O Apóstolo

It's a really well done stop-motion animation happening in Galicia, a region of Spain.

The puppets are great, dark and artistic. The whole scenes and landscapes reflects perfectly the region and the atmosphere of terror. It reminds me of some Tim Burton classics. It just should be a little longer with a prolonged end.

If you're a fan of stop-motion animation, turned to adults, I strongly recommend seeing this one.

It's a small but wonderful and fascinating pool to fish in; the subgenre of macabre animated movies! You wouldn't give it to them, perhaps, but some the most haunting, unsettling, and downright disturbing movies I have ever seen in my life are (puppet-) animated films, like "Animal Farm", "Any Way the Wind Blows", "The Plague Dogs", "9", "The Nightmare before Christmas", or "Tower". So glad to be able and add a new favorite to the list with this atmospheric, grim, and compelling tale from Spain!

Despite a successful passage at several festivals, I oddly hadn't heard about "The Apostle" around the time of its release. I found out it existed via the beautiful documentary "The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry", about the life and career of Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy, who provided his recognizable and eerie voice to the puppet of the obnoxious Cardinal. And since this was one of Naschy's final projects to work on before his death, I promptly had two good reasons to seek out the film! "The Apostle" came out a few years after Naschy's passing, and it's dedicated to his memory.

"The Apostle" is the delightfully uncanny tale of a little ghost town hidden deep in the woods of Galicia, and slightly astray from the famous pilgrimage path to Santiago de Compostella. The town has been cursed since many decades, and for the handful of inhabitants to remain alive, they must do horrible things to the pilgrims they lure to their town and offer shelter for the night. Ramón, an escaped convict searching for a hidden loot of jewels, suddenly finds himself in the middle of the mystery.

Admittedly there are some massive holes and logical errors in the script, but I easily forgive writer/director Fernando Cortizo for this, because his movie is so incredibly dark and twisted, and absorbing to boot! The highlights include an epically illustrated flashback explaining the origin of the curse and a couple of frightening moments involving ghosts, that certainly shouldn't be seen by young children. The animations are astonishing! A lovely detail is that the puppet-characters are designed after the actors/actresses that provide them with voices, and in the case of Paul Naschy, Geraldine Chapman, and Xosé Manuel Olveira this is job well done, for sure.

The tale takes place in a cold winter , Galicia , Northern Spain , along Camino Santiago and everyone knows that until you reach Santiago, anything can happen . Two prison convicts , Ramon (voice by Carlos Blanco) and Xavier (Luis Tosar) escape from prison , one of them attempts to retrieve a loot hidden years ago in a lonely village . It is a thrilling as well as eerie story about a few characters , and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-spooky as well as complicated Santiago paths . It covers the pilgrim route to Santiago De Compostela where our starring meets sinister elders , weird disappearances , creepy spirits , pagan traditions are still alive , a peculiar priest , Nosferatu-alike , and even the Archpriest of Santiago (voiced by Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) along with his helper Pablo (Jorge Sanz) will cross their walks in a history of horror .

This exciting story has local myths , Galician legends , here we get the folklore , traditions , history of the north of Spain and many other things . Apóstolo isn't only the latest animated offering from Spain, but it reflects upon Spain's rich history in film animation , it stands out with awesome marionettes . For some, the more recent "Planet 51" was considered a major landmark due to the budget size , overseas box office, and the huge technical advances it made in rapport to previous films in the genre, but the latest animated offering has since shifted plans, is a bigger, more detailed, stereoscopic 3D item that is poised to become a benchmark in the animation field. The puppets are magnificent , they create the adequate movement and are beautifully made. The story and the mood are closely inspired by the likes of Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride", and even the animated dolls bear remarkable resemblance to classic muppets "Thunderbirds" by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson . Voiced by a known group of Spanish actors such as Jorge Sanz as Pablo ,Geraldine Chaplin , Manuel Manquiña , Isabel Blanco , Luis Tosar who looks exactly like his role as an inmate in "Celda 211 and special mention to Paul Naschy as the archpriest who grabs a science-fiction magazine , and in fact the cover of the magazine is a picture of Paul Naschy from a previous horror movie. Mysterious and evocative musical score from Xavier Font , Arturo Vaquero and prestigious Philip Glass .

Directed by newcomer Fernando Cortizo, he carries out a good and groundbreaking realization which was set to have its world premiere at Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival and Malaga Festival where achieved a lot of success . Director Fernando Cortizo chose to have the actors record their dialogue outside of a studio and on location to increase the naturalness. O Apóstolo is unlike previous films in the genre since it's one of the first animated films in Spain in which the target audience is for mature audiences.

The atmosphere of this film will take you to the magic lands of Galicia and will show you the tales and folklore of the northernmost region of Spain.

Brilliantly animated it seeks to transport you to a classic horror tale as if a hammer film production would appear before your eyes. It truly captures the folklore and classic horror tales that have existed in Spain for centuries.

The story follows a thief who's looking for a little town where he means to steal a few jewels to find a better life. However he'll find himself in various horrible situations.

It's not a big budget film, don't think they had as much money as Disney does, and yet is tremendously romantic and beautiful.

Give it a go, it's quite unique!