Indie Film Weekly [EP 20]: Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted (2025) & It Follows (2015)
Hey folks, welcome back to Indie Film Weekly: your detour off the Hollywood freeway and into the backroads of indie cinema. I’m Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films, your guide to the wild, weird, and wonderful world of independent film.
Every week we hit the trail with new theatrical releases, an indie gem to rent or stream, and a classic that deserves another spin. Powered, as always, by Indie Igniter – your DIY marketing toolkit for indie films. Subscribe at theindieigniter.com and let’s get into it.
New in Theaters
First up is Vulcanizadora, directed by Joel Potrykus. This slow-burn psychological thriller follows two friends through a Michigan forest with a grim pact in mind. When their dark plan unravels, one returns home to face strange and spiraling consequences.
Potrykus, the Michigan maestro of lo-fi horror (Buzzard, Relaxer), is back in peak form, once again blending dread, humor, and working-class existentialism. The title refers to an old term for a tire repair shop, but this time, the only thing getting patched up is your sense of reality. Bonus: it features some of the most unsettling forest sound design you’ll hear this year.
Next is Pavements, directed by Alex Ross Perry. It’s part concert film, part fictional narrative, part stage musical, and entirely about the beloved indie rock band Pavement. This hybrid doc blurs the lines between reality and performance with footage of the band, surreal reenactments, and a musical based on their discography.
Ross Perry, known for Her Smell and Listen Up Philip, goes full art-house here, channeling his inner Todd Haynes. If you love Pavement, great. If you don’t, this is your weird gateway drug. And yes, Stephen Malkmus is still the king of nonchalant genius.
Finally, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted might win best title of the year. Directed by Isaac Gale, Ryan Olson, and David McMurry, this film is a colorful, chaotic portrait of cult funk legend Swamp Dogg. Set in a funky LA home-turned-commune, the doc is as much about friendship, legacy, and oddball joy as it is about music.
Swamp Dogg, who once cut records with John Prine and released albums in the nude (no joke), opens his life to the camera in this joyful, eccentric chronicle. It also features Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, who deserve documentaries of their own. It’s like Grey Gardens with more rhythm.
So that’s Vulcanizadora, Pavements, and Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted – all in theaters this week.
Films to Rent or Download
On demand this week is The Stones Are Speaking, a documentary from Dallas-based filmmaker and journalist Olive Talley. It follows archaeologist Mike Collins as he uncovers one of the oldest human settlements in North America—right in the heart of Texas.
The film is more than an archaeological dig; it’s a story of perseverance, activism, and rewriting history. Collins risked everything to protect the Gault Site, and in doing so, uncovered 20,000-year-old evidence that changes the timeline of human life in the Americas.
This is a documentary that blends adventure with academic rigor, and Collins is a compelling figure—part Indiana Jones, part tenacious Texan. It’s streaming now via TVOD and should be required viewing in every science class that ever snoozed through ancient history.
Indie Classic
And this week’s Indie Classic is celebrating its 10th anniversary—David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows. A modern horror landmark, the film centers on Jay, a teenager who inherits a curse through a sexual encounter. The catch? A shape-shifting presence now stalks her—slowly, always walking, and always coming.
With its retro synth score, suburban dread, and relentless sense of doom, It Follows became an instant classic, elevating Maika Monroe to scream queen status and inspiring a new wave of stylish indie horror. Director Mitchell cited influences ranging from John Carpenter to Japanese ghost films, and the result is pure nightmare fuel.
Also worth noting: the film’s ambiguous time period and dreamlike Detroit setting make it feel like a horror movie trapped in its own haunted VHS tape.
It Follows is streaming now and still one of the best indie horror films of the 21st century.
That does it for this week’s episode of Indie Film Weekly. Thanks for listening and diving deep into the strange, smart, and surprising corners of indie cinema.
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Until next week, keep watching, keep wandering, and always support indie film!