Other Worlds Austin Finds the 'Dead Within'

The 512's freshest film festival, Other Worlds Austin, may not even kick off until December, but founder Bears Fonté is living up to his promise of bringing fresh new sci fi films to the screen with yet another special preview screening.

Last week, OWA held a special screening of found footage mindbender Dark Mountain, and now the fest is following that with a special preview screening on Sept. 4 of survival horror Dead Within, with director Ben Wagner in attendance.

The film follows a middle-class couple, Mike (Dean Chekvala) and Kim (Amy Cale Peterson), who go for a nice weekend getaway in the country. Unfortunately for them, the zombie apocalypse is unleashed while they're on the road. Traditionally, the countryside is the best place to evade the newly cannibalistic hordes. But what happens after six months, when the food has run out, and there's no real sign of hope or other survivors? What then? And what is Mike doing every day when he leaves Kim in the cabin all alone?

Shot mostly over one long weekend, and heavily improvised, Dead Within has already defied its ultra-low budget roots, with a world premiere at London's Film 4 Frightfest at the end of August, plus U.S. distribution via Millennium Entertainment. Now, before its VOD release, Fonté is adding it to his plan for monthly OWA screenings of new films by new filmmakers. He said, "There are a ton of sci-fi films out there, maybe they’ve played another festival, maybe they are a bit more indie, but right now those films have nowhere to play in Austin. I want to create an outlet for those films."

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Other Worlds Austin presents Dead Within, Alamo Village, 2700 W. Anderson, Sept. 4, 9pm. Tickets available at www.drafthouse.com. More info at www.deadwithin.com

Other Worlds Austin film festival runs Dec. 4-6 at the Galaxy Highland. Visit www.otherworldsaustin.com, or read our June 3 story, "Austin to Visit Other Worlds."