阳光明媚的周末,中年男子迈克(马丁·亨德森 Martin Henderson 饰)驱车带着妻子辛蒂(克里斯蒂娜·亨德里克斯 Christina Hendricks 饰)、儿子卢克(刘易斯·普尔曼 Lewis Pullman 饰)和女儿金赛(拜莉·麦迪逊 Bailee Madison 饰)踏上漫漫旅程。他们准备前往亲戚所在的城市,将叛逆的金赛送入一间新的寄宿学校。一路上本就争吵不断,偏偏在夜深人静的时刻他们所到达的露营地又空无一人。卢克受父母之托,肩负起开导妹妹的重任。兄妹俩边散步边聊天,结果意外在某栋房子里发现了叔叔和阿姨被人残忍杀害的尸体。 略显迟钝的一家人很快发现,他们所有的联络方式均已被带着面具的神秘杀手所切断。针对陌生人的残酷杀戮,就在静寂肃杀的夜晚展开了……
Fleeing from their violent father, siblings Luci?a and Adria?n take refuge in a remote mansion. With the help of a hidden micro-camera on a cat, Luci?a uncovers a terrifying secret: their neighbors are part of a criminal network that kidnaps teenage girls to make snuff films, and they intend to get rid of the siblings. As Lucía fights to protect her brother, she must face a dark family curse that follows them into their newfound sanctuary.
When, at the beginning of Deus Irae, Father Javier stares at a crucifix, his expressions and his hands suggest that the nerves are consuming him. A flashback reveals that this priest devotes his life to visiting families that claim to have seen things that do not belong to this world and cleansing their homes from the demons that try to possess them. But, upon returning to those houses, he notices that the evidence is always destroyed. This way, he discovers that a clan is after him, and must decide whether to hide from them or join them. In times when horror cinema tends to fall into the hands of directors that seek to build narratives that are introspective and close to reality, Pedro Cristiani goes back to old-school horror, where gore and the physical experience are above any other kind of feeling. A cinema that places the camera in front of the faces of the bloodiest demons and, instead of giving logic to them, chooses to face them whatever the cost.
Didier Konings’ simmering mediaeval horror Witte Wieven explores the confluence of religion and patriarchy in an excessively puritanical Dutch village. Blamed by her community for being childless, Frieda immerses herself in prayer and ritual. When she returns unscathed from the forbidden forest surrounding the village, having evaded a lecherous butcher, she is condemned as an agent of the devil. Frieda, however, finds new faith in the dark powers that inhabit the woods.
Shot in a reduced colour palette at the edge of visibility, Konings’ gripping film constructs a convincing pre-modern society whose practices it elucidates with patience and attention. Although set in the Middle Ages, Witte Wieven displays an unmistakably contemporary spirit, crafting a feminist parable about women discovering new ways of understanding their lives and the world.