Films to keep you awake
Álex de la Iglesia
Paco Plaza
Mateo Gil
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
Enrique Urbizu
Jaume Balagueró
Also Directed by Álex de la Iglesia
The journey of Javier, the obese Sad Clown, starts during his childhood in the midst of the Spanish civil war in 1937. His father, one of Spain’s most prominent jesters, is detained and tortured by the fascist regime.
Nino and Bruno are two comedians who reach the heights of success with their duo act, turning them into huge TV celebrities. However, the hate between them grows as fast, and as much, as their fame
The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.
Julia, a real estate agent, finds an enormous amount of money hidden in a dead man's apartment, a stroke of luck that will force her to face the wrath of the very peculiar inhabitants of the condominium, headed by an unscrupulous administrator.
Once in a lifetime
In this heist film turned horror fest, director Álex de la Iglesia's love of mayhem is on full display as a gang of gold thieves lands in a coven of witches who are preparing for an ancient ritual -- and in need of a sacrifice.
In downtown Madrid, a series of mysterious gunshots trap a motley assortment of people in a decrepit bar.
At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try and stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symbols
A couple with a newborn child arrives at a big old house, the ideal place to start a real family life. Before going to bed, the couple checks the operation of the listening device installed in their baby's room, whom they can listen to and watch. They soon discover that there is someone else in the house who sits next to the baby's crib every night.
Also Directed by Paco Plaza
After the suicide of her beloved father, the biologist Daniella Logan visits her catatonic mother in a mental institution to tell the tragic event and her mother calls her "Josephine". Daniella goes to the cemetery and finds that her father's grave had been opened and his corpse was profaned. She decides to investigate, and receives a message of a diabetic priest, Father Elias, who tells her about an ancient fanatic religious sect of followers of Abraham that kills the first child. Later, she meets a weird man, Toby Harris, who claims to be his legitimate father. Daniella continues seeking the truth about her origins and discloses very dark secrets about her family and friends.
Focuses on the life of the singers from the first series of the Spanish reality TV talent show "Operación Triunfo" during the tour they made throughout Spain.
A terror is stalking the land: people are disappearing daily, their bodies appearing covered in savage gashes coupled with precise surgical cuts. The legend of the 'Werewolf of Allariz' spreads across the land like wildfire. When Barbara (Elsa Pataky) falls in love with travelling vendor Manuel Romasanta, she is at first besotted with him - but soon begins to be suspicious of him. What has happened to her sister, who - after being escorted by Romasanta to the city - seems to have disappeared forever.
During Christmas 1985, five friends who live in Cubelles, a summer town on the Costa Daurada, in Tarragona, make an unexpected discovery in the woods: a woman disguised as Santa Claus who has fallen into a hole dug in the middle of nowhere.
The action now takes place miles away from the original location and partly in broad daylight, giving the film an entirely fresh yet disturbing new reality. The infection has left the building. In a clever twist that draws together the plots of the first two movies, this third part of the saga also works as a decoder to uncover information hidden in the first two films and leaves the door open for the final installment, the future '[REC] 4 Apocalypse.'
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
Canal + and Vértice 360 performed on April 16 and 17, the first 3D recording of a live concert in Spain, the protagonist was the Aragonese Enrique Bunbury as part of his "The Consequences" tour. He directed Paco Plaza, director of [REC].
In post-war Spain, Narcisa, a novice with supernatural powers, arrives at an old convent converted into a girls’ school to become a teacher. As the days go by, strange events and the increasingly disturbing situations that torment her will end up leading her to unravel the terrible skein of secrets that surround the convent and lie in wait for its inhabitants.
Mario, an exemplary man, lives in a village on the Galician coast. In the old people’s home, where he works as a nurse, everyone appreciates him. When the best known narco in the area, Antonio Padín, recently released from prison, enters the residence, Mario tries to make Antonio feel at home. Now, Padín's two sons, Kike and Toño, are in charge of the family business. The failure of an operation will put Kike in jail and cause them to owe a large debt to a Colombian supplier. Toño will turn to the nurse to try to convince his father to assume the debt. But Mario has his own plans.
Also Directed by Mateo Gil
Manel, a physicist working on his PhD thesis, accidentally fall in love with Elena, a young model and aspiring actress.
Short by Mateo Gil.
In Bolivia, Butch Cassidy (now calling himself James Blackthorne) pines for one last sight of home, an adventure that aligns him with a young robber and makes the duo a target for gangs and lawmen alike.
Marc, a successful, ambitious man, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and is given a few months to live. Unable to accept death, he decides to cryogenically freeze himself. The love of his life is devastated. Seventy years later, Marc becomes the first cryogenic resuscitated person in history. But this doesn't happen in the idealized way he dreamt of.
After the sudden death of his wife, Tomás, a successful elderly writer who has been out of Spain during the last forty years, unexpectedly receives an old tarot card which seems to have for him a disturbing meaning, so he decides to return to the small village where he grew up.
HE and SHE meet exactly at the same time they break up with their own couples... Is it possible for two strangers to begin a conversation full of recriminations, arguing until they get hoarse, and passionately reconcile as if they were a couple in the end?
Película española basada en la novela homónima escrita por Juan Bonilla. Simón, un aspirante a escritor frustrado que se dedica a escribir crucigramas para un periódico, recibe un misterioso encargo: debe incluir la palabra Adversario el próximo Domingo de Ramos en su crucigrama, bajo amenaza. Tras acceder a este chantaje, Simón ve como se suceden una serie de catástrofes que le hacen sospechar de su compañero de piso, Sapo, distanciarse de su novia, Ariadna, y buscar la ayuda de María, una compañera del periódico, para investigar estos extraños sucesos. Todo esto ocurre con la ciudad de Sevilla como telón de fondo y durante la Semana Santa más multitudinaria de España, lo que contribuye a la confusión con nazarenos con pistolas láser, juegos de rol en el recinto de la Expo 92 y acusaciones que acaban inculpando al propio Simón de los crímenes cometidos.
Also Directed by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
When nurse Gloria has financial difficulties, her friend Dr. Ana Torres invites her to move with her six year-old daughter Vicky to her old big house where she runs a gynecologic clinic. In return, Gloria will assist Ana in her clinic in the afternoons.
A retired police officer buys a house in the country to rest with his daughter, but ends up being alone with her boyfriend.
The story of the owner of a funeral home, obsessed and terrified at the possibility of being buried alive, having suffered episodes of catalepsy. He lives with his niece, to whom he tries to instill his own trade.
Third remake of the script by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador about Edgar Allan Poe's masterful story, "The Case of Mr. Valdemar".
A couple of English tourists arrive at the island of Almanzora, off the Spanish Mediterranean coast, where they discover that there are no adults in a small fishing village, only some children who stare at them and smile mysteriously.
Also Directed by Enrique Urbizu
After a robbery at a bingo hall, the girlfriend of one of the robbers escaped with the help of another woman tries to recover the loot from the raid. The problem is that some cops also want to do with the loot, to finance political assassinations.
Carmen, an attractive 40 year old woman, suddenly belongs a widow. For her, the emptiness feeling is new and disorienting. Trying to rebuild her life, Carmen finds that men around her are interested in offering her more than a shoulder to mourn. The unexpected pregnancy of his daughter, putting even more pressure on Carmen. She brings her daughter back and to look after the baby together. This becomes one more element to overcome in their efforts to organize themselves.
Estrella, an intelligent teen student, spends most of her time alone at school or home, enjoying horror books and movies, while her widow mother Angela works as a nurse in a hospital. Her favorite author is Stephen King and her only friends are Leatherface and a vampire.
Fito (Juan Sanz) is a poker addict truck driver and labor problems that his wife Juana (Zay Nuba) tries to overcome. A day will come Pedro (Jose Coronado), the brother Fito, absent from his life for 13 years.
A gypsy girl, when her grandmother dies, goes in search of his mother who abandoned her as a baby
Leo Minués, who used to be a classmate of Carvalho, is found dead the same day he had to testify in a case of corruption and someone asks Carvalho to investigate it. He accepts the case and finds out that Leo was collecting illegal funds for his political party. From that moment, a number of signs appear. This allows Carvalho to discover that Mínguez had made a list of the people involved in the case of corruption. Some videotapes appear, which makes things even more complicated, and Carvalho finds himself walking on shifting land, surrounded by celebrities in the highest spheres. Why did Mínguez die? Who has got the list?
Ana works in an office where the things are going very badly. One night after having dinner with nasty rich people, she has a discussion with her husband. He dissapears and then the life of Ana changes: she has incredible luck in gambling.
Madrid, the beginning of the century. One day, the police inspector Santos Trinidad coming home very drunk, is involved in a triple murder. But there is a witness who managed to escape and that could incriminate him. Santos undertakes an investigation to locate and eliminate the witness. Meanwhile, Chacón a judge in charge of investigating the triple murder, meticulously advances in the search for the murderer. Santos and Chacon soon discover that what seemed a simple case of drug trafficking is actually something far more dangerous.
Amaya is a modern girl, independent, who runs an advertising gency. The business is doing well and is enmaorada of her boyfriend, a lawyer of lost causes somewhat confused. Its stable and happy life is shattered with the appearance of a famous movie star, party animal and womanizer.
Also Directed by Jaume Balagueró
Surreal B&W short.
Focuses on the life of the singers from the first series of the Spanish reality TV talent show "Operación Triunfo" during the tour they made throughout Spain.
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
A teenage girl moves into a remote countryside house with her family, only to discover that their gloomy new home has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy the family.
César, an unhappy concierge, maintains a peculiar relationship with the very diverse inhabitants of the upper-class apartment building where he works in Barcelona.
It's Eva's weekend out with her friends, and her boyfriend Sergio complains she won't take him with her. He decides to go out on his own without knowing what terror he will eventually have to go through.
Samuel Salomon, a literature professor, has been off work for almost a year after the tragic death of his girlfriend. Samuel has been suffering from a recurring nightmare in which a woman is brutally murdered in a strange ritual. Suddenly, the same woman who appears every night in his dreams is found dead in exactly the same circumstances. Samuel sneaks into the crime scene and there he meets Rachel who has also dreamed about the murder. Together, they will do whatever they can to discover the identity of the mystery woman, entering a terrifying world controlled by the figures who have inspired artists throughout time: the Muses.
The mutilated body of a six year old girl is found in a water hole. The girl is identified as the missing daughter of Claudia. However, only two peices of evidence could be used to identify her; a bracelet with her name on it near the crime scene, and the fact that her right leg was three inches longer than her left. All other methods of identification were removed from her body. Five years later Claudia, now addicted to tranquilizers, receives a phone call from someone claiming to be her daughter, asking for her mother to come find her before 'they' kill her. Other mysterious clues show up, further indicating that Claudia's daughter is indeed still alive, and very much in danger. Claudia, a run-down ex-cop, and a parapsychology reporter put together the clues to discover Angela's whereabouts
Ángela Vidal, the young television reporter who entered the building with the firemen, manages to make it out alive. But what the soldiers don't know is that she carries the seed of the strange infection. She is to be taken to a provisional quarantine facility, a high-security installation where she will have to stay in isolation for several days. An old oil tanker, miles off shore and surrounded by water on all sides, has been especially equipped for the quarantine.