LATEST OBSSESSIONS (5)


The Baby's Room (spanish: La habitación del niño) (2006)

In Spain, the sports journalist Juan has a perfect life with his wife Sonia: they have just had a baby and moved to an old house that needs to be repaired in a fancy neighborhood. When Juan's sister and her husband visit the couple, they give them an electronic nanny to monitor the baby's room. During the night, Juan and Sonia hear voices in the room but they do not find anybody. On the next day, Juan hires an alarm system for the house and a monitor to observe the baby's room. When Juan sees a man in the room, he gets a knife to protect his son. However, Sonia believes her husband is insane and moves to her mother's house. Juan investigates the happening with the former journalist Domingo, who explains him the paradoxical experiment Schrodinger's Cat and the existence of parallel worlds...

Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Producer: Estudios Picasso, Filmax, Telecinco, Castelao Producciones
Writter: Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Álex de la Iglesia
Starring: Javier Gutiérrez, Leonor Watling, Sancho Gracia, María Asquerino,
Running Time: 77min

Rating: 9/10

CALVAIRE (2004)

Marc Stevens is a suave but arrogant up-and-coming pop singer, who makes his living performing light pop ballads and easy listening tunes at retirement homes and other small venues around Belgium. En route to perform on a Christmas special, he wrecks his van-- which doubles as his home-during a thunderstorm and is stranded deep in the woods. Lost, cold, and succumbing to the elements, Marc is rescued by a local, an emaciated young man named Boris, who takes Marc to a nearby abandoned inn and then deserts him there.
Marc quickly discovers that the sole occupant of the inn is its former proprietor, Mr. Bartel, an amiable old man who now lives there as a hermit of sorts. Claiming to be a retired standup comedian, Mr. Bartel welcomes Marc to stay as long as he likes, even offering to tow and repair Marc's van as a sign of brotherhood between professional entertainers. Marc accepts the offer, but retains his arrogant demeanor, refusing to speak with Mr. Bartel about his own career or personal life. The next morning, Mr. Bartel tows Marc's van into the front yard of the inn. Marc informs Mr. Bartel that he is going for a walk, at which point Mr. Bartel suddenly becomes paranoid and aggressive, warning Marc not to travel into the nearby village. Marc agrees, but nevertheless pays a visit to a nearby farm, where he witnesses a family voyeuristically watching a teenage boy have intercourse with a calf, calling the experience "so tender". Meanwhile, rather than repairing Marc's van, Mr. Bartel begins snooping through the portion of it in which Marc lives, stealing an envelope of amateur pornography presented to Marc by one of his fans.
That night, Mr. Bartel becomes even more aggressive, working himself into a frenzy while recalling his adulterous wife who abandoned him years before...

Director: Fabrice Du Welz
Producer: Michael Gentile, Eddy Géradon-Luyckx,. Vincent Tavier
Writter: Fabrice Du Welz, Romain Protat
Starring: Laurent Lucas, Jackie Berroyer, Philippe Nahon
Running Time: 88min

Rating: 7/10

REC II (2007)

Dr. Owen, an official from the Ministry of Health and a Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO) team, equipped with helmet-mounted video cameras, are sent into a quarantined apartment building to control the situation. After encountering some of the infected, Owen uses religious mantra and rosary to fight them off. It turns out that Owen is actually a priest sent by the church to get a blood sample from the Medeiros girl and aid the other priest in charge of her. When they get to the penthouse, they find out that the infected can travel all around the building through the air ducts. The Medeiros girl is nowhere to be found. Larra, one of the GEO officers goes into the air duct and finds a sample of her blood – the only one that the original priest took from her. Owen then performs a religious rite, and the blood spontaneously combusts, confirming that it is the blood he's looking for; however, the rest of the blood also sets on fire and Larra drops it, rendering it useless. They must then get a blood sample from the Medeiros girl. Jennifer's father, who was outside getting medicine for his daughter (the infected girl from REC), manages to convince a firefighter to take him into the building. Moments before the building is quarantined, three teenagers named Tito, Mire and Ori are messing around on a roof. When the police quarantine the building, they find them and escort them out to the street. The teenagers gain access to the sealed building through the sewage system; however, police have seen them and seal their exit...

Director: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Producer: Julio Fernández
Writter: Jaume Balagueró, Manu Díez, Paco Plaza
Starring: Manuela Velasco, Jonathan Mellor, Óscar Sánchez Zafra, Ariel Casas, Alejandro Casaseca, Pablo Rosso
Running Time: 85min

Rating: 9/10

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