2006, Spain
Original title: Para entrar a vivir
Part of Filmax’s Films to Keep You Awake series (inspired by Narciso Ibañez Serrador’s Twilight Zone-esque 1960s show Historias para no dormir), [Rec/ director Jaume Balagueró turns in this tight thriller about a crazy woman who keeps young couples prisoner in her dilapidated apartment building.
Young expectant couple Clara and Mario are looking for a new home to raise their child, and options are running out.
When Mario finds a flyer in their post-box advertising a cheap apartment that seems too good to be true, they drive out to a distant neighbourhood that is practically vacant as it undergoes a major redevelopment by the city.
The apartment is roomy but run down, creepy and far too isolated for their liking, even though the real estate agent is aggressively insistent that the place is ‘perfect’ for them.
As they get ready to call it quits on the tour (especially unnerved by the woman’s comment about Clara’s not-yet-visible pregnancy, which they haven’t disclosed to her), they notice some of their own things in the apartment – a photograph, a pair of shoes they threw away – and realize they’ve been targeted by a madwoman.
She violently prevents them from leaving, and – to their horror – they discover that there are others in the building who have suffered the same fate.
“I’m not doing anything bad”, the woman assures, “I’m getting my life back — I have the right to do that.”
She explains that the city condemned her building and evicted all the tenants in order to transition the neighbourhood, which sent her over the edge.
“You’re crazy!” Clara exclaims, rather obviously.
“No – I used to be crazy. I tried to solve it by placing puppets all over the house… but now it’s different. Now there’s life in the apartments… Real life.”
But the bureaucratic machinations aren’t the only thing ailing her; she also lives vicariously through the young couples because her own kid didn’t turn out so normal.
Ultimately because she’s the villain, we only get this pat version of her psychology, but Spanish TV regular Nuria Gonzalez gives it her all as the blood-soaked landlady from hell.
hexafu 