Welcome to the fifth annual Anomaly - The Rochester Genre Film Festival! This year we’ve got 13 programs containing 12 feature films and 21 short films packed into 5 days for a ghoulishly good time! Join us for the best genre cinema from around the world, November 8-12, 2023 in downtown Rochester, NY!
Individual Tickets: $12 General Admission • Full Festival Pass: $110
Discounts available for students and seniors. Ticket Details
Our 2023 Festival Home Base: The Little Theatre (Theatre 1): 240 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14604
Thurs 11/9 “When Dragons Collide” Screening is at The Dryden Theatre: 900 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14607
Other ”Excursion” (Event) locations vary.
Jump to a day: WEDNESDAY 11/8 • THURSDAY 11/9 • FRIDAY 11/10 • SATURDAY 11/11 • SUNDAY 11/12
Click/tap a poster to jump to a film program. • Scroll down for full list of films.
Full Festival Passholders: Pass Pickup & Reception
5:00-5:50pm (directly preceding River)
Location: The Little Theatre (Theatre 1 Lobby)
Come pickup (and decorate!) your pass, mingle with your fellow film-buffs, and enjoy light refreshments before we kickoff opening night! (Passes can still be picked up all festival long.)
A sweet and soulful time-twisting comedy.
Director Junta Yamaguchi takes the micro time loop premise of his 2021 Anomaly Audience Award-Winner Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and applies it to an even larger canvas, as the guests and staff of a Japanese inn find themselves living the same few minutes over and over and over again. Somewhere in those repeating, all-to-brief moments, they confront questions of life, love, and their own mortality. More details & tickets
PRECEDED BY
When You're Here, You're Pizza!
River orders the same pizza every day. What could go wrong?
USA / 2023 / 7 mins
The Sacrifice Game
A retro holiday home invasion tale with a delightful demonic twist.
It's Christmas Eve 1971... and two misfit students with their kind-hearted teacher are the only ones left in their snowbound boarding school over winter break. Unbeknownst to them, a band of murderous hippies are about to arrive, on a vicious tear of violence and terror, itching to perform an ancient ritual and release a supernatural evil. But what these cultists don't know will definitely hurt them before the dawn. More details & tickets
USA / 2023 / 99 mins
Content Warnings: violence, blood, gore, self-harm, bullying
PRECEDED BY
Three Baths
A spiritualist instructs Loreen to give her distraught younger sister, Rosa, three baths to get rid of a malevolent spirit that appears to be moving closer and closer to her.
USA / 2023 / 7 mins
Content Warnings: blood, gore, eye-trauma
Thursday Pre-Film Potato Excursion
6:00pm-7:30pm (approx.; directly preceding When Dragons Collide)
Location: Petit Poutinerie (44 Elton St, Rochester, NY 14607)
You know Anomaly loves a potato-themed outing! Meet us for dinner at Petit Poutinerie, purchase some delicious fries and other spud-friendly treats, enjoy drink specials for Anomaly ticket-and-pass-holders, and settle in for a mini-round of movie trivia, before heading over to The Dryden, a block away!
When Dragons Collide
An Anomaly Excursion to The Dryden Theatre!
A rarely-seen kung-fu action film of nonsense and fists.
Presented on 35mm film! This over-the-top martial arts film has been a hidden treasure in the George Eastman Museum’s vault for years.
Betrayed by his partners, a man returns to his hometown seeking vengeance and re-connection with his long lost love. Killing his way up the organized crime ladder, the protagonist will have to avoid falling oil drums, escape from a coffin, survive a school full of martial arts students, and dodge flying fists and bullets.
A prime example of the lower budget of the genre, the film features violence, nudity, and more laugh-out-loud moments than you might expect. Shot in Hong Kong in 1973, this early 1980s United States release reveals the slapdash efforts at importing film at the time. More details & tickets
Hong Kong / 1973 / 81 mins / Dubbed in English
Original title: Tu dou ke
Content Warnings: violence
PRECEDED BY
If Birds Fly
A puppet fantasia about an aging daredevil who struggles to find value in his bright and brutal career as he prepares to attempt his most daring jump.
USA/Norway / 2022 / 9 mins
Loop Track
An unexpected psychological thriller.
On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Ian retreats to the New Zealand bush seeking solitude. Only he’s not alone. There are annoying tourists and cocky fellow hikers around to tell him he’s doing things all wrong. But there’s also… something else. Somewhere in the dark recesses of the forest, a malevolent presence waits. Or is it all in Ian’s head? More details & tickets
New Zealand / 2023 / 94 mins
Content Warnings: gore, blood, death, violence
PRECEDED BY
To Moher
A man on a solo vacation to the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland receives an ominous, life-altering phone call from his supervisor.
USA/Ireland / 2023 / 6 mins
Content Warnings: blood
Molli and Max in the Future
An imaginative sci-fi rom-com that spans galaxies.
Molli and Max keep finding themselves drawn into each other’s orbits, and find that dating is awkward no matter what year you’re in or which planet you find yourself on. A classic will-they-won’t-they romance matched with cleverly lo-fi effects, it’s “When Harry Met Sally” with aliens, robot warriors, and space witches. More details & tickets
+ FILMMAKER Q&A with Molli and Max in the Future director Michael Litwak and producer Ben Murphy.
PRECEDED BY
Somewhere In Between
Two will-they-won't-they friends are just keeping it simple this New Year's Eve until their house is crashed by a man from the future who tells them that the fate of the universe rests in their hands!
USA / 2023 / 15 mins
Content Warnings: flashing lights
LOCAL FILMMAKER
Friday After-Film Excursion
11:00pm-12:00am (approx.; directly following Molli and Max in the Future)
Location: The Spirit Room (139 State St, Rochester, NY 14614)
Join Anomaly for a Friday-night drink at one of Rochester's spookiest bars, The Spirit Room! Drink specials for all Anomaly ticket-holders and Festival Passholders.
Shocking & Spooky Saturday Shorts
Strange, unsettling — and sometimes even touching — bite-sized tales. From students to professionals, these filmmakers showcase a variety of styles and tones, celebrating some of the best short-form genre-filmmaking this year.
(9 short films•1hr 46 mins) More details & tickets
Film still from The Haunting of a Ghost
Ditched
An impulsive middle schooler playing a game of hide-and-seek soon realizes something sinister is hunting him and his friends.
USA / 2023 / 8 mins
Content Warnings: child endangerment
Mahogany Drive
In this comedy horror tale, three Black friends wake up to a nightmare: a dead white woman on the floor of their Airbnb. Tensions rise, sweat beads, and accusations fly, but they slowly come to a terrifying truth.
USA / 2022 / 13 mins
Content Warnings: death, blood, violence against women
Greed & Gore
After a bank robbery doesn't go exactly as planned, a crew of five pick a last minute safehouse to lay low with their take and a hostage. But the safehouse isn't so safe.
Canada / 2023 / 15 mins
Content Warnings: kidnapping, blood, gore, violence
We Forgot About The Zombies
Two dudes think they found the cure for zombie bites.
USA / 2022 / 4 mins
Content Warnings: gore, blood, body horror
Wormies
In 1980s suburbia, a distant family is forced to come together when the Summer's hottest new toy, a cute aquatic pet, mutates into a repulsive monster.
Canada / 2023 / 20 mins
Content Warnings: blood, violence
The Haunting of a Ghost
Walter can't wait for the Johnsons to move into their new house, his personal haunting ground. But when the family arrive with a demon in tow, Walter is in for one hell of a scare-off.
Canada / 2023 / 16 mins
Below Snakes
When a group of bandits ambush a traveling merchant, they find out that one man's treasure is another's curse.
USA / 2022 / 5 mins
Content Warnings: blood, gore
Mickey Dogface
Halloween night, three friends high in a van, and an urban legend surrounding a cult singer's mysterious death in a fire - what could go wrong?
USA / 2023 / 10 mins
Content Warnings: gore, jump scare
Nosepicker
A 'tale of the unexpected' about an 8-year-old schoolboy with a nasty habit of picking his nose.
"It was great... Snot what I expected." -Joe Dante, director of "Gremlins"
UK / 2023 / 16 mins
Content Warnings: flashing lights, blood, bullying, gross
Red Rooms
A chilling psychological horror about dark cyber obsessions.
The trial of Ludovic Chevalier — a serial killer dubbed “The Demon of Rosemont,” notorious for broadcasting his gruesome murders on the dark web — has captivated the world. None more so than enigmatic fashion model Kelly-Anne. Her morbid fixation on the crimes and their perpetrator quickly takes her down a dark path, in this drama exploring our impulse to peer into the most terrible corners of human nature. More details & tickets
Canada / 2023 / 1 hour 58 mins
In French with English subtitles
Content Warnings: off-screen torture and murder (heard)
PRECEDED BY
Strangers in the House
Maud finds her husband Peter with strangers in their living-room. Who are these people? Why are they here? And why does Peter act as if he knew them?
Czech Republic / 2022 / 10 mins
Content Warnings: home invasion
Riddle of Fire
A chimerical, modern-day fairytale that feels like a lost-then-found 80s children's classic.
Screening on 35mm film! Three free-roaming, feral children spend their vacation riding on their dirt bikes, wielding paint guns and creating chaos. One day their sick mother sets them on a journey to fetch a blueberry pie - one made with a speckled egg. But as fables tend to go, a simple task soon becomes an epic journey through a series of side-quests, a chase through the wild woods at night, and eventually a confrontation with a powerful witch and her coven.
Shot on 16mm with a dreamy aesthetic, this story unfolds languid and warm like a long summer day. More details & tickets
PRECEDED BY
The Forest Drum
A monster attempts to make friends with a drum he finds in the woods
USA / 2023 / 2 mins
LOCAL FILMMAKER
The People's Joker
A subversive queer and trans coming-of-age origin story.
The film that defied a major Hollywood studio. Writer, director, and editor Vera Drew enlists the assistance of 100 different artists — blending live action, 2D animation, stop-motion, and CGI — to create a hilarious and deeply personal riff on superhero movies, gender identity, stand-up comedy, and the power of a good laugh. More details & tickets
USA / 2022 / 92 mins
Content Warnings: suicide, blood, drug use, homophobic slurs, abuse, child abuse, transphobia
PRECEDED BY
Don't Turn Off the Ghost Light
Every stage actor knows the old theatre lore. At night, you leave the theater ghost light on - or else. Poor Terrence should have been more careful - because now he's about to find out that some performances never die.
USA / 2021 / 11 mins
Saturday After-Film Excursion
10:00-11:30pm (approx.; directly following The People's Joker)
Location: Red White & Brew (147 State St, Rochester, NY 14614)
Join Anomaly for a Saturday-night gathering at one of our favorite bars! Come chat about the day's movies! Snacks provided; drinks and additional food available for sale. Open to all "The People's Joker" ticket-holders and Anomaly Festival Passholders.
Tiger Stripes
A charming coming-of-age story with a body horror bent.
12-year-old Zaffan is the first in her grade to get her period, an event that leads to her being ostracized by her friends and classmates. But the strange changes to her body keep coming, and soon it seems that the young girl’s feisty personality and sharpening animal instincts may be too much for her conservative Malaysian community. More details & tickets
Germany, Taiwan, France, Malaysia / 2023
95 mins
In Malay with English subtitles
Content Warnings: puberty, period vomit, urination, child abuse (verbal/physical), body horror, gore, bullying, hazing
PRECEDED BY
Black Tea
A lonely Victorian widow longing for her lost love, conjures a spell to be reunited.
USA / 2022 / 7 mins
Sleep
A spooky and darkly funny love story with ghostly possession.
Young married couple Soo-jin and Hyun-su find their marriage tested when Hyun-su begins sleepwalking and behaving in erratic and increasingly dangerous ways. Unable to sleep, fearful that he’ll harm their newborn baby, Soo-jin desperately searches for a way to trust her husband again. After all, why let a little thing like possession come between you and the one you love? More details & tickets
South Korea / 2023 / 94 mins
Content Warnings: blood, sleep disorder, self-harm, animal death, violence, body horror, puke, child endangerment
PRECEDED BY
Get In, Get It Out
A mockumentary about three wildly ill-informed priests as they attempt to "save the world, one demon at a time."
Canada / 2023 / 7 mins
Content Warnings: alcohol, jump scare
Stopmotion
A squirm-inducing horror of art, creation, and determination.
Overshadowed by her recently deceased mother her whole life, Ella finally has a chance to be herself and make her own masterpiece to show the world who she is. A strange young girl and a new apartment start her on a terrifying journey of self-discovery, told through a mix of visceral live action and macabre stop motion. The story of an artist scared she may never be able to shape a creation that is truly her own - and the terrifying lengths she'll go to try anyway. The perfect nightmare mix of Hereditary, May, and Mad God. More details & tickets
UK / 2023 / 93 mins
Content Warnings: strobing lights, dead animal, body horror, gore, wet meat puppets, gross sound design
PRECEDED BY
Innermost
A stop-motion cyberpunk emotional entanglement, where acquaintances — one with regenerated organs — fight for a mystical lyre.
China / 2022 / 15 mins
Content Warnings: cartoon violence, gore, blood
Robot Dreams
A bittersweet animated love story about “interspecies” friendship.
Seeking companionship, a lonely dog mail orders himself a robotic best friend. The pair bond on their adventures around a colorful cartoon version of 1980s New York City, but when circumstances force them to separate, will they find a way to be together again?
With stunning hand-drawn animation, a tuneful soundtrack, and no spoken dialogue, Robot Dreams looks at what makes us happy, as we face the world together or separated from those we love. More details & tickets
PRECEDED BY
Smoke and Suds
In a world of illegal soap smuggling carried out by the Rubber Duck Mafia, an innocent duck bumps into a smuggling operation and sees too much.
USA / 2023 / 3 mins
Content Warnings: cartoon drug use, gun violence, blood
LOCAL FILMMAKER
Closing Night Pizza Party
9:00-10:00pm (approx.; directly following Robot Dreams)
Location: The Little Theatre (Theatre 1 Lobby)
Our annual tradition! Following our Closing Night Film, stick around for a free, laid-back pizza party celebrating the conclusion of this year's festival! Open to all ticket-holders of Robot Dreams and all Festival Passholders.