Resurrection

After watching the trailer to this little known film, I was coming into the movie with the expectation of a typical run of the mill demonic possession, exorcism film. To my pleasant surprise, it was so much more than that. The movie tells the story of a priest traveling through Argentina in 1821. He stops by his family home and discovers that they have been hit by the yellow fever plague that has gripped the country, and this is where his nightmare begins. The first thing that hits the viewer is the deeply unsettling atmosphere that Gonzalo Calzada has created. With cinematography similar to the likes of Guillermo del Toro and the tone of a Stephen King adaptation, the director has taken the viewer through a nightmarish battle for survival. With religious undertones ringing underneath the surface, it never takes front seat. There are plenty of genres here but Resurrecion never loses that horrifying effect it has through its psychology, then adding some genuine horror towards the end. Definitely a step in the right direction for horror in Argentina, who are already making big inroads in the genre!

Normally, Argentine cinema does not usually offer good interesting titles, but there are always exceptions. Resurrección is an interesting case of the attempts that Argentine cinema has to try to venture into genre cinema. Most of these attempts end up being low-budget films, but Resurrection is one of the few attempts that manages to be somewhat decent. The truth is that it is a film with a good production and it shows that it was made in a quite professional manner. They really managed to make a film that manages to respect the 19th century era in certain aspects and give it a gothic style like the Hammer Productions films. The truth is that it even has an interesting plot that can be confusing at times, but you can tell that it is quite influenced by classic Gothic literature. The atmosphere in the plot makes it feel like something based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and even reminds us of The Fall of the House of Usher. Resurrección is a fascinating proposal despite not being entirely clear, but it is appreciated that it is a film outside of what Argentine cinema normally does. My final rating for this movie is an 8/10.

Another surprise from the Argentinian genre films after Kryptonita. This time is a Gothic horror, or i should say real horror/suspense with no stupid screamers or a clichéd story. In 19th century Argentina the yellow fever strikes leaving tons of casualties, among them is the brother of our protagonist which is at the brink of death just as the young priest (Martin Slipak) arrives to his family house. As death begins to corner him, the young priest will begin to question his faith in the all mighty while Quiste, the life long family servant, is around to help him...or end him.

Resurrreccion is a smart suspense film with quite an original story with plenty of twist and turns. Even if sometimes the film manages to use certain cheap narrative resources to get its point across its still a clever, good looking horror film. Some CGI is notorious but the effects are great for the most part as are the amazing couple of set/locations. Acting for the most part delivers, with a highlight on the character of Quispe, one of the most interesting of the few characters there are.

Save your self some time and don't watch it, it's not a horror movie but a thrill/suspenseful movie and the other reviews were paid so don't fall for it

Of course I had never heard about this 2015 supernatural horror movie titled "Resurrección", given my limited exposure to the Argentinean cinema. But stumbling upon it by random luck here in 2024, of course I opted to sit down and watch it, as it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. Plus, the fact that the movie's cover was interesting, definitely helped to make me give the movie a go.

I have to say that the narrative in the movie is slow paced and sluggish, and there isn't a whole lot of anything overly thrilling, interesting or scary happening. And that made sitting through this movie quite the ordeal. I have to admit that I was hoping for a bit more in the horror department from writer and director Gonzalo Calzada.

Truth be told, I was on the verge on giving up on the movie and turning it off prematurely a couple of times throughout the first 47 minutes of the 102 minutes runtime. Yup, I ended up giving up on the movie only 47 minutes into the ordeal. By then I just couldn't take any more of the boredom that unfolded itself on the screen.

Needless to say that with my very limited exposure to the Argentinean cinema, then I wasn't familiar with the actors and actresses that were in the movie. However, despite the fact that they had very little to work with in terms of script, character gallery and dialogue, then the acting performances were actually fair.

Something that worked well in favor of the movie was the atmosphere. Director Gonzalo Calzada did manage to pull that off quite nicely, and that definitely added something to the overall impression of "Resurrección".

Writer and director Gonzalo Calzada delivered a brutally dull horror experience. And this is definitely not a movie that I would recommend to fans of the horror genre to rush out and get to watch. Some of us suffered through this slow paced ordeal, so you don't have to; you're welcome. And I can in all honesty say that this movie is not going to grace my screen a second time, ever.

My rating of "Resurrección" lands on a very, very generous two out of ten stars.