Películas para no dormir: Para entrar a vivir

Plot synopsis:
Carolina and Tony are driving through the torrential rain that has been falling all day. They are going to see a flat yet another flat. They have seen dozens already. Ever since they have been expecting a baby, they have been looking for something a little bigger, but the agent has told them that this flat is something a little special.First impressions are not exactly good. Like all of the properties in the area, the flat seems to have been abandoned and is totally empty and what about all the random limbs of old shop mannequins scattered across the floor, the stairs and the landingsThe estate agent re-assures them. The council is apparently refurbishing the whole area. In just a few months they are going to be sitting on a gold mine. And whats more, two new families have also just moved in. On the mezzanine and the second floor.They go up to the third floor and enter the flat. Which is something they should never have done... Their flat, the whole building in fact, is a trap. Watched over by a diabolical landlady

Tags: violence, murder, flashback

Review:
Literally the title reads, "To Enter to Live," though the actual way it would be conveyed, or should be interpreted should be more along the lines of "Ready to Rent" or "Ready to Move In." Two possible headings that those who have ever rented might be familiar seeing in the classified ads.Though it seems to have received some rather harsh criticism (not entirely unjust) from some reviewers here, anyone who is thinking of watching this should know that it is a film made for television in Spain and IN THAT RESPECT, is far superior to almost everything you'll see on U.S. television in the horror genre and in many cases outside of it.
I'd compare it to the old HBO series "Tales From the Crypt" but without the comic book nuance, or that ridiculous crypt keeper.This film will probably not be well received by many jaded horror fans mainly because it does have a few annoying, "why didn't she!?" "why didn't he!?" and "why did they even both from the start!?" moments throughout the course of its 1 hour and 8 minute run.
However, all that can't (or really shouldn't) supersede the fact that it is well directed, suspenseful and loaded with visceral horror from nearly beginning to end.I'd be more inclined to give this a solid 7, but for the sake of other reader's expectations a 6 will suffice.
Mario (Adriá Collado) and his pregnant girlfriend Clara (Macarena Gómez) are trying to find in a short period a new apartment to live since they have sold their apartment and they need to move in fifteen days.
He drives to a far area in the periphery and meets the real estate agent in front of an old building in an abandoned neighborhood.
When the couple sees the apartment, they do not like it but they are forced to stay."Para Entrar a Vivir" is the weakest movie that I have seen from the excellent Spanish series "Películas Para No Dormir".
The gore story has good performances, but the screenplay is awful, destroying a promising plot and transforming what could be a sort of "Misery" in a hysterical collection of unreasonable attitudes.
IMHO the best Spanish horror movies ever made.
In a couple of words...Stupid people, doing stupid things at stupid moments.For instance, keepings doors unlocked (in a way they could lock-up the baddie), killing off the baddie when they had the chance (or a least making her unable of being a danger, waiting to use the scissors until she's been tied, just being plain stupid (looking in the sons eyes and you had to see there was something wrong with hem).And what about using the shaking cam every time when the guy with a headache is in view!!???It could have much better.
The idea is great, the location is great, the atmosphere is great, even the acting was good.Just bad scripting....Balaguero gets infinite respect for making rec, so I'm willing to forgive this mistake.
It won't keep you awake but it won't exactly send you to sleep, either.'To Let' is a creepy and unnerving Spanish horror that, to my bemusement upon looking it up after seeing it, was made for television.
This works with and against the film: the fact it was made for TV means it will have been produced with the conformities associated with television, namely time limit which is a shame because if the film had been starched out a little further, I feel it would have been a lot better.
The film clocks in at just over an hour but what an hour you get  there will be suspense, an atmosphere, dread and plenty of nasty little scenes to keep you occupied.But then again I'm going to go back to the constraints that keep the film from being great.
Because of the limitations faced with this made for TV production, the film must treat its subject matter like a sprint more-so than a marathon and that means instead of establishing the couple at the beginning, we begin with them in a car going to the apartment  it would also eliminate the flashbacks included half way through which, to me, felt a little out of place.
There are scenes in the film in which the little old lady who runs the apartment acts in a caring and, to her, natural manner.
The scene in which she helps the female of the dreaded couple cook a meal for the injured other half feels all over the place because this landlady is supposed to be the antagonist of the story and to have her flash between good and natural and evil and nasty is a little frustrating due to the character's inconsistency.But rather than go on about what I would have liked to have seen had the film been longer, I will say that the film works overall as the piece that it is.
The idea is excellent and the film captures its own premise brilliantly by utilising its location of an apartment building.
I've been to Spain twice in the last two and a half years and on both occasions I stayed in an apartment building run by a landlady  eerie as it sounds.
So the apartment location works wonderfully well here and credit to the director for capturing a location that resembles a real life locale so much, because I've been there and stayed in two respective apartment buildings in the Mediterranean region and I can tell you; just the 'look' and 'feeling' of being there is captured 100%.So along with these ideas of getting right the setting and most of the other aspects of mise-en-scene, To Let is not just let down by its shortish runtime.
But then again, perhaps it is because the logistical flaws that begin to creep in toward the end can only really be put down to its short run time: the film is a sprint, not a marathon and thus must round things off quickly by speeding up its plot points and revelations.
When Paxton finds himself in the situation he's in when the film enters its final third, he knows its kill or be killed and as a result shoots and chops his way out of trouble - he has gone from 'innocent', fun-loving young adult to killer and that's exactly what I would have expected in this film.The truth is the characters of Mario (Collado) and his twin-protagonist girlfriend are still just too nice to strike out.
Mario cannot attack the old woman with a mêlée weapon in the kitchen soon enough and when Mario's other half and another captive are in an elevator trying to escape, the land lady's face comes right up to a grill: the hostages have a sharp knife at their disposal and will win the battle if they had just used it right there.
By this point, and especially when another character whom we thought was a captive but is actually on the landlady's side is released, the couple at the start are not smart enough or fit enough to survive and it's a shame that their idiocy sees them come so close to loosing out in the end.Twinned with this, the music playing throughout sounds like it's from some 1950s, American sci-fi B-movie and it is difficult to get your head around the fact that the antagonist is, after all, a little old lady who I doubt would put up much of a fight if properly challenged.
A good horror despite it being a low budget TV movie.
Here's a little Spanish horror TV movie that works despite its low budget.
Let's just say it's about a young couple checking out an apartment they're thinking of renting, and it gets intriguing from there.
Spain knows how to make great Horror Movies!!!.
Amazing, one of the best horror films i ever seen.
I don't know why the people was waiting a big scrip, when the movie was actually made for t.v., so, i think is a good movie cause you don't need the all drama to make a very good horror movie, just take great actors, create very scary characters, and put great music, that's all that it cares sin my opinion.
This movie clocks at around one hour, and accomplishes what most modern thrillers struggle to do in twice the time.
While in the process it actually utilizes pretty much every cliché of the whole "kidnapping" scenario of horror movies (like for example "the hills have eyes" by the late Wes Craven)but in the best way possible.
You could even say that (taking into consideration the extremely limited cast) even the weather and the building themselves are supporting characters in the film.What is really worth mentioning is that this is one more Jaume Balagueró film that breaks the mould of American horror films by having the story placed in an apartments.
Although these houses are very scary (mostly due to their abundance of entry points, making the villains job much easier) this is not very realistic considering more than most people worldwide live in blocks of flats and cant' actually relate to that "50's America" scenery.Top up all of the above with a great psychological/social study on people who are obsessed with other peoples lives and you've got an excellent, disturbing and actually very "thrilling" thriller.
The only drawback I can think for this movie, is (as noted by most reviewers) the main characters lack of decisiveness at points, which, kind of feels like a mechanism for the film to go on..
"To Let" is a satisfyingly chilling tale about a psychotic estate agent and the unfortunate visitors to a decaying apartment block.This is a splendid made for television movie that just goes to show that Euro horror is alive and well.
The performances from the small cast are also excellent.A highly recommended installment from talented director Jaume Balagueró, best known for his (REC) movies.
Balagueró really seems to love his creepy apartment blocks as there are small touches of (REC) in this earlier work.8 out of 10..
(MAJOR SPOILERS)Quick, horror fans, take this test:You and your significant other are trapped inside a deserted apartment building by a crazy old woman.
The script tips its hand far too early - once we learn the main villain (and, for a good chunk of the story, the only villain) is this undeniably deranged, but otherwise hardly intimidating middle-aged, bespectacled lady, the tension almost vanishes.
And the characters of Rec weren't exactly the pinnacle of human intelligence either.The fact is, Balaguero is so enamored with the atmosphere of a particular scene that he does not seem to care about its plausibility - his characters are dumb puppets, hamsters running on a wheel and working really hard to unleash the boogeyman.So, who decided horror characters NEED to be dumb?
"Para entrar a vivir" is helmed by Jaume Balagueró, director of "The Nameless", "Darkness" and "Fragile".The film is about a young couple who are looking for a new home.
The visuals may not be as polished as Argento's (after the failure of "Darkness" Balagueró has turned to a more barebones style), but the tension and the gore are certainly there.A must see for horror fans out there..
I was watching young, healthy, apparently intelligent people getting their behinds handed to them by someone who looked like the local children's librarian.
There was one point when two healthy young women- one a mother defending her child- are being menaced by the real-estate-agent-gone-bad.
If the antagonist had been some kind of evil genius, it would have been a different story, but she wasn't; she was almost laughably predictable and run-of-the-mill movie crazy.One gets the feeling that this movie came to be because one of the writers lost a bet.
"...ok, but if I win you have to write a movie about a crazy real estate agent in a little yellow raincoat.
The movie is about an older woman of small stature that lures "strong" healthy young couples, and supposedly overpowers and terrorizes them.
This movie is suppose to be a thriller, but it is too absurd to even be scary!
The acting was terrible, the worst acting I've ever seen in a movie to be honest.The story was terrible also, and the script?
The staircase scene when Clara was being dragged up, there were dozens of chances she had to attack the crazy old woman (Who by the way, wasn't acting, she really is crazy, her acting is extremely terrible).
Please correct me if I am wrong but with the amount of blood that she lost, that would put her in to shock and an almost comatose state.Oh, not forgetting the elevator scene with her son, why the hell didn't that woman just KNEEL DOWN, Why didn't they BOTH kneel down, one of them had a knife, the other had a taser, even in a situation like this with being in shock your brain doesn't go to the stage where you know jack-s**t.
Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir is set in Spain where Mario (Adrià Collado) & his pregnant girlfriend Clara (Macarena Gómez) need somewhere to live.
However they decide to give it a chance & meet up with the estate agent Portera (Nuria González) who show's the couple around.
While looking at the apartment Mario notices the shoes he recently threw out & Clara notices a photo of them both, soon they find out that something evil is happening & the estate agent isn't as nice as she first appeared...Also known as Films to Keep You Awake: To Let to English speaking audiences this Spanish production was made-for-telly & directed by Jaume Balagueró & one has to say that Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir is one of the better entries in the Films to Keep you Awake series.
The script by director Balagueró & Alberto Marini at least is a straight ahead conventional horror themed story from start to finish, it's not any sort of masterpiece but it passes seventy odd minutes entertainingly enough.
Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir starts off very promisingly actually with a nice creepy, overcast, rain sodden opening full of foreboding & promise.
Things quickly turn sour for Mario & Clara & I was at there thinking this is pretty good stuff but it reveals it's twist too early & then does nothing with it & by the end Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir had become nothing more than your average slasher set in an isolated location with a couple of young lovers for victims & a crazy homicidal maniac & if that wasn't enough there's a pretty obvious & groan inducing twist ending which we could have done without.
So the first half builds up the tension, the atmosphere, the intrigue & the mystery nicely with the second half collapsing into tired genre clichés which on the one hand could be considered a disappointment but on the other I am sure there will be many out there who enjoy your average bog standard teen slasher & will maybe like the second half more than the first.
At less than seventy minutes in length it moves along at a decent pace, it's never boring, the character's & dialogue are OK even if the villain is a little sketchy & the basic premise is sound.Director Balagueró does alright, like just about every other horror film ever made all the colours are bleached so the whole picture is dark & moody & overcast.
At least Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir actually tries to be scary & crank up the tension, whether you will be scared by it will depend on your disposition but at least I could see what it was trying to do.
I doubt most seasoned horror fans will have too much trouble making it to the end.
Like the other Films to keep You Awake Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir was shot in Spanish, because the film is so dark & grey the white subtitles are very easy to read although some don't stay on screen for too long.Technically the film is good, it's well made with solid production values.
The acting appears to be alright but since Spanish isn't my language I have no idea what anyone is saying & have to assume the subtitles are an accurate translation which sometimes they are not.Películas Para no Dormir: Para Entrar a Vivir is one of the better Films to Keep You Awake, it starts off very well & then settles down into a rather predictable & routine second half but overall I thought it was a good effort & I liked it..
To Let. Mario(Adrià Collado) and pregnant girlfriend Carla(Macarena Gómez) are looking for an apartment when they have the misfortune of answering an ad found in their current mailbox.
Carla finds herself in a horrifying situation when Mario is bludgeoned by the real estate agent, Portera(Nuria González) who insists that they will remain in their new apartment, no exceptions.The supposed real estate agent is in fact an enraged, deranged former proprietor of the apartment complex, who went off the deep end after her building was condemned, tenants evicted.
While Clara contemplates a means of escape, there's another kidnapped victim who will attempt to as well upon freeing herself.Well, besides the moments where the director causes the damn camera to tremble, and some really, really lame-brain, stupid decisions by Mario and Carla, who, to be honest, cut their own throats by not "finishing the job" when they have Portera in a vulnerable position(..this is the understatement of the week!), Jaume Balagueró's To Let, for the "6 films to keep you awake" series, has some inspired insanity, with many macabre highlights.
There's a couple of developments towards the end, involving the release of dangerous threats locked away, Mario and Carla contributing to these circumstances because of not taking care of the psycho after subduing her properly(..a startlingly grisly highlight).