Wow! Such a good movie.

just watch it!

From my favorite movies..

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

So I watched this for my Spanish Cinema class, and I thought it was decent enough. Nothing too original, but it's interesting and intriguing throughout. I kept thinking I knew who would be the actual antagonist but I kept being wrong, and in that respect it works. The actor who plays Chema is the stand-out character here, you just care so much for him. Maybe it's because he's so unbelievably cute and because he looks like a young Gary Oldman. Regardless, the whole cast does some decent work and it has some nice atmosphere. Nothing too fantastic but it gets the job done right, and sometimes that's all that is needed (especially for an actual film class)

While working on her Thesis regarding the fascination for violence in the media and entertainment, a student uncovers a snuff movie and suspects the people involved in its making may have ties to her university.Despite its gruesome subject, this film plays very much like an 80s whodunnit classic. In fact, the camera work in several sequences reminded me of the early thrillers directed by Brian DePalma.What makes this film is interesting is that for its release time (1996) the film in a way foreshadows what was to come as far as violence and how it is portrayed and promoted in the wave of filmmakers. Amenábar wisely elects to keep most of the violence off screen. Sometimes, it's almost as if you were watching a torture porn film while covering your eyes with your hand during the torture scenes.The social commentary is great but unfortunately takes a backseat to the whodunnit mystery. We do understand that Angela, the student, is quite conflicted when it comes to violence. She is both fascinated and repulsed by displays of violence and other morbid topics. Two other characters help form a triangle of sort. Angela befriends, Chema an amateur of questionable movies who fully acknowledges his own attraction to violence. Chema is very much a typical, socially awkward person but as the movie progresses, it is nice to see the relationship between him and Angela evolve. The third character is Bosco, played admirably by Eduardo Noriega. Angela suspects Bosco may be involved in the production of snuff movies yet falls for his charming ways.There are several other characters but Amenábar only brushes on the surface of those. What we are left with is a good movie with some tense scenes but unfortunately also a movie that feels a bit dated. If Amenábar had explored the Thesis angle a little more, this might have been a classic. Instead, he focuses on the mystery aspect and a few thrills.A solid debut by this director who did much better later in his career.

This suspenseful movie concerns about Angela(Ana Torrent), she's an university student at a journalism university in Madrid. She comes across a snuff movie that shows a girl being tortured and killed. She befriends Chema(Fele Martinez), a young completely obsessed with violent films. They find out that the girl was an university at their school and her former fiancé named Bosco(Eduardo Noriega) holds a camera similar to the snuff's shooting. They early discover the killing was actually filmed on campus.The motion picture displays genuine chills, suspense, mystery and dark atmosphere with a shocker finale . Packs excellent creation of tension, thriller, terror , emotions and brief gore. It's an exciting, bizarre film; skillfully proceeded by Alejandro Amenabar and turns out to one of the most unusual Spaniard horror movie ever made and certainly one of the most unsettling. Plenty of shocks, the eerie images deliver the exciting united a creepy score by Amenabar, also screenwriter, along with Mateo Gil, of the thrilling plot. Intelligent edition, special use of murky sets and slick utilization of shock images make this one, a magnificent terror film. Gloomy and sombre cinematography by Hans Burman which heightens the suspense. The picture is well directed by Amenabar in his first movie. After he achieved various hits, such as : 'Open your ears, The others and Mar adentro' . Rating : Better than average.

What a terrific film. It scares the hell out of me every time I watch it. It's cleverly made, and the subject matter is one of terrifying myth. We all like to think that because we've never seem a snuff film, they don't exist, but they probably do, and if we really want to, and if we scour the planet for years, we'll probably find at least one. So, they're out there, and the premise in this film is that the next one could star you! I thought the script was solid, and the acting was superb. Not many films manage to scare me, but this one certainly did. All the factors were more than decent, and thus contributed to a wonderful film, full of surprises and suspense.