Although we were already hooked 2005 gave us yet another reason to love Sitges. This was the year the festival moved from its temporary December slot back to its original October date and with that came the bonus of glorious weather. Sun, sea and sand obviously the perfect combination to then go and spend 8 hours a day in a darkened theatre.
2005 served up some classic Sitges films too. Still staggering around in a daze from the previous year’s Korean baptism and OLD BOY, Wook again nocked us off our feet with the vengeance trilogy closer SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. However, it was his compatriot Kim Ji-woon and the simply brilliant A BITTERSWEET LIFE that stole the Korean limelight. If this film doesn’t grab you in the first 60 seconds then you best have the nearest person check to see if you have a pulse.
We can pretty much take all the graphic violence the Koreans can throw at us but when it comes to jumps and scares we’re the biggest pair of girls at the festival. We therefore must have been drunk when we decided to take in THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE. Skirts held over our eyes for most of the film. Equally uncomfortable in subject matter but with more left to the imagination HARD CANDY had us cringing and wincing to all manner of testicular threats.
We don’t know much but we already knew what we’d be doing come October 2006.
And we can’t leave 2005 without including a look back to the absolutely f*cking bonkers film from Shinya Tsukamoto, HAZE.
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