by Verena Kyratzes

La Hora Fría is a  little-known Spanish horror movie from 2006. I certainly wouldn’t know of it if it hadn’t been for the Fantasy Film Fest, which brings everything from thrillers to horror to science fiction and fantasy to our hometown of Frankfurt every August.

We’re cautious about European films. I know that I’m generalizing to a shocking degree, but most of the film output of the European continent can only be described as pretentious. Or disgusting, that’s the other popular flavour it would seem. In some cases both.

La Hora Fría is a pleasant surprise, as it is neither of these. It is difficult to give a plot summary without any important spoilers, but I’ll try to do my best:

Eight people live in some sort of underground bunker. Tiled walls, long corridors – it puts one in mind of an old school building or a hospital. Their days are governed by routine, or maybe they are hiding behind the routine aspects of life, such as food or lessons for the two youngsters, so that they don’t have to think about the world they live in. Information on that is sparse, which is a very important part of the movie. Scriptwriter/director Elio Quiroga never hits us over the head with exposition; we learn about the world by observing it, by watching the propaganda videos that are still running on some screens, by asking the same question our youngest protagonist is asking: tell us about the war.

And war is central to the story, not always in its dialogue or action, but underneath everything. The madness of war, the fanaticism, the propaganda, and above all the consequences. What the movie shows us is deeply serious, and profoundly chilling.

La Hora Fría focuses on its eight survivors as much as on the world they live in. They have fights, love each other, hate each other. They play basketball, have breakfast, paint and look at the stars. The result is a very dense, accurate portrayal of how people might behave if they ever were to be under such extreme circumstances; and oddly enough the answer seems to be: with compassion. Which pleasantly sets La Hora Fría apart from many other post-apocalyptic movies out there. Or from movies in general.

Of course there is conflict, both within the group and with whatever is out there, the fight for survival in a world where resources are precious and dangerous to come by. I won’t go into detail too much, all I’ll say is that if you’ve heard that La Hora Fría is just another zombie movie, then you’ve been sadly misinformed.

The acting is, without a single exception, marvelous. I am wary of child actors, as often the directors seem to go for cute over talented, but eleven-year-old Omar Muñoz, portraying the youngest member of the group, is really good. It is maybe not surprising that his list of movie credits is longer than those of several of his fellow cast members combined. The only one of the cast who might be known to a non-Spanish audience is Julio Perillán, who had a fairly large part in Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona, but do not think that any of the others actors are any less good. I would especially like to point out the oldster of the group, Pepo Oliva, who plays Judas, an old hermit who is not himself part of the eight. He manages to be very likeable while also conveying a deep, sad thoughtfulness.

The look of the movie is simple, although I would like to caution you that simple doesn’t need to mean cheap. Darkness, long corridors, small rooms, insulation materials, drab furniture, all held in hues of grey, green, blue and brown. CGI is sometimes present, but never showy. The cinematography is brilliant without being needlessly artsy. The silence, the claustrophobic corridors, the ominous dangerous zones, it all seems real, like you only need to open the door to your room to stand in this dark underground labyrinth.

If I had to name my favourite horror movie, I think La Hora Fría might well get the spot, but then again the movie is as much horror as drama as post-apocalyptic sci-fi and I am reminded that genres are often useless.

I would like to end this review by saying a little about the feeling that the movie leaves behind after the credits end, but I fear even that would give too much away. All I can say is that this movie manages to have one of the most profound closing shots of all time. I knew that La Hora Fría was special when I was watching it, but after that last shot I also knew that it was a work of pure genius.

Disclaimer: We highly recommend watching this movie without reading too much about it. We haven’t included any “Interesting links” as we usually do because there are simply too many spoilers around, even on IMDb. So trust us and get this movie. It’s worth it.