La chambre du fils

"The Baby's Room", to use the episode's English translation, is a chilling tale of supernatural terror set in a creepy old house. Using modern day appliances to enhance the fear level, director Álex de la Iglesia really delivers the goods.

Unpredictable, spell-binding and more than a tad frightening, this is great television.

Javier Gutiérrez is top-notch as the man-on-the-edge, Juan, whose encounters with the "other side" are memorable and hair-standingly unsettling.

Recommended for fans of the macabre, "The Baby's Room" scores 7 out of 10.

The Baby's Room is Álex de la Iglesia's entry in the Spanish horror TV series "Films to keep you awake". I saw Iglesia's cult hit 'Day of the Beast' fairly recently and was thoroughly impressed by it. Obviously The Baby's Room is not of similar quality, but it's a more than interesting little story and better than the majority of the "Masters of Horror" episodes. If you were to pigeon hole this film, it would go into the 'haunted house' genre, and although there's haunted house themes; Iglesia makes more of it than just that. The plot focuses on a young couple with a baby that have just moved into a new home. After buying a baby monitor, the couple come to believe that somebody may be in the house with them; but the truth is something far more sinister. As a mystery film, this one works well. I can't say that the plot is completely original; though the film didn't turn out to be what I was expecting which is always a bonus. The central couple are both excellent, with Javier Gutiérrez particularly standing out. There are some good moments of suspense and the director does manage to keep us interested for the duration. It boils down to a decent twisted ending and I certainly recommend this film to anyone who can get their hands on it.

The movie is based in an episode popular old horror TV-series made by Narciso Ibañez Serrador for the Spanish national TV of the time. Considering that I would say that this is an enjoyable movie. There are some surprises as the story develops and it managed to keep me wondering about the end result. Acting is not too good but it is not horrible either, and the pace is just fine.

In case you are wondering, the horror you would be dealing with here is more of the psychological type. I think it can be interesting also for an American audience, because of the way it is shot. It contains elements that make it similar to the "The Shining".

In Spain, the journalist of sports Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) has a perfect life with his wife Sonia (Leonor Watling): they have just had a baby and moved to an old house that needs to be repaired in a fancy neighborhood. When Juan's sister and her husband visit the couple, they give an electronic nanny to monitor the baby's room. During the night, Juan and Sonia hear voices in the room but they do not find anybody. On the next day, Juan hires an alarm system for the house and a monitor to observe the baby's room. When Juan sees a man in the room, he gets a knife to protect his son; however, Sonia believes her husband is insane and moves to the house of her mother. Juan investigates the happening with the former journalist Domingo (Sancho Gracia), who explains him the paradoxical experiment Schrodinger's Cat and the existence of parallel worlds. Further, he advises the obsessed Juan to leave the house otherwise could be trapped in another world.

"La Habitación del Niño" is a great supernatural movie, with an original ghost story explained through the complex Schrödinger's thought experiment. The first half of the story is magnificent, with Juan and Sonia showing a deep love for each other; however, Sonia not believing on her husband contradicts their love and friendship and the madness and obsession of Juan recalls Jack Nicholson in "The Shining". Anyway it is a totally different tale of haunted house, with great acting, frightening atmosphere and beautiful cinematography. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Presença do Mal" ("Presence of the Evil")

This movie is the first one of a series of movies made for television which are supposed to revive the spirit of the TV - show "Historias Para No Dormir". The show was very successful at the time, each episode would be a scary or disturbing story with a twist at the end. I've watched very few of these episodes as well... i am young, i wasn't even born when the show was on. The few episodes i watched had in common that there was a basic story-line which was respected all way through, except the ending, which was twisted in some way and effectively left you sleepless (As the title would say). This movie brings back the spirit and man... it feels good.

The story is very simple. Couple moves in to this house with their new born baby. At night time they hear voices through the baby-speaker, and realize that there is someone else in the baby's room. Alex De La Iglesia is an amazing director (La Comunidad, Ferpect Crime or The Day Of The Beast have confirmed this) and in here we see how with all his experience he is capable of making a typical and simple story into an entertaining and almost scary story. The final scene is very effective thanks to, Leonor Watling. I am in love with this actress not only is she beautiful but in every role she is in, she just owns it and the film, I would watch anything just for her. She delivers an interesting performance and manages to add credibility to a very intense role. Javer Guiterrez also delivers a coherent performance and manages to convey the idea of madness and confusion. Those of you are thinking that the ending made no sense, or that there is lots of things which remain unexplained... well that is the point, this is a horror flick, its only pretension is to make you tense and make you nervous all way through. As in "Historias Para No Dormir" De La Iglesia manages this , with a great story and ending, and with the great Leonor Watling.

Best Bit: L. Watling and kick - ass ending. Worst Bit: The whole thing with that old lady seemed a little too cliché and unnecessary for the story.