Iberia – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: This would be an interesting book club.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that there are new book clubs in the castle.

Vampire Owl: Who reads that many books these days?

Vampire Bat: Well, I do read many of them.

Vampire Owl: I am sure that you do not count as an external reader.

Vampire Bat: I do take external book club cards.

Vampire Owl: You can read all the best horror books in the castle.

Vampire Bat: I would read these books like a non-vampire would do.

Vampire Owl: So, it is a fine method to be scared of vampires too.

Vampire Bat: I do not see why we should not be scared of ourselves.

[Gets a butterscotch cake and three cups of tea with kulfi].

What is the movie about? :: Angela (Veki Velilla) is a college student who wishes to be a critically acclaimed and popular writer, now trying to write her second work. Her professor Antonio Cruzado (Daniel Grao) who used to help her with writing seems to have an infatuation with her, and makes advances to her. As Angela’s friends come to know about it, they suggest that they get back to him, and for the same, they choose a killer clown prank which would leave him scared enough for the rest of his life. The group which includes Sebas (Alvaro Mel), Nando (Ivan Pellicer), Sara (Ane Rot), Rai (Carlos Alcaide), Virginia (Priscilla Delgado), Eva (Maria Cerezuela) and Koldo (Hamza Zaidi), plans the whole thing perfectly after sending a fake e-mail to Antonio. But the prank goes terribly wrong, as they end up causing him to fall down from the top of the building and get impaled on the spear held by a statue of Don Quixote below, leading to his instant death.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Even though their instant reaction is to blame Angela for what has happened, they decide to keep all of these a secret and make a promise that they would never talk about this to anybody. The very next day, as everyone comes to know about his death, the popular opinion is that he committed suicide as his wife had left him, and the police also goes with the same conclusion, leading them to believe that things will get back to normal. But soon, they find out that a masked killer clown is stalking them, and wishes to take them down one after the other as the person wears the same mask as they were wearing. After murdering each person, the clown would write a chapter about the brutal death and post it online, and the readers also have a chance to vote on who will be murdered next. The readers do not have any idea what this is really about, as the original names are provided. The group decides to stop this madness from continuing, but has no idea about whom to suspect. Is this a silent stalker or someone among them?

The defence of Killer Book Club :: Slasher horror movies are welcome to bring new serial killers into a world of chaos in which humans have never hesitated to kill one another. There have been more classic slashers being produced in almost every language these days, even though Hollywood have come up with less interesting ones in the last few years. This one is based on a book, which means that it has promises to keep for the readers. The visuals are really good, and the setting feels like the right one, including the dark corners inciting horror and the architectural beauty that stays alive. The statue of Don Quixote comes as a fine reminder for the connection between the movie and literature, as the horror itself comes from writings here, and the publication of books and online content remains a priority throughout the film’s run-time. This also remains a short movie, as the run-time works to its advantage. The final twist over the twist remains interesting, and the power of mystery has run through this quite well without giving away the chance at predictability.

The claws of flaw :: Killer Book Club might feel like too similar with many other titles, and following the formula, but not well enough to elevate the same. There are enough murders happening here, but none of them creates a terrifying or divergent impact which could have made the environment better. The scares are not that much present as we would have wanted. A killer in a clown mask can achieve wonders – you know what the clowns do, whether in It and its sequel or in Terrifier; the horror in such cases is of a different level, with blood and gore assured. But this one seems to take the safer route, and the need to take the less travelled path among the diverging roads is not taken into consideration here. You are left with the feeling that there could be more, from the early stages itself. You keep looking for more, but that extra ingredient never really arrives. With the scope for a sequel still there, we can hope that this will arrive later.

The performers of the soul :: Veki Velilla leads the proceedings in the movie, and makes the scream queen who is intended to survive till the end, but has the realization that this has been caused due to her for some other reason, which makes the character more determined. She blends into this situation really well, from the author who has a certain amount of writing block to the girl who wishes to survive in a world of chaos created by an unknown killer. Priscilla Delgado remains a notable presence here too, and contributes to the whole thing even when least expected. Ane Rot and Maria Cerezuela also add to the interesting scream queen list here, and one would love to see them in more of similar flicks. Alvaro Mel and Ivan Pellicer become the main male performers here, and they remain important from the beginning to the end. Daniel Grao, even though present for only a few minutes, also leaves an impact. Carlos Alcaide and Hamza Zaidi also comes in as required. For most of us audience, these new names will be staying.

How it finishes :: Killer Book Club seems to be derived from other slasher horror movies that we have known for a long time, with Scream and The Cabin in the Woods being a few of them. The non-English movies were not far away from such inspiration either, as Poland’s Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight and A Classic Horror Story in Italian along with the Indonesian Ivanna are some of the examples. Here, in Spanish, we have a similar work of slasher horror. The group of friends from a college being murdered one after the other, especially after doing something they were not supposed to do, comes as nothing new. But this one also maintains the entertaining and thrilling side well enough with the final twists to keep things interesting. You are always looking for more addition to slasher horror, as they have not been that easy to create effectively during this time period. Based on the Spanish novel El Club de Los Lectores Criminales by Carlos García Miranda, the films becomes another interesting adaptation which brings us back to watching Spanish movies again on Netflix.

Release date: 25th August 2023 (Netflix)
Running time: 90 minutes
Directed by: Carlos Alonso
Starring: Veki Velilla, Alvaro Mel, Ivan Pellicer, Hamza Zaidi, Ane Rot, Priscilla Delgado, María Cerezuela, Carlos Alcaide

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: We have always loved nowhere.

Vampire Bat: No place is nowhere for vampires.

Vampire Owl: The witches live in the middle of nowhere.

Vampire Bat: Nowhere is a myth. They live in the very next territory.

Vampire Owl: It is not the same with the Witches of the North.

Vampire Bat: They live in the north. It is why they are called so.

Vampire Owl: The north has always been the true nowhere.

Vampire Bat: An addiction to nowhere can be dangerous.

Vampire Owl: Do you expect demons of nowhere to come through the portal?

Vampire Bat: The portal leads to nowhere as there is no such a place.

[Gets a choco-vanilla cake and three cups of mint tea].

What is the movie about? :: A dystopian situation has emerged in Spain after a global crisis causing shortage of basic necessities, and the new government in the country turning completely totalitarian in nature. Mia (Anna Castillo) and Nico (Tamar Novas) decides to make an escape from the country due to fear for their unborn child, as children, elderly and pregnant women were targeted by the military who tries to eliminate whoever becomes a burden during a time of resource shortage. The decision is to escape to Ireland in container taken on a cargo ship, and for the same, they use every resource that they have with them including money and gold. But they are separated on the way and are left inside two containers with Mia’s container attacked, leaving her as the only survivor. Nico’s container is left outside the city with nowhere to go. Her container gets on the ship after some difficulty, but it falls into the sea as a storm strikes. The container slowly fills up with water, but she manages to keep the process slow with what she can get.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The container has some materials, but nothing to keep her and the unborn child alive until help arrives. After some difficulty she has contact with Nico who promises to come and help her even though he does not know how. All the other containers have already perished under the sea, taking many people with them. The government continues to take measures to make sure that nobody escapes from the lands or turn against the government with regular checking, which halts the progress of Nico considerably. There would be no revolution coming up to change things around, and there are only a few democracies left in the world. She soon gives birth to a daughter on a stormy night. Injured and weakened like never before, she feels the desperate need to find help from anywhere. At the same time, she realizes that Nico is severely injured and there is no hope for him to come to her, as time runs out for all three of them, and there might also be another storm coming soon.

The defence of Nowhere :: We have the feeling that there is something extraordinary about this movie at times with the work done behind it as much as in front of the camera. The realistic take makes the feeling of danger have more effect, and we keep hoping for the protagonist to do whatever it takes and make it to the end. The visuals within a small world with the support of graphics work so well, and the fear feels so much real with one fine performance in the lead. The movie leaves us with the message of never giving up, and always having hope for a better future. As the husband tells her wife, he would always love her more on the next day and the dialogue is a reminder that those are the better coming days that we need to look out for, in a world of chaos and destruction as humans descend into hatred and ultimate evil. After all, an end of the world scenario after a totalitarian government has not been that distant a probability. We all know that we are quickly moving towards that end.

The claws of flaw :: Nowhere had infinite scope to be the classic that we have all been waiting for. This could have been something of epic proportions. It does not go that long, as we look at it. There is a certain amount of drag here, and it could have been a better movie with the length reduced. The opportunity to create a spectacle is also avoided in the process. When we are dealing with hope trying to inspire further, there should always be something bigger in scope. These are the time when people expect more from survival thrillers, as there have been many of them, from The Shallows to Meander, as different situations have come to us in the last few years testing human willpower to survive. In this particular movie, the protagonist would seem to have the least chance for survival, which makes us wonder if this would be more of a fantasy rather than anything else. The ending also seems to have just meant to finish the job with the required survival.

The performers of the soul :: With Anna Castillo and Tamar Novas as two names that we see everywhere among the cast, and with the former left to deal with the whole thing, there is no doubt about the fact that performances need to come from one side. With her around, the danger and the struggle seem real. Living in a floating and slowly sinking container while at the middle of the sea seems like an idea easy to talk about, but would not be that easy to work with. Tamar Novas also seems to be playing a main character in the beginning, but only have the voice to work with in the later stages. His character seems to be as expendable as the others around there after the first few minutes. It can be seen that Tony Corvillo has a fine evil presence there. During these times, one would wonder if sea is also a character, always listening to the probable victims and taking whoever it can. The container is also more like a living thing that provides life to what lies inside.

How it finishes :: If we keep looking, it is evident that Nowhere basically comes out of nowhere to make an impression. It is the title which most of us have not heard about, but all of a sudden, we feel that we should have heard about it earlier itself. If we read the synopsis of the story in this movie, the same is evident as we develop that sudden interest. This is not something new for the Spanish movies which never ceases to amaze us especially when least expected – there have been many examples for the same from The Platform to Adios, and from Cross the Line to Two and The Wasteland. But it could have still been more of a classic that would stay forever with its content. We can consider this partially as an opportunity missed, and still creating enough impact to become a movie that would be much talked about. The effort here is to be appreciated the most. This is not an idea which is easy to execute, and the result of the effort can be seen here. If you are going to start with good Spanish movies, this will be a fine start.

Release date: 29thSeptember 2023 (Netflix)
Running time: 109 minutes
Directed by: Albert Pinto
Starring: Anna Castillo, Tamar Novas, Tony Corvillo, Irina Bravo, Lucia Soria, Edu Bulnes, Mariam Torres, Victoria, Teijeiro, Mary Ruiz, Antonio Buil, Paula Roy, Jose Lucena, Saorla Wright, Kaabil Sekali, Andrew McGurk, Tonu Sureda Luther, Victor Boira