As every year since 1968, Sitges Festival offers the best imaginable window into fantasy genre cinema: a landscape in which terror, intrigue, scientific fiction, or ‘suspense’ offer fascinating (and almost always disturbing) views of both the outer and inner world. A universe that is not always easy to enter, because not everyone is willing to be afraid; good because the codes and languages ​​covered can sometimes be rare or inaccessible. Whatever happens, we invite you to open the big curtains of fantastic cinema and get lost in its endless layers thanks to this film. A small A to Z glossary of genre-specific terms, concepts and characters.
Foreign
English term to refer to alien or extraterrestrial beings. the name of one of the great space terror sagas that began with Ridley Scott’s classic ‘Alien: the eighth passenger’ in 1979; and it’s had three sequels, two prequels, and two ‘crossovers’ with the ‘Predator’ universe, plus lots of comics, books, and video games.
Bates, Norman
One of the greatest symbols of terror is the leading character of the ‘slasher’ and the innovative concept of the murderer of that time (1960). friendly next-door neighbor. Shower scene aside, it was a real revolution for the movie genre. Bates would appear in three movies (always with Anthony Perkins) and the series ‘Bates motel’.
half robot
Perfect combination between human organism and cybernetic device this serves to practice evil as well as good. Dating back to the 1960s, the concept is featured in Jodorowski, HR Giger, and comics—Octopus from the Spider-Man series, Cybors from the ‘Justice League’—and ‘Terminator’ and ‘Robocop’. model figures in the cinema.
dracula
The most popular of vampiresBe it elegant, seductive, theatrical, Dracula, Dracul, Nosferatu or the Lord of the Night. Bela Lugosi was created by Bram Stoker, who was immortalized in the movie by actors like Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman. Doomed to live forever, it exudes an undeniable sexuality from films starring Lee, especially in the 50s and 60s.
Exorcism
religious practice against an evil being owning a person, animal, or place. Given the gruesome power of the rite, exorcism has been copiously rendered by cinema. The pinnacle of the subgenre is undoubtedly ‘The Exorcist’ (William Friedkin, 1973), which is not only the best capture film in history but also the mirror by which others then look at themselves.
‘record found’
Or the found image, that is, a narrative technique used in horror films and fake documentaries, according to which the material we see on the screen is “found” by chance and not “created” on purpose. The difference between reality and fiction is blurred. Featured Examples: ‘Cannibal Genocide’, ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘[REC]’, ‘Monster’ and ‘Paranormal activity’.
Giallo
A movement in Italian cinema that started with ‘The Girl Who Knew Too Much’ (Mario Bava, 1963) and found its best breeders in the 70s with titles such as ‘Crystal Feather Bird’ and ‘Four Flies’ in Dario Argento. on gray velvet’ and ‘dark red’. Efficient and effective mix of horror, ‘suspense’, ‘slasher’ and ‘exploitation’.
Hammer
In the 1950s and 1960s, British firm Hammer Films revamped the classic curriculum of this genre from Universal productions of the previous two decades. Terence Fisher was the best of his directors, and Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were great actor-antagonists. Some milestones: ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’, ‘The Brides of Dracula’ and ‘The Mummy’.
Ibanez SerradorNarciso
Film director and television producer, actor and screenwriter, not only from the popular movie ‘Un, dos, tres’ but also ‘Who can kill a child?’ He is also responsible for cult horror films such as (1976) or the reference (and main) series ‘Stories That Didn’t Sleep’ (TVE, 1966-1982), an anthological series in which he adapted horror, sci-fi and mystery works from classics like Bradbury or Poe.
Jekyll, Doctor
Designed by Robert Louis Stevenson in the famous 1886 novel, Dr. Jekyll is another fantasy scientist who, like Frankenstein, experiments with his god-defying twin, Mr. Hyde, who is the lecherous and sadistic opposite of the quiet professor. your active came up to comic your superheroes: Doctor Banner and the Hulk.
King, Stephen
The man who wrote everything ultimate genre writer: horror novels, supernatural fiction, sci-fi, fantasy… Many of her books and stories have been made into movies and television on an almost endless list: ‘Carrie’, ‘The Shining’, ‘Misery’, ‘Cujo’ , ‘The Green Mile’, ‘O (He)’, ‘The Dark Tower’… The genre wouldn’t be the same without this prolific writer from Portland.
leather face
At the height of Michael Myers from the ‘Halloween’ saga, Freddy Krueger from ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and Jason Voorhees from ‘Friday the 13th’, Leatherface is yet another emblem of the great horror movies of the ’70s and ’80s. bloody butcher with saw It’s on the axis of the film series launched in 1974 by ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’.
multiverse
Beyond the observable universe by scientists, there may be other universes. Given how fascinating the concept is, sci-fi, ‘Dr. From ‘I miss the multiverse of madness’ to ‘Everything all at once’ to shows like ‘Man in the High Castle’ or ‘Loki’.
new meat
Changing bodies, fusion of human flesh with machinery, sex between people and cars, arms reaching out to various objects… The new body is an artistic concept that accepts everything –cinema, Literaturefunny painting– brings together the many obsessions of modernity. He appeared in David Cronenberg’s ‘Videodrome’ and reached Julia Ducourneau’s radical ‘Titane’.
UFO
Spanish abbreviation for the unidentified flying object (UFO in English) quite common throughout the fantasy history of cinema and television. In general, the flying saucer is driven by benevolent (‘Third Encounters’, ‘Arrival’) or truly malicious (‘Independence day’, ‘V’) aliens.
‘psycho killer’
Or serial killer. Turning into a cinematographic subgenre in themselves, they reached their peak in the 70s with masterpieces such as ‘The Texas Massacre’ or ‘Halloween Night’. perverse admiration ‘Midhunter’ remains untouched, as evidenced by the success of current series like ‘Locked up with the devil’ or ‘Dahmer – Monster: the story of Jeffrey Dahmer’.
‘weird fear’
He appears in Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’ and some golden age films such as ‘Dracula’s Daughter’ (1936) or Hammer such as ‘Doctor Jekyll and his sister Hyde’ (1971). The LGTBIQ+ rhetoric ranges from the irony of ‘The Rocky horror movie show’ to the vampire lesbianism of ‘El ansia’ and runs through the gay complicity of ‘Interview with a vampire’.
Robot
Czech term referring to a device or mechanism that improves automatic movements or functions following external instructions. Cyborgs, androids, ‘mechas’ or automatons have been the protagonists of big titles in sci-fi, from ‘Forbidden Planet’ to ‘Westworld’ and ‘AI: Artificial Intelligence’ or ‘WALL E’.
Shyamalan, M. Night
Indian-American director, author of ‘El protege’, ‘Múltiple’ and ‘Señales’, an unparalleled genius of fantasy cinema, able to have his last name become an adjective for a way of understanding creativity: Shyamalanesk as Shyamalanesk. synonym for metronomic coup plotelegant in staging, realistic in its approach to mystery, abracadabra in its unexpected endings.
Tetsuo
Between the twists of ‘cyberpunk’, ‘gore’, surrealism and ‘J-horror’ moves ‘Tetsuo, iron man’ (1989), directed by cult writer Shinya Tsukamoto. It also has hints of new flesh with metallic protrusions on the face and metallic mutations. Tsukamoto made two more movies, each more fanciful.
ultra objects
The big horror story about the loss of identity and fear that those around you are not what they seem. Filmed four times (‘Body Thieves’ Invasion’, ‘Body Thieves’ Invasion’, ‘Body Thieves’ and ‘Invasion’), it is also a highly political story about conspiracy and chaos.
VHS
Acronym for Video Home System. Native analog video recording and playback system that helped spread the cult of ‘exploitation’ in the ’70s and ’80s, including horror movies, B-series, and more. Films like ‘Blade Runner’ got a second life in the ’90s, precisely thanks to VHS, after having had little public and critical success after its 1982 premiere.
Whale James
He directed the first ‘Frankenstein’ (1931) and outdid himself in ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ (1935), the second episode in which Elsa Lanchester plays the bride of the beast and Mary Shelley, author of the original novel. The very gracious director made a comedy of gruesome mansions, ‘El mansion de las sombras’ and the first ‘El hombre invisible’.
X Wing
The legendary starfighter genre from the fictional universe of ‘Star Wars’, characterized by the X-shape of its four wings and the backbone of the Rebel Alliance fleet in its battle against the Galactic Empire, given its speed and firepower with lasers and proton torpedoes. Luke Skywalker piloted one of these, accompanied by R2-D2, during the final attack on the Death Star in ‘Star Wars’ (1977).
Zombie
In the B-series of the Classical era it was poetically and sparingly rendered – ‘The Legion of Soulless Men’ and ‘I walk with a zombie’ – and transformed from ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (George A. Romero, 1968) in one of the most recurring and successful figures –Romero’s other films,'[REC]’, the ‘The Walking Dead’ series of the genre.
Source: Informacion
