The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Terrifier 3 (2024) is definitely one of the most anticipated horror flicks for the upcoming spooky season. Director Damien Leone has said that this one is so far “the goriest entry in the franchise.” And now a new teaser trailer has been released, in which we can see the murderous Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) dressed as Santa Claus and doing a bloody “snow angel.” The Christmas-set Terrifier 3 lands in U.S. theaters on October 11.
The genre cinema incubator SANFIC-Mórbido Lab, part of the Santiago International Film Festival (August 18-25), revealed the selected projects for its 2024 edition: Caye Casas’ El show del gran Luciferio, Guillermo Amoedo’s Loved Ones (Seres queridos), Cremance’s Silence is the Music of the Devil (El silencio es la música del diablo), Marco Caltieri’s Variable Capital (Capital variable), Diego Ayala’s Delivery, and Daniel M. Caneiro’s Voracious (Voraces). You can read more about each title in Variety’s report.
Deadline published an extensive article about Luc Besson’s forthcoming Dracula film, titled Dracula: A Love Tale (2025). This take on Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel stars Caleb Landry Jones (Dogman, Nitram, Get Out) as Dracula and Zoë Bleu as both his current love interest Mina and his dead wife Elisabeta. The great Christoph Waltz is also part of the cast, playing a priest who’s hunting down the vampire. Dracula: A Love Tale takes place in 19th century Paris and 15th century Transylvania. It’s currently in production.
Red Rooms (Les chambres rouges, 2023) is a French-language Canadian crime thriller that won big at last year’s Fantasia International Film Festival (Best Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Score, and the Outstanding Performance Award). Directed by Pascal Plante, Red Rooms follows a young woman (Juliette Gariépy) who’s obsessed with the trial of a man who supposedly committed a series of murders and recorded them for an online paying audience. The film hits select U.S. theaters on September 6, via Utopia. Watch here its latest trailer.
The 16th edition of the audiovisual market Ventana Sur will take place in Montevideo, Uruguay for the first time, after a new partnership was established between the Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes, Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA) and the Uruguayan Film and Audiovisual Agency (ACAU). The market is scheduled to be held from December 2 to 6. Read the full press release here.
Festivals
The Venice International Film Festival shared the lineup for its 81st edition (August 28-September 7). Aside of the previously announced Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) – which will serve as the opening film –, other genre movies chosen to premiere at Venice are: Alexandre O. Philippe’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre documentary Chain Reactions (2024), Takeshi Kitano’s Broken Rage (2024), Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s thriller Cloud (2024), Harmony Korine’s first-person shooter/home invasion “post-movie” Baby Invasion (2024), Nicolas Winding Refn’s short Beauty Is Not a Sin (2024), Fabrice du Welz’s crime film Maldoror (2024), and the anticipated sequel Joker: Folie à Deux (2024).
The 18th edition of MOTELX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival (September 10-16) continues to take shape. The festival has confirmed more films, among them In a Violent Nature (2024), the arthouse slasher that was described by Edgar Wright as a cross between Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) and Alan Clarke’s Elephant (1989). Sasquatch Sunset (2024), Cuckoo (2024), Your Monster (2024), Oddity (2024), and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant, 2023) have also joined MOTELX’s 2024 lineup. Check out here the full announcement.
The San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival has presented the poster for its upcoming 35th edition (October 25-November 1). The artwork was crafted by horror comic artist and writer Santipérez. It features Spanish master filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia and it was inspired by Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.
Home video
The British Blu-ray label Indicator announced their next releases, including a set featuring two Mexican horror pictures from the 1950s: The Vampire (El vampiro, 1957) and its sequel The Vampire’s Coffin (El ataúd del vampiro, 1958). Both of these Universal Horror-influenced Gothic films were directed by Fernando Méndez and starred Germán Robles. Indicator’s limited edition set includes an 80-page book and a bunch of extras. The UK edition arrives on October 21, while the U.S. version on October 22.