Spanish movies

When I was about 14 years old (give or take), my sister and I went to rent a movie. This was before DVD´s and back when video-stores were good business. As we returned to watch the movie, we quickly realized it was in Spanish. We watched the movie, and it scared the crap out of me. The movie was Tesis, a horror/thriller from 1996.

Ana Torrent and Eduardo Noriega in Tesis. 

As my film interest grew the following years, I would think back on this movie from time to time. And the movie was a natural starting point as I tried to discover other foreign films. "Tesis" is about students discovering snuff-films, in other words videos made showing people getting killed. A dark theme, absolutely, and especially for a 14 year-old. A few years later, though, I went back and took a look at the people involved in the movie, and especially the director. His name, Alejandro Amenábar, might ring a bell for those with an above average interest for film. He later went on to direct The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, another eerie movie with death as a pivotal theme. My favorite movie from the director however is Abre Los Ojos. I have seen this movie many times, and still consider it one of my favorite movies. Penélope Cruz and Eduardo Noriega are the stars of the show, and the story has a couple of my favorite scenes ever in film history. The movie (Open Your Eyes is the English title), was later remade in the US as "Vanilla Sky", where Tom Cruise played the part of Eduardo Noriega. Penélope Cruz went back to her role as Sofia for the remake. 

The iconic image of an empty Madrid in Abre Los Ojos.

Eduardo Noriega has also starred in another personal favorite of mine, namely The Devil´s Backbone. The Spanish title for the movie however is much better. El Espinazo Del Diablo. Quite possibly the coolest title to say out loud. Ever. 

Anyway, after this initial introduction early on to Spanish film, I´ve kept an eye on what´s coming out of the Spanish Film market. Here are a few movies you might wanna check out: 

Tesis

Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes)

El Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil´s Backbone)

El Orfanato (The Orphanage)

La Noche de los Girasoles (Night of the Sunflowers)