It
turns out the dude who broke into the serial killer’s home in Bad Samaritan got off easy. David
Tennant was just a flesh-and-blood psychopath. In contrast, three sisters who
break into a corrupt senator’s mansion are in for a world of demonic hurt.
Crime truly does not pay in Guillermo Amoedo’s The Inhabitant (trailer here), which screens during the Film Society of
Lincoln Center’s annual Scary Movies series.
The
oldest sister, Camila, is an ex-con who owes the wrong people money, so when
they tell her to break into Sen. Sanchez-Lermontov’s’s safe, she really does
not have any choice in the matter. Her two younger sisters, Maria and Ana have
come along to help. Unfortunately, instead of cash in the safe, they find the
couple’s emaciated daughter Tamara chained up in the basement. Of course, once
Camila releases her from her cell, very bad things start to happen. Yep, you
got it.
Amoedo
takes his time setting the scene and establishing his characters, but when he finally
unleashes the satanic horror, it turns out to be some intense, prolonged, and
over-powering stuff. This film will scare Whole Foods-shopping Unitarians back
to the Catholic Church. Yes indeed, there is veteran demon-exorcising cardinal expected
shortly, but the circumstances will be even more complicated than he expected.
Maria
Evoli is solid as the larcenous sister most likely to be the “final girl,” but she
is overshadowed by the gravitas of Fernando Becerril’s old school Cardinal
Natale and Natasha Cubria, who is truly harrowing and terrifying as the
possessed but occasionally lucid Tamara. Production designer Xènia Besora’s
team also does a first-class job crafting and dressing the Sanchez-Lermontov
villa. It is obviously an opulent home, but the bric-a-brac just looks like it
radiates evil.
So,
that “thou shalt not steal” business is no joke. Anyone who has a few satanic
panic movies under their belt will anticipate the twist ending from the clear
foreshadowing throughout the film. However, there are several extended sequences
involving faith and temptation that are remarkably potent. This is a scary film
that really hits viewers in the gut and on an archetypal level. Very highly
recommended, The Inhabitant screens
Monday night (8/20) at the Walter Reade, as part of Scary Movies XI.
