‘Last Matinee’ Review: Killer Attractions


On a rainy evening in Montevideo in 1993, a burly figure walks into a shabby movie theater where the last show of the day of a horror movie is about to begin. The auditorium is almost empty – a young couple is here, some boisterous teenagers are there – and in the projection booth, a distracted student (Luciana Grasso) bows to her ailing father. The encounter between the sinister figure and a young boy results in a dreamy image of multicolored candy balls bouncing down a ladder – an image that will later be repeated with much more obnoxious spherical objects.

“The Last Matinee” epitomizes a style I think of as slow horror—not in the sense of a foot-immersive narrative, but as it deals with extreme patience and abominations. The steady hand on this particular wheel belongs to Uruguayan director Maxi Contenti, whose name suggests a calm disposition, but whose tastes are gloriously bloody. In one of the most important examples captured with amusing precision by cinematographer Benjamín Silva, the blood flowing from the smoker’s sliced ​​throat is staged with the milky haze of his last breath.

tipping his hat towards her Italian thriller known as giallo, Contenti (who wrote the Modest screenplay with Manuel Facal) delivers a series of witty, highly specific murders of audience members who are both voyeurs and unaware that they are prey. Underscoring this cheeky dichotomy, the producers chose the film’s real-life director, Ricardo Islas. 2011 feature playing in theater – as the murderer. It’s simply described as Eye-Eater in the press notes, which tells you everything you need to know; All I know is I’ll never look at a jar of pickles the same way again.

last matinee
Not rated. Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes. Spanish, with subtitles. In movie theaters.



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