Horror Review: La Abuela (2021)
Another day, another horror movie. These are my thoughts on La Abuela (2021). Warning: SPOILERS.
Susana is a moderately successful Spanish model working in Paris who must return to Madrid to look after her grandmother after she has a stroke. Naturally, weird shit happens.
Not only does poor Susana work in the capricious, highly competitive, and always hungry fashion industry, but she also ends up trapped in an old apartment with her witchy nana, who wants to hijack her body so she can live another life with her lesbian lover (who has already hijacked her granddaughter's body). And the worst part? Nana had been planning this since her granddaughter was a little girl! She even has a painting of (adult) Susana wearing her clothes and holding her pet bird stashed somewhere, ready to be hung on the wall as soon as the switch is completed. That's some serious premeditation.
Good on Susana for trying to use her terrible soup-making skills to kill her seemingly unkillable nana. But it was pretty dumb to just run away instead of destroying the spell box with her picture and the braid. After all, she had already touched the candle. Also, did her grandmother really have a stroke? If she did, it was a really big coincidence. If she didn't, why didn't she say anything other than mutter spells under her breath while making freaky hand gestures? In the beginning she had to fake it, but there was no reason she couldn't have indulged in a little monologuing in the end.
With the initial conversation about fashion's obsession with youth and the scenes showing Pilar's aged body as Susana takes care of her, the movie shows aging as almost as much of a threat as the magic. This ends up adding a layer of nastiness to Susana's fate, as she's essentially used and discarded by both her agent and the grandmother who brought her up.
My biggest problem with this movie is that what's going on becomes obvious very quickly. It also overdoes Susana's nightmares. What was the point of the long flashing lights scene? To make the plot even more obvious? The beginning with Susana's grandmother and her friend, the several shots of the Russian doll, the two-faced mirror, and Susana's old doll weren't clear enough? Yet, at the same time, the movie never becomes as OTT as it could be. This story could've been a spooky and creepy horror with more subtlety... or a mad Argento-like nightmare with more craziness. Sadly, it stays somewhere in the middle.
There are some great Spanish language horror movies. Unfortunately, La Abuela (2021) isn't one of them. It's not Robert-level bad, but it's still not good.
By Danforth