This actually starts off pretty promisingly. It's not found-footage horror, thank god for that. It builds some nice atmosphere and some nice suspense. I watched it because a review compared it to the works of David Lynch, and really, that's far off. Maybe it does build some comparable tension and dread, but it's just all over the place, and it tries to do just way too much. The camera-work is very distracting as well, and actually doesn't add anything but just eliminated a lot of suspense and it's quite annoying. The acting is over-the-top, but not in a really bad way. The lead is pretty solid, if maybe not particularly memorable. Not recommended.
5 Reviews
This movie is.......... WEIRD
dctr66628 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
First of all, I would like to say that the actors did a very nice job... The problem with this movie, is it's presentation... confusing, weird... it seems like the characters (the main one, especially) are trapped in an endless loop, where another "copy" of Dante appears, every time the "evil" Dante is killed, and it starts all over again. In the end, the viewer doesn't know if anything is real or not... are the characters real, or just mannequins? Is Dante delusional or not? Just one tiny curiosity Tomas Samot, spells the same backwards...
Personally, I don't recommend it... the weirdness kills the mood of the movie...
Personally, I don't recommend it... the weirdness kills the mood of the movie...
Oh well
BandSAboutMovies28 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
After the death of his twin brother, Dante (Luis Machín) starts to become fearful of death, unable to deal with the thought of it, which comes up quite often, seeing as how his wife Beatriz (Julieta Cardinali) also dies. That's when he starts having hallucinations and starts to experience multiple versions of himself. As Dante is a tailor, there are a lot of mannequins as well, which allows this to be painted with the yellow tones of a giallo brush, helped by the masked and gloved killer who keeps murdering everyone around our protagonist.
Director and writer Daniel de la Vega has nearly too many ideas here with multiple duplicates and even time travel and scenes we've seen before repeated later and then shown how they impact the film. Sometimes when you shoot for the moon, you explode on the launchpad.
The good parts: the visuals look great, the Claudio Simonetti score helps and the 3D technique is more about depth than throwing things at you. It's also nice to see a good budget for a horror film from Argentina.
The bad: Near the end - massive spoiler - Dante must choose between sawing off his own hand to escape or dying. He chooses to hack himself to bits except, you know, he's in a wood chair. I'm all for giallo asking a lot and making you make narrative leaps, but sometimes, a bridge can be too far. Also: Dante has necrophobia, a fear of being around dead bodies. Isn't nearly everyone?
Director and writer Daniel de la Vega has nearly too many ideas here with multiple duplicates and even time travel and scenes we've seen before repeated later and then shown how they impact the film. Sometimes when you shoot for the moon, you explode on the launchpad.
The good parts: the visuals look great, the Claudio Simonetti score helps and the 3D technique is more about depth than throwing things at you. It's also nice to see a good budget for a horror film from Argentina.
The bad: Near the end - massive spoiler - Dante must choose between sawing off his own hand to escape or dying. He chooses to hack himself to bits except, you know, he's in a wood chair. I'm all for giallo asking a lot and making you make narrative leaps, but sometimes, a bridge can be too far. Also: Dante has necrophobia, a fear of being around dead bodies. Isn't nearly everyone?
Stunning surrealist thriller from de la Vega. Not to be missed.
The_Celluloid_Sage6 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This was a random Netflix choice one night as it sounded interesting and my kid of thing. An Argentinian film, Daniel de la Vega has been directing for quite some time now but this is the first film of his I have seen. I shall certainly be seeking out his other stuff as I was very impressed with this unusual and stylish film.
As the film opens we see a tailor in the process of making a suit. The tailors workshop looks old and is very dark and gloomy. Various mannequins adorn the premises in differing states of disrepair and decay. This whole sequence is rather creepy due to the set rather than anything actually happening on screen. Brilliantly shot and directed. The tailor then puts the suit on and a single tear runs down his cheek.
From here it becomes a surreal and at times confusing ride that we are taken on. That's not to say that that is a bad thing and I do believe that was directors intention. While not really a Giallo in the truest sense, this feature certainly contains many elements from the classic Italian style and could be considered a modern Giallo, of which many are starting to now appear. Giallo is one of my favourite genres and it's nice to see more filmmakers imitating and recreating this classic style.
The acting is superb from all concerned but especially from Luis Machin as Dante. He carries the film and is very believable in his role. The relationships between all the characters are also solid, well written and believable. The direction is wonderful and the lighting, photography and sets are all second to none. This is a director who who knows his craft and knows what he wants to see.
The use of angles and photography is clever and at times the constantly changing focus onto inanimate objects is really good and works in this type of film, though I can see many would put put off by this. One shot in particular involving a mirror which is reversed seconds later is brilliantly done. The film is a joy to watch and the cemetery scene for example is superbly shot. The director along with the cinematographer obviously know how to bring together their vision to the screen. Very reminiscent of how Kar-Wai Wong and Christopher Doyle work together.
The special effects are good for the very few instances of them. Overall a quite interesting film even for the large portions in which I had no clue what was going on. It also does not overstay its welcome with only a modest run time of seventy five minutes. Strongly recommended for fans of the Giallo genre or those looking for something away from the usual Hollywood formulaic rubbish.
The Sage's Rating: 8/10
As the film opens we see a tailor in the process of making a suit. The tailors workshop looks old and is very dark and gloomy. Various mannequins adorn the premises in differing states of disrepair and decay. This whole sequence is rather creepy due to the set rather than anything actually happening on screen. Brilliantly shot and directed. The tailor then puts the suit on and a single tear runs down his cheek.
From here it becomes a surreal and at times confusing ride that we are taken on. That's not to say that that is a bad thing and I do believe that was directors intention. While not really a Giallo in the truest sense, this feature certainly contains many elements from the classic Italian style and could be considered a modern Giallo, of which many are starting to now appear. Giallo is one of my favourite genres and it's nice to see more filmmakers imitating and recreating this classic style.
The acting is superb from all concerned but especially from Luis Machin as Dante. He carries the film and is very believable in his role. The relationships between all the characters are also solid, well written and believable. The direction is wonderful and the lighting, photography and sets are all second to none. This is a director who who knows his craft and knows what he wants to see.
The use of angles and photography is clever and at times the constantly changing focus onto inanimate objects is really good and works in this type of film, though I can see many would put put off by this. One shot in particular involving a mirror which is reversed seconds later is brilliantly done. The film is a joy to watch and the cemetery scene for example is superbly shot. The director along with the cinematographer obviously know how to bring together their vision to the screen. Very reminiscent of how Kar-Wai Wong and Christopher Doyle work together.
The special effects are good for the very few instances of them. Overall a quite interesting film even for the large portions in which I had no clue what was going on. It also does not overstay its welcome with only a modest run time of seventy five minutes. Strongly recommended for fans of the Giallo genre or those looking for something away from the usual Hollywood formulaic rubbish.
The Sage's Rating: 8/10
Excellent movie
ajescudero18 November 2017
Many of the dislikes I have heard come from people that want to see a movie that leads by the hand. This is not that kind of movies and most of the times is why Argentine movies are destroyed by American adaptations. It's a low budget movie with few excellent Argentine actors and a very catchy story.
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