Now that I'm actually spending time digging into the Sundance website to read all the entries on all the films, I'm starting to get excited about the line-up. 

That's the way it almost always is with a festival.  There are titles that jump out at first, titles that get interesting as you read about them, and titles that you'll never see coming that will blindside you.  I just accept that and do my legwork ahead of time and roll the dice.  Sometimes you see the films that really are worth seeing, sometimes you miss something special, and it's all part of the game you play when you're covering these events.

It helps when a film has a number of things about it that are immediately compelling, and that's the case with the latest addition to the line-up, just announced this morning in an e-mail to the press.

I quite like the film "Open Water" by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau.  It's a simple premise, but the execution is what made it particularly effective.  Their new film sounds like an experiment, and if they pull it off, it could be remarkable.  "Silent House" stars Elizabeth Olsen as a woman "trapped in an unnerving nightmare." 

And here's the kicker… the film is one long continuous camera shot.  One.

The official synopsis is as follows:  "A hauntingly choreographed descent into madness based on the Uruguayan film 'La Casa Muda'".  Laura Lau adapted the script, and Lau and Kentis co-directed a cast that includes Olsen, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Taylor Ross, Adam Trese, Haley Murphy, and Adam Barnett.  The press release promises that the film is "a truly unique horror experience with immediate intimacy and unsettling terror."

Sounds good.  They've certainly got me intrigued now.  I'd love for 2011 to be a big year for horror films.  Sony's releasing "Insidious" at some point this coming year, and that one knocked me out at Toronto this year.  Sundance has this and "Red State" both aiming high in the horror genre, and expectations are high walking into the fest. 

We'll have all the buzz on these films and many more when the entire Team HitFix descends on Park City the week of January 20th.