Crew
Director – Macarena Astorga, Screenplay/Based on the Novel La Casa del Caracol (The House of Snails) (2020) by Sandro Garcia Nieto, Producer – Alvaro Ariza, Photography – Valentin Alvarez, Music – Karin Zielinski, Visual Effects – Free Your Mind (Supervisor – Carmen Garcia), Makeup Effects – Tono Garzon, Production Design – Jose Manuel Ponce. Production Company – Casita Colora Producciones A.I.E./Esto Tambien Pasara/Bowfinger International Pictures/Basque Films/Tondero Peru/Hippo Entertainment Group LLC/RTVE/Canal Sur Radio y Television/Crea SGR.
Cast
Javier Rey (Antonio Prieto), Paz Vega (Berta), Norma Martinez (Justa Rodriguez), Luna Fulgencio (Rosita Rodriguez), Ava Salazar (Sole Rodriguez), Carlos Alcantara (Father Benito), Vicente Vergara (Carmelo), Pedro Casablanc (Inspector Mauri), Elvira Minguez (Carmen), Maria Alfonso Rosso (Senora Ciega), Jesus Carroza (Esteban)
Plot
The writer Antonio Prieto rents a villa in the remote village of Quintanar to obtain some peace and quiet as he works on his latest novel. He is attracted to Berta who rents the house to him and they later become involved. Antonio also finds odd things about the village, including that they keep one person Esteban locked up in a barn. He hears constant reference to The Vimero and is even accused of being it. He finds this is a mythical boogeyman that is supposed to have cursed the village with deformity and will return one day to exact revenge on the locals.
I went into The House of Snails with no prior knowledge other than a plot description. No knowledge other than that Spanish Cinema had been turning out some fine genre material in recent years and I was eager to see more.
The House of Snails was a feature-length directorial debut for Macarena Astorga who subsequently went on to make the non-genre comedy The Shelter (2021). It is based on a 2020 novel by Sandro Garcia Nieto, who also writes the screenplay. I am unable to find any English-language information on Nieto but it would appear that this was her debut novel.
The film strikes up an unusual atmosphere right from the outset. We have a standard Sinister Small Town where the locals in the bar give a cool welcome to the new arrival in town. Others show deformities of some sort. One person has to be kept locked up in the barn. There is talk of the mythical boogeyman that haunts the town and accusations by the young girl that Javier Ray encounters on the way into town that Javier himself might be said boogeyman. All before we start to get murders apparently by the boogeyman returned.
This creates a fascinating intrigue, all without actually putting its finger on it and saying what is going on. The House of Snails is a film that hovers for a long time – almost the entire show – without quite coming out and telling us what the film is about or the nature of the menace in the town. It holds your interest, even if all this is somewhat on the slow side. It does move over into a full horror film during the latter sections, even if it feels like an ending that never full resolves all of the elements juggled throughout satisfactorily. Nor for that matter do the snails have much to do with anything.
Trailer here