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[REVIEW] I Was Left ‘Terrified’ By ‘Aterrados’

Terrified follows a variety of characters throughout a twisting narrative of terror (bear with me). After witnessing the death of Clara (Natalia Señorales) at the hands of the supernatural, Juan (Agustín Rittano) finds himself institutionalized. Walter (Demián Salomón), Clara and Juan’s neighbor, finds himself harassed by a terrifying entity. Across the street, Alicia (Julieta Vallina) grieves at the recent loss of her child, who gets untimely killed (but I won’t tell you how!). Commissioner Funes (Maximiliano Ghione), Alicia’s ex, reaches out to coroner/paranormal investigator Jano (Norberto Gonzalo). Jano meets Dr. Mora Albreck (Elvira Onetto), a paranormal researcher who is in town to examine whatever is going on with Walter. Rosenstock (George L. Lewis) also joins the team as a paranormal researcher.

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Everyone is so enthusiastic about the prospect of Damien Leone killing a bunch of kids in Terrifier 3. As someone who dislikes these films, I couldn’t care less. Trick ‘r Treat killed off kids in a uniquely terrifying way back in 2007 and since then I didn’t think it had been topped. That was, until When Evil Lurks came around. Writer/director Demián Rugna brought one of the most shocking and unexpected child deaths to horror since Trick ‘r Treat. What separates a filmmaker like Demián Rugna from Damien Leone is intent. No one just wants to see children die (except for some writers at Horror Press), but what makes it work is when the death overtly affects the story progression. Damien Leone tells his story beat by beat, with no real effect on Art’s senseless killings. Demián Rugna uses these moments to create and craft the story. These two are not the same.

Somehow, Rugna’s third feature film escaped my eyes. Even though Aterrado (known as Terrified in the States) made waves when it hit Shudder and was talked about constantly, I never ended up watching it. What a huge mistake that was. Watching Terrified as a 30-year-old gave me the same exact feeling I got when I watched Insidious in theaters as a 15-year-old. I was afraid to turn the lights off before going to bed. Every bump and clank in my apartment made me look over my shoulder. And now I’m even more scared of buses.

Terrified follows a variety of characters throughout a twisting narrative of terror (bear with me). After witnessing the death of Clara (Natalia Señorales) at the hands of the supernatural, Juan (Agustín Rittano) finds himself institutionalized. Walter (Demián Salomón), Clara and Juan’s neighbor, finds himself harassed by a terrifying entity. Across the street, Alicia (Julieta Vallina) grieves at the recent loss of her child, who gets untimely killed (but I won’t tell you how!). Commissioner Funes (Maximiliano Ghione), Alicia’s ex, reaches out to coroner/paranormal investigator Jano (Norberto Gonzalo). Jano meets Dr. Mora Albreck (Elvira Onetto), a paranormal researcher who is in town to examine whatever is going on with Walter. Rosenstock (George L. Lewis) also joins the team as a paranormal researcher.

One day, Alicia’s deceased child’s body shows up. And muddy footprints accompany the corpse. At this point, Jano, Commissioner Funes, Dr. Albreck, and Rosenstock decide on a ghost hunt. Little do they know…this was the worst idea they could ever conceive.

Watching When Evil Lurks first set expectations I wasn’t sure Terrified could fulfill. Granted, filmmakers usually get better over the years, but a bar was set. Surely there was no way a ghost movie could be as bloody and brutal as When Evil Lurks. Boy was I wrong. Terrified starts off with a bloody and frightening kill that sets a tone I was not expecting. With a mixture of physical horror and supernatural horror, Terrified effortlessly switches horror subgenres without ever missing a beat.

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The biggest hurdle I have with foreign ensemble films is balancing subtitles with characters. Terrified throws multiple characters at you very quickly. Juggling the dialogue with characters while trying to read the subtitles and correlate them with the actors was a bit difficult to start. Even though I love watching foreign films, it did prove slightly difficult for a short period of time with Terrified. Honestly, that’s the only issue I could find with the film. By about the 15 or 20-minute mark, I was well acquainted with the characters and names, so this didn’t last as an issue.

Demián Rugna crafted a tight and utterly terrifying film with Terrified. There is no question that Rugna is one of the leading names in horror today. Something lurks deep in the recesses of his mind that allows him to continually create films as scary as these. Quite a few times, Rugna previews the scare. He allows you the opportunity to know what is about to happen, and somehow, it’s still absolutely bone-chilling. One scene sticks out where there is obviously a creature of some sort underneath a bed, but they can’t see it from one side of the bed. As they slowly make their way to the opposite side of the bed you know you’re about to be frightened. Even with the notion that a fright is imminent it STILL works. Tell me how many filmmakers can pull that off.

If you haven’t seen Terrified, you must rectify that immediately. It’s Insidious on steroids. In this age of endless content, it’s easy to become desensitized to horror. For every twenty Tubi movies, there is one Terrified. Finding films like this, films that truly elicit scares, is like finding a needle in a haystack. Get some friends together, shut the lights off, light some candles, and prepare to be Terrified.

You can stream Terrified on Shudder.

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Brendan is an award-winning author and screenwriter rotting away in New Jersey. His hobbies include rain, slugs, and the endless search for The Mothman.

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[REVIEW] The Unconventional Extremity of ‘Demonlover’ (2002)

Demonlover (2002) follows a French-based company, Volf Corporation, which is in the process of acquiring a Japanese animation studio. Diane (Connie Nielsen) is leading the acquisition after successful corporate espionage takes her boss Karen (Dominique Reymond) out of commission. Karen’s assistant, Elise Lipsky (Chloë Sevigny), vows to make sure Diane doesn’t have an easy go with any of this. Once Volf Corporation takes control of the Japanese anime studio, they try to set up a deal with an American distribution company called Demonlover, which is run by Elise Si Gibril (Gina Gershon). It soon comes to light that Demonlover is nothing more than a front for an extreme interactive torture website called the Hellfire Club.

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As a horror-centric publication, how do you follow up the month of October? It’s our Super Bowl, our Grand Prix! Curator of all things Horror Press, James-Micael Fleites had the best possible idea for the month of November: New French Extremity. New French Extremity has a few films that always come to mind when discussed with films like Martyrs, Frontier(s), and Haute Tension. But many great New French Extremity films don’t get the recognition they deserve–and the ones that don’t deserve it still need to be discussed.

The first one I think is necessary to discuss is one that teeters on the idea of horror: Demonlover.

Demonlover (2002) follows a French-based company, Volf Corporation, which is in the process of acquiring a Japanese animation studio. Diane (Connie Nielsen) is leading the acquisition after successful corporate espionage takes her boss Karen (Dominique Reymond) out of commission. Karen’s assistant, Elise Lipsky (Chloë Sevigny), vows to make sure Diane doesn’t have an easy go with any of this. Once Volf Corporation takes control of the Japanese anime studio, they try to set up a deal with an American distribution company called Demonlover, which is run by Elise Si Gibril (Gina Gershon). It soon comes to light that Demonlover is nothing more than a front for an extreme interactive torture website called the Hellfire Club. (If you thought reading that was tedious, you can only imagine how long it took me to write that.)

Let’s get the two positives out of the way first. At its soul, Demonlover tries to exist as a commentary on our extreme desensitization of violence in the modern age. Much of this desensitization started in the late ’60s when the Vietnam War was televised into people’s homes and furthered by Ted Turner’s obsession with money and the creation of the 24-hour news cycle. That was all the catalyst. When Al Gore invented the internet, that’s a joke, we had no clue just how awful the outcome would be. Demonlover’s commentary on violence in consumed media is important, but that’s really all it has going for it. Is that one piece of commentary worth an over two-hour-long student film? (More on that later.) There’s also the commentary on corporate espionage, but it falls flat compared to the rest of the film’s commentary.

The second, and final, positive aspect of Demonlover is the acting and specifically Connie Nielsen, Chloë Sevigny, and Gina Gershon. Simply put, they are bad bitches and I love them. The ‘extremity’ of this film (I watched the unrated director’s cut) wasn’t really anything to write home about, leaving the majority of carrying to these three women. It’s hard to say I didn’t like this film when the performances were as powerful as theirs were.

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And that’s it. The film as a whole feels like a first-draft freshman film school drivel. It’s unfocused when it needs to be focused and focused when it doesn’t. The only other film I’ve seen by writer/director Olivier Assayas is his segment in Paris, Je T’aime so I can’t effectively comment on his overall style. But Demonlover feels like Assayas had an overall grand idea that became bogged down by personal preference, kinks, and an overinflated ego.

If I had a friend who said they wanted to watch a real art film, there is no way I would show them this. Because that’s all Demonlover is: an attempt to make an art film with some commentary. Assayas tries to assault your senses with sex, blood, and “authentic” violence but fails at nearly every aspect. Demonlover feels nothing more than self-masturbation; a film that proves he’s holier than thou. And let me tell you, he is far from that. At its core, Demonloveris a two-hour-long horror-adjacent exercise in futility.

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[REVIEW] BHFF 2024: ‘Timestalker’ Is Timeless

Timestalker follows Agnes (Alice Lowe) through multiple decades throughout her shared life; from the 1800s to the present day, to the 1980s, and countless other decades. Agnes happens to run across the same guy in each life: Alex (Aneurin Barnard). Their strained, often one-sided love, spans their respective lifetimes in fascinating ways. While Agnes searches for her love she finds herself on the receiving end of a scorned lover by way of Nick Frost. Can Agnes and Alex find the love they are seemingly destined for?

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As someone who reviews horror content, I tend to be picky about what I decide to watch. I know what I like and what I don’t like. I cannot stand time loop films. They just don’t work for me, from Groundhog Day to Happy Death Day. And time difference love films like The Lake House? Don’t even get me started. That being said, if I stumble upon one of these types of films that pique my interest, I will go out of my way to check it out. When I read about Alice Lowe’s directorial follow-up to Prevenge, I was excited but still skeptical. Prevenge was an exciting and well-put-together horror film that caught me off guard and I knew I had to watch whatever Alice Lowe made next.

Timestalker follows Agnes (Alice Lowe) through multiple decades throughout her shared life; from the 1800s to the present day, to the 1980s, and countless other decades. Agnes happens to run across the same guy in each life: Alex (Aneurin Barnard). Their strained, often one-sided love, spans their respective lifetimes in fascinating ways. While Agnes searches for her love she finds herself on the receiving end of a scorned lover by way of Nick Frost. Can Agnes and Alex find the love they are seemingly destined for?

Since I mentioned it at the top, let’s discuss the time aspect. It should be noted that this is definitely not a time-loop movie in the typical sense. Writer/director Alice Lowe handles the time-jumping aspect of Timestalker with ease and class. Rather than trying to find some overcomplicated and underdeveloped explanation for the film’s timeframe, Lowe does something rarely seen. You can take what Lowe tells you in the third act at face value. Do you believe it or not? There’s probably no wrong answer. But if you dig a bit deeper, and believe in love and whimsy, there’s a whole other element to Lowe’s craft. (Getting into it would be too much of a spoiler.)

Honestly, I’m happy to say this is one of the very few time-based films that works incredibly well for me.

Lowe struck gold with her casting and brought multiple A-list British actors on board. First, and foremost, Alice Lowe. Lowe stuns with her lead portrayal of a character I’m pretty sure she wrote for herself. And rightfully so. Lowe’s comedic timing is unparalleled, and she’s not afraid to make herself the butt of the joke.

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Scipio (Jacob Anderson) is an intricately written character and almost a mouthpiece for the audience. Jacob Anderson is, aside from devilishly handsome, a thrill to watch. He blends into the background when necessary and chews up the scenery when needed. But it’s Nick Frost who steals the show. Whether he’s huffing and puffing after Agnes or literally barking like a dog, you can’t help but giggle (and sometimes gasp in shock) at his performance. Also, it’s always a blast to see Kate Dickie in anything.

Timestalker was introduced by a couple of people. Caryn Coleman, of The Future of Film is Female, said something incredibly interesting about Timestalker. There will be discussions about whether or not this film is considered horror or sci-fi but according to Coleman, “It’s a horror film about love.” I couldn’t say it any better myself.

This film is not your typical horror film. It’s a deconstruction of what horror means to people. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to love or be loved. In this modern age where Vice President nominees tell you you’re less of a person for not having kids or being married by a certain age, the idea of love is being retconned. If your love isn’t the way it’s “supposed to be” then you’re wrong. And that’s bullshit.

Timestalker is a fun and fascinating breakdown of what is. I don’t think this film will work for everyone, and I’m about 80% sure a particular group of people (looking at you, Vice President nominee, and fans) will take away the wrong message from this film. Those who get this film will get it. Those are the people Alice Lowe made this film for.

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