The Sanatorium (2010)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

An average, but still interesting Spanish take on found footage. But the chosen genre is actually where it fails - believebality starts as so-so, then they just throw it out of the window, especially with some joke elements of the story being introduced (which essentially make the fun of it). And the way the end scenes were filmed...yeah...like it's a staged TV show rather than found footage.The story is relatively interesting to follow, the characters are nothing interesting, but at least they're not your typical robotic and overcliched Americans you usually see in horror movies. Their motivations to stay in an obviously haunted hospital are very weak, despite the contract being the reason (the medium decides to walk away then with just some irrelevant talk with one of the others decides to stay again and then very sure about it all of the sudden). It still manages to be creepy and the visual effects are good.

I was studying Spanish in Costa Rica till last week, we went to see this movie because it's a local effort and I was blown away of how much fun this movie is. This movie is nothing like Paranormal Activity, in fact, I dare any American, to watch this movie(I hope it make it here,via Netflix or amazon) and compare it to Paranormal Activity 1 or 2, I think El Sanatorio is way better.It has this genuine humor and this genuine vibe that I haven't seen in a movie for a long time. I laughed and get scared and that was great. It starts like a documentary, becomes a comedy and ends like a horror film. SAY WHAT ? Yes, this movie is like that. I was surprised cause during my stay I was shown 2 other movies, and both were awful, I think they are funded by the government cause one was about being a pregnant teen and it was like watching 90210(morality from the 90's and all) in the third world, the other one was about a Nicaraguan soldier (didn't get that one either). So when I heard about watching this movie about THE DURAN SANATORIUM (a must to any tourist) , I thought it was going to be another "Borefest". This movie is awesome, check it out, buy it from amazon, rent it from netflix, watch it at your local Festival, do what you need to do and check some serious Talent. You don't laugh genuinely and get genuinely scared in other horror movies like you'll do in this one.

This has to be the one of the greatest film in Costarican history. It gets you since the beginning in this one kind of a mockumentary and keeps building up till the last act. The acting is really good. The camera work is amazing, it takes us as an audience and make us one more of the characters. Miguel Gomez is only 28 and has become the biggest promise in filmmaking for our little Costa Rica. I'm really proud of this film, it shows a real personality, so much talent, the actors, the special effects, the cinematography, but what I appreciate more than with the other films that have been produced in Costa Rica is how entertaining the movie was. The atmosphere created through the film is a really an amazing achievement. At the beginning you are laughing, and at the end you are feeling scared, it really masters the mix of comedy and horror, last movies I saw achieving something close to this was The Evil Dead series. The movie already won an award at Morbido Horror Film Festival in Mexico, I see it playing in the Horror and Fantasy circuit and doing great in this kind of festivals. Watch the film, you'll like it.

I've been an avid follower of the horror/comedy sub genre since I can remember. The only movies that I really like that I remember are from the eighties *(Gremlins, Creepshow, An American werewolf in London), cause recently what they do is pass parodies like Scary Movie and Transilmania as Horror comedy, and what they really are is bad Comedies. So when you have a movie, where the characters are believable, there's a slasher (a Ghost Nun nonetheless), and good special effects that not look like cheap CG. You as a lover of the Horror Comedy sub genre, feel pleased. This really is a cult movie. It pays cult to the legend of the old Duran Sanatorium in Costa Rica, a place that is known to be plagued by Ghosts and legends. It pays cult to the old 80's horror movies and finally it pays cult to the found footage and mockumentary style. It's really an amazing mix, well crafted from beginning to end, following this ghost hunting team that are really young and funny to watch, cause the movie instead of being just build over the paranormal activity, it also builds around their own problems to produce the film and personalities making them likable enough, so when bad things start happening you care for them. I give this movie a 9, cause I feel like it should've been longer, It's the first time in a long time that I didn't wanted the movie to end.