Now available for streaming on Netflix, ‘Animas’ is a Spanish psychological thriller that follows a teen who is having an eerie vision of a woman figure. Things become strange and weird with persistent spooky sights, as she struggles to cope with reality and a nightmarish world.
Spanish psychological thriller ‘Animas,’ written and directed by Laura Alvea and Jose F. Ortuño, follows Alex and her childhood friend Abraham who are very close to each other. The latter is shy and often seems troubled because of her complex relationship with his parents.
Alex, on the other hand, is confident and somewhat possessive of Abraham. So, when Abraham started going out with a female friend named Anchi, a girl at their school, Alex is bound to have issues. Her personal life seems to be mired by some strange happenings in which she is constantly getting haunted by shadowy figures.
As they both try to lead their lives with a fair amount of family issues, Abraham’s father died in a strange accident which further pushes him away from Alex for some unknown danger. With this, Alex keeps on experiencing nightmarish visions and even starts encountering paranormal entities in the form of a ghostly appearing figure. This compels Alex to question her own existence as she struggles to differentiate what is a dream and what is reality.
‘Animas’ is indeed good in visual storytelling with great use of camera work, settings, and overall cinematography. The intelligent use of colors particularly green, yellow, and red makes this even more interesting. However, the film is a bit slow and the content in the middle of the story was a bit overemphasized, trying to justify the plotline, thereby making it a little confusing.
Nevertheless, the whole idea of dealing with reality and dream (in this case, nightmares) and the inability of someone to separate both – makes this engaging. ‘Animas’ instills enough suspense from the whole scenario of the storyline with the use of dark atmospheric spooky moments.
In addition, the climax is something many would like – although a bit obvious – but has its say in the end. The performance of the main cast, particularly Clare Durant and Iván Pellicer, is indeed praiseworthy.
Special Note: ‘Animas’ is not necessarily a horror or psychological thriller, but also to an extent philosophical in terms of our tendency to create a protective layer around us and how important it is for us to let something go in order to move ahead in life.
Watch ‘Animas’ Movie Trailer
Where to watch Animas (2018)
One thought on “‘Animas’ (2018) – Spanish Psychological Thriller (Review)”