The Appeared DVD Review
The Appeared DVD Review
Argentinean Apparitions.
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This review contains minor spoilers
During the most brutal and darkest years of Argentina's military dictatorship, "The Disappeared" was the term applied to innocent citizens who were snatched, tortured and slain by the regime. The title The Appeared (Apprecidos) refers to their restless ghosts, but to me it also bespoke of this foreign film's distractingly over-lit appearance. The otherwise accomplished, effective, mature and thought-provoking movie is so bright, flat and dimensionless that it looks like a TV soap opera. I had a hard time getting by that, as well as its overly long running time and clueless characters. But I did get by those things. In spite of its shortcomings, The Appeared is an admirably complex scare feature that's worth seeing once.
Our protagonists are 20-something siblings Malena (Ruth Diaz) and Pablo (Javier Pereira), who we meet just as they are saying their final goodbyes to their father as he lies on his deathbed in the hospital — a hospital where he, as chief surgeon, once reigned supreme. Not being able to bear hearing his last breath seep out, Pablo decides to take dad's car for one final spin. With a reluctant Malena riding shotgun, the pair peel off for Tierra del Fuego where the then-young family long ago shared a home.
Along the way, on a lonely stretch of road (naturally), the car comes to a halt leaving the perfect in for the discovery by Pablo of an old diary jammed underneath the wheel well. Aided in his find by a dazed and mute little girl who comes out of nowhere, Pablo take it all in stride as though this kind of stuff happens every day and comes in Cracker Jacks boxes.
Sometime later, as they're cruising along in their automobile, Pablo mentions the book and simultaneously notices several mysterious and gruesome Polaroid photos stuck to the burnt and ripped journal pages. Maybe this is just me, but if I a) saw a little girl come out of nowhere, b) she then disappeared right before my eyes, and c) I found a grimmoiré in my dad's own handwriting with creepy keepsake pictures in it, I'd definitely mention it to my sister sooner than later. This is not the only instance of puzzling, completely unrealistic behavior by both people but given the context of the mystery once all is said and done, it's forgivable.
Writer/director Paco Cabezas is a dynamo when it comes to passion and perseverance. Even when the story sags or the running time lags, he finds something to bridge the gap and to bring you back from the brink of boredom just when you're ready to jump. One of the better spine-tingling scenes comes fairly early on, when the brother and sister stop at a derelict motel which is described as a scene of sheer terror in the diary. A minute-by-minute description of a killing and kidnapping is meticulously recounted in the book… and replayed by the ghosts of the victims at those very same wee hours in the very room adjoining theirs.
Later on there are some other creepy sequences involving spectral visitations and blood that simply won't wash away… but it's the possibility that the murderer, the author of the diary, might actually come back to stop the nosy living folks who dare to meddle and try to alter the past as they slide in and out of the seemingly parallel netherworld. The only thing that gets me — and this is a spoiler only if you have the IQ of sand — is how Malena and Pablo can possibly take so long to figure out their father's role in the plagued past. Sometimes it's OK to be ahead of all the characters and to witness their struggles, but The Appeared is presented as a puzzler… and it's not. It tries to be another Devil's Backbone or Pan's Labyrinth with its political message and family drama underpinned by supernatural elements, and it's not. Plus, the ending sequence is a rip-off straight out of The Sixth Sense.
The film is well-acted and there's some pithy, wryly amusing dialogue as evidenced by excellent Spanish-to-English captioning. The special effects are great — not too ostentatious and not overly aided by CGI.
DVD extras include an extensive making-of featurette which shows Cabezas's dedication to practical filmmaking (and making THIS film in particular) plus his knowledge of history and genre — while The Appeared doesn't quite show him off in the best light, it's clear he's one to watch for in the future.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson