The Corpse of Anna Fritz

Well this all escalated rather quickly and ended just as quick...

quite believable other than a couple of moments but other than I quite enjoyed it x

Some movies have big spoilers in their own titles, basic plots or trailers. There, you have clues of what production team want you to know. I'll try not to go further.

We are introduced in the very beginning (by journalists' fragmented threads on voice-over) to Anna Fritz persona and we are get to know that she is a worshiped celebrity. Her death is where it all begins.

Then we are taken to the point of view of three curious guys that want to see her for the first and last time. What I can say it's not a good idea.

This movie have some violent scenes. If you are more or less sensible to 'moral terror', despite the comments of the toughest viewers, I think you will suffer.

From one specific moment, the story they are about to tell us, could perfectly fit in horror genre, but it clearly follows the way to a claustrophobic crime flick.

The cast is good, especially for the pretty Alba Ribas who plays Anna Fritz (in some shots she looks a little like Chloë Sevigny). The characters are made for the plot, so don't expect a great character developing (runtime being 76', it's not possible in an action centered movie). The pace is fast, and it works. No place for being bored. Give it a chance!

So from now on, it seems we have more reasons to be afraid of dying!

A famous actress, Anna Fritz, has died and a young man working at the hospital morgue impresses his two buddies with her fresh corpse. On a dare, the boys decide to have a little fun with the sexy but cold body. Bad choices in life go south rather quickly as trouble is ahead and trouble behind in this adventure. The lead actress makes for a fine dead body but the three guys are not exactly A list actors. The movie is mildly amusing and is only an hour and sixteen minutes. Dive in at your own risk.

I have to admit that I was quite hesitant to see this film at the Brussels International Film Festival… After all, the title doesn't sound very cheerful and the two-line plot summary reveals absolutely nothing about the movie except for the perverted premise. The only I got beforehand was: "Imagine your best friend calls to say that he's in the same room as a famous actress and she isn't saying no to some action between the sheets… The only problem: your friend works at the morgue and the actress has recently deceased!" Okay, intriguing idea, I'll be the first to admit that. But where will it go from there? I hope it won't be a 76 minutes long-feature movie showing three guys committing necrophilia! Or will they get caught and does the whole thing turn into a courtroom drama? Or even worse, will the actress emerge from her deathbed as a zombie and shall she alternately rape and butcher her three assailants? I decided to purchase the ticket for "The Corpse of Anna Fritz" after all, and certainly didn't regret it. I won't reveal what does eventually happen (although many other people blatantly revealed it in their reviews) but writer Isaac P Creus and director Hèctor Hernández Vicens made the absolute most out of it and I'll gladly proclaim that "The Corpse of Anna Fritz" is a very suspenseful and absorbing thriller with a few unpredictable twists and a handful of notably frightening moments. The one thing you shouldn't expect, though, is gratuitous or repulsive footage. The necrophilia theme is quite controversial, of course, but the nudity and sexist sequences are kept to a minimum. The film does go quite far in showing how far people are prepared to do in order to protect their own sorry ass, like betrayal and even murder, which results in a number of brutal but nevertheless confronting and realistic sequences. Since there are only a couple of set pieces and a very limited cast of characters, "The Corpse of Anna Fritz" very much depends on the strong acting performances and the surefooted direction of Hèctor Hernández Vicens. It's a very simple yet effective shocker that occasionally makes you wonder how you would react in such a situation. Hopefully different than these guys!

It's a well built simple story. Nice twist at the end.