When you think of all the countries in the world that have produced good quality horror movies, Venezuela probably isn’t the first one that springs to mind – and with good reason. 2013 saw the release of ‘La casa del fin de los tiempos’ (The House at the End of Time), which was described as Venezuela’s first ever horror-thriller movie. It went on to be Venezuela’s highest ever grossing thriller as well as picking up a few horror specific awards internationally, such as Best Picture at the Screamfest Horror Festival LA. The film was the brainchild of moviemaker Alejandro Hidalgo, who wrote, produced, directed, and edited this little gem.

A mother called Dulce (played by Ruddy Rodríguez) wakes up in the aftermath of a struggle or fight. Broken glass and furniture cover the floor, and the woman is cut, but there’s no clue as to what exactly has occurred. The woman gets up and starts to frantically search the house for her son. During the search, she discovers her husband dead in a pool of blood, seemingly from a stab wound to the chest. She eventually discovers her son in another room, standing in front of a doorway, but just as she starts to step towards him, he is pulled back through the doorway and into the darkness by invisible hands. Dulce immediately runs after him but he has seemingly vanished into thin air. She is arrested for the murder of her husband and sentenced to thirty years in prison. The film jumps forward in time to her release, where she returns back to her house and begins her quest to unravel the mystery of those events thirty years earlier. At this point, the film jumps back and forth in time, showing events leading up to the tragedy as well as the current timeline where the much older Dulce is trying to get to the bottom of things. In both timelines, we see evidence of ghostly manifestations and other possible supernatural events.

The film is a low-budget production, however this doesn’t show at all due to some very accomplished and skilled film-making, concentrating on character development, an intelligent and cunning storyline, and a creepy-crawly atmosphere rather than special effects and the usual shock tactics. As the film progresses, the nature of it slowly evolves from supernatural horror to something completely and mind bendingly different. There’s some relevant family drama and melodrama woven into this, which further builds on the various characters development, and adds enough emotion to create some moving scenes without the creepy and suspenseful tone of the film suffering too much. I could elaborate on all this, however it would be very easy to spoil some of the plot twists and surprises by giving away too much about how the story unfolds, This makes reviewing the film problematic as there’s certainly plenty to talk about when it comes to the various threads of the story. Fair to say, it’s a genuinely thought-provoking, creepy, and atmospheric movie with enough twists and turns that it feels as though you’re simply being played with at times. The story is just complex enough to give the brain a workout without becoming so convoluted as to completely baffle. The film concludes beautifully, if a little contrived.

The direction by Alejandro Hidalgo was spot on and, with the low-budget he had, I can’t really think of much more he could have done to improve this in any way. Each and every scene appeared as though lovingly crafted by its master. Hidalgo is a self-confessed Guillermo del Toro fan, and certain parts of the film did have the feel and essence of del Toro’s earlier works. The performances from the lead characters were also notably impressive – acting as much with their facial expressions and demeanour as with their voices, expressing themselves beautifully, and ensuring that the viewer was able to empathise with greater ease. This is an ability that distinguishes good actors from their lesser counterparts. The only part of the film I found a little off-putting was that the same actress played both the young and old woman with the help of some ageing make-up effects which, despite being quite decent, couldn’t quite hide the fact that the old woman wasn’t actually old. I know that this probably won’t be an issue for most, however I just felt as though her character felt slightly less real than it would have done if the role was played by a genuine older woman. I don’t mean to detract from Ruddy Rodríguez’s performance in any way by saying this because she was exceptional in her role.

As to the actual genre that the film belongs to – it’s been called a horror, and a thriller, but I’m not entirely sure I’d place it into either of those categories. If I had to call it something, then I’d probably go for ‘slow-burning mystery’. I was lucky when I watched it, as I hadn’t read a single thing about the plot beforehand, and didn’t even bother reading the plot summary. Since watching it, I’ve had a look at quite a few reviews and the majority of them tend to give things away that are much better off left unsaid. So if you are planning on watching this, it’s far better to go in blind and enjoy watching the mystery unravel as it happens. And I do highly recommend that you plan on watching it!

Here’s the trailer for your convenience:

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