Shrew's Nest

Macarena Gómez is astounding as Montse, the agoraphobic seamstress who has been taking care of her younger sister since their parents died. One day, a man who lives above them falls down the stairs and can't move. Montse takes him in, but grows so enamored with him that she makes sure he'll never leave.

Shrew's Nest borrows a little bit from Misery and a bit from melodramatic gothic stories of family secrets and crazy old spinsters going haywire, but it's incredibly well made and the acting, especially by Gomez, is phenomenal. Patient viewers will be rewarded with an all-out gore fest during the film's finale.

I was just looking for a moderate movie when I picked this up. This is a very disturbing story about misery and love. It is a nice movie overall but what a fantastic performance by Macarena Gómez, such performance would have easily landed her an Oscar if this was a Hollywood movie

One unanswered question: What happened to their actual biological mother? It's never explained and i would really like an answer to that. Now, this movie is extremely dark. Even when you want to hate our "villain", you really cant, because she is written in a way that you feel terrible for her, knowing the all the suffering she went throught, you just feel terrible for her man. She tried her best to save her little "sister", but it's just impossible.

The camera work in this is incredible. Very well shot. Acting to me seems pretty strong. We got strong writing, characters you can care for. Maybe we could have a bit more depth given to Carlos, that might of helped? Because he has barely any depth in this movie. Maybe the sister she could use a bit more depth, because all the depth is drilled into Montse, i think the girl could use some depth too. But then again what depth, when she does not remember anything.

That ending was really out of left field i was not expecting that ending. My eyes were burning during this, but it did not break me like Triangle and Grave of the Fireflies did, the two movies i just mentioned rip your soul apart. But anyway, the movie is for the most part pretty good. The intro is a bit dull, but it gets better really fast.

I have to admit I was expecting a different type of plot, more psychological less psychopath, at least from the only synopsis i've read before watching it (my bad...sorry), but even though it was a great movie, it actually reminded me of Korean thrillers... you know, the type of movies that get's your attention and you expect more. Another thing that i liked was the color/camera approach... it blended correctly with the music, a peculiar old obscure environment where it should be. I would give this more if part of the plot wasn't obvious at some points, but was good most of it. Also after reading that this is a work from a new pair of director's then i just can't wait to see more of their work! Also i really liked the main actress performance and the great make up they did on her.

And agoraphobia is the least of them.

This movie is worth watching just for Macarena Gómez's performance alone. Such an actress! Others in the cast pulled their weight as well. Some critics are dissing Hugo Silva, but an actor can only do so much when his or her onscreen time mostly involves just lying prone in a bed. Silva did fine in scenes when his character was more or less mobile.

Clearly this is a horror movie, but it has a low key comedic element as well. Only someone with Gomez's talent, and that of the director who turned her loose, could get away with the 'shenanigans' she portrayed (as Montse) and not have the audience simply shrug off the show as a silly slasher flick.

For those interested in making a low budget indie movie themselves someday, note how practically all the scenes took place in one apartment. Far less expense dealing with lighting, weather, set up time, transportation, etc. Lots of movies use one or two indoor sets for the same reason, but they rarely even approach the same energy level as Musarañas, aka Shrew's Nest.