31/37
A tense, scary, melancholic, suffocating fantasy thriller with elements of a ghost story
Scenario
It follows a baby Emma as she learns to communicate with a girl, Uxoa, who has been trapped in a hermit’s den for centuries, and so she tries to convince Carol, a skeptical medium, to help her. The supernatural thriller is full of chilling action, thrills, chills and plenty of scares; however, some of the confusing and unexplained, some of the creepy events are never properly explained. The film tells the fictional story of a social reality affecting a small town. An apparent historical prologue opens with a plague epidemic, a chapel that houses the sick, and a regiment of beaked men, but it is a recreation of a pageant held as part of a small town’s annual festival, when the chapel, believed to be haunted by little Usoa, is opened for a brief spell. The film follows Emma (Maia Zaitegi) as she learns to communicate with a girl, Uxoa, who has been trapped in a hermit’s den for centuries, and so she tries to convince Carol (Belén Rueda), a skeptical and fake medium, to help her.
A tense, mysterious film, full of thrills, suspense, thrills, red herrings, creepy twists
The latter bears scars from her childhood, when her real mother was probably more interested in the ghost of a local little girl than her own daughter. It’s an acceptable and relatable film, with a cast of not always sympathetic, deeply human and relatable protagonists. . It’s a haunting film that contains a disturbing horror and a sinister atmosphere when the menacing creatures appear. Step by step, the mystery begins to unravel until its surprising conclusion, resulting in a sentimental ghost story with a serious, unsettling tone, like ¨The Orphanage¨ or ¨Pan’s Labyrinth¨, but with its own characteristic feminine accent.
It is an engaging drama whose interest wanes as the exhausting accumulation of supposedly terrifying elements increases
While ¨Cerdita¨ in ¨La Ermita¨ focuses on sheer terror, several things confirm that Pereda is a key figure in the horror and fantasy genres today. One is his frontal entry into genre cinema: he bets without hesitation on fantasy, complemented by personal drama. It slows down as the shooting continues and prevents us from talking about a gem like “Cerdita”. Pereda, however, manages to make a film that is more than worthy, but weaker than the previous one. Pereda has a great eye for the Gothic, he enjoys the trappings of Spanish horror without making a horror film.
It turns out to be an adequate and decent film, but not remarkable
In the lead role, Belén Rueda gives a nice acting performance in her usual style, an expert actress in mystery and horror films such as: Julia’s eyes , The orphanat , No dormirás , Durante la tormenta , The Pact , Orbita 9 and The body . In fact, Belén Rueda is the closest Spain has to a horror heroine or a “Scream Queen”, a good match for the prodigy Maia Zaitegi, who evokes the young Ana Torrent in Cria Cuervos or El espiritu from the hive (Spirit). the Hive). The film was professionally directed by Carlota Pereda, who is clearly a talented writer. and filmmaker.
Laura Galán
As a female drama with a similar gender tone, this is the second solid book-length showcase of Pereda’s talent. It won the 2023 Sitges Film Festival: Official Feature Film Section (out of competition) and 2023: Goya Awards (Spain): Nominated for Best Special Effects. Her first film was the much better ¨Cerdita¨, whose starting point is Carlota Pereda, winner of the Goya Award for Best Short Film of the same name, winner of the Goya Award for Best Short Film in 2018, and also the main character. Rating: 5.5/10.
