Aparecidos (aka The Appeared)

Starring: Ruth Díaz, Javier Pereira, Pablo Cedrón

Synopsis:

Estranged siblings Pablo and Malena meet up in Argentina to oversee the arrangements for their father, lying brain-dead in a hospital. Unlike Malena, Pablo has no real memories of his father and wants to explore his past, and convinces Malena to join him on a roadtrip to their old family home, taking their father’s old car. On the way, Pablo discovers an old journal, which seems to document the activities of a murderer some twenty years earlier. When they stay in an old hotel mentioned in the journal, they find the past and present overlapping in horrific and terrifying ways.

Review:

My interest in Aparecidos was piqued when I saw a still from the film in the banner for twitchfilm.com. It was such an interesting picture that I was intrigued enough to s eek it out. Boy, I’m glad I did.

While the English title might seem a little clumsy, that certainly can’t be said for the film. Thisng kick off with some mighty foreshadowing –Malena rushing Pablo into hospital, then going a little crazy when the lights start flickering. I’ve stated previously how much I don’t like movies starting at the end but it turns out that this event occurs about three-quarters through our tale.

A slight suspension of disbelief is needed to fully enjoy this film – the way Pablo “discovers” the diary of death would have most of us asking a lot more questions but he kind of just shrugs and takes it for granted.

At first I thought the journal was just an account of the murder but it soon becomes apparent that the author wrote it from experience, detailing every grizzly detail. There are a number of Polaroids to accompany the diary, detailing the time they were taken.

Curiosity gets the better of Pablo and he steers the car towards the hotel mentioned in the diary and takes the room next door to where the grizzly goings on occurred. After regaling Malena with details of the book, they go to sleep, only to be awakened by terrifying noises coming from the next room.

Pablo and Malena find themselves interacting with terrifying events that occurred 20 years ago. It takes them a while to realize this though, and the horror-movie-savvy audience has to wait for them to catch up. What does make them realize though comes back to that iconic image that attracted me to the film in the first place.

As Pablo returns to the hotel to try and save the family, Malena continues on (she needs a copy of her birth certificate to benefit from her father’s will), and discovers that the murders and disappearances lead closer to her and Pablo’s past. We also get some perspective on the events depicted in relation to Argentina’s dark past under Pinochet, as a woman recounts the horrific tortures she and her husband suffered.

Aparecidos is one of the more atmospheric horror movies you’re likely to see. It is in the same vein of horrors as Guillermo Del Toro’s films, such as The Devil’s Backbone and The Orphanage (which he produced). At times though the road-movie aspect and the likeable siblings also reminded me of the underrated Jeepers Creepers.

The film keeps the grizzly aspects rather low-key, keeping a lot of the more nasty bits off-screen. There are two exceptions – the masterful shock in the cafe and a Big Twist revealing the origins of one of the main characters, which, again – shocking!

The film also managed to wrong-foot me with the ending, too – I was expecting something more clichéd – it certainly seemed to be setting itself up for that – but instead heads into an altogether more unexpected and uplifting direction. For me, this is the perfect reposte for anyone who tries to argue that A Serbian Film is meant to be a political allegory – here is a film which reflects on the ugly past of it’s country’s origin and is able to turn it into something with hope for the future, which is surely the best way to try and escape that past.

Verdict:

A proper horror film, with an original story and twisty turny events that involve time travel and ghostly murders. Sadly no one has released Aparecidos in the UK yet but it is certainly worth seeking out. Highly recommended.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

New! Comments