TERRIFIED (2017 - Spanish)

Studio:      Shudder
Director:    Demian Rugna
Writer:      Demian Rugna
Producer:  Fernando Diaz
Stars:     Maxi Ghione, Norberto Gonzalo, Elvira Onetto, Demian Salomon, Agustin Ritano, George Lewis, Julieta Vallina, Natalia Senorales

Review Score:

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Summary:

Officials investigate a residential Buenos Aires neighborhood where three homes are plagued by paranormal activity.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Clara tells her husband Juan Blumetti that she heard voices in their water pipes threatening to kill her. Juan hears strange noises in the walls, but presumes they are coming from his neighbor Walter Carabajal. Juan finds an unseen presence beating Clara to death as she is supernaturally thrown around their bathroom.

Paranormal specialist Dr. Rosentock, his colleague Dr. Mora Albreck, and forensic analyst Mario Jano connect Clara’s death to several similarly unusual cases. The trio asks Juan to tell them everything he knows about Walter and what was happening in their neighborhood prior to Clara’s death.

Visions of a pale man repeatedly haunt Walter inside his home. Walter tries calling Dr. Albreck for help several times, but she refuses to look into his claims of paranormal activity.

Walter warns Pucho Perez, who lives across the street with his mother Alicia, not to drink water from the spigot in his yard. Alarmed by Walter peering at him through blinds, Pucho backs up into the street where he is suddenly struck by a bus.

Following the boy’s funeral, Pucho’s corpse reanimates and returns to Alicia’s house. Deputy Funes, who is Alicia’s ex-boyfriend, summons Jano to Alicia’s house to investigate.

After seeing the corpse sitting still at the kitchen table, Jano advises Funes to push a cover story citing hallucinations and misunderstood science to explain where the corpse came from. Jano finds Dr. Albreck taking photos of Walter’s home across the street and invites her to examine Pucho with him.

Pucho’s friend Patricio Navarro drops his backpack in fright when he sneaks inside and sees Pucho’s corpse. Patricio secretly uses his cellphone to record Jano and Albreck moving Pucho’s corpse into an outdoor freezer.

Dr. Rosentock, Dr. Albreck, and Jano secure permission from Juan to spend the night in his home. For their concurrent investigation into the paranormal activity, Rosentock and Funes spend the night in Walter’s house, Albreck sets up at Juan’s, and Jano monitors Alicia’s residence.

An unseen presence sucks Rosentock’s blood through a kitchen cabinet. Jano witnesses a pale figure that can only be seen from certain angles lunging at him through a window.

Rosentock proves two realities are sharing the same place and time by showing Funes that the creatures can be seen from different points of view involving darkness and light. Frightened, Funes goes across the street to find Jano in phantom form with glass shards in his eyes inside a cabinet.

Funes goes to tell Albreck what he saw. Albreck tells Funes that not everything he sees is real. Albreck adds to Rosentock’s theory by explaining that the creatures are inter-dimensional entities that use water microbes to inhabit humans.

Albreck speaks to a mutated Walter inside a hole in the wall. Funes witnesses a creature’s claw come out from the hole to kill Albreck. Funes collapses from a heart attack.

After Patricio’s mother shows her the cellphone video, Alicia returns to confront Funes over him telling her she was going mad. Funes asks Alicia to take him to a hospital, but he refuses the ride when he sees Pucho’s corpse in Alicia’s backseat. Funes gets in his own car. A creature lunges at Funes’ window before he speeds away.

Officer Enrique Guzman calls Funes to tell him Jano is acting strangely. Funes advises Guzman to leave the neighborhood immediately.

Funes returns to Alicia’s house carrying gasoline. Funes finds Alicia hanging from a noose. Funes confronts Jano in creature form before setting all three houses on fire.

One year later, Masiero, Dr. Razzioni, and Officer Guzman interview Juan about his experience with Rosentock, Albreck, and Jano hoping for information regarding Funes’ disappearance. Juan sees a charred incarnation of Dr. Rosentock over the three men’s shoulders. Rosentock’s unseen presence attacks.

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Review:

I stared at a blank screen for what felt like forever, unable to conjure an inventive angle for reviewing “Terrified.” Then I realized the Argentinean thriller is so to the point with its stripped-down scares, which in this case becomes an advantage, it doesn’t demand cleverness from a critique. “Terrified” simply charges in and goes straight to work with a lean and mean approach to classic paranormal activity chills.

Just days after the boy’s funeral, Alicia’s dead son inexplicably returns home to sit motionless at her kitchen table. Across the street, Walter swears a pale man that only he can see lurks within the walls of his house. Next door, Juan confronts his own supernatural horror when an unseen presence bloodily beats his wife by bouncing her around their bathroom.

With an urban legend tinge to their tones, “Terrified” spins these three tales into a single nonlinear narrative. Two paranormal researchers, a forensic analyst, and a cop connect the cases and open an investigation into this bizarre pocket of suburban Buenos Aires. As past deaths unfold in parallel with present research, the levelheaded team confronts a chameleon creature whose bloodlust threatens to take their lives too.

Don’t let the prospect of flashbacks or concurrent threads fool you into thinking “Terrified” is twisty or complicated. It’s neither. In fact, you’re more likely to feel a sense of déjà vu since story-wise, the movie doesn’t tread entirely original ground. Genre fans have seen visually similar setups involving reanimated corpses, lanky-limbed phantoms, and levitating furniture numerous times before.

But “Terrified” plants a unique flag in familiar territory by having a modestly unconventional presentation. Telling this story straight or as “found footage,” which is how we usually see such premises, would put formulaic plot progression in plain view. Cutting up chronology instead authors a more intriguing flow to the mounting mystery, rearranging events to effectively turn up tension with smartly satisfying suspense.

Although it doesn’t always run at top speed, “Terrified” never pulls the parking brake either. We sit in scenes only as long as necessary for soaking up plentiful ambiance of unease.

Other than one of the doctors rebuffing Walter’s initial claims over the phone, the movie doesn’t waste unnecessary time by forcing people to prove anything to anyone else. When Juan’s wife tells him she heard voices in their water pipes, he asks, “what did they say?” When the cop calls the forensics expert to examine the living dead boy, the corpse is already chillingly seated like a macabre mannequin. Even with Spartan sets and a casual pace, “Terrified” refreshingly maintains forward momentum by driving past typical pit stops of wheel-spinning exposition.

A mature cast of characters contributes hugely to an unexpectedly realistic feel. Virtually none of the main actors are under the age of 30. The paranormal researchers, who serve as primary protagonists, all appear to be in their 50s. This grounds “Terrified” in gravitas you don’t get in comparable chillers. Nothing against Specs or Tucker or Zak Bagans for example, but there aren’t any overenthusiastic caricatures or TV personality types among the investigators. Nor are there any harrumphing skeptics who predictably drop a jaw before the final frame. Everyone just comes across as an authentic person, which makes unimaginable circumstances seem somehow plausible.

Drawbacks are few, though they do exist. The shade of “been there, done that” has already been mentioned. The screeching strings of an “Insidious”-like score lay music cues on thick. Vagueness also has to suffice as far as explanations go regarding what’s going on. Yet while “Terrified” might not have the strength to land a knockout blow, the movie can still beat on anyone pretty good with a flurry of consistent shocks and competent in-ring execution that’s light on its feet.

If Goldilocks had to pick a horror movie to go with her porridge, “Terrified” would pair perfectly. Scares don’t run overly hot, but definitely don’t go cold. Suspense doesn’t hit too hard, but certainly isn’t soft either. “Terrified” exemplifies a textbook “just right” fright film whose temperature translates into broadly appealing terror entertainment.

NOTE: The film’s Spanish title is “Aterrados.”

Review Score: 75

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