27/13
A tense, scary, melancholic, suffocating fantasy thriller with a touch of a ghost story
Tale
It follows a child named Emma on her journey to learn how to communicate with the spirit of a girl, Uxo, who has been trapped in a hermitage for centuries, and tries to persuade Carol, a skeptical medium, to help her. A supernatural thriller filled with scary deeds, excitement, creepiness and lots of scares; however, some confusing and inexplicable, the reasons for some of the creepy events are never properly explained. The film tells a fictional story about the social reality that plagues a small town. It begins with a seemingly historical prologue that includes a plague, a chapel where the helpless were imprisoned and a tribe of beaked bird-men, but it turns out that this is a recreation of the annual festival in the small town, when the chapel that is thought to be haunted by little Uxo opens for a short time.
A tense, mysterious film full of excitement, suspense, chills, red herrings, creepy twists and turns
It follows a child named Emma (Maia Zaitegi) on her journey to learn how to communicate with the spirit of a little girl, Uxo, who has been trapped in a hermitage for centuries, and tries to convince Carol (Belén Rueda), a skeptic and fake medium, to help her. The latter has literal scars from a childhood when her possibly real middle mother seemed more interested in the spirit of a local girl than her own daughter. This is a passable and acceptable film with a cast of not always sympathetic, deeply human and relatable protagonists. This is a haunted film that contains unsettling horror and a sinister atmosphere when threatening beings appear.
It deflates as the film progresses and prevents us from talking about a gem like 'Cerdita'
The mystery begins to unravel step by step until its surprising finale, resulting in a sentimental ghost story with a serious, thoughtful tone in the style of ¨Orphanage¨ or ¨Pan’s Labyrinth¨, but with its own distinctively female focus. It’s an attractive drama whose interest wanes as the real saturation increases with the tiresome accumulation of supposedly terrifying elements. While ¨Cerdita¨ focuses on the pure terror of ¨La Ermita¨, there are a few things that confirm Pereda as a key figure in the current horror and fantasy genre. One is his frontal entry into the genre film: it bets without hesitation on fantasy, adding some personal drama.
It turns out to be an adequate and decent film, but not remarkable
Still, Pereda manages to make a more than worthy film, but inferior to the previous one. Pereda has a great eye for the Gothic, enjoying the trappings of Spanish horror while not actually making a horror film. Starring Belén Rueda who acts well in her usual style, she is an actress specialized in mystery and horror films, such as: Juliet’s Eyes, The Orphanage, No dormirás, Durante la tormenta, The Pact, Orbit 9 and The Body . In fact, Belén Rueda is the closest thing to a Spanish horror heroine or ‘Scream Queen’, she goes well with the child prodigy Maia Zaitegi who evokes the young Ana Torrent in Cria Cuervos or The Spirit of the Beehive ).
The film was professionally directed by Carlota Pereda who is clearly a talented writer and filmmaker
As a female drama with tones related to the genre, it is another solid presentation card of Pereda’s talent. It won the 2023: Sitges Film Festival: Official Feature Film Section (out of competition) and the 2023: Goya Awards (Spain): Nomination for Best Special Effects. Her first film was the much better ̈Cerdita ̈, which takes as its starting point the Goya winner for best short film of the same name by Carlota Pereda herself, Goya winner for best short film in 2018, and also stars Laura Galán. Rating: 5.5/10.