Verónica

Watch it with friends! It's not bad and not so original but it achieves the purpose of watching a horror movie with friends! The leading girl is stunning and delivers her role!

Deriving the screams from its sinister atmosphere instead of relying on jump scares, Verónica is genuinely effective when it gets all the genre elements right and benefits greatly from its no-nonsense direction & sincere performances but it's unworthy of the "scariest ever" tag that was given to it by some easily frightened people.

I really don't know why some people have said that this movie is boring. It's not. Sure, it's not the most original horror I've ever seen - it owes a lot to many, many others horrors and thrillers - but, thanks to strong performances and good, if not altogether original, little directorial and editing techniques, and an effective score, I didn't feel bored with it at all. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but, I have to say, I don't see a lot for the film's detractors to focus on. I think 'Verònica' is a fairly good movie.

Let me start off by saying I have certain difficulties with foreign films, having been raised on Hollywood standards and conventional cinematics. I consider this to be a personal flaw and the result of early age conditioning, which honestly should have been broken by now following masterpieces such as Ju On (Japanese) and Martyrs (French). Unfortunately, this flaw often makes me delay watching foreign Horror even when it's conveniently and immediately available on Netflix. Thank heavens I eventually get to it, or I would have missed on Veronica, which is in my opinion simply an excellent and fun film.

It is noteworthy to mention that virtually nothing about Veronica is innovative or original, save for certain aspects of the evil spirit's behavior and methods. From the painfully overdone story (teenagers using Ouija board, evil follows, haunting commences) to the portrayal of the haunting itself (poltergeist effects apparent in the house, mouth agape beyond what is physically possible for humans etc.) Veronica resembles any of the dozen plus ghost stories proceeding it in the past decade. And yet, something about the different atmosphere, the unique and almost idiosyncratic features of the spirit and the added value from witnessing the heartwarming relationship between the protagonist and her younger siblings simply makes Veronica a rewarding and fun viewing experience from start to finish. Acting is right on the spot even by young Iván Chavero making a very impressive debut, soundtrack and cinematography accompany the story and characters just as they should, and everything simply fits together perfectly.

The ending is slightly disappointing (as is the case with many Horror films), with a failed and completely unnecessary attempt at a plot twist (the film would have fine without it). This combined with the aforementioned lack of innovation makes me somewhat surprised and confused as to how much I honestly enjoyed this film. Like I said, everything simply comes together perfectly regardless to most of the features which are usually required to make a good Horror film great. All I can say is that I wholeheartedly recommend Veronica to any Horror fan, even if some of you might find it to be mediocre and average at best. I certainly haven't.

I really wanted to be scared by this movie. But I wasn't. It's simply a stock standard possession movie that's been done a million times before. I wouldn't say its a bad film, but it's certainly NOT the great horror film it's been hyped up to be.

I couldn't help but see this film, not as a scary supernatural film ... but as a sad and tragic story of a teenage girl who reaches puberty and begins a slide into a psychosis that has devastating consequences for her and her family.