I love it when I get a more than pleasant surprise, and this movie was a great surprise. I read the description, said to myself "I could go for a horror/thriller type movie tonight, why not?" I was not expecting it to be as good as it was.
A man (Quim) is on a road trip to see an ex-girlfriend. He has a chance encounter with a girl (Bea) in the bathroom at a gas station that because of the circumstances he has to follow her, he thinks she stole his wallet. He has to stop his car in the hills because something hit it. When he gets out to see what it was he finds the bullet hole on his hood, and the shooter is approaching. He gets nicked in the leg by a the shooter and takes off in his car. He hits the shooter with his car a little later on, but turns out there's more than one, and they are hunting him. He finds Bea and they go on the run together.
It was a lot like "Duel" and "Deliverance" put together, and thankfully not at all like "Wrong Turn" Because for much of the movie you only see bits of the shooter, and eye, or a hand it really drives home the terror. As well as they are dressed for this, hunting clothes, the sniper rifles. Not the usual approach of a Thriller, or Horror movie. What I mean is I'm not afraid of a man or woman chasing a bunch of teens with a knife while dressed up in a way that of course obstructs their face. In fact that doesn't even kind of bother me, its lame and over done 20 years ago. This was fresher.
They aren't just battling and trying to stay alive from the shooters but also their surroundings. They try and cross a raging river, there are wet slippery rocks that they can fall on, holes and crevices to fall in. They run into the cruelness of mother nature at every turn making them that much more desperate. What I really loved was that you heard the sound of the gun fire, and then a moment later the bullet would meet its mark, so there was that moment of terror in realizing it might be headed to you. You could see it in their eyes.
There are moments that seem normal in the movie, such as a cop turns over the body of the shooter that Quim hit with his car, and he freaks out. Later on when you find out more about the shooters it makes a lot more sense, and that much more of a punch. There is more than one twist in the story, unexpected as well. I can usually see something coming, and at least twice I was surprised that it wasn't what I had expected.
I must be a sucker for POV shoots because this is the second movie in a few weeks that has used it that made we really involved in the story. The POV isn't just for fun either it makes sense when you find out more about who the killers are. I wont say any more about that. There was some Snorricam used (Look it up, you might have seen it used before, Darren Arronofsky uses it often) It was shot very well, made me gasp more than once and made me really happy I had watched it. This is how horror/thrillers should be made. It has a brain, and uses the story to scare and frighten more than just some jerk in a costume with a meat hook, or whatever. 8/10 stars. Check it out, its worth it.
Director: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego
Starring: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Maria Valverde
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