Always More Horror to Watch – 2024 Sitges Film Festival is Underway

Always More Horror to Watch – 2024 Sitges Film Festival is Underway

by Alex Billington
October 4, 2024

It’s October which means it’s time to celebrate horror and all the magnificent genre cinema. Now underway in Spain is the 57th Sitges Film Festival, still regarded as THE best horror film festival in all of Europe. It’s also the oldest horror festival in the world, with the very first festival taking place in 1968. This is my 6th year back to Sitges, and I’m glad to be in town. Sitges is a small beach town located just 30 minutes by train from Barcelona in Catalonia. The official Catalan name of this fest is Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, which just translates to Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Now that I’m based in Europe, it’s much easier for me to attend Sitges instead of TIFF or Fantastic Fest or Fantasia or Beyond Fest or Telluride Horror Show (some of the best genre fests in North America). I’m glad Sitges usually plays the best films from these fests for everyone here in Europe to feast upon. And so now we begin, diving into horror and sci-fi and thrillers and action and everything fun from all corners of the world.

It’s always fascinating to see just how different “fantastic” film festivals (aka “genre festivals”) are from the regular film festivals (like Sundance or Cannes or NYFF). Aside from screening an entirely different set of films (some of which are pretty rough but still very fun to watch), the audiences are different, the vibes are different, the whole experience feels like a bunch of geeky friends renting a cabin together and watching the weirdest stuff they can find. Sitges is an iconic genre festival because it has been around for so long – and every year tons of people from all over Spain (and Europe) travel to this beach town to geek out over all the weird and wacky and gross and scary and freaky cinema. Sitges has programmed a grand total of 228 films this year (full selection here), showing plenty of classics (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Night of the Creeps) as well as all the latest buzzy genre offerings (The Substance and Cuckoo and Strange Darling and Terrifier 3 and Presence). Even the town itself gets into it, with their annual Zombie Walk on Saturday night & horror-themed decorations everywhere, not to mention special booths selling tons of geeky movie merch.

What am I excited to watch this year? My most anticipated films at Sitges 2024 include: Get Away the new horror comedy starring Nick Frost (trailer here); Joseph Kahn’s icky new creation Ick which just premiered at TIFF Midnight Madness; Amy Adams turning into a dog in Nightbitch which I’m just happy is screening anyway (trailer here); Zero from the same Congolese filmmaker behind the badass Saloum; a Spanish sci-fi thriller called Luna about astronauts stuck on the Moon; this strange new horror The Rule of Jenny Pen with John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush; Steven’s daughter Destry Allyn Spielberg’s directorial debut Please Don’t Feed The Children about a virus outbreak; the intense French one-long-take thriller MadS (trailer here). Plus catching up with V/H/S/Beyond, Oddity, Dead Talents Society and few others. Some of my other faves & hits from festivals earlier in the year are also showing: Cuckoo, A Different Man, Cloud, Diplodocus, Ghost Cat Anzu, Love Me, Meanwhile on Earth, Memoir of a Snail, Plastic Guns, Presence, Sauvages, U are the Universe, Your Monster. There’s something for everyone! Unless you don’t like horror or sci-fi or action, then maybe there isn’t much, but hey this fest is all about the craziest cinema creations.

Even though it seems like film fests are going through a rough time right now, the show must go on. They’re still bringing in the films, they’re still hosting screenings, they’re still having a party year after year. Sitges seems to be missing a few big films in the line-up (why no The Platform 2 when The Platform was one of the biggest hits of 2019 at the festival?) but they still have plenty to watch anyway. Even if I see some stinkers, even if I’m not watching 5 films a day, Sitges is still a beautiful place to be. And I always enjoy being in the midst of all these Spanish movie geeks, cheering every big moment in every movie, celebrating the power of cinema no matter how disgusting or weird it gets. As usual, follow my updates on Twitter @firstshowing. I’ll be posting reviews and other recaps on the site as the fest continues over the next 10 days. You can view my photos on Instagram @abillington. I also list every film I’ve seen on my Letterboxd @firstshowing, if you want more thoughts on what I’m watching. And now – time to enjoy some sun before the next screening.

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