Hipnos (2004)

Too much of everything

Overrated

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film opens with a dead mom and a girl in shock. The next thing we know Beatriz (Cristina Brondo) shows up at a sanitarium that contains said girl. She is a doctor who takes pills and sees events that don't happen. My mind quickly turned to "Shutter Island" as I try to figure out the events which are not fully explained (or well clued) until the end.The characters in the film were all confusing and not very likable, plus reading subtitles didn't help. Once you know the end, everything comes together making it a film you would need to watch a second time to catch things you missed the first time. Well structured, but not really a horror as much as a psychological thriller.Guide: sex and FF nudity (Cristina Brondo, Marisol Membrillo)

This one was a nice surprise! I really appreciate little films like these. A very tight Spannish psychological thriller, very stylish and well thought out (both story-wise and technically, with great shots and angles). A young woman (doctor) gets accepted to go and work in a mental institute. Things are not quite what they seem in there, and it doesn't take long before patients start to die. The first half of the movie indeed moves rather slow. And after that, things get really weird (the films of David Lynch come to mind). But in the end you get a plausible explanation, so the movie itself never derails. When you look at it afterwards, then you might figure out the explanation in the end yourself. But "Hipnos" does a very good job to keep the truth hidden until the final scenes. I say this one is certainly worth seeing. And yes, I'm generous in my rating, but there's just too many real crappy films on DVD out there. This one's absolutely not one of those.

This film is a Spanish thriller about madness and denial of reality… When you live a shocking event which deeply affect your emotional stability, your brain has the tendency to reject it, deny it, and sometimes to forget it, either you want it or not… It's a natural instinct. This is the main topic of this movie.The entire film is greatly shot and has a fantastic cinematography, which combines the surreal with the artsy, in great scenarios and camera shots. The plot is involved in mystery since the beginning and the effect of the flashbacks, the white and minimal scenarios, and the whispering voices repeating what was said, like echoes, give it the surreal and sometimes almost lunatic ambiance… The plot is confusing, complex, and not easy to understand; at least until the last five minutes, where the explanations are given, and then all makes sense…There's one sentence in the movie which I appreciated and I think that resumes it very well: "Madness is the eruption of dreams in reality. The bad thing is that you can't distinguish them…"

In the last few years Spanish cinema has witnessed the proliferation of a series of new directors who devote their careers to horror films and thrillers. While some of them have been quite irregular, others (specially Jaume Balagueró) have provided a new insight to the concept of Spanish thrillers. David Carreras, in his debut film, has shown a very promising skill as a director and screenwriter.Technically outstanding, "Hipnos" will make you bite your nails with only a few hints of blood and with no need of psychopaths or ghosts. While most thrillers are ruined by iffy endings, "Hipnos" is rounded by an acceptably believable third act. It could certainly have been better, but it should be praised by its value in technical aspects and storyline.