MovieChat Forums > Veneno para las hadas (1986) Discussion > This is a psychological thriller.

This is a psychological thriller.

posted 17 years ago by blainefielding
5 replies | jump to latest

It is too bad that reviews and comments here almost all address the movie from the perspective of horror movie fans. This is not a horror movie. It is best described as a psychological thriller, based on chidren's fertile imaginations.

The key point is that Veronica is a psychopath, not a witch. She adopts the pose of one by listening to the tales of her superstitious nanny.

There are no supernatural events, and the deaths are caused by natural causes. The piano teacher dies because she had a bad heart, not because of Veronica's spells. This is made clear when we, the audience, overhear Fabiola's parents talking after her death. The mother says Madame Rickard has had two stokes and still smoked like a chimney. But Fabiola coming to the balony does not hear this. She only hears and misreads her mother's final words. Thus, she mistakenly believes Veronica really did have the devil kill the teacher.

I think the true merit of this film lies in the way the film-makers show us how the events occur while making plausible how Fabiola could reasonably come to believe that the devious and clever Veronica was a true witch with supernatural powers. The genius of this movie lies in its sophisticated evolution of the two girls' relationship as Veronica assumes increasing power over Fabiola until the superb and unexpected ending.

This gem of a movie deserves a wider audience than just horror fans. I give it a 9/10 rating.

Blaine in Seattle

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] blainefielding 17 years ago

I never give a movie a 10 rating since that would be perfection, impossible to attain. 9 is my highest rating. So we do agree. A great movie!!

Blaine in Seattle

[–] mihkelkleis 16 years ago

The most interesting thing was that the camera avoids the faces of the adult people during the whole film. They are shown only in the most intense moments, like they show the monsters in the horror movies.

[–] Kinematico 16 years ago

The faces of the adults aren't shown; except for the dead face of the piano teacher, the grandmother of Verónica who scares to death Flavia, and the nightwatcher at the cemetery. 3 freaking situations, which is no coincidence.

Also the camera is always placed at the level of the girls eyes about 1.30-40 meters or so above the floor, except for long shots, of course.

That was done by the director in order to put the audience in the place of the children, he wanted to give us THEIR prespective of the things, to makes us remember how things works in the mind of children, full of fantasy. He also wanted us to remember how the world used to look when we were small and more impresionable: Everything looks bigger and more menacing than what they really are.
Don't you remember that? Well, that's why Carlos Enrique Taboada fully succeeds with this movie because it makes you think and feel like a small kid once again (even if just for a couple of hours).

PS: I am agree, this movie is not a "horror" flick and shouldn't be considered like that, instead of that it's a deep and interesting psychological thriller, quite atmospheric with some elements token from the "fairy-tales" world.

Great movie, so subtle and so good.

[–] 16 years ago

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