"made me want to learn Spanish -- WOW"

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2013)

If Jack Nicholson in AS GOOD AS IT GETS can avow that Helen Hunt makes him want to be a better person, I can tell you that this film made me want to learn Spanish. I grew up on horror films, I saw Living Dead in a theatre first-run, I saw FREAKS in an art house, I watched the Wolfman go all medieval on poor Frankenstein, and in fact I believe I have seen almost every major horror film made until about 2010 (at which point I began to notice that the real horror was geopolitics). This one blew me away. No one thing stands out. The story is as good as the acting is as good as the direction is as good as the cinematography. And listening to Belén Rueda, I felt the film would be even more fun if I actually understood what she was saying. The scene where she tries to contact the children by re-enacting the kids game of Hide-n-Seek is especially memorable. One doesn't merely "recommend" this film. If you want to see one of the creepiest yet most entertaining horror films of all time, this is your first stop.