El cadáver de Anna Fritz

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!

Anna Fritz (Alba Ribas) is not a human being. In the public eye, she's a celebrity, a religion, an object. "The Corpse of Anna Fritz" makes this clear in its opening scene. As we see her lifeless corpse being moved to the morgue, voice-overs of people on the news are heard. They discuss her impressive career, shower her with compliments on her looks, and gush over how perfect a human being she is. This makes what follows all the more interesting.

Three friends end up in the morgue, alone with her corpse. Though there are brief and glossed over moments of ethical struggle before things get down and dirty, the characters are one-dimensional and serve a distinct purpose in the story. There's the moral compass, the antagonist and the spineless coward. While certain moments could have been more tastefully done, the film does raise questions on whether there is a grey area between right and wrong. In the hands of another team, this could have been a film further beyond our comfort zones that delved into its meaty themes of moral conflict, the ethics of necrophilia, the difference (if any) between the ownership of one's body before and after death and the repercussions of celebrity idolisation.

To be fair, the film does do something different in terms of the way the story shifts focus and evolves with its turns. The acting is fine but not entirely convincing, with Ribas being the stand out.

For a second I had thought that the film would end without its final twist, which was preceded by a intense escape sequence that's noteworthy. This would have been a subversive choice but would probably feel out of place given what they were going for: an entertaining, if predictable, midnight movie that's safe and thus more satisfying.

The movie does its job.Its thrilling till end.It gas some horror moments too.All the characters are complicated.Wonderful thrilling experience

One of the things I really love about this film is how precisely its told. At no point did I feel that the film was dragging on, nor that it was showing me something that was unnecessary to the plot. I also loved how quickly it dealt with its exposition in the beginning of the film. A lot of directors would have spent 15 minutes or more following Anna Fritz on the red carpet, showing her fans cheering at her, and then cut to her being found dead. This film deals with all exposition within the first two minutes, leaving the viewer to only have to focus on the films tension. The Corpse of Anna Fritz really shows how you get a lot out of a small budget, and is a great example of "less is more".

This film is incredibly tense, and had me on the edge of my seat throughout most of the film. This is due to a very good score, great pacing, as well as all actors performing really well, especially Alba Ribas.

The visual style is really good. I really like way its lit, and the hand-held camera increased the tension, drawing me into the film.

One of the most tense indie-thrillers I've seen in a long time.

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.