MOTELx: A View From The Front Row

Now that MOTELx has reached midway point, it seems a perfectly good moment to reflect back on what's gone and highlight the brilliant second half to come.

The festival opened with a sold out screening of M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit alongside the opening ceremony: the Portuguese audience responded incredibly well to the film's beats with some great jumps and hearty laughter.

Another film which got the audience responding well was Tales of Halloween which played uproariously to another packed house.

Yesterday saw great screening for Night Fare, Road Games and Howl with all the film's represented by talent - Night Fare saw lively post screening Q and A which went into the very early hours of the morning.

A section dedicated to Richard Stanley saw the prolific director lead not one but two very rambunctious Q and A - once on a session containing his short films and another after a brilliant screening of David Gregory's Lost Soul.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Lisbon, an exhibition based on Kier-La.Janisse's House of Psychotic Women opened with paintings, prints and multimedia installations directly inspired by the book making for an exciting and unusual experience.

Up ahead is packed weekend: the ever popular MOTELx Quiz returns tonight for its second edition promising an amusing break from the packed sessions. Saturday will see the wonderful afternoon of scary board games: first for the little monsters and later for the adults who can to play with things that go bump in the night.

There's also two screenings of Portuguese exploitation classics: both rare titles that haven't been seen for nearly 40 years. Add to this sold out audience participation screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Cop Car and the closing film: Knock Knock.

Clearly growing with impressive momentum each h year, MOTELx continues to cement it's position as one of the most important genre festivals not only on the genre circuit but also the world!

For more details, visit: www.motelx.org