Wonderful character development!

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A Brilliant Conflict

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It is such a good production from all points of view! Excellent director, actors, camera work, locations, editing and everything else that involves the making of a picture (the sound effects and the music are superb).Unfortunately the weak point is the storyline.The plot is so convoluted and totally implausible that only the excellency of the acting and the good tempo of the movie gets you in your seat till the very end of this picture. If you don't question all the time-jumps, time traveling and confusing apparitions it makes a fun movie to pass a couple of hours, but if you are the analytical type... forget it. It's a real pity because the premise is very interesting --the Desaparecidos during the military dictatorship in Argentina-- in fact it is an Argentinian chapter as interesting as the civil war in Spain during the 1930s, but getting dead people appearing and floating in midair takes the whole thing to an Exorcist atmosphere that takes away all credibility.

A sincere political horror film -- pretty much one of a kind -- that tries to highlight the tortuous past of Argentina's "missing" period. Unfortunately, the horror elements don't work too well, though there are some scares. The biggest fault is the protagonists acting even more implausibly than in your run of the mill Grade B horror flick. That said, the film effectively conjures the horror of the many disappeared in Argentina in that period. And I guess if you're making a film to condemn the torturers who ran Argentina at the time, having "Saw" like gruesomeness is understandable. The final shot of the film is truly haunting, but it's a long road getting there.

Written directly for the screen this horror film has a captivating and staggering story. Almost every scene from beginning till ending is full of action and tension sequences, which are done by good camera work. Its way of storytelling is very smooth. I watched it with subtitles; even though the script is very substantial, it isn't necessary to follow up each conversation. The dialogue and connection which Pablo and Malena established together magnetizes the full attention from the viewer, since their body language and gestures were complementary with the screenplay.The story takes place in August 2001 in Argentina. Pablo and Malena, who are in their mid-20s', are siblings from a dysfunctional family. Their father whom Pablo never seen in his life before, is in coma. They visit him and Malena introduces him to Pablo. Malena has grown hatred for his father, for he served under Anti-Communist Dictatorship of the Argentinian army to quench the communist movement torturing thousands of innocents, instead of looking after his family. There is a huge question mark here: Why are all the communists introduced as innocents in this film? The frightening fact here is that when Pablo and Malena think that their father is helpless in coma, he turns out to be more powerful than he was alive. His spirit continues to torture the restless souls of the dead innocents. He has written a detailed diary including how he tortured the families of communist vanguards when he was young. In return to his weakened body, he bargains with one or more daemons to continue on his dictatorship mission. One of the daemons in the look of a little girl finds this diary from where he hided away. Then Pablo, the curious and adventurous one of the siblings, gets this diary from that daemon, assuming that it was something the little girl lost. So the daemon begins to bugger around Pablo and Malena. The diary which has the curse of the daemon brings only trouble to them.Aparecidos has the meaning for "Seen versus Disappeared". Who is seen is the Dictatorship regime runners, and who is disappeared is the slaughtered rebels against this regime. Soon, Pablo and Malena read the diary and start a journey to save the victims of the murderers. One of the communist vanguards ,who has never been captured by the police due to the lack of evidence, has been killed with his pregnant wife and little daughter in the hands of Pablo and Malena's father. Daemon completes the bargain with continuously torturing the wife and the daughter's souls.When you feel like you accomplished something, you think that you must be happy and be proud. Then suddenly you realize that you didn't accomplish anything; the confusion in your mind and senses leads you realize the fact that you just decoded something hidden. That was Pablo's confusion in the movie. When he was explaining to her sister what he was really trying to do, he says that he was gone out of his mind and trying to save someone whoever is dead already. Every night at the same hour in the same motel in the same room, the same murder takes place involving the same dead corpses continuously for the last 20 years. Who are you going to save? Save a dead tonight. Amazing concept, isn't it?

I am a fervent fan of the genre of horror / suspense and for that, being Argentina, interested me much the plot of the movie. It is not a masterpiece but I liked the plot. As there Master of Horror in an episode that just deals of former Vietnam veterans returning to life to exercise their vote. Not that it's a similarity, but they are realities. Besides I liked the shots made in Patagonia, Argentina. Very consistent with the film. I speak Spanish, but sometimes talked so fast and closed it is not understood. Of course each one has his accent. The name of the movie also liked me, Appeared Vs. Disappeared. I think that the end is the best.