Preview of the San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival

Here you'll find some of the feature films that will participate this year at the Official Selection of the San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, that will compite for the Prize of the Audience to the Best Feature Film (€6,000).

 

 

Chillerama (USA, 2011). Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Adam Rifkin, Tim Sullivan

Homage to B-movies, drive-ins and late night horror shows. A group of directors and horror fans have got together to make this film including four episodes with a classic, grindhouse feel: Adam Green –Frozen (2010)–, Joe Lynch –Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)–, Adam Rifkin –Look (2007)– and Tim Sullivan –2001 Maniacs (2005), 2001 Maniacs: Field of Dreams (2010)– tell a bunch of stories about out-of-control sperm –Wadzilla–, kids who turn into bears –I Was a Teenage Werebear–, the real origins of Anne Frank –The Diary of Anne Frankenstein– and about the closing day's shows at a drive-in –Zom-B-Movie–. Fun movie with a real soft spot for how things used to be.

 

The Divide (USA-Canada-Germany, 2001). Xavier Gens

New York is attacked. 8 strangers find refuge in the reinforced basement of a building. Human beings who do not know what has really happened in the city or what is to come, and that they must confront problems which are probably more disturbing than those that await them on the other side of the door. Men and women pushed to the limit in a new film by the Frenchman Xavier Gens, responsible for Hitman (2007) and Frontier(s) (2007), which he presented at the Festival that year. The claustrophobic fight for survival of a group of people in a hostile environment: Surrounded by other people.

 

Masks (Germany, 2011). Andreas Marschall

An aspiring actress, rejected by several auditions, discovers a strange school on the outskirts of Berlin, founded by Mateusz Gdula, a weird teacher who was famous in the 70s and invented a peculiar teaching method. She decides to give it a go. As she gets a feel for the place, she realises just how extreme and dangerous the Gdula method really is. Andreas Marschall, responsible for Tears of Kali (2004), shown at the Festival that same year, directs this German giallo that takes a closer look at acting and the human mind.

 

Panic Button (United Kingdom, 2011). Chris Crow

Three men and a woman have been named the lucky winners of the competition organised by a social network similar to the spate of sites lately that seem to multiply endlessly in the virtual world (and maybe even in the real world). The prize comprises a trip to New York in a private jet. Once they get on board, a frenetic and worrying journey begins forcing them to face up to their past, survive their present and hope that there actually is a future. Welshman Chris Crow, responsible for Devil's Bridge (2010), directs this intrepid (and occasionally claustrophobic) thriller set on a plane that warns us of the dangers of social networks.

 

The Prodigies (France-Belgium-Luxemburg, 2010). Antoine Charreyron

This is the story of five special teenagers. They are not like everybody else. They are prodigies, gifted with extraordinary intelligence, who meet up in New York under the supervision of Jimbo, who is one of them. After being attacked in Central Park, the youths decide to use their mighty powers get their own back on humanity. Spectacular European 3D animation film, first work by its director.

 

Stake Land (USA, 2010). Jim Mickle

The United States is a desolate land, abandoned to the vampires taking over the whole nation. The cities have become tombs and any survivors huddle together in rural areas, or simply wander across the country looking for food or trying to keep out of the way of anyone who's been infected. Fear rules the night. Young Martin has lost his family and so starts to travel around with a veteran vampire hunter who teaches him the tricks of the trade. Second feature length film directed by Jim Mickle, also written by him jointly with Nick Damici (also playing the main character), after Mulberry Street (2006).

 

The Theatre Bizarre (USA-France-Canada, 2010). Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Jeremy Kasten, Tom Savini, Richard Stanley

Movie made up of a wide variety of episodes covering different aspects of fantasy and horror, led by a master of ceremonies played by Udo Kier and featuring outstanding talent from the last three decades of the horror genre such as the maestro of special effects Tom Savini, British Richard Stanley –Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992), that he presented in San Sebastián a few years back–, Canadian Karim Hussain –Subconscious Cruelty (2000)– or Americans Douglas Buck –author of the impressive short film trilogy Cutting Moments (1997), Home (1998) and Prologue (2003)– and Buddy Giovinazzo –Combat Shock (1986)–.

 

Troll Hunter / Trolljegeren (Noriega / Norvegia / Norvege, 2010). André Øvredal

A group of university students investigate a series of mysterious murders and attacks which seem to have been committed by a bear. That is what the authorities say although the evidence is not conclusive. A mysterious character which usually appears around the places where the crimes have been committed worries them. He seems like a hunter. But what does he hunt? They decide to follow him and try to question him. Norwegian documentary, converted into one of the most awaited films of the season, which sheds light on the "legend?" of the trolls, mythological Nordic beings which have been the centre of many horror stories told around a fire for centuries.

 

YellowBrickRoad (United States, 2010). Andy Mitton, Jesse Holland

Autumn 1940, all the residents of Friar, New Hampshire left their homes and took an old, long-forgotten path. None of them was ever seen alive again. 70 years later a group of investigators decides to follow their steps to find out what happened to them. First work by its directors, worrying and terrifying, doubtlessly one of the most important fantasy films of the year, essential viewing for followers of "Lost" (2004-2010).

  • San Sebastián, ciudad de la cultura - donostiakultura.com
  • Donsotiako Udala / Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián
  • Donostia - San Sebastián 2016