"Home at the end of time". Reviews of the Venezuelan horror

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The tape directed by Alejandro Hidalgo, created in the country of the Bolivarian revolution, in 2013 inexplicably reached the domestic box office. "The House at the End of Time" received decent reviews from critics, it is recommended for viewing due to its intriguing combination of genres. Dramatic narrative includes thriller elements and recognizable horror elements. According to film experts, the tape is a fascinating mystical chronology. IMDb project rating: 6.80. One of the main advantages of the tape can be considered that the director, while explicitly quoting Hollywood masterpieces, managed to preserve the national flavor of a poor but very proud Venezuela.

Storyline Summary

The plot of the film "The House at the End of Time" begins with an acquaintance with the main character Dulce, who, after serving a thirty-year prison sentence for the murder of her husband and son, is released. A wrongly convicted, middle-aged woman, convinced of her innocence, returns to her home to reconstruct, like a mosaic, the terrible events of the past. Her damp-smelling and dilapidated dwellingstill keeps the secret of the tragedy that has radically changed the previously carefree life of a Venezuelan housewife. Among the moldy, blackened walls, Dulce is looking for difficult answers: her first-born Leopoldo was dragged into the darkness before her eyes by an incomprehensible "something". A medium girl and a local priest help her to find out the circumstances of the incident. With the arrival of people, the house seems to come to life, incomprehensible shadows flicker, the floorboards creak, and the clock hands move in different directions.

Almost from the very beginning, The House at the End of Time (2013) is divided into flashbacks of the past, diluted with a demonstration of the events of the present.

Mystique with a human face

Authors in reviews of "The House at the End of Time" focus on the fact that the work of the Venezuelan director Alejandro Hidalgo at first seems to be pretending to be a typical mystical horror about the machinations of long-haired evil ghosts, but this is a flip film. Fans of the genre will feel gloomy disturbing notes at the moment when flashbacks involving children begin. Many authors compare this author's technique with Steven Spielberg's research in "The Extra-Terrestrial". But Hidalgo does not have a green man with a huge head, of course. After the story is associated with the creations of M. Night Shyamalan. And in the final third of the running time, the film becomes close in spirit to the projects of Spanish horror makers, who have succeeded in turning horror into touching, and sometimes sentimental stories like The Devil's Backbone. Consolation to zealous fansmystical horror, it can be noted that the picture "The House at the End of Time" intrigues not with sentiments, but with riddles. Together with the characters, the viewer puts together a mosaic of events, unraveling the secrets of a gloomy building, and boom moments will not let you get bored. At the end of the film, the audience, according to their reviews of The House at the End of Time, remain grateful to the authors for the pleasant atmosphere and moderately unpredictable ending.

Features

Of the shortcomings of the film, reviewers most often recall the format close to "soap operas" and the sweetness inherent in the Latin American film industry on the verge of cloying. The frightening moments in the story can also be counted on the fingers, and they do not differ in special originality. The director sacrifices genre nuances of horror, focusing on the complexities of human relationships. Hidalgo turns out to be a skilled storyteller, so the story is intriguing until the very end credits. His offspring is criticized for the infantile naivety of the plot, but it all depends on the personal perception of the beholder.

The actors of "The House at the End of Time" are little known to the general public, but this is not a drawback of the tape. Rather, on the contrary, their fresh, unfamiliar faces give the story a certain charm. Although actress Ruddy Rodriguez, who played the lead role, may be known to the audience for her episodic role in Desperate Housewives and one of the Bond series under the heading "Sparks from the Eyes" with Timothy D alton.

Critic Opinion

Domesticart critics showed unprecedented restraint in their assessments. In reviews of "The House at the End of Time", they designated the project as another of those horror films that appear at the box office every month. In their authoritative opinion, the picture is able to surprise with the place of action and output data - an ominous house in Venezuela and evil, inextricably linked with the national Indian culture. Of all the characters, experts, like their overseas colleagues, single out three key characters: a medium girl, an elderly lady (mistress of the house) and a priest. Many reviewers expressed regret that the clergy did not attend screenings of horror films, as they received another confirmation of the fact that one must speak out against evil with a cross.

The reviewer of the website Social News Daily, working on the creation of a selection of "The 5 Best Horror Movies", said that the work of Alejandro Hidalgo is really worthy of horror.

To be continued…

In general, "The House at the End of Time" is a worthy representative of the Latin American film industry. The picture was awarded several film festival awards, including Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre (BARS), American FilmQuest Festival and Screamfest Horror Film Festival.

In 2017, a South Korean version was released, titled "Home Out of Time". The picture is a remake of the Venezuelan film, the story is told by director Lim Dae-woon almost without changes.

Most recently, the media leaked rumors that New Line Cinema is going to start filming the Americanversion.