SLIFF Exclusive
Filmizon’s Nikolai Adams with The Corpse of Anna Fritz writer/director Hèctor Hernández Vicens
The last ten years or so have been an extremely exciting time for horror and thriller films coming out of Spanish speaking countries. Whether a classic from Guillermo del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth), or other greats such as J.A. Bayona’s The Orphanage, Guillem Morales’ Julia’s Eyes or Oriol Paulo’s The Body – to name but a few, these films introduce interesting, unique, original or classic ideas and offer a scary spin on the horror/thriller genre. The Corpse of Anna Fritz adds to this golden age of Spanish language horror thrillers (with a warning that this one pushes the limits more than some of the others).
Writer/director Hèctor Hernández Vicens transports us deep within one of the last taboos, necrophilia in the morgue. Pau (Albert Carbó) is an introverted young orderly, working in the morgue where the dead body of the popular young actress, Anna Fritz (Alba Ribas), is being held. Pau’s two friends, Ivan (Cristian Valencia) and Javi (Bernat Saumell), show up after receiving a nude photo of the iconic woman’s corpse. They convince their friend to sneak them into the morgue so that they can have a final peek at the celebrity. Things spiral out of control as Ivan convinces Pau that they should be the last ones to ‘have a go’ with the young starlet – though the two never convince Javi. As Pau is in the middle of his turn, Anna’s eyes suddenly open, in a stunningly shot scene that shows every ounce of fear that the young woman feels finding herself in this horrific situation. There is never an explanation for the death-like state that she was in (but much like Edgar Allen Poe’s The Premature Burial, it is a gruesome idea to be presumed dead when you’re not – so let’s just go with the mystery). This leads to a set of complex arguments in which the three men discuss what to do with the still mostly paralysed actress. Ivan tries to convince Pau to kill Anna, as they have been caught with their pants down – literally (as necrophilia has suddenly turned into a rape charge), but Javi tries to persuade Pau to call for the doctors upstairs. As I am not a fan of spoilers, I will only say that confrontation ensues between the men and one of them is killed, leading to more problems for the remaining two.
Though this film is likely not for those easily disturbed, it does an excellent job of keeping the movie sterile, much like the morgue it is set in, never stooping to excessively disturbing levels. In the end, the woman is left with only two things, her acting skills and brain to convince the men to allow her to live. She is stuck in a cold morgue, surrounded by a rat-maze of tunnels in the basement of a hospital, and during one of the films most harrowing sequences, Anna escapes from the men and crawls through the hallways, hiding and skulking while trying to slowly drag herself to the elevator. Whether she reaches it or not, I will not tell you, but I will say that the film has a satisfying ending that wraps up this disturbing tale.
If there is a criticism to be made, it is that some of the dialogue could be a bit less contrived as it is not as sharp as it could be.
The Corpse of Anna Fritz takes what sounds to be a plot from a grindhouse film and adds stylistic directing, a solid score (listen for repeats of the same music during the sexual scenes and the final few moments – echoing an eerily similar yet different pattern of what was seen earlier in the film) and some great performances (especially from Alba Ribas). Much like the eyes of Anna when she wakes from her dead sleep, your eyes will be opened wide while watching this uncanny movie.