thelastblogontheleft I stumbled upon this movie by complete accident when I was browsing on Shudder (which I highly recommend for any of you horror fans) and I was so pleasantly surprised. You're immediately intrigued by and invested in the movie and I thought it kept up with some really great pacing and suspense throughout.The basic plot… Julia (Belén Rueda) senses something is amiss with her twin sister, Sara, who has recently gone blind due to a degenerative eye disease that they both suffer from. Upon investigation she finds Sara hanged in her basement, but she suspects (and we know from the opening scene) something a bit more sinister is afoot, so she takes it upon herself to investigate.I thought the sense of isolation, dread, and claustrophobia simply because of Julia going blind was brilliant. They made sure to occasionally show how things looked from her perspective, and the pairing of the world collapsing in on her both in the actions of those around her and in her own body is amazing. What she was going through was scary enough, but knowing that her world is getting darker by the day just added a whole other layer of terror.I am usually not a huge fan of too much romance in horror movies — I know, I'm cold hearted — but I thought the relationship between her and Isaac (Lluís Homar) was actually very sweet (to the point where I teared up during the scene where she says goodbye to him).There were a few truly chilling moments, like the hand on her shoulder when she's standing at her sister's casket. The director, Guillem Morales, was good at evoking fear from pretty simple circumstances — there were no over-the-top effects, barely any gore, and he mostly stayed away from any gratuitous sexuality (aside from showing lingering shots of Rueda's cleavage every 10 minutes).Once Julia is fully blind and starts to be cared for by Ivan (Pablo Derqui), things start to get REALLY creepy. Him testing her blindness with the tip of his knife, pretending to talk on the phone while she stands by, showing her the body of the real Ivan in the freezer to illicit a reaction from her… whew. Good stuff.The twist with Soledad (Julia Gutiérrez Caba) was pretty awesome, and the entire scene with Julia and "Ivan" both stumbling through the pitch dark house with the camera flash firing every few seconds was just heart pounding. When the police finally arrive and he slits his throat after begging them to stop looking at him… damn. DAMN.I've said it before, but movies that are about real people are some of the scariest to me. Not monsters, not spirits, not demons in the traditional sense… but real human beings who are driven to do depraved things are the scariest because it could happen to anyone, any time. This movie wasn't perfect as far as the plot went but I thought it was an amazingly suspenseful endeavor, and much more intelligent and creative than horror is often given credit for.

Mike Guratza Guillermo del Toro has often been presented/named as a horror director/producer... Usually, though, the films he is involved with are more like "dark fairy tales" with sympathetic monsters and... that kind of boring stuff.This movie (which he has produced) is not like that. It actually starts as a decent mystery/thriller which offers very good scares and deals with one of the most tragic conditions a human being could ever face: the loss of one's eyesight. The directors ideas for the depiction of blindness are very very good, and the viewer can actually feel the character's helplessness. And that's about all that's good about the film.Once the plot starts to unravel, the story sinks itself into absurdity, providing us with a villain driven by one of the least realistic motives ever. To top that we are faced with some soap opera situations/twists that are equally non-believable. Yes, in Norman Bate's case, this kind of ideas was very interesting, but after the repetition of those models for the 1000th time, to be honest - we've had enough of them. Also, visually it is one of those "modern" movies that take place in a world with only three to five colors, ranging from blue to (hardly) green. Finally, the movie closes with a repetition one of the most used movie clichés, i.e. the "using camera flash in the dark in order to see" scare...The verdict: when this movie tries to be original, it resorts to ideas that defy logic completely, and when it incorporates classic patterns, it does it in a way that is completely uninspired.

santosheflu This one is an example of how a director can spoil a movie with weak direction. The story is quite interesting, it unveils in multiple layers, the mystery is really good and the lead actors have done well. However, the presentation is weak. The events are not tightly woven; there are gaps in terms of logical connection between scenes and events; many overstretched series of dialogs may bore you; uneven pace of the story on screen is unwanted; etc. These are some of the weak links. As if that was not enough, the movie has a seriously sad ending, which I thought was not very helpful. I feel a good director could have made a gem out of it. I strongly believe this movie deserves a solid re-make. Hollywood, kindly take notice of it and do justice!

upgraiden I'm always skeptical of horror films which use consistent jumpscares to frighten the audience instead of more honest, creative methods. Happily, Julia's eyes contains a grand total of one jumpscare, meaning the rest of the film had to find another way of being scary, and I'm happy to report that it didn't disappoint. This has to be one of the only films that has genuinely creeped me out, and it's down to the excellent writing, directing and production. Unfortunately, I can't say that about many other horror films these days.I only came across this film by chance as it was on television one night. I decided to give it a go, which turned out to be a pretty good decision. This is now one of my favourites in the horror genre - brilliantly written and gripping all the way through.