Crew
Directors – Raul Cerezo & Fernando Gonzalez Gomez, Screenplay – Raul Cerezo, Javier Trigales & Ruben Sanchez Trigos, Story – Raul Cerezo & Ruben Sanchez Trigos, Producers – Mamen Espinosa & Jose Luis Rancano, Photography – Ignacio Aguilar, Music – Eneko Vadillo, Visual Effects – Vessmedia (Supervisor – Victor Suner), Special Effects – Noidentity (Supervisor – Carlos Ortega), Makeup Effects Supervisors – Pedro De Diego & Irene Puche, Production Design – Laura Lostale. Production Company – Person’s Films/La Dalia Films/Antidoto Films.
Cast
Zorion Eguileor (Manuel), Gustavo Salmeron (Mario), Paula Gallego (Naia), Irene Anula (Lena), Juan Acedo (Jota), Angelo Gamonal (Rosa), Manuel De Blas (Director of the Residency)
Plot
Madrid is struck by a heatwave. Amid this, the elderly Rosa jumps off her balcony to her death. In trying to deal with the aftermath of this, her son Mario becomes concerned for Manuel, Rosa’s aging husband, his father. Mario insists that Manuel come and stay with him, his second wife Lena and granddaughter Naia. However, Manuel starts behaving in strange and disturbing ways, including announcing that he is going to kill them all. Lena cannot handle dealing with him and wants Manuel out. Meanwhile, Mario and Naia start to see strange things in the shadows.
The Elderly was the second film for the Spanish directing/writing team Raul Cerezo and Fernando Gonzalez Gomez who had previously made the horror comedy The Passenger (2021). Fernando Gonzalez Gomez had also solo directed an episode of the anthology Zombie World 2 (2018) and the non-genre feature-length comedy Standard (2020).
Raul Cerezo and Fernando Gonzalez Gomez create a great sense of mood in The Elderly. The background is filled with voices whispering to Paula Gallego, shadows moving, doors opening. It is atmosphere that constantly seems to be hovering on the edge of something ominous about to happen. The photography, lighting and music add considerably to this.
And when these things start to happen, they do with quite eerie effect like when Gustavo Salmeron goes to clean up his father’s apartment following his mother’s suicide and the elderly neighbour appears to tell him that his late mother is telling her to remind him not to forget to lock the door. There is a particularly unnerving sequence where Zorion Eguileor stands up at the dinner table and abruptly announces “I am going to kill you all.” This is not limited to the elderly up to alarming things – there is a scene where Gustavo’s wife Irene Anula is washing the elderly Zorion and releases all her fury at his taunts and starts beating him, which makes for an uncomfortable watch.
The Elderly has a number of similarities to the German-made Old People (2022), which came out two months later the same year. There is a very similar plot here where the elderly inexplicably turn murderous. Both films also end up being very vague about why this is happening. The Elderly is certainly the better-made film and seems to end on some cosmic apocalyptic event happening as eldritch storm clouds appear in the sky, although exactly what is not clear any more than that. Nor is there any explanation offered for the hallucinations and visions that various people experience.
Trailer here