Director: José María Cicala
Year: 2025
Country: Argentina
Alternate Titles: Encantador
Genre: Serial Killer
Plot:
Living in a small Argentine town, a series of strange deaths leads the authorities to investigate the locals around town who might be responsible, while the disturbed loner video store clerk, who’s actually committing the murders, tries to slip through the cracks to strike his next target.
Review:
For the most part, this was a pretty solid and generally enjoyable effort. Among the better elements with this one is the way it manages to build up a quite effective storyline about the killer and his gradual build into the overall reveal. This one starts off rather nicely with the wholesale look at his life, being held under the thumb of his domineering mother as he tries to make a living either in his dead-end video rental store or cleaning up after her at home that provides him with no real chance at a normal life amongst the rest of the people around it, so that it has some kind of explanation for what’s going on. The reveal of the deranged psychotic killer tendencies isn’t too shocking, considering this kind of exhaustive build-up, but these scenes serve more as a way of trying to explain away his awkwardness and social anxiety by being so sheltered and unfamiliar with proper social interactions. That it goes to more overt ideas here to try offering up why the whole thing takes place with the sexual undertones it does, with his fixation and obsession with dolls, trying to place everything as a substitute for the lack of affection he receives from everyday people.
When it comes to focusing on the serial killer lifestyle in more depth, this one is a bit of a mixed bag, but it still has a lot to like. The fact that the stalking scenes and other confrontations where he snaps and tries to take others out so he can start performing the gruesome operations to turn them into the dolls he creates has quite a lot to like. The performances in the dingy basement where that all occurs are quite fun, with bodies being cut up and dismembered while others look on in terror at what he’s doing, and are dark and brutal, yet the fact that the investigation isn’t that interesting does stall this one somewhat. While it’s not entirely implausible that he gets away with everything as long as he does with the off-kilter behavior and generally sketchy outbursts that are nothing more than highlights for him being quite likely a suspect if nothing else. With his inability to be remotely cool around others and displaying hints that he’s a suspect at worst, and it all being ignored means this one tends to be slightly sluggish when detailing the police investigation to what’s going on. Still, this one does have a lot to like overall.
Overview: ***.5/5
A fun enough if slightly flawed Argentine serial killer effort, there’s a lot to like here, and it comes off quite well even though there are some factors holding this down overall. Those with an appreciation for this kind of subject matter, those who are curious about this one, or just don’t mind the issues, will want to give it a shot, while most others out there should heed caution.
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