anxieties about children and family fuel both DANIKA and DARK CORNERS but each film has its own radically innovative take on that oblique theme. These two films also happen to feature some of the most critically acclaimed actors of modern American filmmaking.

But it's not all about horror in the Dark Horizons section.

In AFTER... the three protagonists are urban explorers and extreme sports enthusiasts. These adrenaline junkies set off around the world in search of modern civilization's forbidden zones. But what they find is something far more terrifying than rats and claustrophobic tunnels.

And rounding out the Dark Horizons section is ALIEN AUTOPSY.

This is the true twisted tale of two British men who presented the world with a supposed alien autopsy film in the mid-1990s. More than 100 million people watched "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction" when it was aired by the Fox Network, but few people know the story behind the story.

Told with shockingly innovative humor, this film captures the height of mania surrounding the event. It's a singular cultural event that came together with ironic skepticism. It's a strangely telling artifact from the information age, everything can be true but nothing can be known.

Six movies late at night, all at the edge of something: darkness and light, reality and fiction, comedy and pathos. A dark horizon.

Dark Horizons at AFI FEST 2006

AFTER ...
Sat, Nov 4, 9:30 pm
Sun, Nov 5, 3:30 pm

ALIEN AUTOPSY
Sat, Nov 11, 10:00 pm
Sun, Nov 12, Noon

DANIKA
Thu, Nov 2, 10:00 pm
Fri, Nov 3, Noon

DARK CORNERS
Fri, Nov 10, 10:00 pm
Sat, Nov 11, 2:00 pm

THE HOST
Fri, Nov 3, 10:00 pm
Sat, Nov 4, 1:00 pm

RE-CYCLE
Thu, Nov 9, 9:45 pm
Fri, Nov 10, 1:00 pm