Fred Dekker and Cuckoo Headline a Slasher-Scented Day at Sitges2024
The eagerly awaited Cuckoo, directed by Tilman Singer and starring Hunter Schafer, landed today at the 57th edition of the SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. The Official In Competition Selection offered us two chilling titles entitled Fréwaka and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass while the Prado paid tribute to the legacy of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Fred Dekker was the star of the day and received the Honorary Time Machine Award.
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , one of the horror movies that has left the biggest mark on popular culture, turns fifty and Sitges absolutely had to celebrate it. The Prado Theater was the dance floor chosen to hold this slasher festival, a double bill designed to pay a heartfelt tribute to Leatherface. On the one hand, the audience attending the anniversary could enjoy, after receiving an award at the Venice Film Festival, Chain Reactions, a documentary directed by Alexandre O. Philippe -the man behind works that include Memory: The Origins of Aliens and Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist-where Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King and Karyn Kusama reflect on the influence of Hooper's film. Immediately afterwards, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre could be both enjoyed and suffered in glorious 35 mm, confirming once again that it continues to be one of the greatest cinematic nightmares in the history of film.
Less nightmarish were the two Asian films in the Anima't section that could be seen over the course of the day. The Escorxador hosted the radiant screening of The Umbrella Fairy, a fairy tale capable of combining Chinese folklore with Japanese animation, which is the directorial debut of art director Jie Shen. At the same time, the Prado's audience had to put on their raincoats to enjoy Yang Zhigang's The Storm, a colorful tribute to traditional Chinese ink painting.
This morning's screening of Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass washed out any hint of color that the Anima't section might have left in the atmosphere. The Quay Brothers, masters of experimental stop motion, return to the feature-length format with this dark, shifting nightmare that turned the Auditori into a bizarre, distorted sanatorium that is sure to have fascinated Phil Tippett fans. Mythological animals burst forth from the screen during the screening of Fréwaka, the return to Sitges of the director of The Devil's Doorway, Aislinn Clarke. After impressing audiences in Locarno, this Irish folk horror obsessed with Na Sídhe turned theaters upside down.
The new Official Sitges Collection Section continues tirelessly day after day. Today it treated the audience at the Auditori to the Spanish premiere of Cuckoo, the new film from the director of the intoxicating Luz. Tilman Singer choreographed, along with actress Hunter Schafer, one of the most promising faces of future genre films, a personal revisiting of Phenomena through the filter of the alpine slasher. The filmmaker, along with the rest of the cast, walked the Festival's red carpet a few minutes before kicking off his symphony of slashing.
The night arrives and, with it, the star of the night. Right before the screening of Azrael at the Auditori, Ángel Sala presented the Honorary Time Machine Award to filmmaker Fred Dekker. This American filmmaker received the award for his multidisciplinary work in the fantastic and horror genres, having directed films that include The Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps and Robocop 3. As a screenwriter, he is also the creator of films such as House, The Predator (2018) and several installments of Tales from the crypt.
This Wednesday has been a great day for action film lovers, because the Órbita section offered us three frenetic screenings that combined the cardio workout of the week for more than one of us. The screening at the Auditori of The Roundup: Punishment directed by Heo Myeong-haeng, the fourth installment of the successful Korean action franchise, presented a repertoire of sidereal fisticuffs and tortures before an amphitheater that was more than committed to the cause. From the United States, Jean Luc Herbulot's fast-paced Zero arrived at the Tramuntana, a thriller-powered roller coaster where two individuals have to discover why they have a bomb strapped to their chests. The international soul of the Panorama section is confirmed by the screening of the French production Night Call by Michiel Blanchart, an adrenaline-filled revisiting of Kafka's The Trial where a young man will have to prove his innocence while escaping from a city inflamed by social protests.