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6.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. El fantasma del convento remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a thing for black-and-white gothic dread, then yeah, sure. If you need pacing that doesn't feel like a sleepy Sunday afternoon, you are going to hate it. It's for people who like movies that feel like they were dug up from a basement, dust and all. 👻
There is this one moment where the monk just... stares. It lasts forever. Maybe it’s meant to be ominous, but I just found myself looking at the texture of the stone walls behind him. They look like they were made of papier-mâché, which honestly just adds to the charm.
Cristina’s whole arc is a mess. One minute she’s a normal traveler, the next she’s trying to seduce Alfonso like she's in a stage play from the 1800s. It’s dramatic and honestly kind of cringy, but you can’t look away. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion, if the train was made of wood and candles.
The convent itself is the real star. It has those long, echoey hallways that sound designers in the thirties loved to death. Every footstep echoes for about three seconds too long. It’s effective, but after a while, you just want someone to put on some slippers.
It’s not quite as psychological as something like Atavismo, which tries to get into the nitty-gritty of why people act the way they do. Here, people just change because the script says so. It’s a bit lazy, but it works in a weird, dreamlike way.
I found myself thinking about the lighting. Everything is so high-contrast that half the characters are just silhouettes half the time. It makes the whole experience feel like a half-remembered nightmare. You know, the kind where you can’t see the monster, just the shadow it casts on the wall. 🕯️
Agustín González is probably the only one who looks like he knows exactly what kind of movie he's in. Everyone else is playing it like a high-stakes thriller, while he’s just lurking. I liked him for that.
Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it weird? Absolutely. Sometimes, that’s all you need on a rainy night. Just don't expect it to make sense by the time the credits roll. The ending felt like it just ran out of film and decided, “Okay, that’s enough of that.”
IMDb —
1925
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