For me, it’s always a tough decision to pick which movies to watch and which movies to skip. My job is particularly harder since during the festival, I avoid reading reviews or watching trailers.
Two events are always must-attend: the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. This year the last film of the festival is the much-anticipated “IT,” Andy Muschietti’s version of Stephen King’s blood-freezing novel.
As a horror film fan, I’m not scared easily (although you’d be surprised how many jump scares still get to me even when I think I can see them coming). I particularly like to discover new material, and MotelX is perfect for that.
How do I put the films to the test? I go with the short films. If you can turn my world upside down in 30 minutes or less (sometimes a lot less), then you got my attention. Shorts are short and (not so) sweet, and they either make your skin crawl (or laugh out loud like one of them today, but more on that in next week’s post), or they don’t.
Here are the ones that made my shortlist (based on my availability to attend the sessions):
“When Demons Die,” Germany, 2016
“Julkita,” Mexico, 2017
“Ink, Cocks & Rock’n’Roll”, UK, 2017
“Garden Party,” France, 2016
“Animal,” France, 2016
“Decorado”, Spain/France, 2016
“The Corpse Series,” UK, 2016
“Carga,” Portugal, 2016
“O Candeeiro – Um Filme à Luz de Lisboa”, Portugal, 2016
“Depois do Silêncio”, Portugal, 2017
“#Blessed”, Portugal, 2017
“Thursday Night,” Portugal, 2016
Next week, I’ll focus on those who made the cut and why.