Whichever Angel You View It From. Enough Already!

We thought this matter would soon be Shaun of the dead and buried when it first raised it’s head, but it appears that those sacred gatekeepers of our moral gardens feel they need to jangle their keys a little louder and longer.

We’re reluctant to give this ridiculous scenario any more of the blogosphere than it’s already consumed but as we’re the festival’s top two biggest fan’s with zombie film titles for Christian names we felt we should swing our weight around (plus it’s an opportunity to put up a photo of Angel hanging with the man we lovingly refer to as Rick Skywalker)

Here’s the festival’s official response.

Nothing Concrete But Could Brad & Bale Be Back?

Perhaps our disappointment at Brad Anderson’s latest effort VANASHING ON 7TH STREET can again be traced back to that vintage Sitges year of 2004, where three directors promised so much and yet only one (The Wookie) has delivered any kind of follow up to date.

That year we were mightily impressed by Anderson’s THE MACHINIST, however, in going over our 2004 notes we can see that it was more the combination of Brad and Bale that left us wanting more. Good news then with this piece over at Jo Blow where the word is that the dynamic duo could soon be reunited on the J.G.Ballard inspired CONCRETE ISLAND.

A Horrible Way To Die (Starring Jim Bowen’s Son)

Cinematic horticulturists that we are we like to follow our Sitges seeds as they grow. Sometimes they eventually wither and die, while other times they seem to magically burst forth into life, a bit like Nic Cage’s hair. Either way, once they’re planted during the festival we like to see how they blossom come spring.

While cyber-stalking A.J Bowen we stumbled over this piece at Twitch where Michael Guillen gets to talk with the cast and creators of one of our Sitges 2010 favourites, A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE.

And yes, he IS still Jim Bowen’s son.

Confessions, Dogtooth, And Oscar

Great to see that two Sitges favourites have made the list of nine nominees for best foreign language film at the upcoming Oscars.

It seems like an age since we saw DOGTOOTH (KYNODONTAS) at Sitges 2009 but its weirdness is unlikely to have diminished over time or repeat viewings so it’s a little surprising to see it make “The Show”.

CONFESSIONS was a visual feast at this years festival but the stunning slow-mo and soundtrack combinations could have made it all too easy to miss the masterful tale of revenge bubbling beneath the surface. Good to see that it didn’t slip by Oscar.

The list of nine will be whittled down to five final nominees prior to the big event but making it this far is already recognition of a job well done. Recognition too for Sitges and their continuing success at programming some of the best films around.

 

Time Traveling Shane Carruth Loops Sitges 2004 & 2006 Together

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“They took from their surroundings what was needed… and made of it something more.”

What Shane Carruth did was take $7000 Bucks and made of it something a hell of a lot more.

We were already falling over ourselves at Sitges 2004 having been blown away by PRIMER but when we subsequently found out that the film had been pulled together for less than the price of a Nicolas Cage hair-piece we immediately wanted to know what other projects Mr Carruth was involved with.

We guess it must have been tiring for Shane to write, produce, direct, edit, fund, score and act in PRIMER because it’s taken him Seven years to get back in the game (couldn’t he have just duplicated himself in the box and halved the work?), but it’s great to see that he’s chosen to return with Rian Johnson, director of one of our other Sitges favourites, 2005’s BRICK.

Badassdigest reports here that Shane has joined Johnson on his third film LOOPER to help “with some effects for the time travel sequences”.

While it’s great to see Carruth back working in the industry in any capacity, we really want to see him back weaving his own brand of magic. During the last couple of years via various Tweets and Blog posts he’s been linked with a film known as A TOPIARY, most notably in this piece over at ThePlaylist where a big chunk of the script/plot is divulged. The project was said to be stalling due to funding issues but it appears that they may now be resolved with the film moving into pre-production.

With Carruth out and about twiddling knobs and levers on LOOPER we can only hope that this is a sign he’s had his fill of basking in PRIMER’s glory and he’s ready to put his genius hat back on.

We’re Branching Out!

Much like any relationship, there comes a time when you’re eye starts wandering and maybe you feel like trying something new. So, with that in mind, and also the fact that one of us us a resident in Portugal, it looks like this year we’ll also be covering the Fantasporto festival which runs from 25th February until the 5th March.

You can find out more about Fantasporto HERE, and it seems to be very similar to Sitges in that it’s focus is the fantasy/horror genre and it’s also part of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation. The film program hasn’t been announced yet but we’ll keep you updated.

Don’t panic, we’ll still be covering Sitges and you’ll still be able to marvel at our super-human ability to drink ’til 4 in the morning and still watch a Korean animated film at 9am.

For now, keep it Corridorstyle.

 

La Casa Muda Gets Tickets To The Dance

While we were impressed with the finish quality LA CAS MUDA achieved using nothing but sticky back plastic and old Fairy liquid bottles, we felt the film itself fell somewhat short. Shooting in one continuous 80 minute take (has that been verified yet?) is pretty cool, but it was 80 minutes of a girl crawling about on all fours moaning and groaning………hold on! That sounds pretty cool.

What the hell do we know?!

As reported over at Bloody-Disgusting Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, the creative team behind 2003’s OPEN WATER, obviously saw the film’s potential and decided to remake it as THE SILENT HOUSE.

In rapid fashion, and with the help of ELLE DRIVER (that’s the production outfit behind one of this year’s Sitges favourites RUBBER, not the Hattori Hanzo sword-wielding Daryl Hannah from KILL BILL), the team have wrapped in time to show the film in the Midnight Section of Sundance 2011 next month. That’s a mere 8 months after Gustavo Hernandez’s original first attracted attention at Cannes.

And before we go, has anyone seen star of  THE SILENT HOUSE Elizabeth Olsen and THE WIRE’s Felicia “Snoop” Pearson in the same room? The hair braids aren’t fooling us.

Sitges 2011 Dates Announced

As you can see from the huge banner image above, the dates of the 2011 festival have been announced. It’s pretty much as expected and we’re guessing that following on from the success of scheduling it around the national holiday last year, this year will be the same.

There’s no word as yet on the theme of this year’s festival, but it seems that for the last few years this hasn’t been much more than a reason to put a clever image on the poster anyway.

We’ll keep you informed with any developments as they occur, but for now, keep it Corridorstyle.

CHRYSALIS Director Julien Leclerq Is Up For L’ASSAUT

2007 was a pretty good Sitges year and a 33 film festival marathon for team CS. One of the films to come out of nowhere was France’s Sci-Fi answer to Jason Bourne, CHRYSALIS. The stylish near-future production combined with old-school, bone-crunching fight sequences meant this was a festival hit for the team.

Good news then to hear that CHRYSALIS director Julien Leclerq is ready to tackle his second feature L’ASSAUT, based on the real life highjacking of Air France Flight 8969 on December 24th 1994. The account of the highjacking reads like a script written for Bruce Willis which should suit Leclerq who certainly has “action” in his directorial locker.

Head over to Twitch to check out the trailer.