Mirindas asesinas

The beginning of the decade of the 90s saw the rise of a whole new generation of directors in Spain, who through the last decade of the 20th Century would redefine Spaniard cinema and demonstrate that there was more in their country than Pedro Almodóvar's melodramas. Among that new generation of filmmakers (that also included names like Alejandro Amenábar, Enrique Urbizu and Julio Médem in its ranks) was a young comic book writer from Bilbao named Álex De la Iglesia, who after working in the art direction department of Urbizu's 1991 comedy "Todo Por la Pasta", decided to focus his career on film. His first movie, the short film "Mirindas Asesinas" (Literally "Killer Mirindas"), would not only be his first work as a director, but also his first collaboration with writer Jorge Guerricaechevarría, marking the debut of one of the most creative teams in modern Spaniard cinema.

The story of "Mirindas Asesinas" is set in a bar where a man (Saturnino García) is relaxing as usual after a hard day of work. There is a storm outside, and suddenly, a strange looking short man enters the establishment (Alex Angulo) and sits by the bar. Nervously, the strange man asks the bartender (José Antonio Álvarez) to give him a Mirinda (a popular orange flavored soft drink), which the bartender serves him immediately. After drinking his glass, the man stands up and prepares to leave, but the bartender stops him and demands to be paid. The man refuses to pay and states that he asked the barman to "give him" the drink, not to "sell him" one, so he takes out an enormous machine gun and brutally kills the bartender. After the homicide, he looks towards our hero, who watched the whole scene in panic, and asks him politely "give me a Mirinda". And that's just the beginning of his torture.

Written by both Guerricaechevarría and De la Iglesia, "Mirindas Asesinas" is very funny short film that playfully mixes horror, suspense and comedy in a story that already shows the duo's famous acid black humor at its fullest potential. While simple in its construction, the writers use the plot to play with the conventions of movies about serial killers, as in this case, the psychotic murderer is a diminutive man (clearly inspired in the figure of Woody Allen) who enjoys to murder or psychologically torture people in order to get his beloved Mirindas. Wild, absurd and anarchic, the black humor in "Mirindas Asesinas" goes certainly over the top in an almost comic book style; but in the end, it's that irreverent Grand Guignol style of storytelling what gives the film its charm and forecasts the writers future work.

In "Mirindas Asesinas", director De la Iglesia already shows a pretty good eye for visual compositions; no doubt a result of his years of working in the comic book industry of his country. The black and white cinematography (by Kiko De la Rica) is very good, and together with the electronic organ music that serves as score gives the movie a very atmospheric 60s look that makes a funny contrast with the events depicted on screen. While not a perfect movie, "Mirindas Asesinas" is very well constructed and has a nice pace; and even when the mix of genres may not be entirely successful, it's hard not to fall under the movie's charm. With a touch of camp that spices up the black comedy, this wildly fun short film feels like a bizarre kitsch homage to Spaniard cinema and the horror genre in general.

The work done by the actors is simply excellent, with every member of the small cast delivering a great performance in their small roles. In the main role, Álex Angulo (who would become a regular collaborator of De la Iglesia) plays the unlikely psychotic "Tubular Killer", in a remarkable performance that shows his natural talent for comedy and shows that even at this early stage his career already had a lot of potential. As our traumatized hero (funnily labeled "poor devil"), Saturnino García is simply delightful, as while even when his character is little more than a caricature, he never fails to make his character interesting and sympathetic. As written above, the rest of the cast is very good, although it's worth to point out that Ramón Barea is specially funny in his take of familiar Spanish stereotype.

For a debut, "Mirindas Asesinas" is remarkably good, and while obviously it doesn't compare to De la Iglesia's posterior work, it has a lot of what has made his movies enjoyable through his career. Despite some problems with the sound and fact that its over the top humor may not be for everyone, "Mirindas Asesinas" is an excellent debut that not only fans of De la Iglesia will be able to appreciate, as its simple yet witty brand of comedy never fails to be entertaining despite its darkness. Two years after making this, Guerricaechevarría and De la Iglesia would make the jump to feature length films with the indie classic "Acción Mutante", and another two years after that the duo would get international acclaim with "El Dia De la Bestia". and to think that all this came thanks to a Mirinda. 8/10

Alex De La Iglesia's first short movie plenty of horror , comedy , blood , amusement and embarrassing situations . It deals with a strange man (Alex Angulo) comes into a bar in which there's only one other customer (Saturnino Garcia) and asks the bartender (José Antonio Alvarez) to serve him a Spanish orange drink called Mirinda . But then he refuses to pay for it , saying that the bartender had never warned him that he would have to . Then , the bartender insists and the man takes out a rifle . Then the man asks the other customer to keep serving him more Mirindas, and therefore this other man sees himself forced to replace the bartender , for fear of what the killer will do to him if he doesn't. Things go wrong , when another customer (Ramón Barea) shows up at the bloody Pub .

Alex De la Iglesia's Short in which he blends creepy elements with humor , tongue-in-cheek and thrills ; so , the tone of the film is light-hearted . The short was completely developed with black humor , with a good staging and a white photograph in black and white by Kiko de la Rica . From this ¨Mirindas asesinas¨ Alex would dedicate himself to writing scripts together with Jorge Guerricaechevarría, his inseparable scriptwriter and together they developed the story of "Mirindas Asesinas" in 1991 and subsequently following a lot of films . His debut was very well received and that is how Pedro Almodovar , after seeing the short, and through his production company El Deseo Films collaborated with De la Iglesia's first feature film entitled "Acción Mutante" (1993), a futuristic thriller where a group of mutants Terrorists fight for the rights of the ugly.

Alejandro ¨Alex¨ de la Iglesia Mendoza is an irreverent Spanish director with great storytelling ingenuity . In addition to being a famous director, he has a degree in philosophy from the University of Deusto and a former cartoonist . He was born in Bilbao on December 4, 1965 , and before directing his first short "Mirindas Asesinas" De la Iglesia served as artistic director in the short film "Mamá" (1988) by Pablo Berger in which comedy, science fiction are combined and some horror . Later he performed the same task in the thriller "Todo por la pasta" (1991), by Enrique Urbizu . De La Iglesia , is well known as the Spanish king of black comedy . He's a cool director has got several successes : ¨Dying of laughter¨ , ¨Baby's room¨ , ¨Oxford murders¨ , and ¨Perdita Durango¨ is probably the weirdest Javier Bardem film ever made . And , of course , ¨Day of the beast¨ and ¨La Comunidad¨ obtained the unanimous praise of both the critics and the public and result to be a lot of fun¨, especially for those who enjoy surrealist humor , they won several Goya prizes and and resulted to be a turning point in his meteoric career ; from then on he became his own producer, beginning with '800 bullets' (2002) through the Pánico Films company . In addition , he produced a TV Series : ¨Pluton BRB Nero¨ (2009) with similar characters and atmospheres to ¨Mutant action¨ and he would get international acclaim with "El Dia De la Bestia" , ¨Las brujas de Zugarramurdi¨ (2013) , ¨La chispa de la vida¨ (2011) , ¨Balada triste de trompeta¨ (2010) , El Bar (2017) , Perfectos desconocidos (2017) , among others . Winner of several Goyas (Spanish Oscars), however his movies have not yet reached box office in USA, but he has strong followers , as his films have a kind of comic edge to them . Nonsense, ridicule , laughters , absurdity , disturbing scenes and many other issues ; you can find everything in Alex de La Iglesia flicks . This ¨Mirindas asesinas¨is without a doubt a thrilling and enjoyable Short that captures the essence of the best Alex De La Iglesia, a filmmaker who, at this point in his own story, is respected and admired worldwide and has the most committed fans in the film universe . This Spanish terror/thriller/comedy short was much praised by critics as well as public during its European festival run .¨Mirindas asesinas¨ to be enjoyed for terror aficionados and Alex De Iglesia fans .

MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!!! BLOODY AND CRAZY.

I've seen this movie on school, and i remember that all my friends and me, really can't stop to laugh. but, not only for that this is a great film; you can feel the fear, the anger and another feelings; and that's just because, the director wanted to do that. when you end of seen this movie, you can recognize that.

Great acting, it's so exaggerate, but, this is a comedy. So, if you are a film maker you'll can see, that you don't need a lot of money to make a extraordinary film.

So watch it, laugh, cry and watch it again.