Imagine this scenario. What if Nightcrawler presented the ideas of unethical journalism not in a thriller setting, but through horror tropes? What if Jake Gyllenhaal's stringer had found himself in a creepy situation that involved not insane crimes, but incomprehensible horror coursing through his entire body? What if the movie had taken a much darker mystical body horror turn, combining the creepy psychology of Jacob's Ladder with the mysticism of John Carpenter's films?
Well, the result would have been one of the scariest movies ever made in the history of the horror genre. And in fact, such a movie has recently been produced: not long ago, the Netflix library was enriched with a Mexican horror thriller that provides one of the wildest cinematic experiences, playing the moral underpinnings of unscrupulous journalism as effectively as Nightcrawler.
The movie has a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's one of the...
Well, the result would have been one of the scariest movies ever made in the history of the horror genre. And in fact, such a movie has recently been produced: not long ago, the Netflix library was enriched with a Mexican horror thriller that provides one of the wildest cinematic experiences, playing the moral underpinnings of unscrupulous journalism as effectively as Nightcrawler.
The movie has a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's one of the...
- 4/30/2024
- by louise.everitt@startefacts.com (Louise Everitt)
- STartefacts.com
Stars: Harold Torres, Tete Espinoza, Norma Reyna | Written by Luis Javier Henaine, Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes | Directed by Luis Javier Henaine
Photography converts the whole world into a cemetery. Photographers, connoisseurs of beauty, are also – wittingly or unwittingly – the recording-angels of death.
– Susan Sontag
Those words appear at the beginning of Disappear Completely (Desaparecer Por Completo), and seem perfectly appropriate as we see Santiago sitting in his car listening to the police radio. He’s a photographer, and he’s waiting to hear what he’ll be covering next. He doesn’t have long to wait before he’s busy shooting pictures of a cuffed suspect, sobbing victims in an ambulance, and, with the help of a bribe, a woman’s corpse.
Santiago works for a Mexican tabloid, one that very firmly believes the old adage, “If it bleeds, it leads”. And he’s excellent at capturing that bleeding on film, regardless of the cost.
Photography converts the whole world into a cemetery. Photographers, connoisseurs of beauty, are also – wittingly or unwittingly – the recording-angels of death.
– Susan Sontag
Those words appear at the beginning of Disappear Completely (Desaparecer Por Completo), and seem perfectly appropriate as we see Santiago sitting in his car listening to the police radio. He’s a photographer, and he’s waiting to hear what he’ll be covering next. He doesn’t have long to wait before he’s busy shooting pictures of a cuffed suspect, sobbing victims in an ambulance, and, with the help of a bribe, a woman’s corpse.
Santiago works for a Mexican tabloid, one that very firmly believes the old adage, “If it bleeds, it leads”. And he’s excellent at capturing that bleeding on film, regardless of the cost.
- 4/16/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
"Could you do a spiritual cleansing on me?" "I can't help you." An official trailer is out for a Mexican indie horror film titled Disappear Completely, the latest film from filmmaker Luis Javier Henaine (of Happy Times and Ready to Mingle). It premiered in 2022 at Fantastic Fest as a work-in-progress, and screened at the Morelia Film Festival, and it won a Bronze Skull at the Morbido Film Festival in Mexico. There's still no US release date set, but with an opening in Mexico this March there's a trailer to check out. After visiting a brutal crime scene, an ambitious and insensitive tabloid crime photographer falls victim to a mysterious illness that makes him lose, one by one, his five senses. He attempts to figure out what is going on and how stop this illness "before the world he knows disappears completely..." Starring Harold Torres as Santiago, with Tete Espinoza, Fermín Martínez,...
- 1/15/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Disappear Completely
Film festivals are busy events and it’s impossible to see everything interesting at the time, so I count myself very lucky, in the aftermath of it screening at Fantastic Fest 2022, to have had the chance to catch up with Luis Javier Henaine’s Disappear Completely (aka Desaparecer Por Completo). The story of crime scene photographer Santiago (Harold Torres), who begins to lose his senses one by one after falling prey to a witch’s curse, it may not sound strikingly new or exciting, but it’s a class act, put together with rare skill and with strong underlying themes which will extend its appeal far beyond the horror genre. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to speak with the director, if only to thank him for the experience, so I was delighted that he was interested in doing an interview, and he began by telling.
Film festivals are busy events and it’s impossible to see everything interesting at the time, so I count myself very lucky, in the aftermath of it screening at Fantastic Fest 2022, to have had the chance to catch up with Luis Javier Henaine’s Disappear Completely (aka Desaparecer Por Completo). The story of crime scene photographer Santiago (Harold Torres), who begins to lose his senses one by one after falling prey to a witch’s curse, it may not sound strikingly new or exciting, but it’s a class act, put together with rare skill and with strong underlying themes which will extend its appeal far beyond the horror genre. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to speak with the director, if only to thank him for the experience, so I was delighted that he was interested in doing an interview, and he began by telling.
- 11/9/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Headed by Alberto Müffelmann and Gerardo Gatica, Mexican indie production house Panorama Global has boarded Luis Javier Henaine’s feature “Desaparecer del todo,” a Moonlight Pictures production co-produced with Pablo Zimbron’s Varios Lobos.
The supernatural thriller, based on true events, explores witchcraft in Mexico through the eyes of a tabloid crime photographer.
Varios Lobos and Panorama previously co-produced Henaine’s popular comedy “Ready to Mingle,” and it’s a relationship Müffelmann was eager to rekindle.
“It is not just a business thing either,” he elaborated. “We understand one another well in a creative manner as well as for the economic and financial aspects. We work hand-in-hand. I think we’ve grown together. They came to us as a smaller company, but they are growing at the same time that we are.”
Also announced at Los Cabos, “Moonwalker,” is co-directed by Rodrigo Guardiola (“Zoé: Panoramas”) and Gabriel Nuncio (SXSW player “Cumbres”) of production house Bengala,...
The supernatural thriller, based on true events, explores witchcraft in Mexico through the eyes of a tabloid crime photographer.
Varios Lobos and Panorama previously co-produced Henaine’s popular comedy “Ready to Mingle,” and it’s a relationship Müffelmann was eager to rekindle.
“It is not just a business thing either,” he elaborated. “We understand one another well in a creative manner as well as for the economic and financial aspects. We work hand-in-hand. I think we’ve grown together. They came to us as a smaller company, but they are growing at the same time that we are.”
Also announced at Los Cabos, “Moonwalker,” is co-directed by Rodrigo Guardiola (“Zoé: Panoramas”) and Gabriel Nuncio (SXSW player “Cumbres”) of production house Bengala,...
- 11/18/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Los Cabos, Mexico — Gerardo Gatica and Alberto Muffelmann’s Panorama Global, the company behind Alfonso Ruizpalacios’ “Museo,” are partnering with its co-screenwriter, Manuel Alcalá, and Mauricio Katz, screenwriter of “Miss Bala,” and Netflix “Maniac,” on futuristic thriller “Frogtown.”
As talent become one – if not the – key competitive issue in the world’s new film-tv landscape for every company from Netflix downwards, the deal sees Panorama, fast emerging as a Mexican movie powerhouse, teaming with two of Mexico’s top writing talents. “Frogtown” will mark both the writers’ directorial debuts.
Alcala co-won a Berlin screenwriting Silver Bear with Ruizpalacios for “Museo”; Katz co-wrote “Miss Bala,” produced by Canana, wrote and executive produced Netflix original series “Maniac,” and is a co-creator on one of the biggest upcoming TV series from continental Europe, the Sky-Canal Plus “ZeroZeroZero,” starring Gabriel Byrne and Andrea Riseborough, and from the creative team behind “Gomorrah.”
“Manuel and Mauricio...
As talent become one – if not the – key competitive issue in the world’s new film-tv landscape for every company from Netflix downwards, the deal sees Panorama, fast emerging as a Mexican movie powerhouse, teaming with two of Mexico’s top writing talents. “Frogtown” will mark both the writers’ directorial debuts.
Alcala co-won a Berlin screenwriting Silver Bear with Ruizpalacios for “Museo”; Katz co-wrote “Miss Bala,” produced by Canana, wrote and executive produced Netflix original series “Maniac,” and is a co-creator on one of the biggest upcoming TV series from continental Europe, the Sky-Canal Plus “ZeroZeroZero,” starring Gabriel Byrne and Andrea Riseborough, and from the creative team behind “Gomorrah.”
“Manuel and Mauricio...
- 11/9/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
- 1/8/2015
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...
- 1/8/2015
- by Matt Patches
- Hitfix
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