Ninho de Musaranho

I was just looking for a moderate movie when I picked this up. This is a very disturbing story about misery and love. It is a nice movie overall but what a fantastic performance by Macarena Gómez, such performance would have easily landed her an Oscar if this was a Hollywood movie

Macarena Gómez is astounding as Montse, the agoraphobic seamstress who has been taking care of her younger sister since their parents died. One day, a man who lives above them falls down the stairs and can't move. Montse takes him in, but grows so enamored with him that she makes sure he'll never leave.

Shrew's Nest borrows a little bit from Misery and a bit from melodramatic gothic stories of family secrets and crazy old spinsters going haywire, but it's incredibly well made and the acting, especially by Gomez, is phenomenal. Patient viewers will be rewarded with an all-out gore fest during the film's finale.

Shrew's Nest (Musarañas) is an acceptable film that exploits one woman's social insanity after being condemned to an apartment prison by her own fears . Spain , 1950s ; Montse's agoraphobia keeps her locked in a sinister apartment in Madrid and her only link to reality is her youngest sister . It deals about the tense relationship between Montse (Macarena Gómez) and her much younger sister (Nadia de Santiago), who has just turned 18 . Montse has become a stern maternal figure ; she's a fragile creature who can only exercise her authority by dispensing corporal punishment to the younger woman as she sees fit . But one day, a reckless young neighbor , Carlos (Hugo Silva) , falls down the stairwell and drags himself to their door . As Monse can't step one foot out of their apartment before collapsing in a fit of anxiety and stress . But someone has entered the shrew's nest and perhaps he'll never abandon .

The picture is full of suspense , mystery , screechy bursts of violence and lots of blood and gore . Shrew's Nest (Musarañas) marvelously exploits one woman's social craziness after being locked to a flat by her own fears . The picture is a peculiar crossover of ¨Misery¨ , ¨What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?¨ and ¨Copycat¨. As this terror as well as claustrophobic flick shown to the audience gets more and more exciting . It's a slow-burn mystery that explodes like a fireworks finale once the side effects of agoraphobia transform in a wild fit of genre psychosis . This slick horror feast is a triumph of style over movie logic . It's packed with overwhelming as well as upsetting images , excessive violence and grotesque killings . The main starring suffers Agoraphobia , it mays sound silly to most, but for its victims, passing through a domicile's entryway is like a portal directly into hell, bringing on panic attacks, insurmountable fear and irrational dread – a fantastic wrench thrown into any horror film's story . Here is treated some disturbing issues such as craziness , astonishing nightmares , incest ; including eerie images and grisly killings . Good acting by Macarena Gomez , she's a fragile woman who can only exercise her authority by dispensing corporal punishment to her innocent sister well played by Nadia De Santiago . And enjoyable performance by Luis Tosar, giving an awesome acting as incestuous father . Furthermore , brief intervention by Carolina Bang , Alex De La Iglesia's wife who usually appears in his films as main star or secondary role .

Thrilling and frightening musical score by Joan Valent . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Angel Amoros . The motion picture was presented at the International Film Festival 2015 in Panama , getting a great success ; being well produced but in low-budget by Alex De La Iglesia , a great expert on terror genre as proved in ¨El Dia De La Bestia¨ , ¨La Comunidad¨ , ¨Witching and bitching¨ and ¨La Habitacion Del Niño¨ , among others . And professionally directed in 22 days by Juanfer Andrés and Esteban Roel that unleash a torrent of pent-up emotions in the form of a bloody suspense thriller . It had Goya Awards 2015 , as Won Goya : Best Make-Up and Hairstyles , Nominated Goya : Best Lead Actress , Macarena Gómez and Best New Directors ; Cinema Writers Circle Awards, in which Won CEC Award , Best New Director and Won Turia Award : Best Actress Macarena Gómez .

Although this is a bit of a copy of the Stephen King book and movie Misery it does it in spades and illustrates the quality of horror / thriller / drama that Spain has always produced and still continues to while Hollywood just bashes out the same old regurgitated plots and remakes and the UK cannot make anything worthwhile anymore either.

The main thing that puts this head and shoulders above other films is the utterly magnificent acting from Macarena Gomez not to mention all of the cast who are superb. Then we stir in the excellent makeup effects, camerawork and direction and you have simply everything coming together to make a worthwhile nights watch which is a rare thing these days!

Whilst it may not be that original in story it is a refreshing and utterly horrifying true horror movie - Instead of feeling revulsion you actually feel sorry for the Shrew herself and the dreadful life she has had - The director has excelled in evoking emotion from the audience and if a film can do this then its a good one in my view.

I give this one a full 7.5 hatchets!

It really is amazing that producer Alex de Iglesia has gotten so far without being a world celebrity film maker. This one is a quickie directed by a couple of his colleagues with unfamiliar players (Mrs. de Iglesea, the striking Carolina Bang, has a quite small part) and while it has a personality of it's own we can still see the macabre, master-crafted Iglesea style in it.

We get one of his closed environments like the apartment block in LA COMUNIDAD or Resines' space ship in ACCION MUTANTE, here a flat in a fifties Spanish apartment block, which the camera never leaves. Shut in seamstress Gómez (who proves to have a scream queen background that includes a Stuart Gordon Lovecraft adaptation) terrorizes her younger sister, former child actress Nadia de Santiago, now at the age where getting out of the house to work has made her take an interest in boys. Then neighbor Silva falls down the stairs - and proves to have a secret of his own. Throw in religious fanaticism and morphine addiction.

Gripping, perverse, bloody but not without rounded characters in the confusion. The great Luis Tosar is particularly imposing in his small footage.

Giving us some idea of the shortness of the film critic memory a few writers have cited MISERY but no one seems to notice that it's retreading WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE.