Hipnos (2004) User Reviews

Sleep, sleep, sleep Deeeeeeeeeeeeep Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 25 January 2007]

Spain, along with a handful of Asian countries, is like the new Promised Land for horror & thriller cinema, with a couple of multi-talented young directors that are active at the moment, like Jaume Balaguéro, Louis de la Madrid and – of course Alex de la Iglesia. I wish I could add David Carreras' name to this eminent list, but "Hipnos" is so far his only long-feature film achievement and… it really isn't that impressive. Carreras knows how to create a tense atmosphere and he can surely lead his cast members in the right direction, but the script – albeit very ambitious – simply lacks power and genuine thrills. I'm pretty sure that the large share of fans this movie has will just claim that I wasn't able to 'understand' the convoluted structure, but the truth is the events simply aren't fascinating enough. The story opens with the discovery of a young girl covered in blood standing over her mother's dead body. She's in a severe state of shock and doctors as well as police officers decide it's better to send her to Dr. Sanchéz Blanch's proclaimed sanatorium. He uses unique and supposedly advanced hypnosis to bring back the memories of amnesia patients, but the new female doctor Beatriz is about to discover that these techniques are endangers the patients rather then cures them. The first half of the film is rather compelling, since you constantly try to figure out what exactly is the connection between Beatriz and the mysterious institution. The main twist can be guessed rather easily, but Carreras ingeniously adds a lot of detailed sub plots and intrigue. Alas, near the second half of the film the red herrings become less and less effective and can no longer be bothered to predict Beatriz' complex fate. The dialogs suddenly get very tedious and the lack of spectacle doesn't really help, neither. Our young Spanish director was obviously influenced by the works of David Lynch, but still lacks his talent of maintaining the suspense and curiosity from start to finish. From a more technical point of view, "Hipnos" is a rather successful effort, with sublimely cool camera-work and fast-paced editing. Cristina Brondo is a devoted young actress and not exactly prudish, as she please the male viewers with several full frontal nudity scenes. Although no gem or a soon-to-be cult classic, "Hipnos" is worth a look and David Carreras is certainly a name to remember for the future of Spanish cinema.

Not bad (for an Spanish thriller).

[rainking_es · 6/10 · 22 August 2005]

Well, an Spanish thriller that doesn't make you blush... that's a good beginning. As for the movie itself it is such of a dissection of madness, with an structure similar to David Lynch's universe but without the intensity and the fascination of the Canadian director.

A young woman (a doctor) comes to a psychiatric institution to fill a vacant. Soon some strange events will begin to happen and she'll begin to feel that something is wrong over there.

The aesthetic of the film is so white and aseptic (it reminded me of movies such as THX), mixing old buildings with ultra-modern technologies and decorations.

It is not the movie of the year but you may spend a nice time watching it (specially main character's great body -an unknown Spanish actress, maybe a debutant-).

*My rate: 6/10

Visually impressive,ultimately dull Spanish thriller.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 24 May 2007]

"Hipnos" tell the story of a young and beautiful doctor Beatriz,who starts working with patients in a mental hospital.Soon she realizes that the place hides some dark secrets..."Hipnos" is quite similar to Mathieu Kassovitz's incredibly boring "Gothica".The plot seems rushed and is unoriginal,the pace is slow and some scenes are downright confusing.The acting is decent and Cristina Brondo provides some nice full-frontal nudity.The film looks pretty damn impressive,though.It's truly a shame that the plot is so dull and lifeless.Still like I said the nudity is always welcomed,so I was at least mildly interested.6 out of 10.

I hated it.

[poolandrews · 2/10 · 22 March 2007]

Hipnos starts as a young attractive psychiatrist named Beatriz (Cristina Brondo) arrives at a Spanish clinic for people with metal problems where she is about to start her new job, Elena (Marisol Membrillo) show her around where she meets a troubled young girl & she then gets to meet her boss Dr. Sanchez Blanche (Feodor Atkine) who seems decent enough. At first things at the clinic seem fine but when the girl Beatriz befriended commits suicide & another patient named Miguel (Demian Bichir) claims it wasn't suicide & something very sinister is going on she gets drawn into a web of lies, sex, murder & intrigue... or does she...

This Spanish production was co-written & directed by David Carreras & I thought it was absolutely bloody terrible. The script by Carreras & Juanma Ruiz Cordoba was based on a novel by Javier Azpeitia & is a slow moving psychological horror/thriller that didn't do anything for me. Now we all know how effective a great unexpected twist ending can be, I mean just look at the likes of The Sixth Sense (1999) & Fight Club (1999) to name just two films that I'm sure most people will have at least heard of if not seen, it's the careful build up & then the fantastic twist ending which make those films, right? Well if The Sixth Sense & Fight Club are the blue-prints for doing the twist ending properly this piece of crap Hipnos must surely be the perfect way to demonstrate how not to do it properly. For a start I saw the twist at the end coming within the first twenty minutes, seriously this is pretty clichéd, predictable, unoriginal & has been done before on more than one occasion, sure I didn't predict every last point & every single thing that happened but in essence I guessed who everyone were & how it was going to turn out. Then there's the small fact the ending completely destroys everything which has gone beforehand, not matter how hard I try to square the circle I just cannot & put into context with the previous 70 odd minutes the ending makes no logical sense, it annoys & isn't shocking, particularly memorable or clever & in fact it's anything but shocking, memorable or clever. Then there's the fact it's slow, there are scenes which go nowhere & I'd rather watch grass grow than watch Hipnos again, at least watching grass grow isn't as predictable or boring.

Director Carreras does a fantastic job on Hipnos, while I hated the story & film in general it looks absolutely brilliant throughout. There are some wonderful scenes beautifully shot & composed so you have to try & watch this the way it was shot in 2:35:1 widescreen, the production design is amazing with the ultra modern interior & exterior of the clinic wonderfully realised, it's very minimalist with chrome & stainless steel & sleek lines everywhere, this looks the absolute business no mistake & it's a shame all the style & visual flair ended up with a script that was so bad. To try & distract you from the awful story the filmmakers made leading lady Brondo strip off on a regular basis to have a shower or bath so they can show her body & breasts off but it doesn't improve things.

Technically Hipnos is absolutely flawless & is maybe the best most stylish & visually interesting film I've seen this year, if only all films looked this good I'd be a happy guy. Seriously you have to see this to appreciate it, unfortunately sitting through it isn't that much fun. The acting is strong by all involved but I never really cared for anyone to any great degree maybe because it's in Spanish & I couldn't understand what they were saying & that in itself felt like a barrier. The version I watched had English subtitles, I don't know who wrote them but they need to work on their English grammar...

Hipnos is a rubbishy thriller that tries to be clever, I hated the story but loved the stunning visuals & for me the story is just more important which is why I'm giving it 2 stars out of 10. If you do want to watch this make sure you pick up a copy in widescreen!

Well-filmed thriller

[newland80 · 7/10 · 14 October 2004]

In the last few years Spanish cinema has witnessed the proliferation of a series of new directors who devote their careers to horror films and thrillers. While some of them have been quite irregular, others (specially Jaume Balagueró) have provided a new insight to the concept of Spanish thrillers. David Carreras, in his debut film, has shown a very promising skill as a director and screenwriter.

Technically outstanding, "Hipnos" will make you bite your nails with only a few hints of blood and with no need of psychopaths or ghosts. While most thrillers are ruined by iffy endings, "Hipnos" is rounded by an acceptably believable third act. It could certainly have been better, but it should be praised by its value in technical aspects and storyline.

It could be much better

[dcldan · 3/10 · 27 June 2007]

A dark night, the police receives a mysterious message. A dead woman is found and next to her lays a girl in shock. Beatriz is a famous doctor that starts to work in a mental hospital specialized in hypnosis. While she studies the case of the girl, the little commits suicide, which will cause Beatriz to enter into a world where it is difficult to distinguish between reality and dream. The plot is interesting and at the beginning, the movie is quite catching, but, as the movie develops, it becomes clear that it has anything worthy. It becomes not terrifying nor thrilling, just weird and boring. As an opera prima it is, it's clear to realize that many scenes could be better filmed and the plot is maybe too complex for a newbie. Perhaps with more experience and clearer ideas, the movie could be better. The acting does not helps, too. As at any moment the actors feel comfortable in their papers, perhaps is the inexperienced director that makes this, as he is not able to transmit everything he wants to transmit. the directing its promising, but the experience makes the grade, perhaps in the future, he will make a good film. Let's wait for it.

A Bad Trip in a Nightmare

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 2 September 2006]

When the young Dr. Beatriz (Cristina Brondo) arrives in a mental institution, she finds that lots of patients are committing suicide, apparently induced by the director of the asylum, Dr. Sánchez Blanch (Féodor Atkine). The patient Miguel (Demian Bichir) tells information about the place and Beatriz discloses surprising secrets.

The first sensation I had while watching "Hipnos" was a claustrophobic and discomfort emotion. The way the story is disclosed provokes bad feelings in the viewer. When the mystery is disclosed, I felt like watching a David Lynch movie, such as "Mulholland Drive", or Alejandro Amenábar's "Abre los Ojos", so weird the story is. I liked this movie a lot which I believe that it has a great potential of cult-movie. Cristina Brondo has an amazing performance, and the surprising final twist is excellent. I believe the next time I see this movie I will like it more. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Hipnos"

interesting techniques

[koos222 · 7/10 · 15 October 2004]

First of all i've to tell you that i'm studying in madrid, where i saw the movie and i don't speak Spanish very good but... i think i can make a review. i'm a real movie buff, and i really enjoyed the camera work and atmosphere, setting of the movie. the story IS kind of weird but the pieces will fall together at the end of the movie. if you like suspense movies, and some topclass movie techniques you should go and see this movie. see it for yourself (we were with the 3 of us, my 2 friends almost had left the theater...)

I rate it 7

Slow Spanish psychological asylum creeper worthy of a bit more recognition

[Vomitron_G · 8/10 · 2 June 2010]

This one was a nice surprise! I really appreciate little films like these. A very tight Spannish psychological thriller, very stylish and well thought out (both story-wise and technically, with great shots and angles). A young woman (doctor) gets accepted to go and work in a mental institute. Things are not quite what they seem in there, and it doesn't take long before patients start to die. The first half of the movie indeed moves rather slow. And after that, things get really weird (the films of David Lynch come to mind). But in the end you get a plausible explanation, so the movie itself never derails. When you look at it afterwards, then you might figure out the explanation in the end yourself. But "Hipnos" does a very good job to keep the truth hidden until the final scenes. I say this one is certainly worth seeing. And yes, I'm generous in my rating, but there's just too many real crappy films on DVD out there. This one's absolutely not one of those.

It's so easy to die

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 22 September 2017]

The film opens with a dead mom and a girl in shock. The next thing we know Beatriz (Cristina Brondo) shows up at a sanitarium that contains said girl. She is a doctor who takes pills and sees events that don't happen. My mind quickly turned to "Shutter Island" as I try to figure out the events which are not fully explained (or well clued) until the end.

The characters in the film were all confusing and not very likable, plus reading subtitles didn't help. Once you know the end, everything comes together making it a film you would need to watch a second time to catch things you missed the first time. Well structured, but not really a horror as much as a psychological thriller.

Guide: sex and FF nudity (Cristina Brondo, Marisol Membrillo)

Horror and suspense movie with intense sequences of mystery and terror

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 10 September 2023]

This slow-moving film takes accent as the suspense as the terror with eerie and shocking scenes. When Beatriz Vargas (Cristina Brondo) accepts a position as a doctor in the institution where severely emotionally disturbed patients are interned, she quickly befriends a young girl (Natalia Sánchez) who has been unable to communicate for years due to severe shock. Beatriz becomes clear that these are not normal patients. Although she feels a strong bond with the young girl, Beatriz soon becomes very unlucky with the way the patients are being treated. Her unhappiness starts to result in conflicts with her superiors like Sánchez Blanch (Féodor Atkine) and other co-workers, some of whom may prove to be more dangerous than she first realized. The doctor begins to suspect that she is dealing with something much worse than disgruntled coworkers; that her actual survival may be at stake. After a horrible death occurs at the facility, a man named Miguel (Demian Bichir) poses as a police officer to get close to the inner workings of the hospital. Miguel befriends Beatriz and warns of the terrible danger that may be closing in on her. The doctor begins afraid of the darkness and is terrorized asking for help but she becomes threatened by vicious visions and subsequently taking place a killing spree. The horror of being dead!. The nightmare of still being alive!.

Intelligent terror thriller dealing with a woman suffers a traumatic incident as a young girl, whereas she doesn't know which reality is the real one. This thrilling picture displays mystery, suspense, restless terror including decent scares with tense horror sequences. Director usually uses focus on the face and body of our beautiful starring to show the despair and unsettling happenings, adding adequate cinematography, stirring musical score and eliptical edition. The film could be described as anything but figurative immersion into the meanderings of the protagonist's pathological psyche. A decent film with flaws but a good casting, well played by Cristina Brondo, Demián Bichir, Marisol Membrillo, Julián Villagrán , Féodor Atkine, Natalia Sánchez and Carlos Lasarte. The film unfortunately has a script with an interesting subject matter but mediocre dialogue, seen and reviewed, brought to the screen by nice direction, excellent photography and appropriate scenery. It provides horrifying and hair raising images with a little bit of blood and some creepy frames. The weak point of Hipnosis, is the predictable script, the work of the director himself in collaboration with Juanma Ruiz Córdoba. The choice to identify in the protagonists of the trauma also the characters of the inner construction, in a complete transference, is questionable, even if it is exhaustive. The water in the film is an allegory of passionate and mental instincts and impulses, but it is precisely by launching into that sea, crossing the line of separation between reality and inner perception, a line often recalled in the film.

Cameraman Xavi Giménez provides an adequate cinematography with strong colors, dark and white par excellence, and the psychiatric structure in which the plot takes place suggest very well the feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia that the director evidently attributes to a sick mind. The motion picture was professional but uneven directed by David Carreras who has made ¨Flores Negras¨(2009) and he has directed various TV episodes as ¨R. I. S. Científica¨ (TV Series), ¨El Comisario¨, ¨Hospital Central¨, and, today, he's directing films in Germany. Rating: 5.5/10. ¨Hypnos¨ may be a good watch for lovers of "psychiatric" themes, but prepare them for a very long hour and a half.

"Madness is the eruption of dreams in reality. The bad thing is that you can't distinguish them "

[mario_c · 10/10 · 5 November 2007]

This film is a Spanish thriller about madness and denial of reality… When you live a shocking event which deeply affect your emotional stability, your brain has the tendency to reject it, deny it, and sometimes to forget it, either you want it or not… It's a natural instinct. This is the main topic of this movie.

The entire film is greatly shot and has a fantastic cinematography, which combines the surreal with the artsy, in great scenarios and camera shots. The plot is involved in mystery since the beginning and the effect of the flashbacks, the white and minimal scenarios, and the whispering voices repeating what was said, like echoes, give it the surreal and sometimes almost lunatic ambiance…

The plot is confusing, complex, and not easy to understand; at least until the last five minutes, where the explanations are given, and then all makes sense…

There's one sentence in the movie which I appreciated and I think that resumes it very well: "Madness is the eruption of dreams in reality. The bad thing is that you can't distinguish them…"

Amazing movie

[ibantz0 · 9/10 · 28 October 2005]

I enjoyed this movie from the beginning because of the colors, the views and the tension you could feel in the air. For me its like a mix between "Abre los ojos" (Open your eyes) and "Sex and Lucia". Its a surreal story like the one in "Abre los ojos" but told in a similar way as "Sex and Lucia", quite mediterranean have to say. The movie kept me holding my breath till the end, made me wonder what was going on till the last minute. I also enjoyed the Making of, where they say they did not want to explain too much about the movie and that you have to make your own conclusions. For me it is like a psychological trip, something that has a beginning but not and end.

Amazing plot

[dmatsuo · 8/10 · 15 May 2005]

********************************************************************* Although the movie is a little bit confusing at times, don't worry. In the end everything comes together. I'm really impressed with this thriller and I really would like to recommend it. The plot is ingenious and well crafted. What took me by shock was the fact that this one isn't an American movie (almost all movies I get are American and the Title is a little bit suggesting - Hipnos). I realized it on the first scenes (good way to practice my Spanish).**************************** ********************************************************************* ********************************************************************* *********************************************************************

Psychology thrilling and interesting

[twoww-83672 · 10/10 · 24 August 2020]

So the review below me is obviously from someone just focused on nudity...creepy. Anyhow, the early 2000's was the last decade to make decent films. Once 2010's came everything turned overall to- garbage. This was a creepy, thrilling, and interesting film. Very interesting. You'll have to watch it carefully to understand it. I watched this with my Mom and we both agreed, it was trippy but kind of relaxing to an extent.