Malasana 32

Spain, a wonderful country that have a lot to offer. Not only great food, fantastic beer and especially beautiful women, but i would have to say that spanish music is also something i appreciate. I have been to Spain 3 times, in different years. And one of the most special trips i did there was in summer of 2002. I was there with my sister and my mother, as me and my sister gave our mother two weeks in Spain as a birthday gift, to her 50th birthday. Several things happened on this 2 weeks vacation, so let me just tell you about some things. At our hotel, we had a musical entertainer known as Tony. He used to play his syntheziser and sing pop songs, with his sleazy looking combed hair and tried to charm the ladies with his special sexy smile. I loved this guy, because he was exactly what you would want as your hotel entertainer. And every night he played, i made a decision to have some fun. I would stand up and applaud for every song he played, and i mean appplaud like a maniac. Tony noticed this and was really happy saying:- He must be my number 1 fan, i love this guy. And every time i started applauding at his shows, people started looking at me as if they were wondering:- What´s wrong with this guy? The fact of the matter is, Tony was not as popular as i tried to make him look, but he loved seeing me applaud every night. My sister was embarrased, and my mother was probably as well, but that´s ok. Tony actually made us a cassette tape as a thank you to his biggest fan, simply capped Tonys Special Mix. Another funny thing that happened at the hotel was that there was a Danish guy ( i believe he was Danish, that´s what the hotel staff told me ), would go around the hotel and only say two words :- Beep beep, as if he was the cartoon character Road Runner. He could show up anywhere and say:- Beep beep, and he would just walk away. One of my favourite Danish people ever, a true legend. Let´s leave this subject for now and talk about Spanish films. Spain have a lot of great horror films in their catalogue with really good horror films such as The Nameless, The Devil´s Backbone, Rec, The Orphanage, Julia´s Eyes and many more. I would have to say that Spain is probably one of the most interesting horror producing countries in Europe, considering how many great titles they have. I finally got a chance to check out a horror film called Malasana 32 on DVD, a Spanish horror film i have been curious to see. Is this one of the better horror films to check out this spring, or have the Spanish horror magic faded away with Malasana 32?

Candela ( Bea Segura ), Manolo ( Iván Marcos ) and their two children Amparo ( Begona Vargas ) and her little brother Rafael ( Iván Renedo ) move into a new appartment in Madrid, that used to be owned by a very old woman, who passed away. Their new home was supposed to be the new start that this family needed, but when strange things begin to happen, no one is really sure about the past of this appartment.

One of the first things you will notice with Malasana 32, is how great the sound effects are. This is exactly what you would want, if you a are looking for a creepy horror film. Each scene where you do feel that something is not right, works so much better thanks to the powerful sound effects. This is something that quite a lot of horror releases don´t use anymore, unfortunately. So this is one detail that actually helps Malasana 32 become more interesting than the ordinary horror release. I also enjoy the time period where this film takes place, in 1976. You got the right colors, the right costume design, and this film also manage to capture the time period thanks to the beautiful city of Madrid. There is especially one scene in this film that i really appreciated. And that is when the young boy Rafael watches a children TV show with a creepy looking string puppet, a grandmother who wants to be Rafael´s new friend. At first this string puppet may not look odd, but the behavior of this grandmother and her creepy words, will definetely impact you, as her conversation becomes more disturbing. I also feel that the scene where character Pepe ( played by Sergio Castellanos ) is communicating with the dead through notes, that he sends over to the other side of the building through strings, is a nice touch to the plot. Speaking of characters, let´s talk about some of them. Actress Begona Vargas is definetely one of the highlights in this film as Amparo, who is struggling to help the family against this darkness. Actor José Luis de Madariaga as Grandfather Fermin gives a great, but sometmimes creepy performance, as he seems to be struggling with dementia. Does Malasana 32 deliver any surprises? Not really, we have seen this formula before. But i do feel that this film handle the atmosphere well. Director Albert Pintó bring back the old school horror of sound effects with Malasana 32, and still manage to out the pieces of the plot together in a positive way. Not one of the better Spanish horror films i have seen, but definetely a good film, Malasana 32 will please horror fans for sure.

Rating: DDD