A remake of Carlos Enrique Taboada's 1967 movienow something of a cult favoriteHasta el viento tiene miedo fared well at the domestic box-office and is enjoyable, slick entertainment. The cast is attractive and competent, the production values are solid, and the direction, photography, editing, etc., are all professional.
Although it would serve no purpose to make a detailed comparison between the two versions of Hasta el viento tiene miedo, those familiar with both films will see the basic plot is the same: Claudia is possessed by the spirit of Andrea, who uses her to get revenge on the sinister Bernarda. The 1967 film fooled around with some time-wasting stuff about boyfriends and expanded the possessed-Claudia footage to include Claudia playing the piano like Andrea did, and Claudia excelling in a literature class like Andrea did, ooh, spooky. The lesbian rationale for Andrea's death is new to the remake, the setting is of course changed from a boarding school to a treatment center (although both are located in massive country houses and have a mere handful of students/patients), and the relatively happy ending of the original (Lucía will become the new school director) is turned into a bittersweet conclusion (Lucía commits suicide to be with her true love, Andrea). Curiously, the remake includes two direct homages to the originalthe shower scene and the strip-tease scene neither of which is particularly important or relevant to the plot (even in the '67 version they were basically cheesecake titillation, and the remake ups the ante with actual nudity).
In neither version is it entirely clear why Andrea's ghost chooses the newly-arrived Claudia to carry out her vengeance; in the remake, Claudia is assigned Andrea's old room, and perhaps we are supposed to make the link between Claudia "not caring" if she lives or dies and her eventual death-and-resurrection. The new version of Hasta includes some touches which would have been unthinkable in 1967: for example, the anorexic (although she doesn't look it) Claudia has stopped menstruating (a real-life effect of anorexia); at the movie's end, she begins her period and comments that this blood represents life, as opposed to death.
The performances are quite good. Martha Higareda (the daughter of actress Martha Elena Cervantes) is becoming an important and popular actress in Mexican cinema, and has a strong screen presence. Danny Perea, who shot to fame in Temporada de patos, is prominent as the troubled Josefina; the rest of the young actresses are attractive (Mafer Malo strongly resembles Amedee Chabot in some shots) and competent, although their roles are slightly under-written. Verónica Langer doesn't have to do much but look stern, while Mónica Dionne gets to do more acting as the sympathetic Lucía. Cassandra Ciangherotti, who is billed but not credited as Andrea, has little significant screen time but is effectivethe film hedges its bets on whether she's manipulating Lucía for her own ends, or if she really has an emotional attachment to the older woman.
Hasta el viento tiene miedo is an attractive film, shot on location at an impressive house; Arturo de la Rosa's cinematography is fluid and shows no evidence of the "shaky cam" tendencies of Cañitas. Director Gustavo Moheno opts for a naturalistic style, generally avoiding flashy jump cuts, shocks, etc. The special effects are minimal, in keeping with the overall restrained tone (some might complain, on the other hand, that the movie simply isn't that scary as a result): Hasta is an "old-fashioned" character-and-plot driven fantasy film.
Hasta el viento tiene miedo is generally a pleasant piece of commercial entertainment.
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