Director: Hugo Cardozo
Year: 2021
Country: Paraguay
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Following a string of bad luck, a down-on-his-luck young man accepts a job as a security guard at a morgue and happily accepts the job, but the more he stays there the more he comes to believe that something might not like his presence at the location and tries to get out of the building alive.
Review:
For the most part, this was a rather impressive genre outing. When this one works rather well is the general atmosphere and eeriness of the location which is milked rather effectively. Given the already uneasy feeling and tone found in the location to begin with, the turn into a full-on genre effort is quite effective a the scenes playing with him are incredibly effective. The desolate nature of everything and the near-total silence as he wanders around checking on things and encountering the creaking doors, shadows running by in the background or the limbs of the deceased falling out from under the cloth on the gurney are all utilized to bring together an effective and wholly chilling atmosphere.
This atmosphere is then utilized incredibly effectively to generate some rather impressive and fun encounters with supernatural entities. The initial scenes of him thinking that something’s in there after looking at security camera footage or the selfies he takes on his phone start things off nicely, while the main confrontation is the big selling point here with the chase through the morgue’s hallways tending to the trespassing vagrant. This becomes fun with the zooming chases and the shocking discovery that adds a wholly different dimension to the situation which is then carried along throughout the rest of the film carrying into a highly effective and chilling finale. These factors manage to hold this one up the most.
There are a few issues to be had here. One of the biggest problems is the fact that this one decides to spend so much time on the build-up of his bad luck that it doesn’t generate any kind of overt genre atmosphere for a while into the movie. The scenes of him getting stuck in the city with a crummy car that doesn’t run, the inability to find a job and the demanding girlfriend who’s completely unreasonable and mistrusting of his explanations don’t do much to enhance the atmosphere of the film until he’s already at the facility which in a film of this length doesn’t generate any real interest since the point’s already been made.
The other slight issue with the film is the general lack of threatening actions carried out by the figures inside the building which is rather curious. Rather than spend the time doing something to demonstrate their unpleasant attitude towards his presence there, the whole thing revolves around the eeriness of the building and how whether he’s seeing things or not which doesn’t have the intensity it should towards the latter half when they just uncharacteristically begin playing with him. It all feels out of order with how they acted towards him to begin with and sticks out rather obviously with how they suddenly begin tormenting him psychologically, so even though the action has a lot to like it’s all the intent behind it. These factors bring the film down.
Overview: ***/5
While it has a few minor issues with the pacing and some curious antics by the creatures, for the most part, this one has a lot to like with its atmosphere and action that manages to hold the film up quite nicely. Give this a look if you're a fan of these kinds of genre outings or curious how the country's genre output will look in the future while most others turned off by the style or approach should heed caution.
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