Verónica

Since seeing the excellent and disturbing 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' I compare all possession films to 'Emily Rose'. There have been some very good possession films since and there's been some really terrible films. 'Veronica' is one of the better films, thanks to Sandra Escacena's good and natural acting as 'Veronica'.

When three girls play with a Ouija board during an eclipse - believed to be the time when darkness triumphs over light - Veronica cuts her finger on a glass when it shatters, and her blood is therefore considered an offering, or sacrifice. Things start going wrong from there, trivial at first but more intense as the film progresses. The film features some good scares, and very good visuals.

So REC was really something special, but it was a collaboration between two directors. And I do have mad respect for the other one who had "Nameless" and "Darkness" already under his belt. So Paco here goes full horror with this and the end result is quite decent. It's not really anything new you get or that interesting (possession, demons and so forth).

But it does work overall. So while it may not change your world view or shake your film world, it is something to watch, if you are into horror movies. There are quite some neat jump scares and the story has the right mood overall. The acting is also decent enough, it builds as expected and there is nothing much that is wrong with it. Except for its predictability I guess. So by the numbers, but better than off the rails

There is a lot of hype about how scary this film is but unfortunately it isn't scary. The horror is really well done but it barely moves the needle on the scare-o-meter. It's a very good film with excellent performances and a good story. The cinematography is excellent but that's no surprise to anyone who has seen REC🔴

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.

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.