Due to the lingering aftermath of the Toronto Fest and the upcoming After Dark, I completely forgot that Spain’s Sitges Festival is on right now. It has been going for fourty some years, which has to make it the longest running genre festival out there. Its line-up is always impressive, sporting all the finest titles from Fantasia and TIFF, as well as unleashing a crop of new offerings. Here's a whole bunch that caught my eye while sifting through their website. Click on the film titles for their full synopsis and trailer.
Transsiberian – Brad Anderson’s last two efforts (Session 9 & The Machinist) were nothing short of awesome, so I have high hopes for this little thriller starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsley.
The Hideout – Years ago, I saw this great Italian film called The House With The Windows That Laugh. It was wonderfully atmospheric and even though director Pupi Avati has made several films in the interim, The Hideout is the first time I’ve heard his name since. This movie has been compared to The Orphanage, so that is all I need to make note of it.
Fighter – Chocolate whet my appetite for more estrogen fuelled martial arts action, so I welcome this one with open arms.
Able – This is a German low budget virus film. I loves me a good plague.
Splinter – I just heard about this one recently when the poster was revealed. I’m always in the mood for a full-on gorefest.
Surveillance – Jennifer Lynch returns after the whole Boxing Helena debacle with her first film in fifteen years. I’m onboard with the premise, so hopefully she can deliver on it.
Ramírez – I was glad to hear this wasn’t another one of Ulli Lommel’s God-awful serial killer direct-to-DVD movies. This Spanish offering sounds like a fresh mix of a few different genres.
Hansel & Gretel – Killer kids are certainly coming back into style these days. This Korean spin on the old tale looks incredibly stylish.
Eden Lake – This one has been on my radar for a while. At first it just looked like your average High Tension clone, but this movie may have legs from what I've heard.
Transsiberian – Brad Anderson’s last two efforts (Session 9 & The Machinist) were nothing short of awesome, so I have high hopes for this little thriller starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsley.
The Hideout – Years ago, I saw this great Italian film called The House With The Windows That Laugh. It was wonderfully atmospheric and even though director Pupi Avati has made several films in the interim, The Hideout is the first time I’ve heard his name since. This movie has been compared to The Orphanage, so that is all I need to make note of it.
Fighter – Chocolate whet my appetite for more estrogen fuelled martial arts action, so I welcome this one with open arms.
Able – This is a German low budget virus film. I loves me a good plague.
Splinter – I just heard about this one recently when the poster was revealed. I’m always in the mood for a full-on gorefest.
Surveillance – Jennifer Lynch returns after the whole Boxing Helena debacle with her first film in fifteen years. I’m onboard with the premise, so hopefully she can deliver on it.
Ramírez – I was glad to hear this wasn’t another one of Ulli Lommel’s God-awful serial killer direct-to-DVD movies. This Spanish offering sounds like a fresh mix of a few different genres.
Hansel & Gretel – Killer kids are certainly coming back into style these days. This Korean spin on the old tale looks incredibly stylish.
Eden Lake – This one has been on my radar for a while. At first it just looked like your average High Tension clone, but this movie may have legs from what I've heard.
The Broken – This Lena Headey vehicle premiered at Sundance earlier this year and I’m still waiting for it to come to my neighbourhood.
Dorothy – What would a genre festival be without the French? This thriller set in Ireland about a psychiatrist with a very, very insane patient looks very intriguing.
Dead Space – I can’t wait to play the video game and the animated comic drawn by Ben “30 Days Of Night” Templesmith is bleeping great. Anything more to add to the canon of this moody universe is okay by me.
Dance Of The Dead – This is another one that has been on my radar for ages. When oh when will it come out?
The Objective – Daniel Myrick (the first half of the Blair Witch duo) returns with this thriller set in the Middle East. This just barely missed being at Toronto After Dark this year. Dang.
Seventh Moon – Eduardo Sanchez (the other half of the Blair Witch duo) goes back to what he does best – spirits and forests and, hopefully, scaring the bejesus out of us.
So, as you can see, there is no shortage of titles here. Sitges is next on my list of festivals to visit and hopefully that fleeting dream becomes a reality soon.
2 comments:
I managed to get to a horror convention this year. My first ever actually. I only went one day though. I just went one day because I wasn't sure what all I would do there for the three days it was going on. I didn't know it until I got there, on the middle day, that they were showing horror films all day each day. They are having another one in March, so this time, I will be going all three days.
The reason I bring all this up is because one of the films I got to watch, on the day I went, was Dance Of The Dead. I wasn't going to watch it, mainly because of the title, but my friend I went with talked me into it. I was sooo glad that she did. I don't know if you know it or not, but it hits DVD on Oct 14th! I have already put in my preorder.
Thank you for the heads up... I saw a few days later, that DOTD was coming out on the Ghosthouse Underground label. I picked it up yesterday along with the Danish horror flick The Substitute.
Glad you were able to get out to a convention, they are always a fun time.
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