Blood: the Importance of This Vital Fluid as Seen Through 9 Films
This upcoming Saturday is World Blood Donor Day, and here at the Sitges Film Festival, year after year we collaborate with the Blood and Tissue Bank to promote free donations during the Festival. We are aware of the importance of this vital fluid, which is also a central element in many of the genre films we love so much. In addition, for yet another year, we are committed to supporting some of the Red Cross' most essential causes on behalf of vulnerable groups. To this end, we will be organizing our now traditional “Premiere” on Friday, October 10, which will be capped off with a party dedicated to one of the fantastic creatures that are most dependent on blood in order to survive: a vampire party.
To mark the occasion, we have prepared a selection of ten films that have been screened at our Festival and are a veritable festival (pun intended) of gore, blood & guts, and aesthetic brutality. Grab your apron, because the films we recommend today will leave you thoroughly splattered with blood.
1. The Sadness (Rob Jabbaz, 2021)
One of the most stylized and visceral massacres that fans have seen at the Sitges Film Festival in the last decade was delivered by Rob Jabbaz from Taiwan. The Sadness caused a huge sensation thanks to its savage display of gore: entrails, blood gushing like geysers, and a humanity completely ravaged by a virus that turns people into sadists beyond all limits. A feast for extreme movie lovers... and a not-so-subtle reminder of the importance of blood on and off screen.
2. Terrifier 3 (Damien Leone, 2024)
Art the Clown is back... and more bloodthirsty than ever. If the previous installments left us with our mouths agape at their brutality, Terrifier 3 raises the bar to insane levels. Damien Leone doesn't spare a single drop of hemoglobin, offering a spectacle that feels like it was filmed in a blood bank following an explosion. A must-see for anyone who considers splatter an art form... and a curious tribute to the liquid that gives (and takes) life.
3. Dead Alive (Peter Jackson, 1992)
Before taking us to Middle Earth, Peter Jackson directed one of the craziest and bloodiest comedies in film history: Dead Alive. This unbridled gore gem is a carnival of blood and guts, zombies, and bodily fluids that explodes into an unforgettable, anthological climax. There's blood everywhere, the kind that sticks to both your clothes and your retinas. If Donor Day celebrates the importance of blood, this film worships it through horror and comedy.
4. Inside (Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo, 2007)
French horror left subtle suspense films behind with Inside, diving headfirst into emotional and physical carnage. This film is a claustrophobic domestic nightmare, where a pregnant woman finds herself trapped in a house that has been transformed into a stage for torture. Blood, scissors, and unbearable tension hit you mercilessly right in the gut. A macabre ode to the fragility of life and blood as a bargaining chip... perfect for commemorating Donor Day with a strong stomach.
5. Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)
Few films have left such a major mark on Sitges' audiences as Martyrs. Its philosophical exploration of pain and sacrifice is accompanied by almost unbearable violence, where every drop of blood seems to have a transcendental purpose. Laugier not only pushes the boundaries of psychological horror, but also those of physical horror. Ideal for those looking for a film that hurts and stays engraved on your retina forever.
6. Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
A sensorial orgy where blood is mixed with neon and psychedelia, which could be enjoyed in a jam-packed Auditori. Mandy is a descent into a vengeful hell starring an unhinged Nicolas Cage, seeking justice and redemption with a chainsaw. Cosmatos turns each death into an aesthetic ritual that pays homage to the red liquid that invades everything. Cinema to lose control... and maybe a little blood too.
7. Tokyo Gore Police (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2008)
Can you imagine a world where mutant surgery, cyberpunk sadomasochism, and endless rivers of blood are the norm? Welcome to Nishimura's universe, where no excess is enough. Tokyo Gore Police not only breaks the rules of good taste, but it also bathes them in hemoglobin until they are unrecognizable. Here, donating blood would be like tossing a drop into the ocean: irrelevant in the face of the unfiltered brutality of this Japanese horror extravaganza.
8. Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2001)
If there was ever a director capable of turning extreme violence into art, that person would be Takashi Miike, one of the most beloved filmmakers among Sitges Film Festival fans. With Ichi the Killer, he took sadism to new aesthetic heights. Mutilations, torture, and gushing blood are stylized like the choreography of a criminal ballet. A work as controversial as it is influential, it makes Donor Day seem like a party... for psychopaths with plenty of style.
9. Project Wolf Hunting (Kim Hong-sun, 2022)
A floating bloodbath that combines an action movie with the most visceral horror. Project Wolf Hunting is every gore fan's wet dream: bodies exploding, heads rolling, and corridors turned into rivers of blood. It's as if the ship were a blood bank about to overflow, all to the frenetic pace of the best Asian action filmmaking.
10. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
Patrick Bateman doesn't need monsters, viruses or demons to turn every scene into one of the most elegant bloodbaths. American Psycho is a fierce critique of capitalism and the culture of excess, narrated with a scalpel and blood. Its protagonist, as immaculate as he is psychotic, transforms each murder into a clinically designed work of art, where blood splatters all over expensive dresses to the beat of an unforgettable soundtrack. A perfect option for those who prefer horror with a suit, a business card, a touch of irony, and, of course, loads of blood.