The 8th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival is a power-packed event featuring outrageous cult films, provocative documentaries and wild short films that will run September 4-7 at its usual haunt, The Factory Theater.

Opening Night: The fest opens with Housebound, a New Zealand horror comedy by Gerard Johnstone about a woman in trouble with the law who comes to believe that her family home is haunted. The film will be preceded by a performance by Renny Kodgers and a free pizza party; and followed by an after party.

Closing Night: The fest will close with the controversial German teen sex comedy Wetlands directed by David Wendt. The film will then be followed by a late-night after party.

Highlights: Usama Alshaibi‘s must see documentary American Arab — an intimate, socially relevatory and essential film — screens at 4 p.m. on Sept. 6. Read the Underground Film Journal review of American Arab.

Jorge Torres-Torres’s bleak drama about an American outcast, Shadow Zombie, was one of the major highlights of this year’s Chicago Underground Film Festival and screens Sept. 5 at 8:30 p.m. and on Sept. 6 at 6:00 p.m. Read the Underground Film Journal of Shadow Zombie.

Acclaimed shorts filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff will screen her debut teen drama feature, I Believe in Unicorns, on Sept. 6 at 6:00 p.m. and Sept. 7 at 3:00 p.m.

Andre Perkowski‘s epic William S. Burroughs adaptation, Nova Express, will screen on Sept. 6 at 12:00 p.m. and will feature a discussion with Burroughs scholar Jack Sargeant.

The full Sydney Underground Film Festival lineup is below. For more information and to buy advance tickets, please visit the fest’s official website.

September 4

6:00 p.m.: Housebound, dir. Gerard Johnstone. Committed to house arrest, a young woman starts to believe her mother that their family home is haunted by an angry spirit.

September 5

6:30 p.m.: Suburban Gothic, dir. Richard Bates Jr. A recent college graduate spends his summer trying to solve a centuries-old murder with the help of a pretty bartender.

6:30 p.m.: Super Duper Alice Cooper, dir. Sam Dunn. This documentary profiles the iconic rock star.

6:30 p.m.: “Ozploit!”
309 Bad Habits of Wuthering Wonda, dir. Phroi Kovalesky
Biting Down, dir. Kate Cornish
Boat People, dir. Kosta Nikas
Budget Cuts, dir. Jarret Gahan
Dos colectore (Two Collector), dir. Patrick Feary, Rhys Bennett
Exposure, dir. Rebecca Amat
Good Job, dir. Ian Cameron Hillman
Identity, dir. Cathy Vu
Kookaburra, dir. Ramya Chandrasekaran
Scammers, dir. Tessa Muskett
Stop Leak, dir. Dan White
Prank, dir. Alex Weight
Trash, dir. Ryan O’Donnell

6:30 p.m.: Love Child, dir. Valerie Veatch. This documentary investigates the troubling story of the baby girl who died in South Korea while her parents played video games.

8:30 p.m.: For No Good Reason, dir. Charlie Paul. This documentary profiles artist Ralph Steadman.

8:30 p.m.: “Reality Bites”
A Waltz Forward, dir. Sean Singh
History Lesson, prod. Dirk de Bruyn, Steven McIntyre
Into the Streets, dir. Logan Mucha
Live Through This, dir. Lisa Camillo
Love in the Time of March Madness, dir. Melissa Johnson, Robertino Zambrano
Not Anymore – A Story of Revolution, dir. Matthew VanDyke
Some Girl Who Tells Stories, dir. Whitney Johnston
Sourced, dir. Peter Dowson
Sumood, dir. Tessa Dowdell
Teagan, dir. Sheldon Lieberman, Igor Coric
Working – The Working Cat’s Guide to the Klondike, dir. Veronica Verkley

8:30 p.m.: Shadow Zombie, dir. Jorge Torres-Torres. A pot dealer living in a small American town paints himself up as a zombie doppelganger and falls in love with a girl who likes to dress up like a clown. (Read the review)

8:30 p.m.: Kidnapped for Christ, dir. Kate Logan. This documentary uncovers the horrifying reality behind a Christian boarding school in the Dominican Republic where gay teens are beaten and tortured in a revolting attempt to turn them “straight.”

10:30 p.m.: Trailer Park Boys: Don’t Legalize It, dir. Mike Clattenburg. Based on the cult Canadian TV series, a trio of misfits fight against the legalization of marijuana since the law would ruin their current businesses.

10:30 p.m.: My Name Is Jonah, dir. Phil Healy & JB Sapienza. This documentary profiles the iconoclastic Jonah Washnis, an upstate New York native devoted to promoting a warrior lifestyle.

10:30 p.m.: Beckoning the Butcher, dir. Dale Trott. A denier of the occult performs a sacred ritual just to prove that all rituals are nonsense, but vanishes soon after.

10:30 p.m.: “LSD Factory”
Beware, dir. Tony Lawrence
Binary, dir. Andre Silva
Bunda Pandeiro/Tambourine Buttocks, dir. Carlo Sampietro
The Dollhouse, dir. Sam Cummins
Erotos, dir. Grégory Montaldo
Fragments of Distant Memories, dir. Jon Behrens
LINDSAY (For Those Who Don’t Have the Time), dir. Alex Munt and Justin Harvey
Maldita Vougue/Damn you, Vougue, dir. Julia Portella and Melina Schleder
Mmmmm, dir. Emma Hicks
Screw, dir. Angus Ware
Sharing a Cigarette With Myself, dir. Camille De saint Jean
The Shove, dir. My Sandstrom
Summer 1975, dir. Wrik Mead

September 6

12:00 p.m.: “WTF Shorts”
Afterbirth, dir. Sam Freeman
Bad Luck Paddy, dir. Luke Sullivan
Blood Rag, dir. Emma Varker
Bloody Monster, dir. Markus Wimberger
Disillusioned By My Mental Illustrations, dir. Tim Barretto
Forty Seven Point Zwei, dir. Thomas Grainger
Horror Movie, dir. William Jones
Hungry, dir. Sophie Vukovic
Invasive Species, dir. Max Majoros
Journey, dir. Shaked Shamir
River Corner Store, dir. Brian Lye
November, dir. Eric Esser
Radish, dir. Diego Ramirez
SNeeZE, dir. Sean Patrick McAuliffe, Oliver Claude Buckworth
Verbatim, dir. Brett Weiner

12:00 p.m.: Love Child, dir. Valerie Veatch. This documentary investigates the troubling story of the baby girl who died in South Korea while her parents played video games.

12:00 p.m.: Teenage, dir. Matt Wolf. This documentary examines the fairly modern cultural rise of the “teenager.”

12:00 p.m.: Nova Express, dir. Andre Perkowski. This adaptation of William S. Burrough’s sci-fi novel weaves together social satire, science fiction, found footage, original film, animation and more.

2:00 p.m.: Mr. X, dir. Tessa Louise-Salomé. This documentary profiles cult film director Leos Carax.

2:00 p.m.: Freeload, dir. Daniel T. Skaggs. This documentary examines the culture of train hopping.

2:00 p.m.: The Immortalists, dir. David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. This documentary profiles two eccentric biologists, Bill Andrews and Aubrey de Grey, who are looking for the key to immortality.

2:00 p.m.: “Apocalyptic”
Air, dir. Emma E. Maclennan
A Fairy Tale, dir. Stefan Burgryn
America 101, dir. Richard Speight Jr.
Carolina Parakeet, dir. A.J. Briones
Last – The Last Artist, dir. Allysha Webber
Toward the Flame, dir. Paul Turano
Yearbook, dir. Bernardo Britto
Zombie Beaters, dir. Kenny Foo

4:00 p.m.: For No Good Reason, dir. Charlie Paul. This documentary profiles artist Ralph Steadman.

4:00 p.m.: American Arab, dir. Usama Alshaibi. Filmmaker Alshaibi explores what it means to be an Arab in the United States in the country’s post-9/11 society. (Watch streaming)

4:00 p.m.: Trailer Park Boys: Don’t Legalize It, dir. Mike Clattenburg. Based on the cult Canadian TV series, a trio of misfits fight against the legalization of marijuana since the law would ruin their current businesses.

4:00 p.m.: Super Duper Alice Cooper, dir. Sam Dunn. This documentary profiles the iconic rock star.

6:00 p.m.: I Believe in Unicorns, dir. Leah Meyerhoff. A teenage girl who feels burdened with taking care of her disabled mother tries to find solace in a romance with an older boy who has aggressive tendencies.

6:00 p.m.: The Immoral, dir. Lars Daniel Krutzkoff Jacobsen. A Norwegian single mother and a soldier turn to prostitution after their government support gets cut off.

6:00 p.m.: Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, dir. Sion Sono. A punk film collective does battle with gang members in order to get their movie made.

6:00 p.m.: Shadow Zombie, dir. Jorge Torres-Torres. A pot dealer living in a small American town paints himself up as a zombie doppelganger and falls in love with a girl who likes to dress up like a clown. (Read the review)

8:30 p.m.: Housebound, dir. Gerard Johnstone. Committed to house arrest, a young woman starts to believe her mother that their family home is haunted by an angry spirit.

8:30 p.m.: “Love/Sick”
Call Girl, dir. Jill Sixx Gevargizian
Coming out, dir. Taylor Gahm
Heaven, dir. Maziar Lahooti
I Am Monster, dir. Shannon Lark, Lori Bowen
Life’s a Bitch, dir. François Jaros
Little Vulvah & Her Clitoral Awareness, dir. Sara Koppel
FH2 FAG HAG 2000, dir. Emma LaGrutta
Love and Dating in LA!, dir. Alex Russel
Marina, dir. Natasha Millist
My Thoughts Exactly, dir. Andrew Chambers
Umbra, dir. Bryn Tilly
Worst Date Ever, dir. Amy Wang

8:30 p.m.: Breadcrumb Trail, dir. Lance Bangs. This documentary exhamines the history and impact of the band Slint on modern indie rock.

8:30 p.m.: Beckoning the Butcher, dir. Dale Trott. A denier of the occult performs a sacred ritual just to prove that all rituals are nonsense, but vanishes soon after.

10:30 p.m.: The Green Inferno, dir. Eli Roth. A group of activists enter the Amazon and end up becoming dinner for the local tribes.

10:30 p.m.: The Dog, dir. Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren. This documentary tells the real story of John Wojtowicz, whose bank robbing adventure inspired the film Dog Day Afternoon.

10:30 p.m.: Proxy, dir. Zack Parker. After a pregnant woman is brutally attacked by a hooded stranger, she attempts to find comfort from another woman attacked under similar circumstances, but becomes involved in a horrific conspiracy.

10:30 p.m.: “Best of the Fetisch Film Festival”
A Weekend in Germany, dir. Jan Soldat
Eroticide, dir. Matthew Saliba
Loops, dir. Steen Schapiro

September 7

1:00 p.m.: Freeload, dir. Daniel T. Skaggs. This documentary examines the culture of train hopping.

1:00 p.m.: My Name Is Jonah, dir. Phil Healy & JB Sapienza. This documentary profiles the iconoclastic Jonah Washnis, an upstate New York native devoted to promoting a warrior lifestyle.

1:00 p.m.: The Animal Condition, dir. Michael Dahlstrom. This documentary examines the current state of the animal welfare movement in Australia and how it has affected the culture in that country.

1:00 p.m.: Teenage, dir. Matt Wolf. This documentary examines the fairly modern cultural rise of the “teenager.”

3:00 p.m.: GMO OMG, dir. Jeremy Seifert. A look at the modern practice of genetically engineering our food.

3:00 p.m.: Suburban Gothic, dir. Richard Bates Jr. A recent college graduate spends his summer trying to solve a centuries-old murder with the help of a pretty bartender.

3:00 p.m.: I Believe in Unicorns, dir. Leah Meyerhoff. A teenage girl who feels burdened with taking care of her disabled mother tries to find solace in a romance with an older boy who has aggressive tendencies.

3:00 p.m.: The Green Inferno, dir. Eli Roth. A group of activists enter the Amazon and end up becoming dinner for the local tribes.

5:00 p.m.: The Search for Weng Weng, dir. Andrew Leavold. This documentary attempts to paint a portrait of the enigmatic Philippino action movie star, Weng Weng.

5:00 p.m.: The Immortalists, dir. David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. This documentary profiles two eccentric biologists, Bill Andrews and Aubrey de Grey, who are looking for the key to immortality.

5:00 p.m.: Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, dir. Sion Sono. A punk film collective does battle with gang members in order to get their movie made.

5:00 p.m.: Mr. X, dir. Tessa Louise-Salomé. This documentary profiles cult film director Leos Carax.

7:30 p.m.: Wetlands, dir. David Wendt. Based on the cult novel by Charlotte Roche — who never wanted her book to be adapted into a film — a teenage girl attempts to cope her with her own sexuality following her parents’ divorce.