#malnazidos

[cherrylaine]

Buffy's endless favourite zombie media: [1/?] movies Valley of the Dead (2020) dir. Javier Ruiz Caldera, Alberto de Toro What is happening here is not Earthly.

[tfrohock]

Random Movie Notes: Valley of the Dead (Malnazidos) and Incantation (Zhou)

Recommendations, warnings, and more, oh my.

I’m always on the hunt for good horror, and I’ve got a couple of treats for you this week. What’s funny about these movies is that they both contain elements I usually avoid (zombies and found-film respectively). I generally find zombie movies to be ridiculous rather than scary, and when I do watch them, I tend to gravitate toward short films such as Fist of Jesus. It’s also why the only story from season three of Love Death + Robots that I really enjoyed was “Night of the Mini Dead,” which made me laugh and laugh and laugh until the cat came to check on me.

This is not to say that zombie movies can’t be scary—they just don’t usually work for me.

Each to their own.

The whole point is that I almost skipped Valley of the Dead (Malnazidos), because it is a zombie movie. What drew me in was the Spanish Civil War storyline, which I thought might make it interesting. What I got was an absolutely delightful movie that didn’t take itself or the subject too seriously. Valley of the Dead is pure popcorn fun, and in a world of movies that pride themselves on pretentiousness, it was a refreshing change of pace.

The film is an adaptation of the novel Noche de difuntos del 38 by Manuel Martín Ferreras and is set in 1938, during the waning days of the Spanish Civil War. The story begins as the Battle of the Ebro, the final decisive battle of the war, is shifting to a Nationalist victory.

Meanwhile, the Germans continue to use Spain as a testing ground for warfare and begin testing a new biological weapon on the inhabitants of a small village. When an upstart Nationalist is given an assignment to take a message across the Sierra, he and his driver are trapped within the Nazi zone with a small force of Republican soldiers. Forced to temporarily ally with each other to deal with the undead, they fight their way to the Nazi hideout in hopes of finding an antidote.

For my American readers, the movie is in Spanish with English subtitles but the translations are just superb. Some of the one-liners and/or situations might not resonate as deeply if you don’t have a basic understanding of the Spanish Civil War, such as when Decruz (Manel Llunell) tells Jan (Miki Esparbé) that he joined the Nationalists because of the puff pastries made by the nuns of his town. Decruz’s rationale is that since the Republican soldiers were known for killing nuns, Decruz feared the puff pastries made by the nuns would disappear. Which is a humorous way of saying that people joined different sides of the Spanish Civil War, less for political reasons than to either preserve or create the way of life they wanted. Likewise, the known infighting amongst the Republican forces was handled with humor and snappy dialogue to create a most unlikely buddy movie by showing both sides they had more in common than they initially thought.

My favorite was Aura Garrido as Matacuras, and I was exceptionally pleased with the movie’s ending, because they didn’t sacrifice her character to a trite storyline. Brava.

Light entertainment at its finest, take a trip to the Valley of the Dead if you’re looking for some fun.

Now if you want some real terror, I highly recommend Incantation, a Taiwanese horror film directed by Kevin Ko, who co-wrote the story with Chang Che-wei. Although I’ll warn you now: Incantation is not for the faint of heart. The movie scared me silly and I’m a hard one to scare.

I’m not a huge fan of found-film movies, mainly because bouncy gloomy shots don’t necessarily make good horror. Essentially, they just make me nauseated with all the wild camera work. So I initially shied away from Incantation until @GNutsofHorror mentioned on Twitter that the movie scared them. That was the only recommendation I needed.

This is a non-linear tale told through footage primarily filmed by the protagonist, Li Ronan, who is cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions and endeavors to do so with the help of the movie’s audience.

The writing for this film is phenomenal. Although the events move between past and present (and all points in between), the action never loses the viewer or the story on its way to a thrilling climax. The use of security footage in addition to the protagonist’s filmed footage works together to fill in the blanks when Li Ronan isn’t actively shooting the film. I don’t want to tell you too much about the plot because to do so will give away some wicked twists. Slow-build pacing combined with carefully injected jump scares are perfectly timed to give Incantation all my stars for a superb horror experience.

For those who’ve been paying attention, both of these movies come with a moral: Don’t let internal prejudices keep you from good horror. Love what you love, but occasionally step outside the boundaries you set for yourself. You’ll find some real entertainment if you do.

I know I did.

[poppy-in-the-woods]

I would watch a prequel miniseries about her no doubt

Matacuras my beloved

[tolleollesonne]

Recently watched this banger of a film! But I couldn't find any fan content so I had to deliver myself...

[pablolf]

Film Journal

"Malnazidos" by Alberto de Toro and Javier Ruiz Caldera

[zinedehautor]

Malnazidos

[1day1movie]

Malnazidos (2020) Javier Ruiz Caldera, Alberto de Toro.

[godlikedevil]

#Spooktober Sunday evening with #Malnazidos on #Netflix https://www.instagram.com/p/CjfjEJapsAu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=