Connect with us
32 Malasaña Street

Film

Nightstream: 32 Malasaña Street is Terrifying Even When the Sun is Out

32 Malasaña Street is an innovative horror film that manages to keep its scares consistent, even when they happen in broad daylight.

Horror films and the dark are a natural fit, and understandably so; when it’s pitch black, even our otherwise safe homes can take on a sinister aura. Nighttime is when the ghosts and goblins come out in fiction, but it’s also when the killer goes on the prowl for his next victim. Despite the easy scares that come from the dark, Albert Pintó and his multiple screenwriters wisely set many of the spookiest sequences in their haunted house film 32 Malasaña Street during the daytime. It’s a risky move that pays off by making any scene have the potential to go from innocuous to horrifying in the blink of an eye.

After a short scene introducing the eerie apartment building at 32 Malasaña Street in Madrid, Spain, the film opens properly in 1976 with a family arriving to meet their real estate agent before moving in. Begona Vargas stars as Amparo, a 17-year-old girl who has been uprooted from her simple if limited existence in a rural village in order to start a new life the big city. Her family has moved there to find better-paying jobs, but the city also offers a respite from the oppressive fascism of Francisco Franco, who had died the year before. Amparo is joined by her father Manolo (Iván Marcos) and her mother Candela (Bea Segura), along with her teenage brother Pepe (Sergio Castellanos, her younger brother Rafael (Iván Renedo), and her senile grandfather Fermin (Jose Luis de Madariaga). Her parents have put everything they have into the mortgage for the large apartment, which is in a choice part of the city.

Things start to go wrong almost immediately, as doors mysteriously close and lock various family members inside. They begin to notice glimpses of a frightening figure, who is wisely never seen completely, though we do see glimpses of its long, curling nails as they drag on the ground. Many of these eerie moments take place in the afternoon, while the sun is still seeping in the through the windows, but there’s no diminishment of the frights. Part of why it works is that the curtains and the windows are often closed. Even if the sunlight comes in, it’s filtered through a barrier separating the family from the outside world, making their plight seem more hopeless. By finding a way to give the haunting presence power even in the daytime, Pintó makes it impossible for viewers to ever let their guard down. It also helps that he’s able to avoid an overreliance on jump scares. There are plenty of them, but it’s not a given that every scary scene will be soundtracked with a boom designed to make viewers involuntarily jump.

Pintó’s elegant scares are aided by Vargas’ performance as Amparo. Although the spooky entity initially seems to have sinister plans for her little brother Rafael and her grandfather, it shifts its attentions to her for reasons that are revealed late in the film. Fittingly, Vargas is electrifying on screen, and her character is just as interesting when she’s daydreaming about becoming a flight attendant and jetting away from all her problems as she is when she’s trying to evade the evil creature haunting the apartment. Although 32 Malasaña Street initially works as a simple ghost story, as we learn more about the haunting it also becomes a critique of the oppressive policies of Franco’s regime, which was in power from before the start of World War II until democratic governments replaced it in the late 1970s. The film’s political jabs are subtle yet potent, but it never loses sight of its central ghost story.

Nightstream is a virtual genre film festival comprised of selections from the Boston Underground Film Festival, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, the Northbend Film Festival, the Overlook Film Festival, and the Popcorn Frights Film Festival, taking place from October 8 to 11, 2020. For more information, visit Nightstream’s website.

Written By

Brian Marks is Sordid Cinema's Lead Film Critic. His writing has appeared in The Village Voice, LA Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, and Ampersand. He's a graduate of USC's master's program in Specialized Arts Journalism. You can find more of his writing at InPraiseofCinema.com. Best film experience: driving halfway across the the country for a screening of Jean-Luc Godard's "King Lear." Totally worth it.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

Falling-Down film review Falling-Down film review

Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down Poses Some Serious Questions

Film

The Big Lebowski The Big Lebowski

25 Years Later: Aggression Will Not Stand in The Big Lebowski

Film

The Academy Awards: The Best Picture Losers The Academy Awards: The Best Picture Losers

50 Best Movies That Did Not Win Best Picture at the Oscars

Film

The Academy Awards: The Best Picture Losers The Academy Awards: The Best Picture Losers

50 Best Movies to not Win Best Picture at the Oscars

Film

Blueback film review Blueback film review

Blueback Doesn’t Dive Deep Enough

Film

Pathaan Pathaan

Pathaan Completes the Westernization of Bollywood

Culture

The Last of Us Left Behind The Last of Us Left Behind

It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye on The Last of Us “Left Behind”

TV

The Last of Us Look for the Light The Last of Us Look for the Light

The Last of Us Season One Ends the Only Way It Knows How with “Look for the Light”

TV

Brother movie review Brother movie review

Brother is a Well-acted but Overwrought Account of 1990s Scarborough

Film

The Last of Us When We Are in Need The Last of Us When We Are in Need

Everyone’s a Monster In The Last of Us “When We Are in Need”

TV

Inside Movie Review Inside Movie Review

Being Trapped Inside with Willem Dafoe’s Art Thief is (Mostly) Great

Film

The Mandalorian Season 2 Phenomenally Flaunts The Potential of Storytelling With Star Wars The Mandalorian Season 2 Phenomenally Flaunts The Potential of Storytelling With Star Wars

The Mandalorian Starts Season 3 with a Good Episode but an Okay Premiere in “The Apostate”

Culture

Roberto Benigni at the 71st Academy Awards Roberto Benigni at the 71st Academy Awards

The Most Iconic Moments at the Oscars

Culture

The Mandalorian: Grogu’s Most Adorable Moments The Mandalorian: Grogu’s Most Adorable Moments

The Mandalorian: Grogu’s Most Adorable Moments

Culture

John Wick: Chapter 4 Review John Wick: Chapter 4 Review

John Wick: Chapter 4 Is an Action Epic for the Ages

Film

Idiot’s Delight – Happy 25th, Big Lebowski Idiot’s Delight – Happy 25th, Big Lebowski

Idiot’s Delight – Happy 25th, Big Lebowski

Film

Connect