A tense, terrifying, melancholic, suffocating fantasy thriller with ghost story undertones
Tale
It follows a child named Emma on her journey to learn how to communicate with the spirit of a girl named Uxoa, who has been trapped in a hermitage for centuries, so she tries to convince Carol, a skeptical medium, to help her. A supernatural thriller filled with scary deeds, thrills, chills and plenty of fear; yet some are confusing and inexplicable, the reason for some creepy events is never well explained. The film depicts a fictional story about the social reality that plagues a small town. It begins with a seemingly historical prologue involving a plague, a chapel where the sick were kept, and a flock of birdmen, but it turns out that this is a show that is part of the small town’s annual festival, when the chapel, which is supposedly haunted by little Uxoa, is opened for a short spell. It follows a child named Emma (Maia Zaitegi) on her journey to learn how to communicate with the spirit of a girl named Uxoa, who has been trapped in a hermitage for centuries, so she tries to convince Carol (Belén Rueda), a skeptical and fake medium, to help her.
A tense, mysterious film full of thrills, suspense, chills, red herrings, creepy twists
The latter has literal scars from her childhood, when her possibly real medium mother seemed more interested in the ghost of a local little girl than her own daughter. This is an acceptable and approachable film with many not always sympathetic, deeply human and friendly characters. . This is a ghostly film that contains unsettling horror and a sinister atmosphere when the menacing creatures appear. Step by step, the mystery begins to unfold until its surprising finale, resulting in a sentimental ghost story with serious, brooding overtones in the mode of ¨Orphanage¨ or ¨Pan’s Labyrinth¨, but with its characteristic female focus.
Despite this, Pereda manages to make a more than worthy film, but worse than the previous one
It is an attractive drama, the interest in which wanes as its tedious accumulation of seemingly terrifying elements increases. While ¨Cerdita¨ in La Ermita focuses on pure terror, there are several things that confirm Pereda as a key figure in the current horror and fantasy genre. One of them is her frontal entry into genre cinema: she relies without hesitation on fantasy, adding personal drama. As the film progresses, it empties and does not allow us to talk about such a gem as 'Cerdita' . Pereda is very fond of Gothic, she enjoys the trappings of Spanish horror without making a horror film.
who is clearly a talented writer and filmmaker
It turns out to be an adequate and decent film, but it is not remarkable. In the main roles, Belén Rueda gives a nice acting performance in her usual style, she is an expert actress in mystery and horror films such as In the Eyes of Julia, The Children’s House, 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 “Scream Queen”, she is well matched with the prodigy Maya Zaitegui, reminiscent of the young Ana Torrent in Cria Cuervos or El espiritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive). The motion picture was professionally directed by Carlota Pereda. As a female drama with genre-like tones, it is the second convincing presentation card of Pereda’s talent.
It won in 2023: Sitges Film Festival: Official Feature Film Section (out of competition) and in 2023: Goya Awards (Spain): Nominated for Best Special Effects
Her first film was the much better ¨Cerdita¨, which is based on Carlota Pereda’s own Goya-winning short film of the same name, winner of the Goya Award for Best Short Film in 2018, and also stars Laura Galán. Rating: 5.5/10.