Ketrivie
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Beulah Bram
A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
joelmp
A sincere political horror film -- pretty much one of a kind -- that tries to highlight the tortuous past of Argentina's "missing" period. Unfortunately, the horror elements don't work too well, though there are some scares. The biggest fault is the protagonists acting even more implausibly than in your run of the mill Grade B horror flick. That said, the film effectively conjures the horror of the many disappeared in Argentina in that period. And I guess if you're making a film to condemn the torturers who ran Argentina at the time, having "Saw" like gruesomeness is understandable. The final shot of the film is truly haunting, but it's a long road getting there.
Cihan "Sean Victorydawn" Vercan (CihanVercan)
Written directly for the screen this horror film has a captivating and staggering story. Almost every scene from beginning till ending is full of action and tension sequences, which are done by good camera work. Its way of storytelling is very smooth. I watched it with subtitles; even though the script is very substantial, it isn't necessary to follow up each conversation. The dialogue and connection which Pablo and Malena established together magnetizes the full attention from the viewer, since their body language and gestures were complementary with the screenplay.The story takes place in August 2001 in Argentina. Pablo and Malena, who are in their mid-20s', are siblings from a dysfunctional family. Their father whom Pablo never seen in his life before, is in coma. They visit him and Malena introduces him to Pablo. Malena has grown hatred for his father, for he served under Anti-Communist Dictatorship of the Argentinian army to quench the communist movement torturing thousands of innocents, instead of looking after his family. There is a huge question mark here: Why are all the communists introduced as innocents in this film? The frightening fact here is that when Pablo and Malena think that their father is helpless in coma, he turns out to be more powerful than he was alive. His spirit continues to torture the restless souls of the dead innocents. He has written a detailed diary including how he tortured the families of communist vanguards when he was young. In return to his weakened body, he bargains with one or more daemons to continue on his dictatorship mission. One of the daemons in the look of a little girl finds this diary from where he hided away. Then Pablo, the curious and adventurous one of the siblings, gets this diary from that daemon, assuming that it was something the little girl lost. So the daemon begins to bugger around Pablo and Malena. The diary which has the curse of the daemon brings only trouble to them.Aparecidos has the meaning for "Seen versus Disappeared". Who is seen is the Dictatorship regime runners, and who is disappeared is the slaughtered rebels against this regime. Soon, Pablo and Malena read the diary and start a journey to save the victims of the murderers. One of the communist vanguards ,who has never been captured by the police due to the lack of evidence, has been killed with his pregnant wife and little daughter in the hands of Pablo and Malena's father. Daemon completes the bargain with continuously torturing the wife and the daughter's souls.When you feel like you accomplished something, you think that you must be happy and be proud. Then suddenly you realize that you didn't accomplish anything; the confusion in your mind and senses leads you realize the fact that you just decoded something hidden. That was Pablo's confusion in the movie. When he was explaining to her sister what he was really trying to do, he says that he was gone out of his mind and trying to save someone whoever is dead already. Every night at the same hour in the same motel in the same room, the same murder takes place involving the same dead corpses continuously for the last 20 years. Who are you going to save? Save a dead tonight. Amazing concept, isn't it?
dbborroughs
Mystery with supernatural overtones about a brother and sister who go to sign off on the impending death of their father in a hospital. Complications almost instantly arise ("We were only suppose to sign papers, not see him" balks the girl). While traveling after signing the papers they discover discover an old diary and some pictures, things which tell the story of a serial killer, a killer that may still be operating. I've completely botched that and to be perfectly honest short of reading a straight synopsis there is no way, none, to really describe this film. Its a film that refuses to go in any direction except its own. It plays with reality, refuses to adhere to conventions and tells a story that only completely makes sense when you get to the end of it... and in my case its the sort of thing I know I need to see again to get a handle on. I have no idea if I liked it or not. I know that my insistence that the film be a certain something had me working against it. Thats not the way to enjoy this film, its something that you have to let take you where it wants to take you. Can I recommend it? Certainly if you're willing to let it go and do. I do like bits of it, and there are bits I'm not crazy about, but at the same time any film that makes me want to watch it again (even if its to work out what I just saw) is worth a shot.
dtobias9
If you want something different than the usual horror genre, this is the movie for you. I would personally describe it as horror with a supernatural twist/thriller within a mystery. Long description, but that's what it is. I wanted to see it first and foremost because it was filmed in Madrid, Spain (having lived there, some things were recognizable), and I am a fan of supernatural horror flicks. The plot of this movie was NOT predictable whatsoever, which is good. I hate movies you can figure out in the first five minutes of watching them. I was so engaged in the film that I did not move from seat for fear of missing one little detail. There are some parts that made me gasp even, and what you find out in the end is really disturbing,intriguing, and extremely unexpected. Oh, and just a further note, the Spanish they speak in the movie is a castilian dialect, but that's why they have English subtitles.
