VERONICA (2018)

Directed By: Paco Plaza 
Written By: Fernando Navarro & Paco Plaza 
Cinematography By: Pablo Rosso 
Editor: Marti Roca 


Cast: Sandra Escacena, Bruna Gonzalez, Claudia Placer, Ivan Chavero, Ana Torrent, Consuelo Trujillo, Angela Fabain, Carla Campra 


Madrid, June of 1991. Verónica is a teenage girl surpassed by the circumstances after her father died recently, her mother works in a bar all day and she must care for her three siblings, twin girls Lucía and Irene and the youngest Antoñito. Still mourning for her father's death, Verónica decides to play Ouija with her friends Rosa and Diana, taking advantage a total solar eclipse where all classmates and teachers are on the school's rooftop watching it. Alone in the cellar, the girls try to contact their recent deceased family members, but the session goes wrong and something happens to Verónica. She hid from her mother what has happened, Verónica starts to feel strange presences inside the house and fears that these ghosts are a threat to any of her siblings. Advised by Sister Narcisa (nicknamed by the children as Sister Death) about the sinister spirit which is close to her, Verónica looking for a way to break the contact with the ghost and save everyone

This film is a revelation not in story so much as we have seen this type of film before but in performance and presentation. As this film makes you feel uneasy the whole way through it is moody and atmospheric. So that while it provides the typical scares they are more well earned and effective they don’t necessarily feel cheap.

The story is presented and stays more with the teenage protagonist and her peers. Which again has been down before but the performances don’t feel as vain glorious as usually presented. Nor does it feel as exploitive. As most of the threatens victims of the film are children who are played by actors who resemble the age of the characters. So seeing them in peril plays more on our sympathies and fear.

It is a pure out and out supernatural tale that takes place in more a reality. This is not one of those tales where you constantly wonder if this is all in her head. It is more a tale as to why she seems to be one of the few who is haunted and see’s these things.

The use of a blind nun who keeps no of see’s all is a familiar aspect especially in Latin horror films. Though One can’t give the film high marks for originality in the story. You can definitley award the film for presentation and style. Not shocking considering it is directed by Paco Plaza one of the original directors of the original REC film.

The film comes recommended because it is a cut above the rest. As it shows a passion and heart. It seeks to be interactive with the audience rather then just entertain. It wants to leave it’s mark and have you remember it. Rather then just being a run of the mill horror exercise.

It actually offers scares and action. Rather the. Suggesting it and asking you to imagine or envision in your head the horrors. A technique that was once inventive but has been perverted by inept and uncreative filmmakers so much that now it provides a weakness or a shelter for basic filmmaking.

The film has a sense of dread and you hope it will subside with such an innocent young character in the lead and the fact the other main characters are mostly children make it seem all the more barbaric 

Grade: B