[MOTELx 2018] The First Announcements of The 12th Edition of Lisbon’s Horror Festival
I can’t believe that MOTELx — Lisbon International Horror Film Festival, one of Portugal’s best film festivals, is already celebrating its 12th Edition from September 4th ’til September 9th.
They’ve come a long way in making that first week of September as memorable as possible, but attracting an audience that loves a good thrill.
During last night’s press conference, we got a glimpse of things to come, and boy oh boy this is already exciting!
Room Service Will Have The Best Lineup Ever
While the entirety of the programming is yet to be released, we’ve already been teased with a few of the international picks we’ll be seeing during the six horror-tastic days that are looking to be part of the best Room Service lineup we’ve seen ever.
From the highly-acclaimed Panos Cosmatos trip Mandy, to this year’s British Horror sensation Ghost Stories, we can already feel this is going to be a good week.
In addition to this, Australian family drama Brothers’ Nest, as well as Pascal Laugier’s latest Ghostland, are two other huge highlights to consider.
One of Guillermo Del Toro’s favorite movies from 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven), directed by Issa López, will also make an appearance at the festival.
Punk-themed SXSW sensation The Ranger will definitely be one of those films you would not want to miss.
Other films revealed so far are Piercing (Nicolas Pesce), Cutterhead (Rasmus Kloster Bro), Terrified (Demián Rugna) and The Nightshifter (Dennison Ramalho).
Finally, and for the first time ever, the opening film as announced at during the press conference, with The Nun being the headline act of the first night of horror in Lisbon.
Celebrating Frankenstein
As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus, MOTELx has a whole section dedicated to the Mary Shelly authored literary classic, that has spawned dozens of films and inspired several other artistic outlets.
The festival will be screening classic films, such as Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein and Christopher Lee’s The Curse of Frankenstein. Also, being screened are it’s variations, such as the biopic about James Whale, creator of the iconic image of Mary Shelley’s monster, Gods and Monsters and Fred Dekker’s cult film Monster Squad. Both films are to be screened in classic 35mm.
Lastly, James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein or Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace, along with animated films Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania, will certainly give younger audiences a feel for the horror genre, hopefully making them curious about exploring the whole story behind one of the most celebrated monsters in horror history.
12 Portuguese Shorts Up For Competition
Growing from 9 to 12, the number of Portuguese produced short films selected for the Best Portuguese Horror Short Film Award/Méliès d’Argent proves that the genre is as strong as ever and inspiring filmmakers to created their own nightmare.
So far, the only member of the jury revealed is Turkish director Can Evrenol (Baskin, Housewife).
The selected shorts are the following:
- Agouro (David Doutel, Vasco Sá)
- Ashes (Célia Fraga)
- Calipso (Paulo A. M. Oliveira, Pedro Martins)
- Freelancer (Francisco Lacerda, Francisco A. Lopes)
- Insanium (Rui Pedro Sousa)
- Mirror Mirror (Hugo Pinto)
- Moscatro (Patrícia Maciel)
- The Doll (Gonçalo Morais Leitão)
- The Portrait (Paulo Araújo
- The Strange House in the Mist (Guilherme Daniel)
- The Tell-Tale Heart (São José Correia)
- Yet Another Christmas Tale (David Vieira)
Knight In Shining Armour
Every year, digital agency by create the visual concept of the running theme for MOTELx, that ranged from monsters, to a returning king, not forgetting a predominant serial killer worthy of its history.
From what we’ve been teased, there’s a knight in shining armour, not afraid to mess it up with a little blood from his enemies. As he enters a tomb, he’s confronted by something that feels supernatural.
At this moment, there isn’t much more to go on by, but it proves yet again how dedicated MOTELx is to its audience, providing a memorable concept year upon year.
And I can’t wait to see how this unfolds!
No Special Guest(s)?
Strangely enough, the special guest of this year’s edition of the festival is yet to be revealed.
Having brought in past years horror legends such as Dario Argento, George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper, among others; I’m almost certain that whoever are the 2018’s Cult of The Living Masters invitees, they most certainly will not disappoint.
We’re going to have to wait for the official announcement, but for now, MOTELx 2018 is shaping up to be the best year ever, making them, once more, the most enjoyable film festival in Portugal.