It is good to see that outside of the work of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster and Dogtooth) that the genre scene in Greece is being upheld by the work of the organizers of the Horrorant Film Festival. Now in its fifth year they have announced the first wave of titles for their festival which runs the first week of May from the 3rd to the 9th.
From what I could gleam from the website the festival travels a circuit of six cities in Greece that week, Athens and Thessalonica for sure. Other information of importance is that according to the festival site there is no VOD in the country and releases on DVD and BluRay are limited to mainstream and commercial titles. Reading this makes the work of Horrorant all the more important.
In the first wave of titles there are a lot of familiar names. What the Waters Left Behind, Trauma, Necronomicon (The Book of Hell), Luciferina and Mirada de Cristal lead a very strong lineup of LatAm titles this year, drawing in Spanish language speakers in the area. We shared the trailer for Marc Martinez's Framed with you some time ago and the German flick Snowflake from Adolfo Kolmerer and William James sounds very interesting, teetering towards the meta-horror genre.
Also check out the fun festival trailer below, created by FilmBoys Pictures, the company owned by festival founder Konstantinos Hatzipapas.
The countdown calendar to the opening curtain of the 5th Horrorant Film Festival shows less than a month, and we believe this is the right time to give you a first taste of the intense and masterful cinematic experiences we have prepared for you.With less than a handful of slots remaining open, here are 12 of the 25 movies that will compete in the International category for the Horrorant Awards.COLD GROUND (France) directed by Fabien Delage starring Gala Besson, Doug Rand, Fabrice Pierre, Geoffrey Blandin, Maura Tillay and Phillip Schurer.1976: Two young journalists leave for the French-Swiss border to investigate a strange case of cattle mutilations and record testimonies for a TV channel. Yet, once they get there, the scientific team they were supposed to meet has gone missing. Escorted by a first-aider, a British biologist and an American forensic investigator, Melissa and David will go looking for the missing team deep into the mountains.FRAMED (Spain) directed by Marc Martínez starring Alex Maruny, Clàudia Pons and Joe Manjón.On Alex’s farewell party with his friends, three strange invaders will kidnap them with the only goal of playing twisted mortal games while they stream it, turning all this insane torture into a viral show.LIVING AMONG US (USA) directed by Brian A. Metcalf starring William Sadler, Thomas Ian Nicholas, James Russo, Esmé Bianco, Andrew Keegan and John Heard.Vampires have just made themselves public. Now a group of documentarians has been granted access to learn how they live and coexist with humans. But as reality sets in, the crew realize they are in for far more than they bargained for.LUCIFERINA (Argentina) directed by Gonzalo Calzada starring Sofía Del Tuffo, Victoria Carreras, Gastón Cocchiarale and Agustín Daulte.Natalia is a 19-year- old novice who reluctantly returns home to say goodbye to her dying father. But when she meets up with her sister and her friends, she decides instead to travel the jungle in search of mystical plant. There, instead of pleasure, they find a world of Black Masses, strange pregnancies, bloody deaths and for the nun herself, a sexually violent clash with the Devil himself.MIRADA DE CRISTAL (Argentina) directed by Ezequiel Endelman & Leandro Montejano starring Silvia Montanari, Anahí Politi, Erika Boveri, Claudio Armesto and Adriana Salgueiro [International Premiere]Buenos Aires, 1985. Its the first anniversary of the death of Alexis`Carpenter, the unstable supermodel who died tragically when she was set on fire while closing a runaway show. Lucia Luccello - Editor-in- Chief of the most important magazine in Buenos Aires - chooses supermodels Eva Lantier and Irene del Lago to honor Alexis on the cover of the anniversary issues dedicated to the famous model. The night before the photo shoot, Alexis` original dresses that were going to be used by the models are stolen. From that moment, members of the important fashion magazine and the agency begin to disappear, one by one, at the hands of a stealthy, sinister female silhouette in a long black leather raincoat. Is someone seeking revenge? Or has Alexis returned from the grave?NECRONOMICON (Argentina) directed by Marcelo Schapces starring Diego Velázquez, María Laura Cali, Victoria Maurette, Nico García and Federico Luppi. [director and lead actress present at the screening]For centuries, Dieter, a man without age, has been guarding the infernal book NECRONOMICON, to keep it locked and to prevent its evil conjures to summon the dark abyss from taking over humanity and earth. However, a copy of the book lies well hidden in the National Library of Buenos Aires. The mysterious death of Dieter leads Luis, a simple librarian, to confront the forces that lurk the NECRONOMICON. In a city that’s corroded by apocalyptic climate, a man faces the forces of darkness.SNOWFLAKE (Germany) directed by Adolfo Kolmerer & William James, starring Erkan Acar, Reza Brojerdi, Xenia Assenza, David Masterson and Alexander Schubert.Berlin in the near future. After an economical and societal collapse, lawlessness is ruling the streets. The two best friends Tan and Javid are renegade outlaws searching for the man who killed their families. During a shoot-out in a Kebap shop, Tan and Javid accidentally kill the parents of the young student Eliana. Now the two friends are targets of a vendetta themselves. Eliana hires a gang of the most crazy hit men in Europe to kill Tan and Javid, who have no idea what is coming their way until one day they find a mysterious screenplay in which Eliana`s and their own story is told. In fact, it is the script for Schneeflöckchen – this very movie. That is why no matter what Tan and Javid do, everything happens exactly like it is written. And so they desperately try to break out of the plot, which has them closing in on a catastrophic climax. As Eliana`s hired hit men all fail to do their job, she decides to take matters in her own hands and sets up an elaborate trap for Tan and Javid. But in the meantime Tan and Javid have found the writer of the screenplay and force him to rewrite the ending...THE ENVELOPE (Russia) directed by Vladimir Markov starring Yuliya Peresild, Igor Lizengevich, Olga Medynich and Igor Khripunov.Igor is asked to deliver an envelope to certain address. But as he tries to reach the destination, strange and mysterious things start to happen...THE LAPLACE`S DEMON (Italy) directed by Giordano Giulivi starring Alessandro Zonfrilli, Carlotta Mazzoncini, Duccio Giulivi, Ferdinando D`Urbano, Silvano Bertolin, Simone Moscato, Simone Valeri and Walter Smorti.A glass in free fall. Have you ever thought if it is possible to calculate into how many pieces it can break into? After numerous experiments, a team of researchers succeeds in doing just this apparently impossible task. Attracted to their experiment, a mysterious professor invites the scientists in his isolated mansion to know more about their studies.However, when they arrive, they are not greeted by their host but they are faced with a strange model of the mansion, in which some absolutely normal but incredible actions are acted. The researchers will soon understand to be involved in a new experiment in which they`ll have to play a very different role than usual: that of the glass in free fall.TRAUMA (Chile) directed by Lucio A. Rojas starring Catalina Martin, Daniel Antivilo, Felipe Ríos, Macarena Carrere, Ximena del Solar, Dominga Bofill and Eduardo Paxeco.Four friends visit a rural locality of Chile, are brutally attacked by a man and his son. After not finding help in the town, they decide to confront these men with the help of a pair of policemen. But in this way, they will discover that their attackers have in their blood the direct legacy of the darkest period of Chilean history and will have to face the most brutal enemy.TUFTLAND (Finland) directed by Roope Olenius starring Veera W. Vilo, Saara Elina, Miikka J. Anttila, Neea Viitamäki and Arja Pekurinen. [director and lead actress present at the screening]Balancing between a failed relationship, uninspiring studies and financial problems, the headstrong textile student Irina finds herself stuck in the modern rat race. To overcome her problems she decides to accept an unexpected summer job offer at the secluded and selfsufficient village of Kyrsyä. As Irina begins to get a grip of herself in the middle of the endless Finnish forest, the harmless and offbeat hillbillies begin to reveal their true nature.WHAT THE WATERS LEFT BEHIND (Argentina) directed by Luciano Onetti & Nicolás Onetti starring Mirta Busnelli, Gustavo Garzon, Agustin Pardella, Victoria Maurette and Victorio D`Alessandro.Epecuén was one of the most important touristic villages of Argentina. Thousands of people concurred attracted by the healing properties of its thermal waters. On November 10th 1985, a huge volume of water broke the protecting embankment and the village was submerged under ten meters of salt water. Epecuén disappeared. Thirty years later, the waters receded and the ruins of Epecuén emerged exposing a bleak and deserted landscape. The residents never returned. A group of young people takes a trip to the ruins in order to film a documentary about Epecuén. Ignoring warnings, and after a brief tour, they get stranded in the abandoned village. Contrary to what they thought, they begin to realize that they are really not alone... They start fighting for survival after being stalked by three wild subjects with rustic masks that plan to ferociously slaughter the whole group.…And that was only the first wave! The rest of the “International Competition” movies will be announced shortly, along with the selection of movies for the Greek program and the special tributes to Italian horror and H.P. Lovecraft.Stay tuned!