By: Claudio “Spooktavo Borati” Cortés 

It is pretty much universally accepted that good horror films with genuine freights are few and far between, it’s a crowded market. That is why when a good one comes along there is generally a big deal made about it, you will hear about it, for every “The Conjuring”, which is accepted to be a good movie, even outside of freight seeking circles,  there is a thousand “Curse of La Lloranas”. Given the nature of just how crowded the horror film market place is it is relatively easy for several hundred to fall through the cracks due to consumer fatigue, occasionally one of those ignored films will actually be pretty good and worth watching and its movies like this that make the case for a closer look at the films that you are ignoring. 

Today’s pick is one of those that fell through the cracks, the likeliest factors for its relative obscurity are 1. Origin  2. Generic Cover Art and 3. Marketplace. The film is Aterrados, an Argentine production that takes place in a Buenos Aires suburb and explores the old adage “fear is contagious”. When it was released the US domestic horror movie landscape was focused on art house horror pictures as well as blockbuster spooks, like Mother, My Friend Dahmer, and Annabelle Creation. There was no room for a foreign film about a haunted neighborhood that questions exactly what the notion of haunting actually is. Aterrados takes the position that hauntings are actually interdimensional disturbances by parasitic/vampiric begins looking to infiltrate our world…one cosy Argentine suburb at a time. (*side note for non spanish speakers – Buenos Aires is phonetically pronounced Booenos Eye-Rez not Buaynos Arrrees). To address the final reason that today’s movie has existed under the radar we need to examine, albeit briefly, the scrolling nature of how modern americans choose what they are going to watch, we scroll through apps until we see an image that strikes out fancy, if its intriguing enough we will read the “about” verbiage and choose from there. Aterrados has unfortunately over animated almost cartoonish cover art that I will say is in no way reflective of the effects used in this movie, that makes it quite easy to scroll past. I am here to tell you, dear reader, look past the bad cover art on this one, it is one of better horror films that I have seen in 2020, and thats coming from a guy who has at this point watched and reviewed 23 consecutive horror films in row, not to mention the ones that don’t make the cut to be presented to you. 

Watch Aterrados (Terrified en Ingles) It is worth your valuable time. 

You can watch this fantastic movie on Amazon Prime or Shudder. 

Today’s song pick is more about the place that this film takes place than the film itself, however if you look deeper into the lyrics there are some great overlaps, and is by Argentina’s greatest contribution to music, of course I am talking about En la ciudad de la furia by Soda Stereo 

Keep up with the Espantobre playlist as it builds Here on spotify.

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