In the last few years, I've been getting into foreign horror a lot. I still love my American movies, but films from other countries often give us new and exciting experiences that we don't normally get from Hollywood or from independent American filmmakers. They frequently don't follow the same rules and tropes that most domestic movies are beholden to, and their different cultural settings sometimes make for unique storytelling opportunities.
One of the best examples of this is Terrified, an Argentine movie from 2017. It's about a string of weird, interconnected supernatural phenomena that take place in a seemingly normal, suburban town in Buenos Aires. The first half of the movie details some of these strange events, and in the second half, a group of paranormal investigators set up shop in some of the houses and try to make sense of it all.
That may sound a bit generic, but I promise you, this movie is anything but. To begin, the monsters look like they come straight out of your nightmares, and director Demián Rugna knows how to milk them for all the terror they're worth. He saturates the scary scenes with a great atmosphere, and when he builds up the tension right before a big reveal or a scare, he does it at just about the perfect pace. From a pure horror perspective, this is one of the best movies I've seen in recent years.
On top of that, the film also keeps you on your toes by never telling you just what its monsters are. The best you get is a vague, nonspecific theory from one of the paranormal investigators, but it doesn't really explain much of anything. Because of that, you can't pigeonhole this movie into a single subgenre of horror. One moment, it can seem like a ghost or demon movie, and then in the very next scene it can seem more like a zombie film.
And it doesn't just do that once. Your understanding of these creatures changes a few times, and when it does, it sometimes feels like you've switched to a completely different movie. This unpredictability makes the plot really interesting and keeps you invested in the story. You can't help but want to know more about what's going on, so your eyes stay glued to the screen.
What's more, the fact that you never know what's coming next also keeps you on the edge of your seat just about the entire time. The next scare can come from anywhere and in any way, so you can never settle down and get comfortable with the movie. In particular, once the paranormal researchers come onto the scene and begin their investigation in earnest, all bets are off. You have no idea what they're going to encounter, so every time it looks like something even remotely scary might happen, the tension immediately ratchets up to ten. Just about anything could be lurking around every corner and in every dark hole, so you just have no idea what's going to come at you from one moment to the next. It's a wild ride, and once it starts, it doesn't let up until the credits roll.
So if you're looking for something different from your typical genre fare, I would definitely recommend checking out Terrified. Not only is it really creepy, but it's also a prime example of why foreign horror is so great. It tells a new and unique story that you don't normally get from American studios or filmmakers, and it cuts straight across subgenre lines, giving you a unique viewing experience that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
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