noelcox This is a great little movie, not perfect - the multiple threats are too improbable - but really atmospheric. The ending is a revelation, and makes a lot of sense given earlier details (though there remain unanswered, and probably unanswerable, questions).I really enjoyed it, but it could be depressing and grim if you are not in the right frame of mind.

Nigel P It's a risk featuring a child actor in a dominant role in a film; the child's acting maybe be adequate but not convince, or worse, he can produce a precocious, obnoxious performance which can lose the character sympathy. Luckily, Omar Muñoz is both convincing and appealing, which is refreshing, especially as his character Jesus is written as a mischievous scamp.The Dark Hour is a Spanish film which explores an unknown dystopian society.Jesus could be seen as the eyes of the viewer. He lives with a group of what appear to be survivors of a holocaust which may or may not have wiped out the rest of mankind. Their world is a sealed bunker of sorts. It seems to be infiltrated by ghost-like mutants, necessitating regular curfew. The relationships between the others is nicely outlined by Jesus, who seems intent to record a video-diary – however, this is not a found footage film, for reasons that become clear at the story's end.The bleak setting is beautifully conveyed, however the lack of apparent answers until the very end leads to the story dragging a little occasionally. The carefully built-up atmosphere is stiflingly grim, and there is a genuine sense of hope when the remaining characters manage to escape the bunker … or do they? I won't give away the final twist, which is tremendous and haunting. There are elements of zombie films here, although I would cautiously suggest this is better than most. It branches out into sci-fi territory, but is assuredly a claustrophobic horror film.

socrates17 The Cold Hour takes several cliché' horror film tropes, combines them in entirely unexpected ways, adds brilliant acting and great cinematography and ends with a purely science fictional image that will live in my mind for a really long time. This is a well put-together ensemble piece. I'd tracked it down, having been encouraged by the largely positive IMDb reviews, but mainly because of the Silke (Hornillos Klein) Rule: "Buy Anything She is In" that dates back to Julio Medem's wonderful, Philip K. Dickian, Tierra. Purely from the perspective of The Silke Rule, this film could almost have been seen as a disappointment since, although her character Maria is top billed, all of the characters are extremely well balanced and no one is really the lead. Every part is so well written and so well acted, however, that the viewer comes out ahead. In fact, the primary PoV is 8 year old Jesús, played by Omar Muñoz, and he is wonderful, despite my normal antipathy towards child actors. I can't, alas, say much more without revealing too much.If you've read the other reviews, you already know that the primary situation appears to be similar to 28 days, et al. (This MAY actually be correct - if you prefer clear, pat explanations from a film, rather than have it ask as may questions as it answers, leaving you with a delicious sense of cognitive dissonance, then go watch something else). However, I've never seen that ultra-standard plot trope handled THIS way, or combined with THAT. Run, don't walk, to get La Hora Fría if you admire and enjoy originality, a continual sense of surprise, and a refusal on the part of the creators to spell everything out; if, like me, you prefer leaving the experience of a film with a deep sense of unease and the feeling that you have a lot of thinking to do especially about what that final shot meant. Your mind will have something to mull over for a long, long time.

Claudio Carvalho The eight years boy Jesús (Omar Muñoz) has been living in a crumbling underground facility since he was born with eight survivors of an apocalyptical war: the leader Maria (Silke) and her lover Pablo (Julio Perillán); the gays Lucas (Pablo Scola) and Mateo (Sergio Villanueva); the astronomer Magdalena (Carola Manzanares) and the teenager Ana (Nadia de Santiago); the soldier Pedro (Jorge Casalduero) and the lonely Judas (Pepo Oliva). They are permanently is state of surveillance, threatened by the contaminated mutants The Strangers and once a day they have to lock themselves in their rooms without heating to protect against the dangerous ghosts The Invisibles that attack in the Cold Hour. They cannot go to the surface, destroyed by a nuclear war. When they need supplies, medications and ammunitions, they organize expeditions to a store. When the menace of The Invisibles affects the safety of the group of survivors, they need to reach the surface."La Hora Fría" is a great low-budget movie showing a pessimist view of the fate of mankind after a nuclear war. The atmosphere is melancholic and claustrophobic and the story discloses the characters through the innocent eyes of an eight years old boy. I expected to find an explanation to their biblical names, but the film never clarifies. The story recalls "The Omega Man", "Day of the Dead" and "28 Days Later...", but is original and supported by a great cast that transmits fear, panic and lack of hope to the viewer, and by an excellent cinematography, using gloomy colors. I was a little disappointed with the ambiguous conclusion, and I understand that Pedro was right and the group was part of an experiment, but I am not sure if this was the intention of the writer. I believe the director Elio Quiroga failed since he was not able to express his real intention in the last scene. Probably due to commercial reasons, the Brazilian title does not correspond to the original Spanish title, as usual. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "A Hora Negra" ("The Dark Hour")