Tuesday 18.6.2024
/
Last update 11:55
To find the origin of a horror cinema with an Argentine identity, you have to travel to the ’60s: one of the first experiments in this sense was “Masterpieces of Terror” (1960), an anthology of three stories based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe, directed by Enrique Carreras, with the participation of Narciso Ibáñez Menta. In the following years, it began to be consolidated through directors such as Armando Bo and Emilio Vieyra, who ventured into the field of horror, but combined it with eroticism. This is the case of “Sangre de vírgenes” (1967) by Vieyra, which works on the elements of vampire mythology.
Shudder, La Puerta Roja, Aramos Cine, Machaco Films
But international recognition came during the ’90s and 2000s, years in which Argentine horror cinema experienced a renaissance at the hands of directors such as Pablo Parés and Hernán Sáez, who co-directed the “Zombie Plague” trilogy, which generated a cult of followers.
Shudder, La Puerta Roja, Aramos Cine, Machaco Films
In the last decade, the genre in Argentina experienced an instance of diversification and professionalization. Films such as “The Memory of the Dead” (2011) by Valentín Javier Diment, “Resurrección” (2015), written and directed by Gonzalo Calzada, and “Muere, Monster, Die” (2018) by Alejandro Fadel, fully demonstrate this. If you have to find some lines in common, it could be said that Argentine horror is characterized by mixing the gothic and rural, by using local folklore and regional legends as input, but making them resonate globally.
In this panorama, the figure of Demian Rugna stands out. In “Aterrados” (2017), this director demonstrated excellent handling of the codes of the genre, without abandoning the lines that provide him with a defined Argentine identity. In “Terrified” (2017), he concentrated several horror film topics (ghosts, zombies, haunted houses) in an hour and a half in a way that was both creative and terrifying. Rugna is the creator of “When Evil Stalks,” the film that after succeeding in 2023 in theaters in the United States and passing through Argentine theaters, is available on the Netflix platform with monumental success in the number of views.
Netflix
What is it about? It is a film that, in keeping with recent trends, falls into the category of “possessions and exorcisms.” In a small lost town, two brothers discover a man infected by evil forces about to give birth to a demon.
Shudder, La Puerta Roja, Aramos Cine, Machaco Films
The film received positive reviews in the main media around the world. Erik Piepenburg, in The New York Times, stated that “this is a dark and timely story about what happens when trust among members of a community, within families, between a government and its people, disintegrates.” ”. Elsa Fernández-Santos, in Diario El País, stated that it is “a surprising foray into rural terror, which is presented as a torrent of archaic legends, viscera, pus and screams that repels as much as it attracts.”
Shudder, La Puerta Roja, Aramos Cine, Machaco Films
Demian Rugna reaffirms the potential that Argentine horror cinema has. His last film not only conquered international critics, but also the public’s imagination. This triumph not only highlights his mastery in the genre, it also highlights the growing diversification of horror cinema in Argentina, which we will have to pay attention to in the coming years.
