Arriving at the Sitges Film Festival is always a special moment, one of the coolest of the year. Only arriving at that little town in the coast of Catalunya one can sense the feeling of this delicious mix of vacations, a full film experience and loooots of days without sleep. And I have the feeling this year is not going to be different!
Besides, this is a special year. Not only the 25th anniversary of the great Francis Ford Coppola movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) but also marks the 50th edition of this great festival, one of the oldest genre film festivals in the world. So, of course, it is easy to see why this year the festival is dedicated to the figure of Dracula, in all its different forms and faces. A special mention is also mandatory to the cosplay group that portraited the four main characters of the movie Dracula, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra, taking over the Red Carpet and its surroundings.
But let’s go straight to the point and talk about movies. Or, as a starter, the movie stars. Because today, as the opening day of the Festival, several A-class personalities have walked through the Red Carpet of the Melià Hotel. Do names like Guillermo del Toro, William Friedkin, Dario Argento or Yoshihiro Nishimura ring a bell? They posed for the professionals but also for the fans. Because we must remember Sitges Film Festival is, overall, a festival for the fans of horror, science fiction, and fantasy movies. And especially Guillermo del Toro knows that, for he stayed for like 10 minutes getting photos done and signing autographs with as many fans who wanted to share with him their 2 seconds of fame.
About the movies, it is impossible to see them all, but in Ganiveta we had the chance to watch already a good dose of interesting films, the kind that can define a festival of this sort. In these daily articles, we will be listing the screenings we have attended to and eventually we will be publishing the reviews.
- Replace (2017) 5/10 – A body horror story that has high pretensions but the good cinematography and gory effects can’t outshine the bad script and direction. [Read full review here]
- Jackals (2017) 6/10 – Besides not being the most original movie to see, Jackals is a good dose of entertainment. The kind of movie a Festival of this kind should always have. [Read full review here]
- 78/52 (2017) 6/10 – A wide list of A-class filmmakers to fulfill what the director himself called “the geekiest film ever made”.
- Mayhem (2017) 5,5/10 – Entertaining and easy to watch, a film sustained by its actors but not as funny as expected. [Read full review here]
- The Shape of Water (2017) 9/10 – As beautiful and deep as a movie can be, a fantasy tale that brings hope among the dark times we’re living in. [Read full review here]
