The Appeared (Aparecidos)

Film Review by Paul Greenwood | 20 Jun 2008
Film title: The Appeared (Aparecidos)
Director: Paco Cabezas
Starring: Ruth Díaz, Javier Pereira, Luciano Cáceres
Release date: 21 Jun
Certificate: TBC

The Appeared is exactly the kind of horror rubbish the Japanese and Koreans have been churning out for years – expect an American remake any day now. A Spanish brother and sister travel to Argentina to settle the affairs of their dying father and, for inadequately justified reasons, go on a road trip to learn more about him, stumbling onto a decades old murder mystery of the sort that always come back to haunt innocent people in these kind of films. Cue ghostly figures and moody lighting to compensate for a complete lack of cohesion or narrative flow, never mind anything approaching suspense. The bleak snowscapes of Tierra Del Fuego add atmosphere but for the most part it’s deathly dull, the siblings annoy and there’s a stab at commentary on the treatment of political prisoners in South America that’s heavy handed in the extreme – the film is set in early September 2001, so make of that what you will. Just because it’s foreign doesn’t mean it’s good. [Paul Greenwood]

The Appeared is showing as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 22.00 on Sat 21 Jun at Cineworld.

http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/42625-mirrorballs-experimental-sensations

http://www.aparecidos.es