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Third Wave MOTELX 2024: the last wave of announcements before the full programme
This Wednesday, August 14, we announce the Third Wave of news from the 18th edition of MOTELX - Lisbon International Horror Film Festival: the last batch of revelations before the announcement of the full programme.
Blood and pornography in Hollywood, intergenerational body horror, the dangers of tourism, a brutal and massive fight on a train in India, and the dangers of a mid-life crisis come to MOTELX. “MaXXXine”, “The Substance”, “Speak No Evil”, “The Surfer” and “Kill” are the new films selected to have a national premiere at our 18th edition. This Third Wave of announcements features a star-studded lineup with Mia Goth, Demi Moore, James McAvoy, Nicolas Cage and newcomer Lakshya.
This new wave of announcements begins with one of the most anticipated feature films of 2024: “MaXXXine”, by Ti West. With rising star Mia Goth in the lead role - an authentic 21st century scream queen -, the American slasher is the third and final chapter of the acclaimed “X” trilogy, which began in 2022. After “Pearl”, the most recent production by the renowned studio A24 shows Goth as Maxine Minx, a porn industry star who aspires to a career on the big screen, in 1980s Hollywood, and the only survivor of the bloodbath recorded in “X”, now pursued by a serial killer.
“The Substance” also arrives, the second work of increasingly secure value in cinema, by French director Coralie Fargeat. Already considered an instant body horror classic and featuring Demi Moore in one of the best performances of her career, it had its world premiere at Cannes, where it received the award for Best Screenplay and a 13-minute ovation. Through a violent social critique of patriarchy, the director portrays the way aging is treated in Hollywood and uses visceral close-ups to ensure gore intensity in non-moderate doses. Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid round out this stellar cast.
Called to the screen in the main room of Cinema São Jorge, in the always memorable Opening Session, on September 10th, is the suffocating “Speak No Evil”, by British filmmaker James Watkins. The remake of the 2022 Danish film, by Christian Tafdrup, winner of the Méliès d'argent Award - Best European Feature Film at the 16th edition of MOTELX, brings together two families again, from different countries and cultures, whose meeting results in a journey to the ends of hell . Exploring social relationships, wrapped in a psychological horror in which tension and hypocrisy set in and make the holidays a nightmare, the current American production reveals a fierce James McAvoy leading the storm.
“Kill”, written and directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, comes to this edition with the label of “most violent Indian film of all time”, since it premiered at the Toronto festival. On a train, Amrit (Lakshya's revealing feature film debut) faces everything and everyone to save the love of his life, in a spectacle of visceral action that redefines the limits of violence in Indian cinema. Fans of "The Raid", get ready to discover the new bloody ballet that inserts Indian film in the gore canon with honours.
“The Surfer” will be the closing screening, taking place on the penultimate day of the Festival. Presented at the Cannes Midnight Screenings, it returns Nicolas Cage to the waters of genre cinema he so well inhabits, starring as a surfer returned to his native Australia to try and reclaim his family, but to very little welcome. Conflict with the childhood beach natives and a mid-life crisis drives him crazy in this psychological thriller where darkness takes over the sunny setting. From Irishman Lorcan Finnegan, it promises to be one of the cult films of the year.
Behold the Third Wave of news from the 18th edition, with five of the most fearsome and anticipated titles in contemporary genre cinema. The complete programme will be revealed soon.
It will be from 10 to 16 of September: we are about to go haunt Cinema São Jorge.
This new wave of announcements begins with one of the most anticipated feature films of 2024: “MaXXXine”, by Ti West. With rising star Mia Goth in the lead role - an authentic 21st century scream queen -, the American slasher is the third and final chapter of the acclaimed “X” trilogy, which began in 2022. After “Pearl”, the most recent production by the renowned studio A24 shows Goth as Maxine Minx, a porn industry star who aspires to a career on the big screen, in 1980s Hollywood, and the only survivor of the bloodbath recorded in “X”, now pursued by a serial killer.
“The Substance” also arrives, the second work of increasingly secure value in cinema, by French director Coralie Fargeat. Already considered an instant body horror classic and featuring Demi Moore in one of the best performances of her career, it had its world premiere at Cannes, where it received the award for Best Screenplay and a 13-minute ovation. Through a violent social critique of patriarchy, the director portrays the way aging is treated in Hollywood and uses visceral close-ups to ensure gore intensity in non-moderate doses. Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid round out this stellar cast.
Called to the screen in the main room of Cinema São Jorge, in the always memorable Opening Session, on September 10th, is the suffocating “Speak No Evil”, by British filmmaker James Watkins. The remake of the 2022 Danish film, by Christian Tafdrup, winner of the Méliès d'argent Award - Best European Feature Film at the 16th edition of MOTELX, brings together two families again, from different countries and cultures, whose meeting results in a journey to the ends of hell . Exploring social relationships, wrapped in a psychological horror in which tension and hypocrisy set in and make the holidays a nightmare, the current American production reveals a fierce James McAvoy leading the storm.
“Kill”, written and directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, comes to this edition with the label of “most violent Indian film of all time”, since it premiered at the Toronto festival. On a train, Amrit (Lakshya's revealing feature film debut) faces everything and everyone to save the love of his life, in a spectacle of visceral action that redefines the limits of violence in Indian cinema. Fans of "The Raid", get ready to discover the new bloody ballet that inserts Indian film in the gore canon with honours.
“The Surfer” will be the closing screening, taking place on the penultimate day of the Festival. Presented at the Cannes Midnight Screenings, it returns Nicolas Cage to the waters of genre cinema he so well inhabits, starring as a surfer returned to his native Australia to try and reclaim his family, but to very little welcome. Conflict with the childhood beach natives and a mid-life crisis drives him crazy in this psychological thriller where darkness takes over the sunny setting. From Irishman Lorcan Finnegan, it promises to be one of the cult films of the year.
Behold the Third Wave of news from the 18th edition, with five of the most fearsome and anticipated titles in contemporary genre cinema. The complete programme will be revealed soon.
It will be from 10 to 16 of September: we are about to go haunt Cinema São Jorge.