Morbido ’15: Hostile

Whenever you see a reality TV camera crew turn up in a genre film, you know their life expectancy will be severely limited. Such is the case in France as well. Chloé from SOS Adoption was expecting to give frazzled single adoptive mother Meredith Langston her usual pep talk. Instead, she finds two aggressively evil teenaged girls. They were once innocent and respectful, but something changed soon after moving into their new country home. SOS Adoption will permanently jump the shark in fourteen year old filmmaker (yessir, you read that right) Nathan Ambrosioni’s Hostile (trailer here), which screens as part of Mexico’s Morbido Fest 2015.

At first, Langston was deliriously happy to be the mother of fifteen year old Emilie and the fourteen-going-on-fifteen Anna, before they suddenly turned, you know, hostile. That was around the same time they started talking to the sinister “Jefferson,” a bogeyman-ish figure who appears from time to time in the garden. Mother Langston really starts to crack when she sees Jefferson too. Feeling overwhelmed, Langston takes flight, leaving her adopted Bad Seeds in Chloé’s reluctant care.

Frankly, it takes even less time for Chloé to get completely freaked out by the Langston Sisters, so she arranges for them to spend time Jessica Flaminsky and her husband Daniel, Vatican-approved specialists in demonic possession. Ominously, Ms. Flaminsky senses there is something profoundly different about their case, in a very bad way. Nevertheless, her husband leaves her alone with the hellion sisters, to run chores at the most inopportune time. Strangely enough, unsuspecting minders are often left alone with the sinister sisters, which invariably leads to unfortunate consequences.

Ambrosioni’s commitment to transitions and establishing shots is iffy at best, but he maintains an atmosphere of overpowering dread. As a teen himself, he seems to have a firm handle on how horrible girls that age can act. That first-hand knowledge gives Hostile a razor-sharp edge. Despite not always crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s of his narrative, Ambrosioni pulls off a significant third act twist that changes everything about our assumptions, but nothing about the film’s menacing essence. Even with its rough edges, Hostile will scare the snot out of you.

Luna-Miti Belan and Julie Venturelli are frighteningly credible as the twisted sisters, while Magali Gouyon and Julien Croquet play the Flaminskys with the sort of sophisticated eccentricity and cerebral arrogance you find in the very best horror movie protagonists, going back to the legendary Peter Cushing. Ambrosioni also contributes a great Hitchcockian cameo.

Hostile is not a gimmick. If you saw it cold, with no foreknowledge of Ambrosioni’s identity, you would assume it was helmed by a veteran French genre director. It is just all kinds of eerie. Highly recommended for fans of occult horror, Hostile screens this Sunday (11/1) , as part of this year’s Morbido.

Morbido ’15: Honeymoon

“My husband, the doctor” might sound like a good happily ever prospect, but not to Isabel Herrera. That is because she is already married, but not to Jorge Toledo. Nevertheless, the medically trained psychopath is determined they can be happy together in Diego Cohen’s Honeymoon (trailer here), which screens as part of Mexico’s Morbido Fest 2015.

Herrera always thought Toledo was a friendly neighbor, but he was actually dangerously obsessed. After a tireless study of her habits, he finally strikes. Having inherited a house that takes up most of the block across the street from her, Toledo has plenty of room to set up her dungeon. With the use of an electric shock dispensing dog collar, Toledo will try to condition her into accepting their so-called “marriage.”  Yet, as one can well imagine, Herrera remains resentful and troublesome.

Man, this is a tough film to watch at times. However, in Cohen’s defense, it must be said Cohen gives himself one heck of a Hitchcockian cameo. You will know it when you see it. There is also a monster third act twist that will leave your faith in humanity even further depleted. On the other hand, it is hard to fathom how anyone could forget about the shocking dog collar after enduring one or two zaps to the nervous system. Yet, somehow Herrera inevitably does just that.

Regardless, Hector Kotsifakis is absolutely chilling as Toledo and Paulina Ahmed plays each of Herrera’s harrowing scenes with admirable conviction. Alberto Agnesi also hits the precise right notes as her husband, Pablo, but the film is essentially a two-hander—and what bitter, grueling company the two of them make.

Sensitive viewers cannot be cautioned enough: there is some really tough stuff in this film. Still, real craftsmanship went into the production. Like many baroquely styled Spanish horror films, Honeymoon represents quite a feat of mise en scène. Art director Pablo Garcia and his team clearly have a knack for ominous bric-a-brac. Of course, that hardly makes it more pleasant to spend time watching Toledo’s horrors unfold. It is too sophisticated and artfully rendered to dismiss Honeymoon as torture porn horror, but if that is your bag, you will be able to relate. Cohen has all kids of talent, but this is not the film to break him out. For Mexican horror fans looking to support, it screens on Halloween (10/31), as part of this year’s Morbido.