Eva Green stars in Lorcan Finnegan’s dark thriller “Nocebo”, premiering in Sitges

The upcoming movie of Irish director Lorcan Finnegan will premiere at Sitges Film Festival this October. This will be one of the main dishes of the festival since the director has achieved popular praise after his latest effort horror and science-fiction Vivarium (2019). Sitges is a known scenario for the young filmmaker since he also presented there his debut feature film Without Name (2016) [read our review here].

His new movie, Nocebo (2022), centers on a fashion designer who is suffering from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino carer, who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.

For your information, A nocebo effect is said to occur when negative expectations of the patient regarding a treatment cause the treatment to have a more negative effect than it otherwise would have. For example, when a patient anticipates a side effect of a medication, they can experience that effect even if the “medication” is actually an inert substance. The complementary concept, the placebo effect, is said to occur when positive expectations improve an outcome. The effect is also said to occur in someone who falls ill owing to the erroneous belief that he was exposed to a toxin, or to a physical phenomenon he believes is harmful, such as EM radiation.

The movie is starring Eva Green, Mark Strong, Cathy Belton, Billie Gadsdon, and Chai Fonacier. Garret Shanley, who has worked together with the director Lorcan Finnegan in most of his short films and all his features, is again the writer of the screenplay.

Nocebo (2022) is an Ireland and Philippines production. Lovely Productions, Screen Ireland, Wild Swim Films, and XYZ Films are financing.

The movie will have its premiere at the Sitges Film Festival on October 14, 2022, and it won’t be until next year that it won’t premiere on Shudder and other international distribution platforms.