Javier Ruiz Caldera is a Catalan filmmaker popular for his comedies. His first hit was Spanish Movie (2009), the Spanish answer to American parodies from popular films like could be the Scary Movie saga. In his latest works, he has taken the adventure and thriller genres into the key of comedy, being Spy Time (2015) and Superlopez (2018) the results, both of them available on Netflix. But for his new project comedy is left aside because MalnaZidos is an action drama placed in the Spanish Civil War and filled with a good dosage of horror.
In the Spanish language, “malnacido” is a swearword used as an insult, which could have a translation into English as “bastard”, “swine” or “punk”. That is a nice words trick by the filmmakers to allude to the enemies in the war terrain, but also the flesh-eating zombies, unborn and undead. In the movie, months after bloody combats leave behind thousands of dead in the trenches, Jan Lozano, Captain of the Fifth Brigade, has fallen prisoner by an opponent’s platoon along with a young driver while carrying out a mission that has been entrusted to him. The possibility of dying executed will soon be overtaken when a new unknown enemy arises. Both rival sides must unite and set their mutual hate aside in order to survive.
The movie is an adaptation of the novel Noche de Difuntos del 38 by Manuel Martín Ferreras, published in April 2012. Jaime Marques and Cristian Conti have been in charge of the screenplay. Alberto de Toro is co-directing together with Javier Ruiz Caldera. And the main cast is formed by Aura Garrido, María Botto, Álvaro Cervantes, Miki Esparbé, Luis Callejo, Francisco Reyes, Sergio Torrico, Frank Feys, Asia Ortega, Jesús Carroza and Ken Appledorn.
MalnaZidos is currently being filmed in several locations in Catalunya, so it is to expect not to be released until next year. But this one looks like an interesting approach, so we’ll have to keep an eye on it.
