SXSW 2018: The hottest indie flicks of the festival

SXSW has long served as a proving ground for independent films that later find audiences on wider platforms. The 2018 edition introduced nine titles that moved from festival buzz into completed release cycles, each carrying its own set of results. Several of those films now sit on streaming libraries, while others remain markers of modest but meaningful commercial and critical outcomes.

Fast Color

Director: Julia Hart Premiering at SXSW is this drama thriller about a woman (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) forced to go on the run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. She ends up returning home, where a family drama ensues in the midst of the sci-fi narrative. The film reached theaters on April 19, 2019, through Lionsgate and Codeblack Films. It earned an 83 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and finished its limited run with roughly $76,916 in domestic receipts.

Number 37

Director: Nosipho Dumisa In an interesting take on Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window, the narrative of Dumisa’s thriller follows a recent paraplegic who initiates a risky blackmail scheme when he witnesses a murder while spying on his neighbors through binoculars. You’d be a fool not to check out this gritty remix. The South African production received its United States release on November 9, 2018, preserving the Cape Town setting and the core Rear Window structure.

The Ranger

Director: Jenn Wexler In this outrageous horror throwback, a group of burnout punks take on a park ranger. With a tagline like, “Each year millions visit our national parks. Not everyone gets to leave,” how could you not feel excited about its premiere? The film sits squarely in the 1980s slasher tradition, with its punk protagonists facing off against an unhinged authority figure. Early indie horror coverage noted the period detail and the committed cast.

Relaxer

Director: Joel Potrykus Following his breakout success at SXSW several years ago with the black comedy Buzzard, Potrykus is back with this intriguing story about a man (Joshua Burge) wasting away the countdown to Y2K by playing Pac-Man. It’s a true story of survival (that just happens to be set in a living room.) The feature secured a United States theatrical release on March 22, 2019, via Oscilloscope Laboratories. Joshua Burge later received the Best Actor prize at the Fantasia International Film Festival for the performance.

Blockers

Director: Kay Cannon Turning the concept of cock-blocking into a full movie is Cannon – the director behind the breakout hit, Pitch Perfect. In this story, three parents discover their daughters’ pact to lose their virginity at prom, only to then launch a covert operation to stop the teens from sealing the deal. Every young adults’ worst nightmare, basically. The comedy opened wide on April 6, 2018, and ultimately grossed $94 million worldwide. It holds an 84 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, where reviewers highlighted the cast chemistry and the shift in perspective around parental anxiety.

Thunder Road

Director: Jim Cummings Cummings makes his feature debut at SXSW with this adaptation of his acclaimed & masterful short movie of the same name. Filmed in a single shot and set at a funeral, Thunder Road is an inciting one, purely because it will be interesting to see how he’s managed to draw the original out into a full-length movie. The completed film took the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature at SXSW 2018. Additional festival wins followed at Deauville, Sidewalk, and Seattle. The picture maintains a 7.0 rating on IMDb.

1985

Director: Yen Tan Another expansion of a short is Yen Tan’s 1985, dealing with a young man venturing back to his conservative home from New York to connect with family & friends during the AIDS crisis. The feature version received a limited theatrical and digital rollout in December 2018, allowing the intimate family story to reach audiences beyond the festival circuit.

Most Likely To Murder

Director: Dan Gregor Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) & Adam Pally (The To Do List) star in this comedy about an ex-cool kid who comes back to his hometown only to find the girl he loves is dating the town’s former loser. Of course, there’s only one way to win the girl back – by proving the outcast is actually a bloodthirsty murderer. Duh. The dark comedy retained its core premise and cast through post-festival distribution.

A Vigilante

Director: Sarah Daggar-Nickson Sarah Daggar-Nickson makes her feature debut with this crime drama about a female vigilante (Olivia Wilde). As a woman who’s been abused herself, Sadie takes on the job of ridding victims of their domestic abusers while hunting down the husband she must kill to truly be free. The film arrived in theaters on March 29, 2019, and collected a 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, driven largely by praise for Wilde’s central performance.

SXSW 2018 Awards Highlights

Thunder Road claimed the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature at the 2018 festival, a distinction that later translated into further recognition at Deauville, Sidewalk, and Seattle. The win underscored the strength of the year’s dramatic entries and gave Cummings an early platform for the single-take experiment that became his first feature.

Box Office Performers from the 2018 Slate

Blockers delivered the clearest commercial return from the slate, crossing $94 million worldwide after its April release. Fast Color, by contrast, operated in a limited theatrical window and closed with roughly $77,000 in receipts, illustrating the range of outcomes that followed the festival premieres.

Critical Reception Snapshot

Aggregate scores now available show A Vigilante at 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, Blockers at 84 percent, and Fast Color at 83 percent. Reviewers frequently cited strong lead performances and tonal control across the three titles, even as audience reach varied significantly.

Where to Watch the Films Today

Relaxer joined the Shudder catalog in 2026, extending its reach to horror subscribers years after its Fantasia award. Several other titles from the 2018 slate found homes on major streaming platforms following their 2019 theatrical or digital releases, giving later viewers access to the full set without festival credentials.