Tesis (1996)

Director:

Alejandro Amenábar

Writers:

Alejandro Amenábar (screenplay)
Alejandro Amenábar (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

12 April 1996 (Spain)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Me llamo Ángela. Me van a matar. [English Tagline: My name is Angela. They're going to kill me.]

Plot:

While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty...

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Film School | Torture | Mutilation | Man With Glasses

Awards:

14 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Ana Torrent	...	Ángela
Fele Martínez	...	Chema
Eduardo Noriega	...	Bosco Herranz
Xabier Elorriaga	...	Castro
Miguel Picazo	...	Figueroa
Nieves Herranz	...	Sena
Rosa Campillo	...	Yolanda
Paco Hernández	...	Padre Angela (as Francisco Hernández)
Rosa Ávila	...	Madre Angela
Teresa Castanedo	...	Presentadora T.V.
José Miguel Caballero	...	Conserje Videoteca
Joserra Cadiñanos	...	Vigilante
Julio Vélez	...	Encargado tren
Pilar Ortega	...	Encargada C. Ventas
Olga Margallo	...	Vanessa
José Luis Cuerda	...	Profesor 1º
Emiliano Otegui	...	Profesor 2º
Walter Prieto	...	Vigilante Tren
Florentino Sainz	...	Anciano
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Helena Castañeda	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Alejandro Amenábar

Writing credits
Alejandro Amenábar		(screenplay)
Alejandro Amenábar		(story) &
Mateo Gil		(story)

Produced by
Alejandro Amenábar	....	associate producer
Hans Burman	....	associate producer (as Hans Burmann)
Wolfgang Burmann	....	associate producer
José Luis Cuerda	....	executive producer
José Luis Cuerda	....	producer
Julio Madurga	....	associate producer
Emiliano Otegui	....	executive producer
Ricardo Steinberg	....	co-producer
María Elena Sáinz de Rozas	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Alejandro Amenábar
Mariano Marín

Cinematography by
Hans Burman

Film Editing by
María Elena Sáinz de Rozas

Production Design by
Wolfgang Burmann

Costume Design by
Ana Cuerda

Makeup Department
Elisabeth Adánez	....	assistant makeup artist
Paca Almenara	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Emiliano Otegui	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mateo Gil	....	assistant director
Raúl Otegui	....	second assistant director
Walter Prieto	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Óscar Romero	....	props (as Oscar Romero)

Sound Department
Sergio Bürmann	....	boom operator (as Sergio Burmann)
Manuel Corrales	....	sound effects
Pelayo Gutiérrez	....	sound editor
Alfonso Pino	....	sound mixer
Jaume Puig	....	dolby consultant
Nacho Royo-Villanova	....	sound effects editor
Ricardo Steinberg	....	sound (as Goldstein & Steinberg)

Special Effects by
Reyes Abades	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Wolfgang Burmann	....	assistant camera
Pablo Bürmann	....	assistant camera (as Pablo Burmann)
Juan Carrión	....	gaffer
Pablo Carrión	....	electrician
Mateo Gil	....	video operator
Pedro López	....	electrician
Catalina Madurga	....	video assist operator
Julio Madurga	....	second assistant camera
Matías Nieto	....	still photographer
Francisco Ramos	....	key grip
José Sacristán	....	electrician

Editorial Department
Natalia Sáinz de Rozas	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Mariano Marín	....	orchestrator
Javier Vacas	....	music mixer

Other crew
Jesús Alonso	....	production assistant
José Miguel Mendiola	....	financial controller
María Teresa Payero	....	production secretary
François Vila	....	press agent

Thanks
Emma Penella	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Las Producciones del Escorpión S.L.
• Sogepaq

Distributors

• Bir Film (2003) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Scanbox Entertainment (1997) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Three Lines Pictures (1997) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (199?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Betta Entertainment (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Cinemagia (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• New Yorker Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• New Yorker Video (2003) (USA) (VHS)
• Quality Films (2006) (Mexico) (DVD)
• Scanbox Entertainment (????) (Finland) (DVD) (VHS)
• Tanelorn Films (USA) (DVD)
• Tanelorn Films (USA) (VHS)
• Twin Pics (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Cinéart Collection)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD) (uncut)
• Vanguard Cinema (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Vanguard International Cinema (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Thesis" - UK (festival title), USA (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong and perverse violent content, brief strong sexuality and strong language

Runtime:

125 min | 118 min (cut)

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Germany:18 (video premiere) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Mexico:B | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Las Producciones del Escorpión S.L.

Trivia:

When Angela (Ana Torrent) is accessing the warranty database, director Alejandro Amenábar's name appears as a warranted customer of an XT-500 video camera.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Angela runs out of Castro's office, a boom mic is reflected in the door, just before he yells to her.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Title Card:WARNING: The following scenes may hurt the viewer's sensibility.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Cinema Snob: Snuff (#1.25)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Máquinas en Celo

Terrifying And Intelligent!

"Tesis" is not only a tantalizing Horror Thriller, but is also an intelligent study of people's fascination with death and the imagery of death. Several movies about the topic of snuff films have come up in the last several years (8 MM, for example), this one is definitely the best.

Angela is a young woman who is writing a thesis on violence in the media, in order to get her degree in communication science. Doing research, she gets to know Chema, a fellow student who is obsessed with violent movies. Angela finds a snuff video of a girl tortured to death, Chema recognizes the girl as a former student from their school, who disappeared several years ago. Angela and Chema get themselves into great danger, trying to find out who killed the girl.

Thrilling from the first to the last minute, and sometimes quite shocking and disturbing, "Tesis" is a movie that will definitely not disappoint you if you're looking for suspense. But not only is the movie thrilling and entertaining it also makes some very interesting points in the questions why people are fascinated with death and violence, what the effects of fascination with violence are and how media are dealing with it. I'll never forget the beginning of the movie, when a suicide occurs in the Madrid subway and Angela, although she doesn't want to be 'fascinated with violence', can't help but try to get a look at the dead body.

The acting in the movie is very good, specially Ana Torrent as Angela and Fele Martínez as Chema. A good cinematography supports the suspense and the thrilling atmosphere. Alejandro Amenábar did a great job writing and directing this movie, one of the most thrilling of the 90's. A great horror thriller, researching people's fascination with violence and death, 'Tesis' is disturbing, terrifying and intelligent! 8 out of 10!