Director: Nacho Cerdá
Year: 2006
Country: Spain/United Kingdom/Bulgaria
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts
Plot:
Arriving in Russia to sort through her ancestral home, a woman finds that the ghostly doppelgangers of her and her brother are guarding a terrifying secret within the house and they must solve it together before it can come to pass and allow them to leave.
Review:
This here was quite the enjoyable if flawed effort. One of the main positives here is the rather fun and chilling atmosphere of the house since this one takes place almost exclusively at the location which really gives this a really eerie tone for the most part. The set-up with the backstory here makes for a rather steady storyline that gets them to the house and allows them to go exploring around the abandoned, disused place which is where this one really gets to plenty to like with the overall atmosphere. There's the first walk-through of the house when they see that state of the house and the eerie silence as they oversee the different mementos left in a state of dust-covered objects and pictures which lets them into the encounters found later in the house where they finally find the continuous series of ghostly encounters in that kind of environment.
The scenes of the two up in their old cribs where the psychedelically-enhanced visuals that accompany the ghosts are incredibly creepy, the scenes of them wandering around the house confronting the ghosts in various rooms throughout the house as they battle their selves in the big battles in the kitchen and the dining room provides this one with some utter creepy encounters. The frantic attacks in the final half where they chase her through the woods away from the home while replaying the events of the separation incident for the brother where he sees what happened to them to become separated and how he became a ghost give this one some more great fun as there's some rather chilling action with the voices getting to her and the frantic action of being around the infants is where it scores as a wild, frantic finish. Alongside the chilling ghosts, sporadic but bloody gore, and fine nudity these here give this one quite a lot to like with only a few minor flaws.
The main flaw here for this one is the fact that it makes absolutely no sense at all as this one simply piles on plenty of confusion and utter incomprehension about anything that's going on in here, as not only is there nothing here about what the ghostly doppelgangers are or where they came but there's nothing here about the purpose of the father reappearing. All we get is his cruel behavior towards their mother but nothing about why he's after them or even anything about the ghostly versions of themselves which just makes the whole affair so utterly confusing as nothing is ever explained. As well, there's also the issue to contend with in that the ghosts aren't really that dangerous as there's never a true sense they plan to go after them intending to hurt them, and their confusing nature also extends to their behavior as they just shamble along without going for those attack and it gives them a somewhat weakened feeling. Still, this one has enough enjoyable elements to work incredibly well.
Overview: ****/5
A rather creepy if slow-going supernatural force, this was a rather solid feature that has a lot to like about it while having just enough to lower it slightly from what it could've been. Those who are intrigued by the concept, are huge ghost movie fans, or appreciate the creative crew will have the most to like here while others who are turned off by the factors here should heed caution.
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