SITGES 2010 - The golden age of Spanish films?

A frame from "Secuestrados"

If you take a moment to look back and think about which ones have been the most successfull Spanish movies of the last years you´ll probably notice something: all of them have been genre films, horror films. REC, The orphanage, Pan´s labyrinth, 28 weeks later or Buried. Apparently there is a feeling growing worldwide claiming that Spain is living what they call "The Golden Age of Spanish movies". This feeling has been discussed in the just finished International Sitges Film Fest after watching Spanish movies like Secuestrados (Kidnapped) or The new daugther. 

Ivana Baquero - The new daugther

The new daughter tells the story of a recently divorced man and his two children. Their fragile family situation gets even weirder when the big daughter´s character suddenly changes right after they arrived to their new house. The reasons for this happening? It could have something to do with a mysterious mound in the garden. We were all keeping an eye on director Luis Berdejo. His career in the short film field was insultingly promising and Sitges already considered him a regular in its program. His coming-out in feature is big-time, with a movie starring Costner and based on a story by the master of intrigue John Connolly. Ivana Baquero, the kid from Pan´s labyrinth returns to genre films to prove that her talent goes beyond the innocent character of  that movie. Perhaps was the hand of Hollywood producers but one can´t help the feeling that the movie could be much better with a few changes on the script and the way the story is told. Anyway, the fact that Berdejo’s film debut has been made in Hollywood says a lot about this idea of the Spanish Golden age in horror films, because they are being called to work in Hollywood.

The other big Spanish film of this year´s Fest was Secuestrados (Kidnapped). A wealthy family that's just moved into their new mansion is held up by three hooded men. Right when the criminals appear to have everything under control, one of its member's aggressiveness starts to cause blood to be shed. Miguel Ángel Vivas creates a suspense and violence filled movie, halfway between thriller and horror with realistic overtones. Made with just twelve sequence shots, Secuestrados grabs the spectator by the throat with a surprising and bloodcurdling opening scene and doesn't let go until the shocking, bloody end.

There were more Spanish films such as The possession of Emma Evans, Agnosia or Julia´s Eyes, but we´ll talk about them soon. For now, here it is the trailer of  Secuestrados, the film which won best movie and best director awards at Fantastic Fest 2010.