L'Emprise du Mal

To save his marriage , Raúl (Gustavo Salmerón) , a chess player , decides to spend Christmas with his family , estranged wife Ana (Irene Visedo) and his son Nico , in a cabin in the middle of the snow . The situation of such an unexpected turn that their lives become hell . In this way, the pleasant vacations will become a bitter experience for Raúl that forces him to evoke his darkest memories and face the reality of his own actions. When schizophrenic Raúl sees his wife giving attention of carpenter Samuel (Ariel Castro) who's come to cut the wood, he becomes jealous and things go wrong.

This is the summary of "La Senda", a film with a serious problem in the development of the script (by Miguel Ángel Toledo himself and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) that manages to hook us thanks to a good interpretations , a lot of chills and suspenseful events . A nice movie full of thrilling moments that are intended to be surprising, but end up being monotonous when dealing with situations that we have already seen countless times . The picture displays thriller , mystery , suspense , shocks , grisly scenes and intriguing events when an unsettling husband suffers schizophrenia until an amazing finale . Intriguing film contains thrills , chills , suspense , twists and turns , and results to be quite entertaining . The atmosphere and perverse intrigue enhance as well as the relationship among protagonists develops . From start to finish the intrigue and suspenseful scenes are continuous till a striking ending . The story begins in a somewhat shocking and unreal way, seeing how our starring , a renowned chess master, tries to make peace with his wife, for something very bad he has done . Perhaps the reason for the couple's lack of love is due to infidelity, perhaps repeated, but no, we soon realize that the protagonist's crime was tobacco , along the way a spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while sees horrific forebodings . This is just an intriguing movie about a schizophrenic guy that goes on a retreat with his wife and son and sees things that are not really happening , resulting in his paranoia drives him insane . Eventually, we realize that it is nothing more than an inferior copy of Kubrick's The Shining, with a lot of twists and turns, to prove that both the writers and the director have led us down a path with a predictable destination. Good start, uneven development and so-so outcome. During half the film it can be seen fairly well out of curiosity to know where we are going but when we discover it the feeling that remains is ¨Deja vu¨. Interpretations are decent enough . Gustavo Salmeron and Irene Visedo's performances approache high levels . Gustavo Salmerón as the deranged , paranoid husband who invites to his wife at an isolated cabin in a snowy mountain expecting to reconcile with her , but his paranoid mind makes him believe that Ana is having a love affair with Samuel.

The director keeps things at a snail's pace , but he carries out scary moments and amazing scenes . The motion picture was professionally directed by Miguel Angel Toledo , in his only film, in fact he did not direct any more because La Senda was a failure in the Spanish box office . But perhaps the true author of the film was the wonderful screenwriter, producer and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto , 28 Weeks Later , Salvation , Falling Water) , a visionary filmmaker who is always good at approaching films with style and consistent moods . The film will appeal to suspense buffs , as it gets some decent set pieces , though sometimes chaotic thriller , however , resulting to be a passable flick. Rating : 6/10.