El arte de morir

I have to admit that when I decided to see this movie I was completely sure it was going to be another "Scream" clone. Despite that, since it was the first Spanish horror movie that belonged to this new "horror-movie-for-teenagers" genre, I though it might be interesting to watch.

How little could I imagine that it was going to be much more intelligent and scary than any "I know what you did last summer" type of movie(It also has some flaws,though, but I'll take about them at the end). The plot seems rather similar to that of the movie I've just mentioned, but only at the beginning, because afterwards it has amazing plot twists that don't just focus on the identity of the killer. (Even though the final plot twist isn't good enough)

The way it's directed helps the movie be different too, making the movie kind of "cold" and distant. To be honest, I think the director has got inspired by films such as Crash and Gattaca to set this kind of mood.

The performances are good, specially the main two characters, even though sometimes they behave strangely. (They seem to be a bit unfocused sometimes, but maybe that's the way their characters are supposed to be)

As for the bad things, the movie gets a bit boring towards the end, not because of what happens, but because of the performances and the direction (I know, I'm contradicting myself a little bit here, since I've said all of this was good, but maybe the director should have made things go faster at the end and make the character's personalities not so monotonous.) Then, when you thing it's over, there are two more plot twists that instead of getting better and better get worse and worse, and make the ending less interesting.

Overall, "El arte the morir" is a GOOD movie BRILLIANTLY directed and with fairly good CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. And it's much more intelligent than Scream2 and "I know what you did last summer" and its sequel. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Spanish Slasher full of thrills , suspense , grisly killings , chills , intrigue and plot twists . It gives a terrifying and disturbingly youthful view of fears in which posses an element of fantasy . In Spain a young artist named Nacho (Gustavo Salmeron) has gone missing , and a tough Inspector (Emilio Gutierrez Caba) is investing the strange disappearance . The police detective asks his young friends but they deny involvement . Six friends are the followings : Fele Martínez as Iván , María Esteve as Clara , Adrià Collado as Carlos , Lucía Jiménez as Patricia , Elsa Pataky as Candela and Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Ramón ; all of them become the axis of the investigation , being pressured for their knowledge of the artist's whereabouts . They all deny to know his whereabout , and soon they have reason to fear for their lives as it appears a serial killer committing a a criminal spree , as the murderer is hunting them all down. The one friend (Fele Martinez) closest to the artist seeks helplessly responses until he finds out the terrible true .

This exciting , bizarre film contains tension , thriller, drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense terror sequences especially in its final part , in a creepy denouement . The picture is thrilling and some moment brilliant, and the players are quite reliable . Enjoyable main actors formed by a Spanish-all-star-cast . Being supported by fine secondary actors such as Emilio Gutierrez Caba as a hardened detective who takes on the case and Adolfo Fernandez as Luis , among others . Creepy movie builds taut by showing virtually well staged killings , lush settings , unsettling score and evocative cinematography . Although is sometimes slow moving , overlong and stagy , however is entertaining for continuous suspense . Sinister , mysterious atmosphere is nicely photographed by magnificent cameraman Javier Salmones , and standing out blue colors with luxurious images . Suspenseful and frightening soundtrack by Javier Navarrete heightens the suspense .

This motion picture displaying genuine chills , suspense, mystery and dark atmosphere and a twisted finale , being skillfully proceeded by Álvaro Fernández Armero and turned out to one of the most unusual Spanish thrilling movies of the 2.000s and certainly one of the most unsettling . By that time , there have been realized several Spanish ¨Slashers¨ imitating to ¨Scream¨ saga , such as : ¨School killer¨, ¨Tuno Negro¨, , but ¨El Arte de Morir¨ is the best . His director Alvaro Armero was born in 1969 in Madrid, Spain . He is a good director and writer, expert on comedies and especially known for Todo es Mentira (1994), Salir Pitando , El Juego de Verdad , Nada en la Nevera and Brujas .

Directing lacks of strength, has a few flaws, might get a little boring sometimes, but this is one of the few Spanish movies I would save if the Earth were to be wiped out by an striking meteor. At first glance (you only need to have a look at the film poster) you get the impression (at least I got it) that this is going to be a very typical teenager-murder movie, as silly and void as any other. The first, say, 30 or 40 minutes (I can't remember) don't do anything to change this point of view. The murders begin, and sometimes it gets even visually silly. But then things change, and the story starts getting really weird... what the heck's going on? you might ask yourself. When the big twist, the ultimate truth, arrives, something in your head goes off and you realise the cleverness of the story.

All in all, a clever thriller, sufficiently well put together. Could've been better done, but it's not bad. An unusual movie for Spanish standards, and I applaud that.

6 out of 10

This movie was 1hr 42m of my life that I will never get back. It is singularly the most boring movie I have ever seen. The only suspense involved in watching this is the sensation that any time now, something is going to happen. Unfortunately, nothing ever does. The ending was wholly predictable. I can't think of a single redeeming quality for this flop of a film. It has zero substance. Every death in the film comes as expected. Watching fungus grow on the side of a dead tree in real time is more thrilling than this movie. Retirees eating soft foods give a greater sense of danger. To sum up, this movie was terrible.

Spain has made good impression lately with movies such as The Nameless, tesis, Abre los ojos, Los amantes del circulo polar... Unfortunately el arte de morir fails to impress. it inspires boredom instead of inspiring awe and terror. The murders depicted (it's a slasher film) are uninteresting which is the worse defect for a film of that genre.