31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 10 - Shrew's Nest

Shrew’s Nest

91 mins

Dir. Juanfer Andres, Esteban Roel

2014/Spain

This one may fall more in the horror thriller category than straight up horror.  A little reminiscent of Misery, so if you consider that horror, then this one falls in the horror category as well.  Just a good solid story, a bit of a drama, bit of a thriller, a touch of craziness and blood.  Definitely blood.  We travel to Spain tonight as we enter the Shrew’s Nest.

I am going to try and condense a more complex layered story for you.  I don’t want to make it seem like I am selling this movie short, but as with most things, it is better to find out the whole story yourself.  It is the 1950s in Spain, two sisters live together in an apartment building, one simply known as “The Girl” just turned 18.  Her much older sister suffers from Agoraphobia.  With that being the case, the majority of this movie takes place in the apartment.  The sisters had a very strict catholic upbringing, and the stern older sister tries to install that catholic guilt onto her younger sister, who really doesn’t want to have much to do with it.  Their parents are deceased so they pretty much take care of each other.  The girl leaves each day to go work in a shop, while the older sister, Montse, works as a seamstress out of her home.  Since The Girl is coming of age, she is showing interest in boys, while Montse, thinks men are mostly inherently evil and should be avoided.  Needless to say, the sisters are sometimes at odds with each other.  So that’s the basic back story.

One day an upstairs neighbor, Carlos, falls down the steps and knocks on Montse’s door for help.  He is unconscious and suffering from a broken leg from the tumble.  At first Montse is reluctant to help, because you know, outside.  But after looking at a picture of jesus in her home, she is reminded to help the less fortunate.   So she drags him inside and attempts to nurse him back to health by making a homemade splint.  As it turns out Montse starts to take a liking to Carlos, he brings her hope and change to her confined life in her apartment.  But being that Montse is, shall we say slightly disturbed she kind of does not want Carlos to get better so she can keep him trapped with her.  Meanwhile The Girl is telling Carlos, my sister is batshit crazy and you need to get the fuck out of here, she is a liar and you can’t believe anything she says.

I don’t want to give away too much more, you really need to let this story unfold on its own.  There is more of a back story and secrets revealed that while not a quickly paced film, it definitely holds your interest as you learn deeper and darker secrets of each character.  Luis Tosar plays the Father of the two girls in the film, and if you haven’t seen him in the Spanish thriller Sleep Tight, you really need to check that one out too.  He is a great actor with a powerful presence on screen that can quickly make you feel uncomfortable.

Good acting, good story, suspenseful and tense in the right spots makes this one definitely worth checking out.

Spain has been pumping out quite a few good solid movies in the horror genre, this is the duo’s directorial feature length debut, I don’t know what is next, but they are worth keeping your eye on.  If you need anymore convincing, this was also produced by Alex de la Iglesia, who you should be familiar with as the director of such Spanish classics as The Last Circus, 800 Bullets, Common Wealth, The Day of the Beast and of course his insane debut Accion Mutante.  And if you are not, I just gave you some homework.