The Appeared (2008)

A sincere political horror film -- pretty much one of a kind -- that tries to highlight the tortuous past of Argentina's "missing" period. Unfortunately, the horror elements don't work too well, though there are some scares. The biggest fault is the protagonists acting even more implausibly than in your run of the mill Grade B horror flick. That said, the film effectively conjures the horror of the many disappeared in Argentina in that period. And I guess if you're making a film to condemn the torturers who ran Argentina at the time, having "Saw" like gruesomeness is understandable. The final shot of the film is truly haunting, but it's a long road getting there.

Following a visit to their comotosed, estranged father, brother and sister, Pablo and Malena, find an old diary which in turn leads them to strange and haunting discoveries and situations.This co-Argentine-Spanish offering (translated as The Appeared) falls into similar territory as Los Cronocrímenes, Intacto, and Fermat's Room, in the fact that the viewers expectations are stretched, the narrative constantly changing. What is fun, if somewhat frequently implausible, is the many situations the protagonists get themselves into. Each set piece covers familiar ground to standard horror conventions (we get the slasher-killer; the road chase with the 'unseen' driver; haunted house scares), yet always done with the reign pulled tight as not to fall into parody.Add into the mix historic elements, where we discover the truth about the people and locations that Pablo and Malena find themselves involved with, as well as a truly haunting ending, and you have a neat, ambitious ghost story which although may not fully succeed, in the most part holds the viewers interest throughout.

Highly entertaining ghost story with many plot twists and turns. This film is unpredictable and offbeat. Ultimately, it is a plea to stop the torture and murder of civilians who suffer under repressive political regimes. This message should be applied equally to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany, Communists in Argentina in 1981 or Iraqis in Guatanamo Bay in 2009. There are a few places in the film where it doesn't work well if you try to consider it logically, so don't look at it logically. Just follow the story where it wants to take you and you will be rewarded. I watched this because it was billed as a ghost story, but I enjoyed this film on so many other levels.

Written directly for the screen this horror film has a captivating and staggering story. Almost every scene from beginning till ending is full of action and tension sequences, which are done by good camera work. Its way of storytelling is very smooth. I watched it with subtitles; even though the script is very substantial, it isn't necessary to follow up each conversation. The dialogue and connection which Pablo and Malena established together magnetizes the full attention from the viewer, since their body language and gestures were complementary with the screenplay.The story takes place in August 2001 in Argentina. Pablo and Malena, who are in their mid-20s', are siblings from a dysfunctional family. Their father whom Pablo never seen in his life before, is in coma. They visit him and Malena introduces him to Pablo. Malena has grown hatred for his father, for he served under Anti-Communist Dictatorship of the Argentinian army to quench the communist movement torturing thousands of innocents, instead of looking after his family. There is a huge question mark here: Why are all the communists introduced as innocents in this film? The frightening fact here is that when Pablo and Malena think that their father is helpless in coma, he turns out to be more powerful than he was alive. His spirit continues to torture the restless souls of the dead innocents. He has written a detailed diary including how he tortured the families of communist vanguards when he was young. In return to his weakened body, he bargains with one or more daemons to continue on his dictatorship mission. One of the daemons in the look of a little girl finds this diary from where he hided away. Then Pablo, the curious and adventurous one of the siblings, gets this diary from that daemon, assuming that it was something the little girl lost. So the daemon begins to bugger around Pablo and Malena. The diary which has the curse of the daemon brings only trouble to them.Aparecidos has the meaning for "Seen versus Disappeared". Who is seen is the Dictatorship regime runners, and who is disappeared is the slaughtered rebels against this regime. Soon, Pablo and Malena read the diary and start a journey to save the victims of the murderers. One of the communist vanguards ,who has never been captured by the police due to the lack of evidence, has been killed with his pregnant wife and little daughter in the hands of Pablo and Malena's father. Daemon completes the bargain with continuously torturing the wife and the daughter's souls.When you feel like you accomplished something, you think that you must be happy and be proud. Then suddenly you realize that you didn't accomplish anything; the confusion in your mind and senses leads you realize the fact that you just decoded something hidden. That was Pablo's confusion in the movie. When he was explaining to her sister what he was really trying to do, he says that he was gone out of his mind and trying to save someone whoever is dead already. Every night at the same hour in the same motel in the same room, the same murder takes place involving the same dead corpses continuously for the last 20 years. Who are you going to save? Save a dead tonight. Amazing concept, isn't it?