Being a child of the 1980’s was awesome. Endless Saturday morning cartoons, Jolt cola, Ecto Cooler and a new development in television viewing, something called re-runs. Now re-runs are common place, but back then it opened up a whole new world. As a kid, I was able to get my fix watching late night re-runs of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Those anthologies helped foster my fixation with everything that goes bump in the night. In the same vein in the shows mentioned, it now brings us to this week’s Bloody Streaming Roulette boils and ghouls.
SPIN THAT SHIT!
So what do we have this week?
The Similars – Los Parecidos (2015)
We find ourselves in the year 1968. At an isolated, dimly lit bus stop in the middle of nowhere, Mexico. All the weary travelers are just trying to get to the next stop. Only problem, is the constant, torrential downpour outside. Keeping all continuing bus trips at a complete standstill. After a patron has a bizarre seizure, things begin spiral downward to take a very odd and supernatural turn.
The film’s first two acts are a slow Hitchcockian burn. Inter-weaving character interactions at a rigid and gloomy pace. The acting was exceptional, with the diversity of the characters being the hook, line and sinker. It had a wonderfully tense score that felt like it came right out the 1960’s. Being a period piece, The Similars really the captured the time period very well. They even threw in a few social concerns of the period, like university student protests and Cold War paranoia. Which I felt was a really nice touch. Once the film reveals its true face (slight spoiler and pun), the movie takes a break neck turn. Completely erasing the previous slow burn and replacing it with a world of paranoia and murderous abandonment.
The Similars is a complete and total lover letter to the 1960’s sci-fi horror anthology television series The Twilight Zone. It was shot in an almost black and white style, to where the colors are muted, made it feel dated. Which really added to the grindhouse-style, complete with faux reel burn rings. It even has a Hispanic Rod Serling-esque introduction and ending. The flick is a Mexican film and the second feature directed by Isaac Ezban. If he continues this style of filmmaking, I’ll be sure to follow his work.
The film is a little lacking in the gore department, save for a nice shaving scene. But, gore isn’t the ticket maker in this one. The actual character development and the panic inducing build up is the winner here. The Similars is a genre hybrid as I like to call them. It was suspenseful, dramatic with hints of science fiction and most importantly horrific.
I’m feeling pretty good about this one!
IMDB: 6.1/10
ZombiSurvivor: 7.6/10
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-ZS
