Twenty-five years ago, Christian Bale wrote himself into the history books with a star making performance. Right up there with Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle is Bale’s Patrick Bateman, the investment banker/serial killer antihero of Mary Harron’s brilliant horror satire American Psycho. A scathingly funny adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial novel, Harron’s film is a sharp and gruesome evisceration of ’80s consumerism and young professional entitlement, capturing a moment in New York City but feeling timelier than ever. Escape From Tribeca will put the spotlight on this genuine classic with a special 25th anniversary screening followed by a conversation with Mary Harron.

As so many of us under 40 know, it’s tough out there if you’re hoping to buy a home, start a family or, frankly, do anything that your parents did so easily when they were our age. What’s changed? The times? The attitudes? Society? Australian filmmaker Zoe Pepper takes those generational gaps and drives a flaming truck through them in her pitch-black comedy debut Birthright. A young pregnant couple on the skids asks to temporarily move in with his rich, retired parents; an act of desperation that sets off a madcap power struggle which gets weirder, funnier and more dangerous with every scene. You’ll see yourself in this violent howl of a comedy and enjoy a bold new directorial voice in Zoe Pepper. Join her at the film’s World Premiere, including a post-film Q&A session.

Unless you’re the hardest of hardcore exploitation film lovers (and if you are, bless your soul), the name Andy Milligan likely doesn’t ring any bells yet. But Escape From Tribeca is here to change that with the World Premiere of co-directors Josh Johnson and Grayson Tyler Johnson’s incredible new documentary The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Andy Milligan. Produced by Severin Films, it’s a long overdue biography of the driven gay artist who battled not only his own many demons, but the economics and mores of his time. With titles like The Naked Witch, Fleshpot on 42nd Street and The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! his many films earned him both infamy and an impressive list of ardent fans, including Sean Baker, Nicolas Winding Refn and John Waters. Join us, along with the filmmakers and Milligan biographer Jimmy McDonough, for a post-film Q&A.

After learning all about Andy Milligan by joining us for The Degenerate (see above), don’t miss a one-time-only chance to travel back to the late 1960s and experience his work in the best way possible; with a big screen grindhouse double feature! Escape From Tribeca will present two of Milligan works of obsessive madness, considered lost and unseen for nearly 50 years before the great Severin Films team recently discovered and restored them. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me! (1968), in which a married NY mother endures a domesticated Hell of sordid relationships, and The Degenerates (1967), a cinematic orgy of sex and violence set in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of an Upstate New York farm. Acclaimed biographer Jimmy McDonough, author of the definitive book on Milligan, The Ghastly One, will provide an extended introduction alongside actresses Natalie Rogers (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me!) and Laura Shaine Cunningham (credited in The Degenerates as Laura Weiss), and Escape From Tribeca will provide vintage exploitation trailers and take-home goodies galore. This is the closest you’ll get to Times Square 1968 without Doc Brown’s DeLorean!

Thanks to Flow’s well-deserved Best Animated Feature win at this year’s Academy Awards, there’s a sudden spotlight on Latvian animation. Well, even the most enthusiastic animation lover isn’t prepared for the insanity of Latvia’s Dog of God, a rotoscope-crafted blast of psychedelia and hard-edged adult imagery from co-directing siblings Lauris and Raitis Ābele, and their DP brother Mārcis. Set in the mud and muck of the 17th century, Dog of God a heady tale of witch trials and werewolves steeped in Latvian folklore and powered by some of the strangest and most darkly beautiful visuals you’ll see all year. Unique, sexy, violent, and grotesque; it pays homage to grown-up films like Heavy Metal and the works of Ralph Bakshi. Escape From Tribeca couldn’t be more excited to host its World Premiere, with the filmmakers in attendance for a post-film Q&A.

When executed properly, the faux-doc horror film can be something very special and uniquely unsettling—think of cult classics like Lake Mungo and Noroi: The Curse. You can add a new film to that shortlist: Man Finds Tape, the creepy and delightfully oddball feature debut from Austin, Texas natives Paul Gandersman and Peter Hall. Produced by Tribeca alumni and indie genre mavericks Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead and David Lawson through their Rustic Films, Man Finds Tape marries gritty small-town intrigue with hugely ambitious cosmic horror. When a troubled brother and sister uncover the vast supernatural conspiracy corrupting their tiny Texas town, camcorders and sibling loyalty may not be enough to save them… Expect horror fans to be talking about this wild one for years to come, and hear the filmmakers talk about it themselves at the World Premiere and post-film Q&A.

Consider 2025 to be the Year of the Wu, thanks not only to the Wu-Tang Clan embarking on “Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber,” their massive farewell concert tour, but also because of this awesome actioner. RZA, the Clan’s brilliant leader and mastermind, is blessing us with his best directorial effort to date, the deeply personal and wonderfully Blaxploitation-inspired One Spoon of Chocolate. Shameik Moore (a.k.a. Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse films) stars as Unique, an Army vet whose first move after prison is to relocate to Ohio, where he quickly finds himself in the crosshairs of a racist sheriff and his evil minions, all of whom are up to some seriously fucked-up crimes, but none of whom are prepared for the supremely brutal and righteous ass-kicking Unique will rain down upon them. Equal parts pulse-pounding and thought-provoking, One Spoon of Chocolate is a new highpoint for RZA as a filmmaker and one you won’t want to miss, especially at its World Premiere where we’ll be joined by the Abbott himself and the film’s cast.

Behold, a film that takes the classic Predator quote “If it bleeds, we can kill it” to its most badass extremes. Capitalizing on the success of his 2022 Hulu hit Prey, a Predator prequel of sorts, director Dan Trachtenberg has joined forces with Hulu once again, along with co-director Josh Wassung, for Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated anthology film pitting the seemingly unstoppable alien against a trio of flesh-and-blood assassins: a Viking raider, a Japanese ninja and WWII fighter pilot. The night before Predator: Killer of Killers launches on Hulu, Escape From Tribeca will give fans a chance to see it on the big screen and also possibly go home with free swag, which we’ll give away via pre-screening trivia questions. “Soon, the hunt will begin…”

The future of zombie horror is in great hands—specifically, the hands of someone who learned at the knee of The Godfather of The Living Dead himself – George Romero. His daughter, Tina Romero, carries on, but takes things in a totally different direction with her very auspicious feature debut; the hilarious and charming Queens of the Dead, in which a zombie outbreak disrupts the party plans of a group of drag queens, clubgoers and promoters over the course of one hellish night in Brooklyn. Buoyed by a game and fearless ensemble cast, including Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) and Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Romero’s film is a love letter to both zombie films and the LGBTQ+ community, and our World Premiere promises to be a raucous party in its own right. Be part of the fun alongside the new Queen of the Zombies, Tina Romero, and the film’s colorful cast and crew.

Thanks to recent hits like Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, body horror has become more mainstream and lauded than ever before. But film aficionados know that David Cronenberg has been mastering the form since 1975. Now, the most brilliant writer/director in the history of horror will be with us at the Tribeca Festival for the first time ever to present the 50th Anniversary of Shivers (They Came From Within). Before making Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers and A History of Violence and his other Cartesian classics The Fly, Videodrome, Scanners, Rabid and The Brood, Cronenberg made this twisted sci-fi shocker filled with outrageous sex and violence. When a sentient parasite with world domination on its mind begins ravaging an apartment complex of yuppies and me-generation swingers, the very fabric of society threatens to quickly come, very viscerally undone. The film that kick-started Cronenberg’s legendary career, Shivers holds up as one of his best and most challenging films. Don’t miss meeting the Maestro himself when he sits down for a post-film conversation moderated by horror fiction author extraordinaire Joe Hill (Horns, NOS4A2).

Back in 1998, British filmmaker Tony Kaye turned heads and raised hackles with his phenomenal debut feature, American History X, an audacious film that sparked heavy debates and critical dissection. Twenty-seven years later, Kaye is sure to provoke conversations once again with the kinetic and unclassifiable The Trainer, in which producer/co-writer/star Vito Schnabel plays Jack Flex, an underachieving personal trainer who lives with his mother and takes an all-in, go-for-broke shot at fame and success by selling a half-baked and dangerous fitness product called the Heavy Hat. Featuring an array of name-brand cameos and co-stars, including Lenny Kravitz, Gina Gershon, Steven Van Zandt and Paris Hilton, The Trainer is, believe us, unlike anything else you’ll see at the festival this year. Join Kaye, Schnabel and members of its starry cast for what’s sure to be an unforgettable North American Premiere.