Spanish Film Festival Film Review: House of Snails
Images courtesy of the Spanish Film Festival.
Thrillers don’t often get along with me. I either get too far ahead of myself and predict what could have been a perfectly good plot twist, or I get caught up in the detail, nit-picking the makeup or costume design of the spooky creature that is hunting people down.
Well, The House of Snails beat me in both departments by letting creepy shadows and haunting sounds assume the role of spooky monster, and I personally didn’t sense the end coming at all. Maybe because to me it didn’t quite make sense, which is why I would certainly say that a re-watch or two of this film is necessary. It’s the kind of picture to get all caught up in the imagery and secondary meanings, so I’m sure if I slapped this back on there would be more satisfaction with the pay off.
But I’m a reviewer with a tight schedule, so let’s talk about how if we’re being real, I did leave the screening a little confused.
The parts of the movie that weren’t related to the plot were easier for me to digest. Like the beautiful town of Quintanar, where author Antonio seeks refuge so that he can complete his semi-autobiographical book in isolation as a visitor in a town that seemingly doesn’t want him. House of Snails succeeds in never making you feel welcome as the audience. Between the unpleasant locals, unnerving glitches of Antonio’s perceptions, and the darkness blanketing the woods, you’re really not in a position to relax for the duration of the film.
And that is why when things start tangibly happening, it intensifies the suspense and shock, as we see our alcoholic author discover the lore of the town- albeit through sheer luck 90 per cent of the time. There’s a scene where he’s seeking a specific book about a demon whose curse has forsaken the townsfolk’s newborns with physical deformities and needs to read through an entire library to find the book with the passage that could educate him. Instead of this scene organically enriching us with details of this peculiar town though, three heavy shots of nameless alcohol are wharfed down by Antonio before he begins defacing shelves and tossing books to conveniently find a leather bound folder containing everything about the beast.
The House of Snails ambitiously tries navigating the waters of imagination and subversion, and unfortunately stumbles in its footing in some key moments. Where it does not falter is intrigue, which is why I might just re-watch it yet.
House of Snails is screening at the Spanish Film Festival in Melbourne between the 21st April and 15th May 2022. For tickets and more info, click here.