A mexican ghost story from the perspective of an extremely unreliable narrator, fairly well executed but also bleak and dripping with despair. The direction is quite good, and the cinematography would be almost excellent were it not for the colorless palette the movie adheres to. Everything feels gray and desaturated, devoid of color and feeling, which certainly feels like a visual metaphor to the mental state of the character. It feels like he is sleepwalking through events, subject to jump scares and psychological torment, but somewhat detached from emotional investment and warmth. And the movie does justify this, as the protagonist has been in an accident recently with some form of head trauma, which excuses many of the behavioral quirks. The twists are standard, but heart wrenchingly horrific, arguably far worse than the implied supernatural influence, and justifies much of the runtime. Unfortunately, not the entirety of the runtime, as this movie is plodding, overly morose, and far too long. The payoff might be impactful, but it takes far too long for this movie to go anywhere, and once it does far too much is delivered quickly and in an exposition dump. On the whole, there is little genre fans haven’t seen previously, but well executed with some decent atmospherics, scares and overwhelming bleakness.
Los Habitantes (2023)