PopHorror Let's Get Scared
From director Nicolas Onetti (The Red Book Ritual) comes a new horror film: What the Waters Left Behind: Scars. The film stars Agustin Olcese (Oro Negro), Clara Kovacic (The Caregiver), and Magui Bravi (The 100 Candles Game).
Synopsis
“An Anglo-American indie rock band that winds up stranded in Epecuén, where their internal conflicts and the bad luck of their tour quickly lose importance before the hell that awaits them.”
Here’s a look at the official trailer!
Opening with a scene set in the Falkland Islands, during the 1982 skirmish between Argentine forces and the UK, What The Waters Left Behind: Scars sets the tone of this exercise in depravity at the onset. This isn’t going to be any fun…
Written by Camilo Zaffora (The Last Boy On Earth) and directed by on half of the team that brought us the original film, Nicolas Onetti (Abrakadabra), What The Waters Left Behind: Scars features a return of the cannibal family from What The Waters Left Behind and returns to the very real town of Epecuen, Argentina. A perfect setting for the sanguinary spillage that follows.
Indie alt-metal band, The Ravens, vocalist/bassist Jane (Clara Kovacic; Asylum: Twisted Horror & Fantasy Tales), guitarist Mark (Juan Pablo Bishel; Separadas), his girl Sophie (Maria Eugenia Ragon; Abrakadabra), moody drummer Billy Bob (Matias Desiderio; Palermo Hollywood) and their put upon manager Javi (Augustin Olcese; The Red Book Ritual) arrive at Bako, a rural club on their tour. After the usual band drama, before and after the show, Billy Bob hooks up with a sexy stranger Carla (Magui Bravi; The 100 Candles Game) who asks for a lift (and offers some of her uncle’s Argentine BBQ when they get there).
Fed up with the sexual shenanigans in the back of their bus, the rest of Billy Bob’s bandmates insult, proceed to drop off mysterious vixen, when both her and Billy Bob go missing. Following their trail to the doomed town of Epecuan, the bandmates are soon running for their lives as the cannibal family of: patriarch Tadeo (Mario Alarcon; The Secret In Their Eyes), goat skull wearing Antonio (German Bandino; History of the Occult), sadistic Chimango (Chucho Fernandez; Dead Heart) and the hulking, scarred Tito (David Michigan) begin hunting them down.
Not many horror films can use a built in legend, with the actual location to match, so effectively. What The Waters Left Behind: Scars lucks out in that regard because, really, there’s so much set to build a story around. While the script brings very little that’s new to the table (shades of The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Wrong Turn, the list goes on…), the location, and the performances from the incredible cast, lend an authenticity to the film that’s truly chilling.
Alarcon, Fernandez, Olcese, and Kovacic particularly stand out, in that they have raw, emotional performances (as well as a sadistic glee) that just shine through all of the bloodshed. Michigan, who is effectively the “Leatherface” of the family, is definitely a charter member of the “huge, mute killing machine” club, and could have been used more effectively, but really, every member of the family just chews up so much scenery when they’re onscreen, that everyone could have used more screen time!
And speaking of bloodshed—the effects here are very well done! Slashings, beatings, even an acid bath; Yanel Castellano really does amazing work, you really get immersed in a wild cannibal BBQ! And despite this being a dual language film, so to speak, the English language segments flow well with the Spanish subtitles. Even during a creepy car ride’s soundtrack…
The film itself is technically superb—great drone shots, excellent lighting, and for being shot in what is essentially a dystopian wasteland, it never appears washed out or oversaturated. The music used in the film, for The Ravens performance, is actually a notch above most fictional band fodder. The Blu-ray has a crisp clear look and features the normal trailers and slide shows.
Unrelentingly brutal, violent, and grisly, What The Waters Left Behind: Scars is a welcome addition to the “kooky cannibal family” genre. It treads what is, for most horror fans, very familiar territory, but does so with an unnerving authenticity that has as much to do with the stellar cast, as it does the truly creepy location (read up on Epecuen, trust me). A worthy sequel to the OG film.
What The Waters Left Behind: Scars is available on Bluray from MVD Visual and other retailers, as well as several streaming options.
