Al morir la matinée

This is not what I was looking for at all, I was hopeful because of the creative usage of the movie theater atmosphere but this director was obviously more influenced by the experience of being a child in the late 1980s or early 90s and watching slasher flicks than anything else. Depressingly, the film they're watching in the theater for our "meta" experience as an audience is complete crap. Apparently, the folks creating Al morir la matinee could not purchase the rights to something a little more recognizable even if it was low grade sleaze. One Dario Argento poster for Opera hangs prominently in lobby, but we're dragged through some American D-movie I've never even heard of.

5 stars for style, totally watchable, just probably never again unless I'm stuck in a hotel with basic cable somewhere.

The action takes place in 1993 (decade of the movie Scream). Rainy night at the Montevideo Opera Cinema. A few spectators enter the large movie theater to see a Frankenstein movie at the evening performance, while the film is screened by the young daughter of the projector. But in the room there is a psychopath who will assassinate them ...

When the matinee dies is a film-tribute to the Italian giallo and his successor, the slasher. Personally, I confess that neither of the two (especially the second) convinced me as a "horror" cinema. The slasher repeats the formula of a serial killer with a sharp object and gruesome murders (with a lot of gore), with generally young victims and in some sexual or drug process, a "final girl", a heroine who faces the monster and a dose of self-awareness shared by your viewers. But his main problem for me is the poor psychological development of all his characters (including the murderer). While every genre film follows certain rules, in this one in particular, everything becomes (to me) very predictable.

The film by the Uruguayan Maximiliano Contenti has some successes and certain limitations that in this genre one does not know whether to attribute them to the genre or to the inexperience (for example, the performances).

At all times there is a certain parallelism between the film being projected and what is happening in the room. After a somewhat routine and static first part, when the action is concentrated on a group of characters, the empathy works better and the interest in the plot is consolidated, interest reinforced by the increasing truculence of the scenes and a murderer who charges more entity. Some shots are very successful (with tributes to the red giallo) and the murders deserve special mention, with a very analog and real gore.

In short, a film that lovers of the genre will surely enjoy and with an effective dose of gore.

It competed at the Mar del Plata Festival and was broadcast on cinearplay.

This a a film set in the early '90s and the ambience, clothing and set design really took me back to those care free days of my youth. All together, this was a good slasher with above average special fx.

Yes if you like slasher movies (Giallos too sure), you will have more fun with this, than other people have. And while there is no nudity to speak of, some may think that it still has enough "sexuality" (or too much?) in it. Especially the one thing that is the cinema equivalent of the Mile High dream/fantasy ... not saying all have that, but generally speaking.

But this is a horror movie, so the focus is on the kills ... and they are quite creative - especially the first one. Not just smoke and mirrors - pun very much intended. And then the killer is also sticking it to people ... anyway, there really isn't much story or plot. The movie that is playing in the theatre might have more to tell than the actual movie ... I don't know. If you watch it, watch it for the kills and thrills as they say - of course the afficionados do not need this reminder, but for everyone else: it is just a movie! No one wants that happening in real life.

The Last Matinee is a stylish and well shot homage to the giallo films of Dario Argento and maybe a few nods to the Spanish thriller Anguish. On the technical side of things, there are few complaints. Lighting is beautiful and the gore effects are really well done, but the script goes off the path a few too many times during its first hour and the pacing can get a little sluggish. The final act is at least a bit more entertaining as the surviving moviegoers band together to stop this killer who collects eyeballs.