Texas Theater To Screen Prophetic Sci-Fi Satire You’ve Never Seen

2025 has proven there is still an audience interested in seeing “classic” films on the big screen, as viewers flocked to the theatrical re-releases of titles such as Pride & Prejudice, Jaws, Toy Story and Spider-Man. As exciting as it is for younger cinephiles to have the chance to see these films in the format they were intended to be viewed, widespread distribution is generally reserved for titles that have already proven successful. When it comes to programming obscure, cult, and arthouse films, independent theaters lead the way through their eclectic screening events.

The Texas Theater has programmed a robust series of movies in 2025. In addition to screening the entire catalog of the late great David Lynch and curating a unique series centered on the films of 1984, the theater has hosted Q&As for niche favorites such as The Toxic Avenger and Cassandro. However, the venerable theater is leading the charge in its October screening of a peculiar box office disaster that has steadily become hailed as a prophetic masterpiece.

Southland Tales was the highly anticipated second feature from writer-director Richard Kelly, whose debut film, Donnie Darko, was instantly heralded as a cult classic when it wowed audiences at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Although it was declared a “disaster” upon its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, Southland Tales has endured in the culture. As audiences who check out the film on Oct. 2 at The Texas Theater will soon understand, Kelly seemed to anticipate cultural trends that would become pervasive in the coming years.

The notion of an independent filmmaker being given a “blank check” to make an original project is almost unheard of in today’s industry, as it’s often that up-and-coming directors are tasked with making the next Marvel or Jurassic World film. A more robust market for indie cinema in the early 21st century meant that Universal Pictures was willing to invest $17 million in Kelly to pursue his absurdist vision.

Describing the plot of Southland Tales is no easy feat, as much of the early criticism centered on the narrative’s incoherence. Although this was in part due to the rush to screen the film at Cannes, which forced Kelly to screen an unfinished cut, the release was also tied to three prequel graphic novels written by Kelly. While Donnie Darko had peaked in popularity thanks to the rise of early internet sleuths obsessed with “solving” the complex time travel dynamics, Southland Tales didn’t encourage many viewers to do the work.

Ostensibly, Southland Tales presented an alternative vision of the near-future 2008, in which the United States was sharply divided into political factions. After a devastating nuclear attack on its military bases, the United States reintroduced the draft in conjunction with the secret deployment of the PATRIOT Act, which was designed to monitor potential sleeper cell agents. However, the surveillance state is tied to a source of unlimited natural energy unleashed by an international conglomerate with its hands in medical testing. Sound confusing? That’s all without mentioning a leaked video of police brutality, a neo-Marxist revolution fronted by a popular adult video star, and the title itself, which refers to an unproduced “film-within-a-film” called Southland Tales, which was written by an amnesiac Hollywood action star who had traveled back in time.

Many of the plot threads in Southland Tales were evidently inspired by recent events. The inciting terrorist attack and the subsequent retaliation that it inspired was a clear parallel to the 9/11 and the Iraq War, which had begun just as Kelly began writing his first draft. The shockwaves sent by the Paris Hilton sex tape also had a significant bearing, as Sarah Michelle Gellar’s role as the porn star “Krysta Now” perfectly captured the likeness of someone “famous for being famous.” Even the drug addiction caused by the fictional military testing served as a bitter reminder of the rising opioid epidemic.

Anticipating Chaos

Southland Tales also anticipated the chaos, division and all-consuming stupidity that would characterize the next 20 years, and some of its predictions are downright eerie. Voyeuristic footage of police violence would shake the foundation of America’s relationship with law enforcement, and the full extent of President George W. Bush’s “Patriot Act” wouldn’t be discovered until the Edward Snowden leaks of 2013. Southland Tales featured a sex scandal between a prominent Republican politician and a porn star, and debuted the same year as President Donald Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels. Had Wallace Shawn’s performance as the exotic international entrepreneur Baron von Westphale been kept in a time capsule for two decades, it would still feel like a dead ringer for Elon Musk.

Beyond the specific headlines it encapsulated, Southland Tales epitomized a moment in history when the world suddenly felt more complicated than ever. There was reason to doubt the purity of America’s war in the Middle East, the security of personal identity, the legitimacy of fringe anarchist groups, and even the nature of reality. Southland Tales presented a future in which a reality television star and a fascist politician could have an equal degree of influence; the only difference is that, in 2025, they’re the same person.

Southland Tales’ transgressiveness wasn’t limited to its content, as the film’s aesthetic design was meant to invoke the growing appeal of viral videos. As incoherent, obnoxious and befuddling as it is to see a multitude of colorful characters loudly claim their momentary fame, Southland Tales’ cacophonic editing may seem restrained when compared to doomscrolling in 2025. Irony, edginess and dog-whistling are all interchangeable, as some of the most salient points in Southland Tales come from an eclectic cast that included several wrestlers, musicians, reality stars and Saturday Night Live alumni.

Critics so poorly received Southland Tales that its release was halted for over a year, with Kelly sent back to the editing room to shave off nearly 30 minutes of consequential footage. Even though a makeshift version of the mythic “Cannes cut” was released by Arrow Video in 2021, The Texas Theater has the novelty of being one of the few locations with the ability to screen Southland Tales; the location acquired a rare 35mm print, which made less than $400,000 in its initial theatrical release.

From Fantastical to Comforting

If the future presented by Southland Tales seemed to garish in 2006, then the film’s fantastical worldbuilding may seem oddly comforting today. Even if Kelly went out of his way to point out the damage caused by the military-industrial complex, institutional racism, advantageous tech bros, and early-era “brain rot,” Southland Tales does end with a messianic figure merging with his twin brother to rest the timeline (don’t ask).

It was easy to make jokes at the expense of Southland Tales in its initial release window, even if Cannes critics may have missed the irony of lines like scientists are saying “the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted,” or “I’m a pimp, and pimps don’t commit suicide.” Yet, many of the most celebrated classics were derided when they were first unveiled; The Shining was nominated for multiple Razzie awards, Vertigo was called “devilishly far-fetched” by The New York Times, and both Blade Runner and The Thing bombed when they were released the same weekend in June 1982. Will Southland Tales be heralded as a masterpiece worthy of Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott, or John Carpenter? Texas cinephiles will have to weigh in.

Southland Tales screens at The Texas Theater, 231 Jefferson Blvd., at 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2.