Les témoins du mal

Halloween evening and I was on flick two of Fangoria's FrightFest of which "The Haunting" was one of eight movies. To be honest, I'm a bit of a subtitle snob as I'm a very visual person and love to get totally immersed in the sound and images of a movie and hate reading. And since my Spanish does not extended to understanding an entire movie, I went with the English 2.0 sound of which there is an odd hollow phasing I presume is not in the original mix so be forewarned if this is the audio you are accessing. Despite that this is a chilling movie with some very effective special FX and a moving score. The use of the "No-Do" short docu footage works in well with the storyline. Performances are steady throughout. Again, it's the visuals including some nice cinematography that's most effective on this film.

Spanish terror movie that explores the psychological disintegration of a possessed woman well played by Ana Torrent . It deals with Francesca (Ana Torrent) , a hard-working as well as stressed pediatrician who is dedicated to both motherhood and her job , married to another physician called Pedro (Francisco Boira) . Following the birth of a new child and the advice of a councillor (Rocio Muñoz) , the couple rent an isolated house from the Catholic Church . She attempts to retrieve peace and serenity in a new home away from the city , but in this recent house happens strange events and things go wrong . As they move an impressive and solitary mansion that results to be haunted by ghosts . As the the attic and the basement are locked and they hide awful secrets . She soon starts to communicate with invisible dark forces and it is from both these places that Francesca puts on the edge close to insanity . Meanwhile , a major priest (Francisco Casares) assigns the case to a miracle investigator , Father Miguel (Héctor Colomé) . The film finishes with a Philip K. Dick quote: "If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others".

Melodramatic ghost story about a woman , Francesca : Ana Torrent , with tortured soul who brings her family into a ghostly mansion where is starting to hear and see fantastic , creepy things . It gives a terrifying and disturbingly adult view of fears in which posses an element of melancholy with a upsetting woman who seems to drift dangerously close to madness . Influenced by Bayona's The orphanage , Polanski's Repulsion , Amenabar's The others and Del Toro's Pan labyrinth , it has a forensic eye for the eerie atmosphere which wreathes itself around dolls , everyday objects and domestic settings . Interesting screenplay by Elio Quiroga himself , revolving the mental disintegration of a woman overwhelmed by weird figures and ghostly shadows start tormenting her , as the protagonist receiving visits by night that are slowly driving her insanity . Director Elio Quiroga wanted the film to hark back in tone to 40s and 50s NODO trailers that turn out to be the best parts of the film . There are lots of shots with visual effects in them feature across this picture . Good performance from main protagonist Ana Torrent as Francesca , a woman who suffers from postpartum depression and takes on terrible ghosts . Torrent has developed a long career from little girl as ¨Espiritu De La Colmena¨ or ¨El Nido¨ to adult woman as ¨Thesis¨ , ¨Yoyes¨, and international films as ¨The other Boleyn girl¨, ¨The Tulse Luper suitcases¨ , among others. Support cast is pretty good , such as Héctor Colomé as a miracle investigator , Maria Alfonsa Rosso as a rare old woman and Rocio Muñoz as psychiatrist Jean .

Colorful and evocative cinematography by Juan Carlos Gómez , being skillfully cameraman , shot on location in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands and Torrelodones, Madrid . Thrilling as well sensitive musical score by Alfons Conde . The motion picture was well directed by Elio Quiroga . Here he offers an emotionally overwrought story about ghosts in unashamedly melodramatic style . Although it failed at the box office opening for a film in its native Spain . Quiroga is a good writer and director , here displaying genuine chills , suspense , mystery and dark atmosphere and twisted finale . It resulted out to one of the most unusual Spanish thrilling movies of 2009 and certainly one of the most unsettling . Quiroga is a nice filmmaker , known for ¨Fotos¨ , ¨Nodo¨ and his most successful film , ¨La Hora Fria¨ ; he also directed shorts and documentary . This film NODO is dedicated to the memory of Joaquim Jordà (1935 - 2006), Spanish filmmaker. Rating : Better than average , worthwhile watching .

Lately, Spanish cinema has toasted us with some interesting horror and thriller films. "The Orphanage" is an example that I can refer to and that I remember right now. So I was expecting more from this movie. The plot consists of the story of a family going to live in the countryside, to a house where a Catholic bishop lived. Of course, that house has a lot of obscure secrets, but this is quite evident from the start. Incidentally, the whole film is quite predictable and this spoils the potential pleasure of watching it. But the biggest problem is the amount of subplots that mix like the threads of a spaghetti, quickly causing such a confusion in the public's head that it simply loses interest in the story.

This film didn't create a continuous and growing feel of tension or discomfort, basing itself on scares to make "American style" horror. As for the actors, I don't know any of them, I'm not the greatest connoisseur of the actors in the country next to mine, but I felt that none of them stood out for the positive, even though everyone has done his work reasonably enough. Special effects and CGI seemed to me solid and decent.

Moving into a new house, a young woman learns that her increasingly paranoid reactions and psychotic breakdowns are the results of the lingering ghosts left in the house by it's concealed history from the Spanish Civil War and tries to end the curse left by that tormented history.

This one ended up being a surprisingly fun and decent Spanish haunted house film. One of the more enjoyable features found here is the rather fun and spirited storyline which manages to maintain it's sense of fear and thrills throughout here. The multitracked story manages to include a rather fun amount of thrills here by readily engaging the multiple storylines including the connection to the Spanish Civil War in the continuous newsreel footage or home videos showing the different treatments that befell all the prisoners which comes through well enough here to give this one the kind of setup for later. That backstory sets this one's best aspect, as there are some rather impressive hauntings here which make for a rather fun time when it starts to let them go in the middle half and the visuals that accompany them are a lot of fun. From her dreams and hallucinations of the ghostly figures in her bedroom taunting her by sleeping with her husband to the violent acts she believes she commits against her baby as well as the manifestations of the ghosts around the house, this one generates the appropriate atmosphere with plenty of creepy scenes. The other scenes, featuring the sounds over the baby monitors which ties the backstory into the ghostly actions plaguing the house, her hallucinations of the ghosts appearing as her children or the sounds of creaking floorboards or rattling doors, are far more traditional haunted house style shocks. These also help give this one a far more chilling atmosphere which helps to even out the religious imagery that gets incorporated into a rousing finale that evokes the best of the old-school burning-down-the-house styles so often employed before. This makes for a great ending and raises this one pretty high, although there are a few problems. One of the main issues is that it's too complicated for this type of haunted house story to make sense. This is a case of having way too much going on for its good, as there are three different backstories from the Civil War in the house, her backstory of the family troubles and the later talk involving the Church's actions here all being played out trying to piece together what's going on, and it eventually gets frustrating trying to keep everything straight. What also holds it back is that it has some rather troublesome CGI that looks bad here when it's being used despite not having a lot of opportunities, and although the film doesn't exploit it this stands out for the use overall. That said, it's not as bad as the other issues here.

Rated R: Language, Violence and Nudity.

In 1947, three little girls in a Catholic boarding school claim that they had seen the Virgin Mary and are capable to heal the needy people. Fifty years later, the local Catholic Bishop that lives in the old house dies and the medical doctors Pedro (Francisco Boira) and his wife Francesca (Ana Torrent), who is depressed and under psychological treatment, rent the isolated house from the Catholic Church to raise their baby Pablo in the countryside. However, the attic and the basement are locked but the Church promises to recover and deliver the rooms later. Francesca is obsessed with the safety of Pablo, having nightmares during the night. She is also haunted by noises and apparitions and is in the edge close to insanity. Meanwhile, the psychiatrist Priest Miguel (Héctor Colomé) discharges the patient Blanca (Maria Alfonsa Rosso) that had slept for fifty years from a Catholic institution. When Blanca meets Francesca in the real estate, she gives the name of Priest Miguel to the physician. Francesca visits the priest and discloses a disturbing secret about the old house.

In the period of General Franco's dictatorship, the news and documentaries NO-DO (Noticiarios y Documentales) was propaganda projected in the movie theaters before the movie. The film "NO-DO" is a messy ghost story with creepy moments, good special effects and performances that entwines many sub-plots in a confused screenplay. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Olhos do Mal" ("Evil Eyes")