La Abuela

I stumbled upon the 2021 Spanish horror movie "La Abuela" (aka "The Grandmother") from writer Carlos Vermut and director Paco Plaza here in 2022. I had not heard about the movie prior to watching it, but I will say that I was lured in by the movie's cover/poster, and the synopsis seemed fair enough.

And now having seen "La Abuela", I must say that this is a slow burn of a movie. The pacing of the narrative from writer Carlos Vermut is really slow and sort of mundane. If you are expecting a great horror experience, then "La Abuela" is not the best of choice.

The storyline was just ultimately too weak and slow paced for my liking. Sure, I will say that the concept of the storyline was definitely interesting, but it was just brutally killed by a very monotonously directed movie that moved ahead in snail pace.

I wasn't familiar with the cast list in "La Abuela", but I will say that the cast actually carried the movie well enough, especially when taking into consideration the severe limitations imposed by the script and storyline.

I managed to sit through the entire movie, but I wasn't particularly entertained, much less impressed. And there wasn't a single scary moment throughout the 100 minutes that the movie ran for.

My rating of "La Abuela" lands on a three out of ten stars. The movie was just lacking in crucial areas and moments to be worthwhile.

Paco Plaza continues to demonstrate his skill behind the camera, but as he did in Veronica, he does not get rid of the gimmicky and plays it safe with the effective. It seems that he has found his comfort zone and does not want to leave that bubble.

The film fails in how predictable it is, as you don't need more than 15 minutes to know how the story and the final climax will develop.

The best is the interpretative duel between the grandmother, magnificent Vera Valdez, and the no less spectacular performance of Almudena Amor, carrying almost all the interpretative weight of the film and coming out much more than successful.

In conclusion, you are left with a bittersweet taste because this director with these actresses should have produced a much more rounded product.

I really wanted to like this movie, I have enjoyed previous Plaza's films and the trailer for this one had me intrigued. The film has a great production desing and photography and a creepy score, but the plot was too predictable. Skeleton Key already pulled something like this. And also it was too slow burned for my taste. Glad I waited till it got to streaming.

It's like an old movie on late night TV that isn't worth changing channels for.

A Parisian model is called back to Madrid after her grandmother has a stroke. But as she starts taking care of her elderly abuela, mysterious things begin happening.

This feels like a remake of The Omen, but at the opposite end of life. It has the same slow beginning, the same weird events, and the same predictable climax.

I expected more from the director of Rec.

The scariest thing about this movie is thinking about how people are going to have to change your diapers one day.

Written by Indie Provocateur Carlos Vermut (Magic Girl) and directed by Horror Veteran Paco Plaza (Rec), expectations are pretty high going in.

And La Abuela delivers the goods. For the most part.

The cinematography is exceptional and really helps create a sense of mystery and foreboding.

Almudena Amor and Vera Valdez are perfectly cast as granddaughter and grandmother, bound together in a Madrid apartment after the latter suffers a stroke.

Essentially a chamber piece, the story plays like a dark, modern day fairy tale - a satanic retelling of Little Red Riding Hood perhaps.

While La Abuela might not surprise the audience (the twist being fairly predictable), that does not take away from the overall experience.

It is genuinely creepy and unsettling, in a way that most horror films are not.