1974: La posesión de Altair

Director Victor Dryere's horror proposal is gritty, tenacious and bold. Just when the audience was starting to get bored of the narc-crime and poverty Mexican themed films that populate international film festivals, comes a new perspective from a filmmaker that is a part of a new generation of Mexican auteurs. Even though some will say that it is too early to refer to Dryere as an auteur, the fact remains that through the (almost) 5 years it took him to finish this piece, he remained true to his voice and maintained creative control over his work; and it shows. The fact that he pushed the boundaries of a somewhat overused narrative tool (the found footage) by enhancing it with detailed sound design and unsettling music, makes the audience overlook the slow pace of the first act and the simplicity of the script, by taking us onto a full cinematic and sensory experience; well acted and thoroughly rendered. The result is more than fulfilling. Once the film is over and the enigmatic mystery that surrounds the characters is finally unveiled (won't spoil the ending for you), one is left with the satisfaction that comes with good storytelling, plain and simple. The moments of horror are few, but well constructed, both visually and aurally, with a quality that is uncommon in Mexican thrillers and horror films in general. And the fact that the film was actually shot in crude 8mm film gives it an authenticity that is rare and extraordinary. All in all a well constructed, powerful first work, which produces the sensation that this filmmaker is for real, and that we better be on the lookout for what he comes up with next.

This film was a really good horror film. The director has great storytelling talent. Film had a nostalgic feeling because it was shot with 8mm camera. It felt real and I was totally blown away by the birds when they were hitting themselves to the windows and killing themselves and then eating the dead birds. That froze my mind. It was scary. The found footage genre do not give you enough room to explore the different point of views of other characters except the one holding the camera but this film was very well done and it reminded me of another film which I saw, House of Temptation.

I just saw it yesterday and it is one of those movies that are original and to the point, as it was filmed on a 8 mm camera it looks kind of dark and mysterious and it works perfectly with the movie, it is the first film by this director and I would say that he has a lot of potential, it is actually the first Mexican-Horror movie that I watched and I definitely give it two thumbs up!

The trouble with the constraints of Found Footage is the difficulty of coming up with anything original in what is undeniably a flooded - and largely uninteresting - market. I wasn't expecting much but this film surprised me by going a long way towards delivering something different. Firstly the lo-fi video made a pleasant change and the lack of clarity was used to great effect for background menace in one or two scenes. Secondly, while the fate of the protagonists was made clear at outset per FF convention, the plot took some unexpected turns to arrive there.

It has a few flaws and evidently the budget was limited for special effects but this didn't detract from the experience. I would recommend this as a superior example to anyone with an interest in the Found Footage genre.

It took me an age to find this. It's a Mexican FF horror. Highly recommended for FF fans. It's set in 1974 and a grainy camera is used to give more authenticity. It starts off pretty basic but by halfway through you can tell it's going to get better. It's definitely worth a watch if you can find it. I don't want to give anything away as it's better going in blind. As I said, it took a lot of digging to find this and you'll need to seek out the subtitles on your own. All in all, I highly recommend this to Found Footage, it's definitely one of the better in this sub-genre. If you can find it. 8/10.