La comunidad

This movie was great, i really loved the character development,the way director Alex de la Iglesia used its shots and gave us this dark comedy with suspense filled film. Now as a part of my vast collection this film stands as a great film from its director, i was (and still am in some sort of way) in love with his "Day of the beast" now his latest La Comunidad is a great film that shows us a fun story about people ways into big time money. I hope you have a chance to see it and have a blast about its crazyness and its fun ways to entertain all ages. The starwars freak in this film was so funny, i just love his scenes. I want to give it a good 10 out of 10 on Spanish cool horror/suspense films.

Alex De La Iglesia is one of a triumvirate of Spanish directors whose deliciously black comedies have found a sizeable audience outside of Spain (the other two being Bigas Luna and the master Pedro Almodovar). Iglesia's debut ACCIONE MUTANTE was a wonderfully perverse low budget sci-fi parody, but it was his super-dark horror comedy THE DAY OF THE BEAST that first brought him international recognition, and a brief and unlikely stab at Hollywood with the entertaining PERDITA DURANGO.

LA COMMUNIDAD shows that Iglesia has matured a *lot* as a film maker, and feels much slicker and more accomplished than his earlier films. Carmen Maura (Spain's finest actress) plays an estate agent with a gift for telling lies, who discovers a stash of money in an appartment she has to show to some clients. She thinks this is what her life has been waiting for, but she doesn't count on THE COMMUNITY that inhabits the appartment building.

LA COMMUNIDAD is a wonderful thing - a horror movie about ordinary people. Forget mutants, satanists or the devil himself - none of these are as scary as the guy next door! Iglesia brings out the darkest side of our human nature, bringing out delicious black comedy, horror and thriller elements without the need to invoke anything supernatural or fantastical.

Iglesia's direction is assured - helped no doubt by having a veteren like Maura in the lead role. The pacing of the film is spot on, and the atmosphere and tension is built to great effect. The film is creepy, crazy and builds to real edge of the seat tension. The characters are all wonderful, and the cast give great performances. A great piece of work!

9/10

Julia(Carmen Maura)is a temp at real estate agency, her first job is to show some clients around a recently vacated apartment in an old district. The apartment is to Julia's surprise fully furnished with all mod cons and much more and with the former tenant being deceased, this gives her the idea of having a romantic meal there with her husband as its nice and bright and warm, their place is damp and cold. During a romantic liaison the ceiling falls in from the apartment above and hundreds of cockroaches fall on them, when the fire fighters arrive to check out the flat above they find the tenant deceased and decaying, Julia finds a map there and which she believes might lead her to some hidden treasure, as the deceased was a lottery millione, sure enough she finds 300 million pesetas in cash stashed under some floorboards. With all the neighbours acting curious and following her, she takes up temporary residence until she can escape with the loot.

Darkly comic thriller thats a mix between Shallow Grave and Polanski's The Tenant, with well rounded oddball characters set in a claustrophobically old apartment block. its refreshingly surprising at almost every turn, the only non surprising thing being, we the viewer know its going to be virtually impossible to escape easily with the money. As the film develops we learn the real dark truth being La Comunidad, as the pace simultaneously races, the deeds become ever more darker. Beautifully directed by the versatile Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, it's a pleasure to watch, as he mixes comedy and horror to perfection.The film as a whole is not strictly horror, but there's plenty of bravura horror scenes here to keep horror fans like myself very happy indeed.

I watched Alex de la Iglesia's 'La Comunidad' on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. This black comedy farce may bear some resemblance to films like 'Le Lòcataire' and 'Apartment Zero' but the only similarity is that all three films take place in an apartment building and the story involves the tenants. While the aforementioned examples are far darker in tone and disturbing to an extent, 'La Comunidad' is more satirical and comic.

To get the minuses out of the way, the first half is quite slow but I'd suggest that one be patient because what follows is both chilling and funny. The suspense is brilliantly maintained.

Jorge Guerricaechevarría and Álex de la Iglesia have penned a fine screenplay. The sometimes-subtle sometimes-not-subtle humour works on various levels. The laughably pathetic tenant characters are a delight and the protagonist Julia is easily recognizable. The score fits well and the lighting is exceptional. The art direction deserves special mention. The apartment building in itself is a character and the interiors look authentic.

Carmen Maura is remarkable as her performance is completely natural. Plus, she looks very hot too. The actors playing the neighbours do a terrific job too.

In the end, I'm pleased I saw this as I can always enjoy a good black comedy.

The last movie I saw directed by Alex de la Iglesia was the disappointing 'Perdita Duranga', which had very little of the inspired invention and originality of his brilliant horror comedy classic 'The Day Of The Beast'. It always felt like a bit of a compromise to me - Iglesia takes on Hollywood and loses. 'Common Wealth' sees the director back in Spain, and back in complete control, and what we end up with is a first rate thriller cum black comedy. Almodovar regular Carmen Maura leads a great ensemble cast in this hugely enjoyable movie. In some ways reminiscent of other "unexpected windfall" movies like 'Shallow Grave' and 'A Simple Plan', Iglesias then takes the basic plot premise in new, unforeseen directions. The viewer is left constantly surprised, and the film is engrossing right until the very end. Highly recommended!