Now available on VOD
Cast:
Cristian Valencia as Cristian
Clara Moraleda as July
Sergi Martin as Jose
Chus Pereiro as Debora
Directed by Fernando Barreda Luna
Review:
Had enough of found footage movies yet? For most horror fans at least marginal fatigue has probably set in by now, and understandably so. You can always bet on a successful trend getting beaten to death, and the movies typically get worse and worse.
Sometimes really good ones slip through the cracks though, and that is true of Atrocious, one of the first releases from the new partnership between Bloody-Disgusting Selects, AMC, and The Collective. It’s a well-made and potent little shocker that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but provides a few serious scares over its 75-minute running time.
It does not get off to a promising start. Teenage brother and sister Cristian (Cristian Valencia) and July (Clara Moraleda) sit in a bedroom and talk into the camera. They tell viewers that they investigate urban legends and share the tale of a little girl who got lost in the woods in 1940 and still hasn’t been found. You can’t help but think that it’s going to be a long and obnoxious hour-and-fifteen minutes with this duo.
Their family is going to spend a holiday at a long-abandoned house close to where the girl allegedly disappeared. Legend has it that she haunts the woods. That is the only part of the story people agree on. Some say she is friendly and helps you find your way home. Others say she is evil. Cristian and July hope to find out for themselves.
The search takes place in an enormous, ominous labyrinth near the house. Of course, their father has told them not to go in there, but they don’t listen. Each grabs a camera and they explore the labyrinth, but only during the day.
That changes one night when their younger brother Jose (Sergi Martin) goes missing. Their mother, Debora (Chus Pereiro), maniacally rushes out into the labyrinth. Cristian and July follow but all three become separated. This results in an extended and extremely tense scene following Cristian as he looks for the rest of his family, becoming more and more panicked as he gets deeper and deeper into the labyrinth.
Director Fernando Barreda Luna does an excellent job utilizing stillness and quiet to great effect. He creates an eerie and unsettling feeling and manages to sustain it until the very end. We are as disoriented and fearful as Cristian is as he stumbles through the labyrinth in the dead of night.
There are minor hiccups along the way. Why would someone keep filming when a family member is seriously injured? Would someone really stop and grab a camera when told that their younger sibling is missing in the middle of the night? It also takes quite a while to find its groove and is a little slow during the first 30 minutes or so.
The payoff more than makes up for the slow start though, and the ending is creepy and unexpected. Atrocious is anything but.
This is a worthwhile entry in the found footage subgenre.
