Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
This October I decided to watch and review some of those great horror movies (31 to be exact) that I missed on their initial release. And for Part 12 of my series of the 31 OF THE BEST HORROR MOVIES YOU (MAY HAVE) MISSED we will be checking out supernatural horror Terrified. Let’s get to it.
Day 12 of 31: Terrified
Director: Demián Rugna
Starring: Maximiliano Ghione, Norberto Gonzalo, Elvira Onetto
IMDb Trivia: Director Demián Rugna said his goal with Terrified was to basically scare everyone who watches it at least once.
Plot: When strange events occur in a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, a doctor specialising in the paranormal, his colleague, and an ex-police officer decide to investigate further.
Review: Never has a movie been more aptly named than this one. Originally titled Aterrados (Spanish for “terrified”), this is all for the horror fans who complain horror movies aren’t scary anymore. With a masterful use of sound design and a true understanding of how to make a jump scare TRULY effective, writer/director Demián Rugna crafts a tale of a not just a single haunted house, but of an entire neighbourhood slowly and thoroughly being dismantled from the inside by paranormal forces.
This is one of those movies where I didn’t even care to go looking for any deeper meaning to the story as the visceral impact of the scenes were more than enough to keep my attention glued to the screen. It’s not that the screenplay itself isn’t smart; quite the opposite, as Rugna keeps you on your toes by having each story of each house and the person(s) living there interconnect in some way or the other with their “neighbour”. I may be wrong, but I think it’s all about the dangers of isolation and separating ourselves from the people around us. And by people I mean our neighbours as much as our friends and family. But like I said before, you can leave all that analysing at the door and just enjoy this for the dread-filled, deeply disturbing, every-scare-plus-the-kitchen-sink tribute to paranormal horror that it is.
I’m not a fan of CGI in horror but I honestly can’t complain as most of it looks spot on here. And with the addition of smart camera angles, great use of lighting and knowing when to cut out the sound and drop it back in to perfectly align with the nightmarish imagery on screen, it all just comes together to make the only movie of late I’ve seen with jump scares this well executed. While I’m not familiar with the actors I enjoyed their work here, especially that of Norberto Gonzalo as Jano, the paranormal investigator and coroner (can you imagine a day at work for this guy?) and Maximiliano Ghione as Commissioner Funes, the cop who brings Jano into all this craziness after the corpse of a recently deceased boy returns home. I’m not gonna say more about that because it’s one of the creepiest aspects of the movie and had me holding my breath in dread the entire time it was happening.
So if you want to scare the absolute hell out of your loved ones this Halloween or maybe you’re just in the mood for a genre flick that knows how to deliver on its title, I highly suggest watching Terrified. It’s as if Insidious and Sinister had a baby and decided to move into the Hill House that Mike Flanagan built. And if any of that sounds awesome to you, well, you’re my kinda people, and go watch Terrified right now.
Sommer’s Score: 7 out of 10
You can check out Part 11 of my 31 Days List and haunted house horror We Are Still Here below along with my review of Sinister.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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