Ha, ha, Great Stuff. How come i missed this one? Well,
better late than never and i saw this Swedish Njuta Films release
of Sudor Frío (Cold Sweat) in September 2016. How come this film
wasn't reviewed on Swedish Morning TV or in
some high-brow cultural TV show? Because this is a film made for horror
lovers and by genre lovers, and in the End
credits there's an endless list of inspirations/inspirators to the filmmakers.
Argentina, best Spanish language film industry today
? Once Mexican films ruled and Spanish films most often sucks
.................................................
Detour Ahead. A completely unnecessary diversion with an attack on some
Spanish mainstream films ....
I've seen some great films from Argentina, as the unknown
animated shortfilm masterpiece Gorgonas (2004) by Salvador
Sanz, the films of Fabián Bielinsky, the art giallos of Luciano
Onetti and now this one from Bogliano, and i've liked these better
than anything from Spain (with the possible exception of the films of
Alejandro Amenábar, i haven't seen his Tesis yet though).
Spanish genre films (horrors/thrillers) though are often badly bogged
down by boring mainstream Hollywoodian sensibilities and
i really hated the ones that everyone else seemed to love. As,
The Orphanage/El orfanato from 2007 and Los Ojos de Julia/The
Eyes of Julia 2010, both with Belén Rueda in them.
But Belén, she's quite OK and no shame on her, even though the
director or cameraman seemed to be obsessed with her boobies
in the latter one, if it was in 3D she would poke your eyes out and
the film could've been titled The Boobs of Julia.
Both these films were destroyed by plot absurdities
which ruined the films for me. I just couldn't overlook these problems.
1. The Orphanage: A family was living in a big old house
and their child disappeared. OK so far ... a HUGE search for the
kid took place with lots of people searching everywhere, as in the well
etc., but almost everywhere that is, because they
didn't look in the cellar. Police to parents - So,
we've searched everywhere in the surroundings, also in the well, and
you
have searched the house including the attic, BUT have you searched the
cellar?
Parents: Eeeh, the cellar? Is there a cellar? Police: Hmmm, yes, we
and the film audiences can clearly se the windows to the cellar
on the outside. Parents: But, but there's no entrance to the cellar
is there? Police: Well, we better find out don't we?
Ridiculous, and the film was unwatchable after that idiocy. Also, there
was an anti-abortion message at the end of the film.
2. Eyes of Julia: Also an acclaimed spanish horror or even spanish giallo
with the beautiful Belén Rueda in the main role.
Julia visits her sisters house and finds her dead in the cellar, hanged,
murdered or by suicide. She's followed by an unknown man
and then her husband is also found dead in the cellar, hanged. More
people die too and there's someone visiting the house at
night when Julia stays there. OK, then Julia has an eye operation and
where will she stay when recuperating, without eyesight and
with bandages around her head? There can be only one answer to that:
IN HER SISTERS HOUSE, naturally.
The place where 2 possible murders has been committed and strange things
go on at night. Wow. What idiocy and unwatchable.
.................................................
OK, back to Cold Sweat (Sudor Frío):
The Film starts with black & white documentary pictures
of crimes committed during the Fascist Junta years in the 1970's, during
the Cold War when USA supported all fascist regimes around the world
and the Soviet Union supported the communist ones.
In a house (in Buenos Aires?) a duo of old men in their 70's or so kidnaps
and murders young people using Nitroglycerine.
Omar Gioiosa as Baxter lost in demented chaos
Why do they kidnap, torture and murder youngsters? Not
clear, but maybe out of habit, they are clearly mad and may think
they're still working for the Military Junta? They're using Internet
social networks ... or something like that, a dating site maybe
to lure young woman to their lair. Now entering the house are Román
(Facundo Espinosa) looking for his girlfriend Jacquie
(played by Argentinian centerfold model Camila Velasco) and his friend
Ali (Marina Glezer).
As this is a horror film they split up and when Román enters
the house he finds Ali bound in a torture room with another girl,
and 2 old men are doing nasty things to them, with drops of Nitroglycerine.
The Dynamic Duo of Gordon (Omar Musa) and Baxter
(Omar Gioiosa) at work.
Instead of screaming and yelling and running for help the same way he
entered the house, he silently watches, obviously
engrossed by the action (?), the 2 nasty old men killing the unknown
girl in the ugliest way possible. Very heroic Román.
Murderer with a walker vs. Centerfold with Nitroglycerine
Is this another torture porn movie then? No! This film
really takes off, it really explodes during the latter part of the movie
(and literally also) and ends in a delightful chaos. A wild and very
funny ride.
After the first half of the movie i felt disappointed as this movie
wasn't scary. Yes, it was certainly nasty but not scary
and i was irritated that Román and Ali split up ... again ...
inside the house and went in different directions, without grabbing
any weapons to fight with and with 2 murderers in the house, 2 weak
and old ones but still .... WTF? Very annoying.
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's a Trash Horror-comedy
Then, when the caged flesheating cellar girls appear and onwards, this
film really starts to rock. AND, i understand finally
that this film isn't supposed to be scary as this film is -
A Trash Horror Comedy in the same vein as Re-Animator.
Highly recommended for genre fans this is. Omar Musa as Gordon steals
every scene he's in, a psycho with a walker.
In the commentary track the (un-funny) director Bogliano compares the
cellar girls with .... The Birds by Hitchcock ....
eeeh .... NO, i don't think so Mr. Bogliano, these women are directly
borrowed from a much more important director
and film than Hitch's, namely Joel M. Reed's universally hailed (OK,
i'm kidding) masterpiece Bloodsucking Freaks.
Anamorphic widescreen, Spanish DD stereo audio with swedish subtitles.
Extras: A Commentary track with director Adrian Garcia Bogliano, extended
and deleted scenes, Cold Blood: The true
facts behind Cold Sweat (6 min, about the Military dictatorship), trailer