As we stand on the edge of SXSW, New York-minded and centric film fans are already gearing up for our own big deal of a fest. Today, having just announced its World Narrative selections, the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival unveils its Cinemania (read: wild, bizarre, midnight movies) section, and their choices sound wholly appropriate. Fango got the lineup and an exclusive and cool little chat with festival programmer Cara Cusumano.

First, from cannibals to kidnapping, unexpected large sums of money to violent video game haze, home invasion, dead dog revenge and absolutely legendary fist fight, here’s what you’ll be seeing come April 18-29.

· EDDIE– THE SLEEPWALKING CANNIBAL, directed and written by Boris Rodriguez. (Canada, Denmark) – North American Premiere, Narrative. Onetime art star Lars Olafssen is all washed up. Unable to paint without inspiration, he accepts a teaching stint at a small-time art school in podunk Koda Lake, Canada, and along with it the guardianship of the offbeat town’s neighborhood weirdo, Eddie. As their unlikely friendship evolves, Lars uncovers a dark and violent secret about Eddie’s nocturnal impulses, and finds himself torn between his duty to his friend and his duty to his art.

· GRACELAND, directed and written by Ron Morales. (Philippines, USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Family man Marlon Villar is the longtime chauffeur of prominent politician Manuel Chango. While he and his daughter accompany his boss’ preteen daughter home, Marlon is ambushed and the wrong girl is kidnapped. Suddenly the unassuming driver is propelled into a horrifying downward spiral and, as events in his life unravel, Marlon, Chango, and their families become entangled in a game of deceit and betrayal that will leave no one innocent. In Tagalog with subtitles.

· JACKPOT (Arme Riddere), directed by Magnus Martens, written by Jo Nesbø. (Norway) – International Premiere, Narrative. Terrified, bloodied, and gripping a shotgun, Oscar Svendsen wakes up in what used to be a respectable strip joint, surrounded by eight corpses and with a gun pointed at him by a detective with the National Criminal Investigation Service. Naturally, Oscar is taken into custody, and during his interrogation a bloody and darkly comic story of betrayal, murder, and lottery winnings emerges—but is this the whole story? In Norwegian with subtitles.

· RAT KING, directed and written by Petri Kotwica. (Finland) – International Premiere, Narrative. Eighteen-year-old Juri spends his days absorbed in his computer gaming world, to the exclusion of school, friends, and ultimately his exasperated girlfriend. When his internet ally Niki turns up at his door fearing for his life because of a mysterious new online game, Juri eagerly follows him down the rabbit hole. In this taut, violent thriller, the lines between reality and the game blur as Juri and Niki are drawn into its increasingly morbid world. In Finnish with subtitles.

· REPLICAS, directed by Jeremy Regimbal, written by Josh Close. (Canada) – World Premiere, Narrative. Following the tragic death of their young daughter, the Hughes family decide to escape to their upscale vacation home in the woods. But their attempt to get some quality time together is violently interrupted when a neighboring family with a hidden agenda drops by for dinner. First-time director Jeremy Regimbal builds tension to a calculated and ultimately brutal crescendo in this home-invasion thriller. Starring Selma Blair, Joshua Close, James D’Arcy, and Rachel Miner.

· REVENGE FOR JOLLY!, directed by Chadd Harbold, written by Brian Petsos. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Harry (Brian Petsos) will stop at nothing to avenge the death of his beloved dog, Jolly. He and his demented cousin Cecil (Oscar Isaac) follow a series of clues in a frenzied attempt to track down the dog’s murderer, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Elijah Wood, Kristen Wiig, Adam Brody, Ryan Phillippe, Gillian Jacobs, Bobby Moynihan, Kevin Corrigan, David Rasche, Amy Siemetz, and Garret Dillahunt all stand between Harry and revenge for Jolly.

· SLEEPLESS NIGHT (Nuit Blanche), directed by Frederic Jardin, written by Frederic Jardin and Nicolas Saada. (France, Belgium, Luxembourg) – New York Premiere, Narrative. Vincent is a dedicated police officer, or so it seems. After he steals a massive bag of cocaine, his young son winds up being held for ransom by the mob boss it belongs to. When Vincent travels to the outskirts of Paris to trade the drugs for his son, he gets caught in an intense cat-and-mouse game that quickly spirals out of control. This night might not only be the longest of his life—it could be the last. A Tribeca Film release.

And here’s what Cusumano had to tell Fango

FANGORIA: Cinemania, and midnight programs as a whole look to promise and evoke a certain feeling. What does that feeling and rousing excitement mean to you as a viewer when looking for perfect cinemania films?

CARA CUSUMANO: Cinemania films are all about adrenaline. Audiences want to be thrilled, or frightened, or overwhelmed in some way, and the way to do that is to surprise them. With every kind of film, I am always looking for something unexpected and unique, but with genre films, in particular, there’s so much potential for creativity and to really shock and affect viewers.  Something like EDDIE THE SLEEPWALKING CANNIBAL is such a bizarre premise, and then the film really surprises you with how that story plays out, and in its almost cartoonish punctuations of violence. JACKPOT starts at a pretty insane amplitude, and then manages to just keep escalating even more. I love seeing how far audiences can be pushed, and midnight audiences are the best because they want to be taken to that extreme.

FANG: What separates these films and say, World Narrative feature JACK AND DIANE?

CUSUMANO: We saw a lot of films this year that were using genre in really innovative and special ways. As a horror fan, I was excited to see so much fluidity between genres, and how works like JACK AND DIANE, or NANCY PLEASE or RUBBERNECK explore the potential of horror and thriller tropes as tools in their storytelling. These films are not part of Cinemania, largely because the festival doesn’t believe in ghettoizing genres only in a midnight section, we premiered LET THE RIGHT ONE IN in our Narrative Competition in 2008 for example. The importance of having a distinct Cinemania section to me is less about separating out a certain type of filmmaking, and more about creating a space to really celebrate films and filmmakers that are committed to exploring genre in a more holistic way, probing the limits and the potential of the form itself. GRACELAND, for instance, is an underworld kidnapping thriller, REPLICAS is a home-invasion drama. They can be summed up simply, yet they are so creative and smart in how they work within those set genre parameters to craft something rich and original.

FANG: Do you ever find it difficult discovering that quality of a Cinemania movie when faced with watching it alone on a submission screener?

CUSUMANO: It’s true, it’s very different to experience a film at home alone or with a crowd at an event screening.  I really love that I get to do it both ways—an intense and violent film like RAT KING will scare the pants off of me when I watch it home in the dark by myself, and then I can’t wait to experience it again with an audience. Some of the wilder films really do demand to be seen with an audience. EDDIE and JACKPOT, for instance, will just be so much fun with a revved up midnight crowd. It’s a testament to the versatility of the films themselves that they work in both contexts.

FANG: What do you think will surprise people most in this year's lineup? Do you have a favorite?

CUSUMANO: The endings!  Even if they don’t have a twist ending, in the traditional sense, none of these films are going where you think they are, and I hope viewers enjoy the ride they’re being taken on. I’m energized when I see how each film has taken a conventional premise or plot and then reinvented it and reinvigorated it to craft something fresh and vital. There’s such inventive storytelling going on. I don’t think a single film in this lineup is quite what you think it is.

For more on Tribeca, head to its official site. 

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