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Vernica (2017 Spanish film)

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Wikipedia article




'Veronica' is a 2017 Spanish supernatural horror film directed by Paco Plaza which stars Sandra Escacena alongside Claudia Placer, Bruna Gonzlez, Ivn Chavero and Ana Torrent.

It is loosely based on true events from the 1991 Vallecas case where Estefana Gutirrez Lzaro died mysteriously after she used a ouija board.

Plot



The film opens in 1991 in medias res, with emergency services responding to a call from a young girl. She sounds panicked and screams about her brother Antoito, and something "coming to get him", before the call cuts off.

The film then goes back in time three days. Vernica is a 15-year-old girl living with her mother and three siblings in an apartment in the working-class district of Vallecas, Madrid. Their father recently died and their mother works long hours at a bar to support the family, leaving Vernica in charge of her younger siblings: twins Lucia and Irene, and Antoito. On the day of the solar eclipse, her teacher explains how some ancient cultures used eclipses to stage human sacrifices and summon dark spirits.

While the school gathers on the roof to view the eclipse, Vernica, her friend Rosa, and their classmate Diana go into the basement to conduct a sance using a Ouija board. Vernica wants to reach out to her late father, and Diana wants to reach out to her late boyfriend, who died in a motorcycle accident. The board responds right away but Rosa and Diana pull their hands back when the glass cup becomes too hot to touch. Vernica's hand remains on it, and at the moment of the eclipse, the cup shatters, cutting her finger and dripping blood onto the board. Vernica becomes unresponsive, whispering something repeatedly that Rosa leans in to hear, and suddenly lets out a demonic scream. After passing out, Vernica wakes in the school nurse's office, who tells her she probably passed out from iron deficiency.

Vernica begins experiencing paranormal occurrences. She is unable to eat her dinner, as if an invisible hand is preventing her. Claw and bite marks appear on her body and she hears strange noises. Her friends begin avoiding her. Looking for answers, she goes back to the school basement and finds the school's elderly blind nun whom the students call "Sister Death." The nun scolds her for doing something so dangerous and explains that the sance attached a dark spirit to her; she needs to protect her siblings. The nun tries to compel the spirit to leave her, but nothing happens.

Vernica draws protective Viking symbols for the kids, only for the demon to destroy them. She tries to help Lucia when the spirit chokes her, but Lucia says it was Vernica who was choking her. That night, Vernica dreams that her siblings are eating her. She wakes up to find that she's on her first period. As she scrubs her mattress, she finds burn marks on the underside. Later, she finds on each of the kids' mattresses a large burn mark in the shape of a human body. Vernica goes to Sister Death for advice; the nun tells of how she used to see dark spirits when she was younger, and intentionally blinded herself in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the visions. Sister Death tells her that she can force the spirits to leave by doing right what she did wrong. Vernica learns that it is important to say goodbye to the spirit at the end of the sance. After going to a party at Rosa's house, she asks Rosa and Diana to help her hold another sance, but they refuse. Rosa reveals that, at the sance, Vernica whispered that she herself would die in five days.

Desperate, she decides to hold the sance with her young siblings. She has Antoito draw the protective symbols on the walls, but he flips to the wrong page and instead draws symbols of invocation. When she tells the spirit to say goodbye, it refuses. She calls the police as the spirit snatches Antoito, manages to grab him back, and escapes along with Lucia and Irene. However, when she gets to the exit she sees in a mirror that she is not actually holding Antoito but just imagined it. She returns to find her brother hiding in a closet and calling her name. She finds him and notices he won't go with her. Vernica looks at herself in the mirror and sees the demon, realizing she has been possessed by the demon the entire time, and had been harming her siblings under its control. She attempts to end the possession by slitting her own throat but is prevented by the demon. The police enter to find her being attacked by an invisible force and passing out. The medics carry her and Antoito out while a shaken detective observes the scene. As the detective watches a framed photograph of Vernica suddenly catch fire, he is informed that she has died. Five years later in 1996, he reports of unexplained paranormal activity having occurred in Madrid. It is explained that the movie is based on the true events of the first police report in Spain where a police officer certifies having witnessed paranormal activity.

Cast



Inspiration



The film was inspired when Estefana Gutirrez Lzaro (19731991) reportedly suffered hallucinations and seizures after performing the sance at a school in Madrid to try to contact her friend's deceased boyfriend who had died six months earlier. Her exact cause of death is a mystery. Her house allegedly became haunted after her death according to the British magazine 'NME'. The American magazine 'Newsweek', referenced by 'NME', is more cautious and while acknowledging that the case is real, likens the event to the similar pop-culture phenomenon and urban legend 'The Amityville Horror'. In the same magazine, director Paco Plaza says that he didn't feel bound to portray the real events, clarifying "...the whole story of Veronica and the sisters and Antoito, this little Marlon Brando with glasses, its all a vision."

Production



The screenplay was penned by Paco Plaza alongside Fernando Navarro. The film was produced by Apache Films alongside El Expediente La Pelcula AIE, with the participation of RTVE and support from ICAA. The score was composed by Eugenio Mira, credited under the pseudonym Chucky Namanera.

Release



'Vernica' originally released on 25 August 2017 in Spain. In addition, the film was released in eight other countries between the months of December 2017 up until February 2018.

The film was selected for the lineup of the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival's Contemporary World Cinema section.

Reception



Box office

In Spain the film grossed $4,212,203, and $1,910,886 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $6,123,089.

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an 88% approval rating from critics. The website's critical consensus reads, "A scarily effective horror outing, 'Veronica' proves it doesn't take fancy or exotic ingredients to craft skin-crawling genre thrills."

Jonathan Holland from 'The Hollywood Reporter' gives a negative review of the film and wrote "The real horror in 'Veronica' is not in the CGI visuals, or in Pablo Rosso's frantic cinematography, or in the aural bombardment of sound effects and music; its in the relationship between the children". Overall though he sums up his film review with "Thick on chills, thin on psychology."

Shortly after the release of 'Vernica' on Netflix Jordan Crucchoila of Vulture countered other reviewers who believe that 'Vernica' is the scariest movie on Netflix "In our estimation, 'Veronica' is not that scary. Its a worthy effort, but as far as witch-board movies go, youll get more out of 'Ouija 2: Origin of Evil'.", but overall still believes that the film has "some great set-piece scares, and the movies most disturbing moment is pretty damn good." Ed Potton of 'The Times' does not believe that the film is good and gave the film a 2 out of 5, and wrote "A considerable buzz online suggested that this Spanish horror might arrest the recent run of iffy Netflix movies. Sadly, it doesn't." Dennis Harvey of 'Variety', wrote that the film's ideas "arent ultimately original enough or its scares potent enough to suggest Plaza wouldnt benefit from trying his directorial hand at someone elses screenplay." Paul Tassi from 'Forbes' magazine wrote "If I was scoring the movie myself Id probably give it a 6 out of 10, fresh, but not exactly stunning."

Accolades



|-

| align = "center" rowspan="21" |2018

| rowspan="4" | 73rd CEC Medals

|Best Editing

|Mart Roca

|

| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;" |

|-

|Best New Actress

|Sandra Escacena

|

|-

|Best Original Screenplay

|Paco Plaza, Fernando Navarro

|

|-

|Best Score

|Eugenio Mira

|

|-

| rowspan="6" |5th Feroz Awards

|Best Director

|Paco Plaza

|

| rowspan="6" style="text-align:center;" |

|-

|colspan = "2" | Best Drama Film

|

|-

|Best Original Score

|Eugenio Mira

|

|-

|Best Trailer

|Rafa Martnez

|

|-

|Best Actress in a Leading Role

|Sandra Escacena

|

|-

|Best Screenplay

|Paco Plaza, Fernando Navarro

|

|-

| rowspan="7" |32nd Goya Awards

|Best Film

|Expediente La Pelcula A.I.E., Apaches Entertainment

|

| rowspan="7" style="text-align:center;" |

|-

|Best Director

|Paco Plaza

|

|-

|Best Original Screenplay

|Paco Plaza, Fernando Navarro

|

|-

|Best Original Score

|Eugenio Mira

|

|-

|Best New Actress

|Sandra Escacena

|

|-

|Best Sound

|Aitor Berenguer, Gabriel Gutirrez, Nicolas de Poulpiquet

|

|-

|Best Special Effects

|Ral Romanillos, David Heras

|

|-

|27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards

|Best New Actress

|Sandra Escacena

|

| style="text-align:center;" |

|-

|5th Platino Awards

|Best Sound

|Aitor Berenguer, Gabriel Gutirrez, Nicolas de Poulpiquet

|

| style="text-align:center;" |

|-

| rowspan="2" |Turia Awards

|Special Award

|Paco Plaza

|

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |

|-

|Best New Actress

|Sandra Escacena

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |2019

|CinEuphoria Awards

|Best Sound/Sound Effects - International Competition

|

|

| style="text-align:center;" |

|-

|Fangoria Chainsaw Awards

|Best Streaming Premiere Film

|Paco Plaza

|

| style="text-align:center;" |

|}

Prequel



In March 2022, Netflix announced the development of a prequel film titled 'Sister Death' , directed by Paco Plaza and written by Jorge Guerricaechevarra. It will star , Almudena Amor and , among others.

See also



* List of Spanish films of 2017

* List of films featuring eclipses

References




Buy Vernica (2017 Spanish film) now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 2017



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