Day 9
Veronica (2017)
Directed By Paco Plaza
Veronica is the story of a middle-school girl named…Veronica, who, after conducting a seance with her friends, finds herself possessed by an evil spirit, which greatly complicates her life which is 90% taking care of her three younger siblings. This Spanish horror film is a pretty good example of how basic horror movie premises can be worked into many different themes and meanings. I can’t speak for many other possession movies but here the possession seems to be a unique metaphor about how family controls your life, much in the same way that a possessed spirit would control your life. I really liked the lead actress, all the performances here are good but she was particularly good at showing the pain of growing up and the frustration at the intense responsibilities she has that are pushing her to be a different person than who she aspires to be.
While the movie doesn’t lean too heavy on gore, the psychological horror is intense. Given the fact that Veronica is possessed while taking care of her younger siblings, the movie cultivates a fear of the children being harmed, which is a neat way to kind of get you into Veronica’s shoes. It helps that the kid actors are believable and endearing rather than being annoying. There’s also a few great side characters here, particularly a nun at their school who is known as ‘Sister Death’, who is creepier than the nun in the movie ‘The Nun’, and who also has many great lines. The film probably could have been cut down a little to make the pace quicker but as it stands this is a solid possession movie that we’re comfortable broadly recommending. Not the best movie of the week, but worth watching.
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