 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Abrakadabra • Year: 2018 • Country: Argentina, New Zealand • Director: Luciano Onetti, Nicolás Onetti • Main cast: Clara Kovacic, German Baudino, Raul Gederlini • Runtime: 90 minutes • Production company: Black Mandala, Guante Negro Films • TRAILER
|
Abrakadabra (2018) is the title that closes the Onetti Brothers trilogy of Giallo films following Deep Sleep (aka Sonno Profondo) (2013) and Francesca (2015). The love of the Argentinian brothers for the classic Italian films from the late 1960s and until the 1980s is totally present in their trilogy, and perhaps even more evident in this latest film. And this is yet another example of how important and raising is the significance of young Latin American filmmakers doing horror genre films.
Focusing more on Abrakadabra (2018), this is a movie which is premiering this very year but it might as well being featured back in the early 1970s. Its influence by the movies of Dario Argento, Mario and Lamberto Bava, Lucio Fulci and company is so strong that it is almost impossible to place it as a product of the current times. The cinematography, colors, style of acting, music, sound treatment, scenarios, wardrobe, plot… everything is classic Giallo style. Even the movie was acted in Spanish language but dubbed into Italian to achieve a closer similarity to some of the key pieces of that golden age of Italian horror cinema. The lust for very red colored blood, those over-used close-ups, the gloves, the murdering knives… A hard-on for the unconditional lovers of the classic old-school Giallo.
Leaving the aesthetics aside, sadly Abrakadabra (2018) is a weak movie in storytelling, as many of the Giallos were. The plot is so classic that becomes simple. The filmmakers clearly put more effort into recreating the vintage style that forgot to create a solid story. The story is not very plausible and the final resolution, with those tweaked twists, gives a bad global impression to a movie that was never the most exciting narrative experience.
Still, the weakness of the story is not a big deal here. Because, in global terms, Abrakadabra (2018) is conceived to be a joyful experience in the audiovisual terms, and not the most believable story. This movie will gain legions of fans due to the beauty and nostalgic power of its images and sensations. And there is nothing bad with that. We have in front a masterpiece of retro revival, but I am a stories buff and in that matter the movie didn’t catch me much. But hey, I praise the job of the Onetti Brothers and their team, and I’m sure I’ll be one of the first in line to watch what might be their next project. Abrakadabra (2018) is enjoyable and entertaining, although very hollow and narratively inconsequential.
RATE: 5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8422146
