Written by Robert Scucci | Published
Whenever a horror game is considered the “scariest movie of the year,” I approach it with cautious enthusiasm. I understand the marketing behind it, and thinking that if you only watch a few new horror movies every Halloween before going back to your classic tried and true slashers, it makes sense. When The conjuring it came out in 2013, I remember my regular friends being blown away by it, and rightly so. I really enjoyed it. It’s a good movie. But I watch horror movies all the time, while it’s on fire Halloween, Friday the 13thagain A Nightmare on Elm Street every year like clockwork and not much else.
That’s all to say I wasn’t buying it when I read that in 2017 Veronica It is considered one of the scariest movies on Netflix. It’s basically a Spanish language version of your classic Ouija board layout, so what I was expecting was pretty much the same but with subtitles (don’t bother with the English dubs). Thankfully, this film actually dominates and is scary as hell.
Now don’t change this. Once you’ve seen a number of movies like this, it’s par for the course. Veronicaand its predecessor, 2023 My Sister is Deaththey’re pretty standard in their storytelling, but the execution is everything here. The sound design, cinematography, and a bunch of talented but unknown actors, that I don’t know at least, make for a solid viewing experience. Even better, the world being built here is a solid place for the franchise. Though I’d be lying if I said writer-director Paco Plaza didn’t stick with the premise.
He balanced well between world building and only showed the viewer enough without breaking the illusion. If they continue with more sequels and prequels, I’m afraid the magic will evaporate and we’ll get smaller films because the lore will pass the point of belief, like the recent Conjuring movies that have seen a noticeable drop in quality.
Veronica Your Classic Ouija Board Layout
Founded in 1991, Veronica it begins at the end as the detective investigates the crime scene which is the house of our protagonist. The text on the screen says that the events in the film are based on his police reports, and everything goes back a few days before, when the seeds of the current crisis were planted. We are introduced to 15-year-old Veronica, her younger twins Lucia (Bruna Gonzalez) and Irene (Claudia Placer), and her younger brother Antonito (Ivan Chavero). Veronica’s mother works night shifts as a waitress and is often absent during the day because she sleeps, doing housework and second parenting duties for her older daughter. Their father is dead and will eventually become the main source of conflict.
This family variable is important to Veronica because he is still an honest young man. She collects the children every day, carries food and prepares them for school. By all accounts, he’s a good kid. But he’s also young, and teenagers do stupid things because their brains aren’t fully cooked. An endless list of responsibilities, combined with how he misses his father, pushes him to the Ouija board that he plans to use with his friends Rosa (Angela Fabian) and Diana (Carla Campra) during school while the rest of their class watches the solar eclipse from the rooftop. Having successfully reached the other side and contacted her father, Veronica convulsed, cried and bled, and woke up in the nurse’s office.
Terrified by what happened, Veronica keeps the incident a secret and continues to run the house, but things start to unravel. He sees shadows at night and is haunted by thoughts. When these episodes happen, Veronica loses track of time and finds herself hurting Antonito when she snaps out of it. For example, while still in a daze, Veronica believes she is fighting the demon that took her from her little brother. When reality returns, it looks like he’s trying to strangle her while she’s sleeping.
Veronica it goes up a notch, as you’d expect, and some of his ideas are truly disturbing. On their own, the beats are decent, but Pablo Rosso’s cinematography, Marti Roca’s editing, and Chucky Namanera’s score push the film to terrifying heights before the word is put down entirely.
Sister’s Death Completely Builds Lore
Although the blind nun nicknamed Sister Death (Consuelo Trujillo) has only a small amount Veronicahis backstory is fully explored in the film’s prequel. In VeronicaSister Death, who blinded herself when she was young to stop seeing the demons that tormented her, becomes a spiritual guide who tries to help Veronica fight the demonic forces at play. In My Sister is Deathfounded in 1939, we read this origin story and see how everything fits into place.
Here, the myth of the eclipse is expanded as the young Sister, Death, whose real name is Narcisa (Aria Bedmar), encounters evil spirits that seem to follow her wherever she goes at the all-girls school where she teaches. There is an unfinished game of hangman drawn on the wall of his bedroom and the moaning of a sad spirit presence known as Socorro (Almudena Amor), who has not only taken out Narcisa, but also Sister Julia (Maru Valdivielso) and Mother Superior (Luisa Merelas).
Back to back, Veronica again My Sister is Death they are more than solid entries and are really scary at times. The former hinges on the appeal of management better than I would have imagined, while the latter provides the background with enough detail to sell the property, but with enough mystery to keep you entertained. My fear is that if we get a third or fourth movie set in this universe, everything might fall apart. Nothing is over-explained here, and that restraint works to the legends’ advantage, generating a healthy amount of scares for fans of the weird and the shocking alike.
Although I don’t think so Veronica again My Sister is Death are horror movies streaming on Netflix, I would put them in the same place A Classic Horror Story again Black Phone definitely. Now all you have to do is watch it and find out for yourself.
