Películas para no dormir: La habitación del niño

The Baby's Room is Álex de la Iglesia's entry in the Spanish horror TV series "Films to keep you awake". I saw Iglesia's cult hit 'Day of the Beast' fairly recently and was thoroughly impressed by it. Obviously The Baby's Room is not of similar quality, but it's a more than interesting little story and better than the majority of the "Masters of Horror" episodes. If you were to pigeon hole this film, it would go into the 'haunted house' genre, and although there's haunted house themes; Iglesia makes more of it than just that. The plot focuses on a young couple with a baby that have just moved into a new home. After buying a baby monitor, the couple come to believe that somebody may be in the house with them; but the truth is something far more sinister. As a mystery film, this one works well. I can't say that the plot is completely original; though the film didn't turn out to be what I was expecting which is always a bonus. The central couple are both excellent, with Javier Gutiérrez particularly standing out. There are some good moments of suspense and the director does manage to keep us interested for the duration. It boils down to a decent twisted ending and I certainly recommend this film to anyone who can get their hands on it.

The movie is based in an episode popular old horror TV-series made by Narciso Ibañez Serrador for the Spanish national TV of the time. Considering that I would say that this is an enjoyable movie. There are some surprises as the story develops and it managed to keep me wondering about the end result. Acting is not too good but it is not horrible either, and the pace is just fine.

In case you are wondering, the horror you would be dealing with here is more of the psychological type. I think it can be interesting also for an American audience, because of the way it is shot. It contains elements that make it similar to the "The Shining".

This is NOT the typical old house horror movie.

A young couple with his kid (about 1 year old) moves to an old house. They soon realize there is something wrong in the house when they start using a baby listener (and wireless TV monitors later on). They think there is someone (a thief) trying to get a way into the house to do a further robbery or kidnapping of the kid, as it seems the most sensible explanation for the things that are happening. Juan starts to fear and can't sleep. This will affect their marriage as well as Juan's job. He will try to find out what it happening...

It doesn't take much to do a good terror movie, and this is a good example. A good idea, very real characters and reactions (they pass through different stages as they cannot understand what is going on), I found it really frightening despite (or due to) it's simplicity.

In Spain, the journalist of sports Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) has a perfect life with his wife Sonia (Leonor Watling): they have just had a baby and moved to an old house that needs to be repaired in a fancy neighborhood. When Juan's sister and her husband visit the couple, they give an electronic nanny to monitor the baby's room. During the night, Juan and Sonia hear voices in the room but they do not find anybody. On the next day, Juan hires an alarm system for the house and a monitor to observe the baby's room. When Juan sees a man in the room, he gets a knife to protect his son; however, Sonia believes her husband is insane and moves to the house of her mother. Juan investigates the happening with the former journalist Domingo (Sancho Gracia), who explains him the paradoxical experiment Schrodinger's Cat and the existence of parallel worlds. Further, he advises the obsessed Juan to leave the house otherwise could be trapped in another world.

"La Habitación del Niño" is a great supernatural movie, with an original ghost story explained through the complex Schrödinger's thought experiment. The first half of the story is magnificent, with Juan and Sonia showing a deep love for each other; however, Sonia not believing on her husband contradicts their love and friendship and the madness and obsession of Juan recalls Jack Nicholson in "The Shining". Anyway it is a totally different tale of haunted house, with great acting, frightening atmosphere and beautiful cinematography. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Presença do Mal" ("Presence of the Evil")

Frightening and twisted film by the king of black comedy , Alex De La Iglesia . Outrageous movie with odd characters , surreal imagery and thrilling plot . Alex De la Iglesia is an excellent and outlandish Spanish director , he had much success as "Accion Mutante" , " El Dia De la Bestia" , "Perlita Durango" , ¨Crimen Ferpecto¨ , among others . Here deals with a young couple (Javier Gutierrez , Leonor Watling) with a recently born child arrive at their new home. It is a marvelous old house that has been utterly renovated and the ideal location to begin life as a family . The couple receives visits from his parents , sister and brother-in law (Eulalia Ramon , Ramon Barea) . Then , the couple go to bed after a tiring day , before going to bed, the couple go and check the child monitor , a very latest computer that has been installed in the baby's bedroom. It not only does it allow you to listen in while the baby is sleeping, it lets you watch the baby as well . Suspense gives way to terror when a strange presence can be felt every night, right beside their baby's cradle . It closely followed by embarrassing events that doesn't take long in coming to a head in undisguised pandemonium .

This is a full-on surreal terror movie that blends thrills , suspense , tension as well as an intriguing script full of horror , drama and exciting situations . The film belongs to a TV series titled ¨6 films to keep you awake¨ or ¨Historias Para No Dormir¨ presented by Narciso Ibañez Serrador who directed the classic series of the 60s. They are formed by the followings : Blame , Spectre , A real friend , Xmas tale , To let and The baby's room . Packed with scenes of fantastic nature , this story is a exciting as well as frightening , as we follow the strange situations of a young couple whose destination is dictated by terrible events . Good acting by the starring couple , Javier Gutierrez and Leonor Watling , who will soon discover that there is someone else living in this house and then forced to face dangerous happenings . The narration is so filled with interesting characters , crazy violence mixed with surreal elements and an underlying sense of horror , and it is so excessive and plenty of surprises, one can't help but keep watching, much as it is over the top in many an occasion. Alex De La Iglesia has created a good TV picture here that in all honesty is very difficult to categorize in terms of genre , as there's a little bit of gruesomeness , quite a lot of fantasy , a good deal of suspense and a host of extreme terror ; but it does not fit into any one genre very well at all, in truth this is one of the things that makes it nice . De La Iglesia reigns in his style this time around and gives an utterly watchable takedown of horror that certainly delivers a few madly inspired moments . Acting personnel all do excellent work in bizarre roles , but special notice needs to be made for Sancho Gracia as the previous reporter Domingo, who explains him the paradoxical experiment about the existence of parallel worlds . Excellent plethora of secondaries as Antonio Dechent , Eulalia Ramon , Ramon Barea , Maria Asquerino , Asuncion Balaguer and De La Iglesia usual's : Antonio De La Torre , Gracia Olayo , Manuel Tafalle , and Terele Pavez and many others . Interesting screenplay Alex De La Iglesia and Javier Guerricaechevarria who usually work united . Atmospheric as well as glamorous cinematography by Jose Luis Moreno with a good camera work . Suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Roque Baños , the soundtrack flows great with the film in every way, and creates fantastic atmospheres in every moment.

The motion picture was well directed by De La Iglesia . He's a cool director has got much success as ¨Accion Mutante¨ ,¨Dying of laughter¨ or ¨Muertos De Risa¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , ¨Balada Triste De Una Trompeta¨ and ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made . And of course 'La Comunidad' obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and results to be a lot of fun, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor .'La Comunidad' (2000) won several Goya prizes and a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . Nonsense, ridicule , laughters , absurdity , disturbing scenes .. and many other issues ; you can find everything in this flick . ¨The baby's room¨ captures the essence of the best Álex De La Iglesia, a filmmaker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . This is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable movie to be enjoyed for terror buffs and Alex De Iglesia fans.