The Similars

The Twilight Zone: It's a Good Life (1961) where "on an isolated family farm, a young boy with vast mental powers, but lacking emotional development, holds his terrified family in thrall to his every juvenile wish."

Only this time Rod Sterling (1924-1975) was replaced by Isaac Ezban in the Mexican knock-off were "On the rainy night of October 2, 1968, eight characters waiting on a remote bus station for a bus heading to Mexico City start experiencing a strange phenomenon."

Because this took place in one location of a bus station it could adapt easily to a stage play.

It has a lot of hairier ending.

"Los Parecidos/The Similars" the second film by Mexican director Issac Ezban really is "A love letter to the science fiction movies of the 60s".

The mysterious plot of the film is bizarrely addressed by the style that the young director is creating, mixing photography and really amazing soundtrack transports you to another era.

The film reminds us the classic episodes of the "Twilight Zone" and the music of the film remind us the musicalization of the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

No doubt Ezban Issac and his team are doing a great work resurrecting the science fiction genre in México.

While I liked the style of this movie, the concept wasn't executed well enough for me. I found it more comical than creepy, more wacky than weird. Some of the acting and editing was awful, and I definitely felt like some moments were cringe-worthy. I am a fan of the Twilight Zone, which other people have compared this to, but The Similars was too ridiculous and unsubtle to be in the same league as the classic series. I feel like I'm in the minority here, but I say skip this one.

Eight people trapped in a railway station by a strange rainstorm find themselves undergoing terrifying transformations. There's no doubt Isaac Ezban came up with an original idea and made good use of his limited resources, but the fate of these perpetually bickering, mistrustful travellers always borders on the unintentionally comical. And I'd be highly offended if I was Zach Galifianakis...

I don't have much experience with Mexican cinema, looking over my ratings I see I haven't had much luck either. With just a 3/10 this is still the highest rated Mexican movie I've seen!

It tells the story of a group of strangers who come together in a bus station during a mysterious down pour and...............I can't really say anything else without going into spoiler territory.

What I can say is it's weird, like really really weird and I struggled to take it seriously. There were moments I assumed it was a comedy, but it's actually not. It heavily reminded me of something you'd see on the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits but had been stretched out into a 90 minute movie.

The premise is ridiculous, the whole thing doesn't come together in the end. Yes it's explained, it just isn't very good.

I wish I could go deeper into this film and explain but saying anything would spoil it (Not that there is much to spoil). All I'll say is this is certainly one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen, it's highly original but that isn't always a good thing.

The Good:

Very original

Very stylish

The Bad:

Too silly to be taken seriously

Overall it's bafflingly awful