Sitges 2013: MACHETE KILLS, THE ZERO THEOREM and ONLY GOD FORGIVES to Screen

The countdown is on until my favourite European fantastic film festival begins. In jutst a few weeks, I will be sipping rioja by the Mediterranean Sea and watching some amazing films. And the festival has just announced the next crop of titles to be shown. Among the ones I'm most excited to finally see are the neo-giallo The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears, Terry Gilliam's latest The Zero Theorem, Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive, and The Wind Rises from animation auteur Miyazaki Hayao. Add this to the already incredible and diverse line-up that includes Why Don't You Play in Hell, The Battery, and Much Ado About Nothing, As usual, there is something for everyone. Full details from the press release below.

A tidal wave of top notch fantastic cinema spattered with scares and, it goes without saying, a generous dose of hemoglobin, will be stirring up the lineup at the Sitges - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, to be held from 11 to 20 October. Besides the previously announced films, the Official Fantàstic Selection will be completed with some of this year's most eagerly awaited productions. The Green Inferno, by Eli Roth, pays tribute to the cannibal horror classics, All Cheerleaders Dieis a new twist on teen comedies with a gore spirit, and Afflictedproposes a new approach to vampire movies. Plus the Official Selection won't be missing out on the movie with the flashiest cast from Robert Rodríguez, Machete Kills, or science fiction from the tireless Terry Gilliam in The Zero Theorem. 

The Official Fantàstic Selection will be including The Green Inferno, the latest movie from director Eli Roth, a Sitges regular who, following the intense emotions in Hostel, takes us to Amazonia in his new film to discover a forgotten tribe that practices terrifying cannibalistic rituals. The director's personal, ultragore tribute to movies like CannibalHolocaust, by Ruggero Deodato, or Cannibal Ferox, by Umberto Lenzi, that still remain in the memory of the most radical genre fans. Undoubtedly a piece de resistance that already made a big impact on audiences at the recent Toronto festival. 

Arriving from Toronto are also two other films that will pack a punch at this year's Festival, like All Cheerleaders Die, by Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, a teen horror comedy full of gore, zaniness and transgressive ideas in genre, based on a previous short film by the same couple of directors. Lucky McKee is a Festival veteran, where he already successfully presented his previous works May and The Woman. Afflicted also had an extraordinary reception at the Canadian festival, where some moviegoers even suffered convulsions during the screening. Derek Lee and Clif Prowse's film videographically tells the story of the vicissitudes of two friends traveling through Europe, until one of them contracts a strange disease after spending the night with a mysterious young woman. Afflicted is an intelligent and terrifying step further in vampire cinema, with t ouches of superhero movies and a serious, dark tone. 

On the other hand, Sitges will also be presenting the latest work from the creators of Amer, Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet, entitledL'étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps and that once again is a tribute to the aesthetics and sound of Italian giallo, forming a visual symphony that's well worth enjoying.

In its Official Selection, Sitges 2013 will also be presenting eagerly-awaited films like Machete Kills, the latest from Robert Rodriguez with a star studded cast (Danny Trejo, Sofia Vergara, Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Antonio Banderas, Lady Gaga...), as well as the latest big hit on American screens, Insidious Chapter 2, the most recent film by king of horror James Wan, or Terry Gilliam's new incursion into science fiction with The Zero Theorem. 

In addition, as special gifts for our numerous animated movie fans, beyond the section already dedicated to this genre, Sitges will be offering special screenings of two long-awaited films: Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods, the new movie version of the Akira Toriyama's legendary universe, or the latest from Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises, highly acclaimed at the latest Venice Festival.

The Sitges 2013 closing film will be Ti West's latest, The Sacrament, yet another big hit at the Venice and Toronto festivals. West, discovered in Sitges, where he had presented previous works like The House of the Devil or The Innkeepers, is now confirmed as one of the great present-day genre directors with this story that revolves around two journalists' research on a sinister messianic sect. 

All of these films will join the others we've been announcing over the last few months at this new edition of the Festival, marked by the new manifestations of evil, as is the case with Only God Forgives, the new film from Nicolas Winding Refn; Jim Jarmusch's most recent work, Only Lovers Left Alive, a unique story of eternal love between two vampires; a bizarre, surreal, comedy from Roman Coppola, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swann III; The Congress, the spectacular Stanislaw Lem adaptation directed by Ari Folman; Real, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's return to fantastic cinema; or La danza de la realidad, the new work by multifaceted Alejandro Jodorowski.