Hipnos

In the last few years Spanish cinema has witnessed the proliferation of a series of new directors who devote their careers to horror films and thrillers. While some of them have been quite irregular, others (specially Jaume Balagueró) have provided a new insight to the concept of Spanish thrillers. David Carreras, in his debut film, has shown a very promising skill as a director and screenwriter.

Technically outstanding, "Hipnos" will make you bite your nails with only a few hints of blood and with no need of psychopaths or ghosts. While most thrillers are ruined by iffy endings, "Hipnos" is rounded by an acceptably believable third act. It could certainly have been better, but it should be praised by its value in technical aspects and storyline.

Spain, along with a handful of Asian countries, is like the new Promised Land for horror & thriller cinema, with a couple of multi-talented young directors that are active at the moment, like Jaume Balaguéro, Louis de la Madrid and – of course Alex de la Iglesia. I wish I could add David Carreras' name to this eminent list, but "Hipnos" is so far his only long-feature film achievement and… it really isn't that impressive. Carreras knows how to create a tense atmosphere and he can surely lead his cast members in the right direction, but the script – albeit very ambitious – simply lacks power and genuine thrills. I'm pretty sure that the large share of fans this movie has will just claim that I wasn't able to 'understand' the convoluted structure, but the truth is the events simply aren't fascinating enough. The story opens with the discovery of a young girl covered in blood standing over her mother's dead body. She's in a severe state of shock and doctors as well as police officers decide it's better to send her to Dr. Sanchéz Blanch's proclaimed sanatorium. He uses unique and supposedly advanced hypnosis to bring back the memories of amnesia patients, but the new female doctor Beatriz is about to discover that these techniques are endangers the patients rather then cures them. The first half of the film is rather compelling, since you constantly try to figure out what exactly is the connection between Beatriz and the mysterious institution. The main twist can be guessed rather easily, but Carreras ingeniously adds a lot of detailed sub plots and intrigue. Alas, near the second half of the film the red herrings become less and less effective and can no longer be bothered to predict Beatriz' complex fate. The dialogs suddenly get very tedious and the lack of spectacle doesn't really help, neither. Our young Spanish director was obviously influenced by the works of David Lynch, but still lacks his talent of maintaining the suspense and curiosity from start to finish. From a more technical point of view, "Hipnos" is a rather successful effort, with sublimely cool camera-work and fast-paced editing. Cristina Brondo is a devoted young actress and not exactly prudish, as she please the male viewers with several full frontal nudity scenes. Although no gem or a soon-to-be cult classic, "Hipnos" is worth a look and David Carreras is certainly a name to remember for the future of Spanish cinema.

When the young Dr. Beatriz (Cristina Brondo) arrives in a mental institution, she finds that lots of patients are committing suicide, apparently induced by the director of the asylum, Dr. Sánchez Blanch (Féodor Atkine). The patient Miguel (Demian Bichir) tells information about the place and Beatriz discloses surprising secrets.

The first sensation I had while watching "Hipnos" was a claustrophobic and discomfort emotion. The way the story is disclosed provokes bad feelings in the viewer. When the mystery is disclosed, I felt like watching a David Lynch movie, such as "Mulholland Drive", or Alejandro Amenábar's "Abre los Ojos", so weird the story is. I liked this movie a lot which I believe that it has a great potential of cult-movie. Cristina Brondo has an amazing performance, and the surprising final twist is excellent. I believe the next time I see this movie I will like it more. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Hipnos"

A dark night, the police receives a mysterious message. A dead woman is found and next to her lays a girl in shock. Beatriz is a famous doctor that starts to work in a mental hospital specialized in hypnosis. While she studies the case of the girl, the little commits suicide, which will cause Beatriz to enter into a world where it is difficult to distinguish between reality and dream. The plot is interesting and at the beginning, the movie is quite catching, but, as the movie develops, it becomes clear that it has anything worthy. It becomes not terrifying nor thrilling, just weird and boring. As an opera prima it is, it's clear to realize that many scenes could be better filmed and the plot is maybe too complex for a newbie. Perhaps with more experience and clearer ideas, the movie could be better. The acting does not helps, too. As at any moment the actors feel comfortable in their papers, perhaps is the inexperienced director that makes this, as he is not able to transmit everything he wants to transmit. the directing its promising, but the experience makes the grade, perhaps in the future, he will make a good film. Let's wait for it.

This slow-moving film takes accent as the suspense as the terror with eerie and shocking scenes. When Beatriz Vargas (Cristina Brondo) accepts a position as a doctor in the institution where severely emotionally disturbed patients are interned, she quickly befriends a young girl (Natalia Sánchez) who has been unable to communicate for years due to severe shock. Beatriz becomes clear that these are not normal patients. Although she feels a strong bond with the young girl, Beatriz soon becomes very unlucky with the way the patients are being treated. Her unhappiness starts to result in conflicts with her superiors like Sánchez Blanch (Féodor Atkine) and other co-workers, some of whom may prove to be more dangerous than she first realized. The doctor begins to suspect that she is dealing with something much worse than disgruntled coworkers; that her actual survival may be at stake. After a horrible death occurs at the facility, a man named Miguel (Demian Bichir) poses as a police officer to get close to the inner workings of the hospital. Miguel befriends Beatriz and warns of the terrible danger that may be closing in on her. The doctor begins afraid of the darkness and is terrorized asking for help but she becomes threatened by vicious visions and subsequently taking place a killing spree. The horror of being dead!. The nightmare of still being alive!.

Intelligent terror thriller dealing with a woman suffers a traumatic incident as a young girl, whereas she doesn't know which reality is the real one. This thrilling picture displays mystery, suspense, restless terror including decent scares with tense horror sequences. Director usually uses focus on the face and body of our beautiful starring to show the despair and unsettling happenings, adding adequate cinematography, stirring musical score and eliptical edition. The film could be described as anything but figurative immersion into the meanderings of the protagonist's pathological psyche. A decent film with flaws but a good casting, well played by Cristina Brondo, Demián Bichir, Marisol Membrillo, Julián Villagrán , Féodor Atkine, Natalia Sánchez and Carlos Lasarte. The film unfortunately has a script with an interesting subject matter but mediocre dialogue, seen and reviewed, brought to the screen by nice direction, excellent photography and appropriate scenery. It provides horrifying and hair raising images with a little bit of blood and some creepy frames. The weak point of Hipnosis, is the predictable script, the work of the director himself in collaboration with Juanma Ruiz Córdoba. The choice to identify in the protagonists of the trauma also the characters of the inner construction, in a complete transference, is questionable, even if it is exhaustive. The water in the film is an allegory of passionate and mental instincts and impulses, but it is precisely by launching into that sea, crossing the line of separation between reality and inner perception, a line often recalled in the film.

Cameraman Xavi Giménez provides an adequate cinematography with strong colors, dark and white par excellence, and the psychiatric structure in which the plot takes place suggest very well the feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia that the director evidently attributes to a sick mind. The motion picture was professional but uneven directed by David Carreras who has made ¨Flores Negras¨(2009) and he has directed various TV episodes as ¨R. I. S. Científica¨ (TV Series), ¨El Comisario¨, ¨Hospital Central¨, and, today, he's directing films in Germany. Rating: 5.5/10. ¨Hypnos¨ may be a good watch for lovers of "psychiatric" themes, but prepare them for a very long hour and a half.