Director: Victor Dryere
Year: 2017
Country: Mexico
Alternate Titles: 1974: La posesión de Altair
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Celebrating their newfound marriage, a man and his wife move into a house where his obsession with documenting everything on video camera allows him to witness her slowly deteriorating state being in the house and eventually uncovers the deadly secret that puts their lives in jeopardy.
Overall, this was an incredibly enjoyable and thrilling effort. One of the strongest elements present here is the rather strong aesthetic style present throughout here which gives this a highly engaging look to the film. This one manages to readily capture the look and feel of the time-period, which is not only done in-camera with the way the film-stock manages to effectively mimic the type of home movies shot at that time but also manages to really evoke the setting with the decorations all throughout the area. From the lavish party they throw where everyone seems to be decked out in the greatest fashions of the day to the different furniture around the house and decorations placed around here, this one manages to feel like an entry filmed in that day which helps give it a fine power here.
Once the film moves into the hauntings, this one really picks up considerably. The types of attacks here are generally limited to only a few different types because of the format being filmed, but this does manage a few effective moments including a stellar sequence where a previously-experienced flock of birds that was flying over their house all suddenly drop dead out of the sky at once and the sight of the raining birds over their house and belongings outside the house is quite an effective visual and concept. Other great concepts, from the silence and general apathy she exhibits almost immediately to the eerie growling sounds of some unknown force moving throughout the house that they capture which adds to the thrilling atmosphere here. Even beyond the hauntings, the plot about their missing dog out in the woods, the series of scattered and burned video-tapes he finds or the way she would continually stand in one spot ignoring everything to laugh in the face of others around her also give this one a rather enjoyable presence that gets featured here and give this one the type of thrilling atmosphere that's really required of this one. This is all due to the film's rather strong and relentless pace here, giving up very little downtime and constantly building things along. This is a rather enjoyable tactic to see in this type of film where it gives this one a really fine feature here to lead into the truly dark finale where the spiritualism and the religious connections are played up even further into an action-packed finish with some chilling ideas involved.
Basically a four-person film, there's not much to say about everyone here. As husband Manuel, Rolando Breme handles the majority of the film and basically appears to be the typically ineffectual accompaniment to the action at hand. At first playful and somewhat gregarious being around his wife, there's not much else to him and he spends the majority of the time trying to research her past to find out what's going on which all seems to be a logical course of action but doesn't result in much of anything for the character. The central figure in the film, Diana Bovio as Altair doesn't have much screentime and simply seems to be in a one-track role the whole way through the film, being stoic and distant. It's obvious what's going on with her because of the condition present and she plays the role well resulting in some utterly chilling moments. As his friend Callahan, Guillermo Callahan does what he can to be the sympathetic friend but he doesn't really amount to much and doesn't really have much of an impact on the film as a whole other than to add another body into the mix. He does seem to be genuinely interested in helping his friend and he seems calm and restrained for the most part but the character doesn't really do much, like everyone else here.
This one does have a few minor flaws to found here, most of which come in the form of the truly inactive characters here who don't really have much of a reason to be here. The film relies on a central four-piece of characters and none of them really do much throughout the film, letting things happen for the sake of moving the story along when in reality they're too passive. Had they done something to stop what's going on, it might've done even better but overall, that's really the main issue with this one.
Overview: **** 1/2/5
Overall, there isn't much to dislike with this one even though it's got some obvious minor shortcomings. The retro style feel of the film works to its advantage, there are some truly genuinely chilling moments and it's brisk pace results in so few downtime moments that it remains engaging the whole way through, leaving this as a solid and truly worthwhile pick for found-footage aficionados or those looking to explore what else may come from the genre recently.
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