Secuestrados

Jaime (Fernando Cayo), his wife Marta (Ana Wagener) and their teenage daughter Isa (Manuela Vellés) move to a dream house in Madrid and they plan a family dinner to celebrate. Out of the blue, three violent hooded thieves break in their house and hold the Marta and Isa hostage while their leader goes to the bank with Jaime to withdraw money from the family bank accounts in a tragic night of terror.

"Secuestrados" is a brutal and bleak film that combines the storyline of the 1955 "The Desperate Hours" with the disturbing violence of the 1997 "Funny Games". This film is recommended only to very specific audiences, defense lawyers and judges, since sensitive persons or someone who has experienced similar home invasion will certainly feel very bad with the graphic violence of "Secuestrados". Unfortunately we see many similar cases in the news on television every day. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Horas de Medo" ("Freightening Hours")

Tension, suspense, and unsettling scenes when a family is harassed by some dangerous criminals . Three hooded Eastern-European delinquents burst into a gated community home on the outskirts of Madrid , and forcing the father to empty his credit cards. This exciting movie deals about Jaime (Fernando Cayo of ¨23F¨) and Marta (Ana Wagener), a mature marriage with a daughter (Manuela Velles of ¨Caotica Ana¨ by Julio Medem) who holds her usual youth problems . At home they are trapped and locked by an ominous band (Barrientos , Biba, Kupier) . The family is besieged and terrorized by the psycho-killer attackers and then look for some means to getaway .

This spooky picture about some criminals holding the family hostage in its own home contains terror, shocks, suspense, grisly killings and numerous creepy scenes . The film packs terrifying and hair-raising frames and lots of blood and gore . This violent story is filmed in similar naturalist and realist style to ¨Michael Hanake's Funny Games¨, ¨Henry, portrait of a killer¨ , directed by James McNaughton and ¨Rec¨ by Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza . Shot in 12 takes with camera over shoulder and Steadicam , including splitting screen . While the look is suitable eerie and frightening, the argument spreads to the breaking point and the ending turns out to be a little frustrating . Suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Sergio Moure (Unconscious). Dark and shaded cinematography by Pedro Marquez , shot in Las Rozas , Madrid. The motion picture is strangely directed by Miguel Angel Vivas , an expert on rare atmosphere as he also proved in ¨Reflejos(2002)¨ with George Corraface , Ana Fernandez and Emilio Gutierrez Caba . It's a strong film and quite a big impact, gaining several prizes as ¨Austin Fantastic Festival¨ won Horror Jury Prize Best Director Miguel Ángel Vivas and Best Horror Feature ; ¨Bogota Film Festival¨, Nominated Golden Precolumbian Circle Best Film Miguel Ángel Vivas and ¨Camerimage¨ prizes . In spite of its violence ¨Kidnapped¨ or ¨Secuestrados¨ achieved undoubted success and important reputation .

I consider a home invasion to be one of the most paralyzing fears existing in the dark recesses of our minds. I'm not the quiet family type either, but the mere idea of it has always made me deeply uncomfortable.

In "Kidnapped," director Miguel Angel Vivas has succeeded in bringing the horror, confusion, and chaos into full lens view of what this may look like for a well-to-do and quiet family unit. Once the stage is set and hell breaks loose, the underlying theme of this film is head-spinningly chaotic.

The film follows the archetype of many of its genre predecessors: a perfectly normal (if not mundane) opening, initial chaos, breakdown of the plan amongst its instigators, and a fitting climax. If you've already seen a bunch of similar movies and are sick to death of the formula, you can skip "Kidnapped." I'm comfortable saying you wouldn't enjoy it.

But if you are like me, and are overcome at the deeply horrifying notion of the home invasion, and you are intrigued at the ways artists bring this to the screen -- you will find something much deeper, genuine, and unsettling about this movie than in your previous pursuits.

The winning ingredient is Vivas's seamless direction, weaving an excessively intense story over twelve long cuts (no "A" and "B" cam here, folks). It contributes to an almost voyeuristic nature that the film harbors, in which you are attracted to something horrifying you are seeing with your own eyes, and cannot look away. Because of these long shots, the acting is often sustained over periods of several minutes, delivering what true and uninterrupted fear and shock may look like in this scenario. Action sometimes happens only intermittently; for example, scenes of extended quiet sobbing are ferociously punctuated by a gunshot or a threat, in a way that constantly demands the audience's attention. The cinematography, editing, and score are up to par with Vivas's vision, and rope everything together to create scenes of unbearable tension.

As far as home invasion films go, "Kidnapped" may be the most flawlessly produced film in its genre.

Unfortunately, I found the final fifteen minutes of the film to descend into a level of violence and absurdity that does not match with the rest of the film's style. The false ending and subsequent conclusion ended the film on a gimmicky platform that left a bad taste in my mouth. To explain fully, I would need to give away the ending -- but hopefully you'll see what I mean.

To the genre fan, the sloppy ending should not deter you from seeing "Kidnapped." This is an overall captivating movie, and should absolutely be on your radar.

A quick note -- seek out the Spanish-language version of this film. In order for the director's vision to shine through, you need the original dialogue. The English-version dub is awful and will take away from your viewing experience.

Three hooded Eastern-European criminals burst into a home in a Madrid gated community, holding the family hostage in its own home, and forcing the father to empty his credit cards.

The opening scene is creepy and disturbing, with visuals somehow reminiscent of "Timecrimes". While the two films are worlds apart, this just sets the tone for how disturbing everything will be. And "disturbing" is the operative word, as home invasion is the most disturbing horror subgenre because of its realism.

A successful home invasion film feels real, feels like something that could really happen to any of us at any time. It is not a killer in the woods or an alien, but real criminals that can beat, kill or rape us on a whim. Such situations are rare (thankfully), but all too possible. This is, by the way, a successful one, right up there with the best (such as "Funny Games").

The biggest complaint is that there is some poor dubbing at times, especially on the daughter. But if the film is watched in Spanish with subtitles, such a nuisance can be avoided.

Just when you thought that this types of movies (that Kidnapped is a part of), might have run dry, fresh blood comes and makes things interesting again (no pun intended). I'm not the biggest fan of those movies since an Austrian took the "Funny" (Games) out of it. But this Spanish effort has a lot going for it.

I liked the actors, I liked the fact that it "went places", that made it different. And while I didn't think it was perfect, the tension it builds (with simple premises) and the fact, that it stays as real as possible (but is still very violent) all build up to an exciting climax. Though I guess that might also be called one of its weakest points, by those who didn't like the movie