Souvenirs mortels

Spanish Slasher full of thrills , suspense , grisly killings , chills , intrigue and plot twists . It gives a terrifying and disturbingly youthful view of fears in which posses an element of fantasy . In Spain a young artist named Nacho (Gustavo Salmeron) has gone missing , and a tough Inspector (Emilio Gutierrez Caba) is investing the strange disappearance . The police detective asks his young friends but they deny involvement . Six friends are the followings : Fele Martínez as Iván , María Esteve as Clara , Adrià Collado as Carlos , Lucía Jiménez as Patricia , Elsa Pataky as Candela and Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Ramón ; all of them become the axis of the investigation , being pressured for their knowledge of the artist's whereabouts . They all deny to know his whereabout , and soon they have reason to fear for their lives as it appears a serial killer committing a a criminal spree , as the murderer is hunting them all down. The one friend (Fele Martinez) closest to the artist seeks helplessly responses until he finds out the terrible true .

This exciting , bizarre film contains tension , thriller, drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense terror sequences especially in its final part , in a creepy denouement . The picture is thrilling and some moment brilliant, and the players are quite reliable . Enjoyable main actors formed by a Spanish-all-star-cast . Being supported by fine secondary actors such as Emilio Gutierrez Caba as a hardened detective who takes on the case and Adolfo Fernandez as Luis , among others . Creepy movie builds taut by showing virtually well staged killings , lush settings , unsettling score and evocative cinematography . Although is sometimes slow moving , overlong and stagy , however is entertaining for continuous suspense . Sinister , mysterious atmosphere is nicely photographed by magnificent cameraman Javier Salmones , and standing out blue colors with luxurious images . Suspenseful and frightening soundtrack by Javier Navarrete heightens the suspense .

This motion picture displaying genuine chills , suspense, mystery and dark atmosphere and a twisted finale , being skillfully proceeded by Álvaro Fernández Armero and turned out to one of the most unusual Spanish thrilling movies of the 2.000s and certainly one of the most unsettling . By that time , there have been realized several Spanish ¨Slashers¨ imitating to ¨Scream¨ saga , such as : ¨School killer¨, ¨Tuno Negro¨, , but ¨El Arte de Morir¨ is the best . His director Alvaro Armero was born in 1969 in Madrid, Spain . He is a good director and writer, expert on comedies and especially known for Todo es Mentira (1994), Salir Pitando , El Juego de Verdad , Nada en la Nevera and Brujas .

This movie was 1hr 42m of my life that I will never get back. It is singularly the most boring movie I have ever seen. The only suspense involved in watching this is the sensation that any time now, something is going to happen. Unfortunately, nothing ever does. The ending was wholly predictable. I can't think of a single redeeming quality for this flop of a film. It has zero substance. Every death in the film comes as expected. Watching fungus grow on the side of a dead tree in real time is more thrilling than this movie. Retirees eating soft foods give a greater sense of danger. To sum up, this movie was terrible.

Directing lacks of strength, has a few flaws, might get a little boring sometimes, but this is one of the few Spanish movies I would save if the Earth were to be wiped out by an striking meteor. At first glance (you only need to have a look at the film poster) you get the impression (at least I got it) that this is going to be a very typical teenager-murder movie, as silly and void as any other. The first, say, 30 or 40 minutes (I can't remember) don't do anything to change this point of view. The murders begin, and sometimes it gets even visually silly. But then things change, and the story starts getting really weird... what the heck's going on? you might ask yourself. When the big twist, the ultimate truth, arrives, something in your head goes off and you realise the cleverness of the story.

All in all, a clever thriller, sufficiently well put together. Could've been better done, but it's not bad. An unusual movie for Spanish standards, and I applaud that.

6 out of 10

as I saw this flick in the middle of the night, that might have made it even more breathtaking, for that is what this is, breathtaking. The idea is brilliant and quite original, the idea that one can die at different levels before the final death, and that death, however terrifying, is the final liberation. But it is the idea I loved, not the film itself. Something is lost, the staging is simple and the murders are textbook. It in the end is nothing more then a successful slasher film. I wish someone would do a remake which was actually true to the idea. The only character which really works here is Ivan, a forlorn and neglected genius, slightly schizophrenic and well, charismatic. Unlike the others, who are simply uninteresting.

This film turned out to be an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours in front of the boob tube. The film succeeds due to the entertaining ensemble cast and the great to watch acting of Fele Martinez. Man, I love this guy. He seems to make every film he's in. The films that I have seen him in I greatly enjoy. He seems to me sort of like a Spanish version of Ewan Mcgregor, maybe even better. He's very versatile and fun to watch (Lovers of the Artic Circle, Open Your Eyes, Talk To Her). For him I give the movie a 7. Without him it's a six.