The Similars review: Magnificent in every way…
The Similars review by Luke Ryan Baldock, August 2016.
The Similars review
For Isaac Ezban’s second feature, he’s decided to give us a throw-bacl to Hitchcockian and Twilight Zone heavy suspense. A purposefully off-beat tale that mixes horror, camp, and the surreal, while always playing it completely straight. As a huge Twilight Zone fan, the film feels exactly like episodes of old, while also extending its premise to feature length. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt the absolute awe of creativity when watching a film, and it’s been even longer to see a film capture the exact tone it was aiming for when also paying homage to something so classic.
Set in an eerie bus depot, strangers gather as they wait out the rain and lament the cancellation of their buses. From a dry and sinister narration to hammering sounds of rain, we’re thrown into a beautifully realised faded world that borders on black and white, but isn’t completely without faint hints of colour. Included in this group of mixed individuals are the frustrated and insular Ulises (Gustavo Sanchez Parra) who wants to be with his wife who is currently in labor, stationmaster Martin (Fernando Becerril), the pregnant Irene (Cassandra Ciangherotti), a jumpy university medical student Alvaro (Humberto Busto), middle class mum Gertrudis (Carmen Beato) and her injection reliant son Ignacio (Santiago Torres). Along with a few other characters, dangers of the outside world become even more apparent when a bandaged man enters and speaks of a disease taking control in the outside world. As the mystery unravels, things become absurd, and the group must decipher what exactly is going on.
The Similars review
The less you know about The Similars, the better. When the twists arrive they are fully convincing, yet there’s a part of your brain that recognises this shouldn’t be so easy to digest. Such immersion is thanks to the film being stunningly crafted on every front. The music of Edy Lan is an amazing salute to Elmer Bernstein and Bernard Herman. It’s as sharp as knives through bone and just as memorable. The 1968 setting and aforementioned cinematography of Isi Safarti never suggest it’s a modern film, which is also aided by subtle flickers and grains over the images. Even the performances, of everyone involved, have that old style of overacting, while simultaneously selling every bizarre plot point they need to.
With a single setting, but many characters, there’s plenty to explore as things come to light. The Similars greatest achievement is how it makes you feel. Probably best suited to a rainy afternoon on Channel 4, there are few, if any, moments where you’re not sat with the characters themselves. In terms of horror, it really does get under the skin courtesy of fantastic make-up that continues the difficult trend of taking something quite comical and making sure you realise the terror if this happened to you.
The Similars review
Homages to classic era pieces are tricky, even more so on a budget, to get right. This however, sharing a few ties with The Hateful Eight, is Tarantino level nostalgia. Ezban understands exactly what made these stories great in the past, but doesn’t feel constrained to try and recreate them perfectly. He’s taken the essence, but produced a brand new product. The Similars will hold up with its timeless feel, and makes us realise that perhaps for horror to move forward, it should also take a look back. If Ezban can convince us to accept the events of this film, then his future is certainly something to watch.
The Similiars review by Luke Ryan Baldock, August 2016.
The Similars forms part of this year’s Frightfest programme.
