Necrophobia (Argentina - 2014) is a psychological thriller that arouses curiosity right from its title. The term denotes the fear of corpses and death, a phobia that is treated across the board by Argentine director Daniel De La Vega in this intense film of his. Necrophobia enjoys an excellent original soundtrack by renowned Italian composer Claudio Simonetti whose music blends with a bleak film by highlighting its dark side even more.
Placed at the center of the story as one of its dummies but animated by strong emotions that drag him into deep identity crises at the edge of all endurance, LuÃs MachÃn, the film's key character, becomes a human mirror of necrophobia and succeeds in emotionally involving the viewer in his delirium.
The noise of a sewing machine followed by the image of a room full of cellophane-covered mannequins shrouded in fog are part of the dream world of Dante, a man busy making the suit he is to wear to the funeral of his twin brother Tomas. Gloomy, asphyxiating music accompanies the protagonist's simple gestures, making them sinister, while the shots fall on the details of some of the creepy mannequins and busts that not only have a sartorial use but also serve as furnishings.
As he puts on his suit and mirrors himself surrounded by his time-worn puppets, Machin's glazed eyes reveal a suffering soul.
This is the introduction of the protagonist, a tailor, a seemingly normal and grief-stricken man. Surely suggesting that he is an ambiguous character is his immense tailor-house, a sinister and gloomy place populated almost exclusively by mannequins and parts of them.
His disturbed personality comes out in the sequence in the cemetery, where the omnipresent sense of death (amplified by the funeral and his brother's corpse in the coffin during the church service) triggers necrophobia in him, which later manifests itself in an uncontrollable reaction. Left alone among tombstones and family graves in fact, he is overcome by panic.
As the story progresses, there is a greater delineation of the main character who, thanks to the skill of Luis Machin, becomes the fulcrum and pillar of the film. Following the bereavement, a series of sad events weigh on him like a boulder, pushing him into a slow and inexorable descent into the abyss of madness, while a crescendo of tension and despair find their climax at another location of death. After the cemetery it will also be the turn of the morgue, an asphyxiating place where necrophobia will not be long in manifesting itself.
In this intense funereal film directed by the very talented Daniel De La Vega, Dante wanders through the bowels of this sick story like a puppet guided by the hands of a cruel and baleful fate until the end of the story. The constant sense of death that exudes in this film is also reflected in a cinematography (by Mariano Suarez) that is equally cold, devoid of color and vitality, perfectly in tune with the subject matter.
Necrophobia is an emotionally charged film that gives no room for hope but only for devastating and painful feelings. It is a cinematic work charged with charm but also with so much tension because of the bond that is created between the main character and the viewer...the latter almost becomes the sponge that absorbs the main character's pain and negativity.
Necrophobia is a diverse, ever-changing film whose story follows a personal path and embraces not only the phobia of death but also madness in all its stages.
Among the clear homages to 1970s and 1980s filmography (Torso, Tourist Trap, Maniac, and even Fulcian and Argento films) found in Necrophobia, the impeccable directorial style of Daniel De La Vega, who has already demonstrated his skills in Jennifer's Shadow.
The solid direction is joined by an impeccable script (Daniel de la Vega, Nicanor Loreti and Germán Val) and the extraordinary and above all impressive performance of LuÃs MachÃn as an unforgettable character.
The cast includes, in addition to LuÃs MachÃn, Viviana Saccone, Hugo Aztar, Gerardo Romano, Raúl Taibo, Pablo and Ariel Juin, and Fabià n Forte.
The production was handled by director Daniel De La Vega himself together with Néstor Sanchez Sotelo.
Also successful and effective are the film's strongest sequences (amputation of a hand, corpse cut up with scissors, throat slit with a saw), thanks to effects designer Alberto Jaceniuk and Rebeca Martinez (Make up FX).
Necrophobia represents a detailed journey into phobias in which it is impossible not to get lost.
