Al tercer día

Is a 2021 Argentine horror film. But to the one who understands. I've been watching horror movies for at least 35 years, it's rare that I don't get it like this. It's not ridiculous, huh. Meaningless. And it's also very boring. A mother and son who ran away from home get into a car accident. And then the boy suddenly disappears. His mother is trying to find him. Then a lot of meaningless events happen and it's over.

There is no sexuality and nudity in the film.

This film is well made, looks wonderful, and is acted well. The problem with this film that brings it to a mediocre spot is the simplistic nature of the plot. The story details a woman who after a car accident doesn't remember what happened or what happened to her son who was in the car.

The rest of the film is an effort for this woman to find her memory of her son. A police investigation is happening at the same time as this woman tries to unlock her mind with a supernatural method. But, what is uncovered is more horrifying than having to face the disappearance of her son.

Unfortunately, the rest of the plot unfolds similar to the standard ideas of this type of film. Nothing really new or inventive. But, it is crafted well.

Mariana Angheleri is the only reason for my four star rating. She is much better than the material here. She is escaping from a domineering ex with her boy when she has a car accident. What follows is a mess. A priest recites the Apostles' Creed, thus, "on the third day." He goes on a bloody rampage without explanation. I can appreciate a good devil themed film such as The Exorcist or The Omen, but they had clear and concise story lines. On the Third Day is an incomprehensible mess.

For a movie that features some big heavyweights from the Argentinian acting scene, this movie feels incredibly amateurish.

The narrative is disjointed and jumbled, and the movie is edited with no sense of cointinuity, the story (nothing new or surprising to begin with) feels like a succession of unrelated scenes.

There are plenty of random oniric-like sequences peppered with fx that look like something from a 60's B horror movie, but not in a good way.

Furthermore, there's little to no explanation for anything that the protagonists do, they just wander from one scene to the next doing things because the script demands it (minor spoiler: ten minutes into the movie and just after a quick exchange between them, the doctor decides to take his patient to... a psychic? Why was he so eager to help her, in the first place?. De-rigueur hypnotism session ensues and we have a glimpse into what the big reveal is going to be, and boy, is so cliche and trite, and done with the subtlety and technical prowess of an elementary school play).

Acting, maybe with the exception of Gerardo Romano and the two cameo-length appearances by Arturo Bonín and Rodolfo Ranni, is mediocre.

It could have been a little scary B horror movie with a 60's feel to it, but it ended up being almost like a satire.

Where do I begin?

1. A bunch of characters who seem pretty unrelated and you have no idea what they have to do with one another.

2. Either dubbing from Spanish, or a drunk audio engineer.

3. Make up your mind: is it a demon or vampire movie, or something completely different?

4. The first 90% of the film had nothing scary and no relevance.

I only gave it 5 stars because the "monster" looked good.