March 3, 2018

‘Verónica’ Review Roundup: Netflix’s New Horror Offering Is a Better Surprise Than ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’

What’s this? A horror movie on Netflix worth watching? “Verónica” appears to be just that, as “[REC]” director Paco Plaza’s film has received across-the-board critical praise in addition to six Goya Award nominations (including Best Film) in its native Spain. Currently sitting at 100% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is now streaming.

The Film Stage‘s Jared Mobarak suggests it’s worth your time:

“Having this type of break-neck speed conclusion seems to be a pattern with Plaza (although ‘[REC]’ is my only point of comparison), but who cares if it works? At the end of the day a horror film is successful if it can make your heart pound out of your chest. And for most of ‘Verónica,’ Plaza and Navarro do exactly that.”

Ditto Anton Bitel of SciFiNow:

“The film ultimately favours the paranormal – yet Plaza still slyly insinuates an alternative explanation, rooted in the protagonist’s psychosexual unravelling. This reading is subtly aided by the casting of Ana Torrent as the children’s mother, given that Torrent’s breakout rôle, in Victor Erice’s ‘Spirit of the Beehive’ (1973), was precisely as an impressionable girl coming of age in a confusion of fantasy and reality.”

David Nusair’s Reel Film Reviews write-up is similarly laudatory:

“There’s very little in ‘Verónica’ one hasn’t seen countless times before, and yet the film, for the most part, comes off as an uncommonly superior example of this sort of thing – as Plaza delivers a consistently engaging narrative that only grows more and more compelling as time progresses (ie there’s a real sense of momentum and escalation at work here).”

Cinemanía‘s Andrea G. Bermejo is another fan:

“Regardless of whether or not you believe in spirits, you will believe ‘Veronica’. It brings horror to the known, to what is ours. And it’s very scary.”

Source: IndieWire film