Veronica
2017 · Directed by Paco Plaza
Original language: Spanish
- horror
The story
In 1991 Madrid, after holding a séance at school, a teen girl minding her younger siblings at home suspects an evil force has entered their apartment.
What it’s like
Dim, cramped apartment interiors lit by flickering practicals, sickly yellow lamplight and the cold blue wash of a television, with the grime and clutter of an early-nineties Madrid flat rendered in close, hand-held detail. Paco Plaza's camera stays tight on faces and doorways, pushing in slowly so that the frame feels crowded even when nothing is moving. The sound design leans on creaks, distant traffic, and sudden silences that cut out the room's ambient hum, with a sparse, unsettling score that surfaces only at the edges. Its vibe is oppressive and claustrophobic, a dread that builds through domestic routine and wears down the spaces where people are supposed to feel safe. The pacing is deliberate, with long stretches of quiet tension broken by sharp, frightening set pieces. The emotional register is anxious and grim, following a teenage girl who is responsible for her younger siblings and slowly realises that the danger is real and beyond her control. Intensity is high: the horror is strong, with graphic moments involving injury and possession, violence that lands hard, and sustained fear throughout; there is no gentleness here. It suits viewers who want atmospheric supernatural horror with a realistic family setting and a sense of helplessness, rather than lighthearted scares.
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