Finally! An intelligent horror film!

Rating: 9/10 (13 December 2009)

Before this movie I had pretty much given up on horror films. My girlfriend is nuts about them but every single one is just a series of cheap pop-outs and decaying bodies. Not since Alien or The Shining had I seen a movie utilize the ABSENCE of horror so ingeniously to create a feeling of anticipation and thrill.
My hands down favorite scene is when the main character is lying in bed talking to her husband and rolls over to find no one there. The whole sequence is set up so brilliantly and leaves the viewer completely breathless basically without showing them a single thing. It is this technique that is carried out throughout the entire film that is, as I see it, they key to the movies brilliance. A perfect Spanish melancholy ending as well, I was reminded of Pans Labyrinth and am beginning to think that there must be some sort of melancholy trend in Spanish films.