veronica scary movie review

The true story behind Veronica, Netflix’s ‘scariest movie ever’

The Spanish film has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Netflix has dropped a new Spanish horror movie,  Veronica, which has been described as the  “scariest movie ever” – and viewers are going mad for it.

The movie was put online earlier this week (February 26), and people have taken to Twitter to warn fellow users about their nail-biting viewing experience.

One user writes: “Started watching Veronica on Netflix […] but the demon walking down the hallway scene freaked me out so much I had to turn it off”.

Started watching Veronica on Netflix (huge REC fan so interested in anything Paco Plaza is involved in) but the demon walking down the hallway scene freaked me out so much I had to turn it off… #SuchAWuss pic.twitter.com/4oCcjQUJST — MATT (@weyland76) February 25, 2018

Another says: “Umm just watched the Spanish horror movie on Netflix [called] ‘Veronica’ and I legit almost cried bc it’s so scary holy shit. That was a well done possession movie. Never sleeping again.”

Umm just watched the Spanish horror movie on Netflix “Veronica” and I legit almost cried bc it’s so scary holy shit. That was a well done possession movie. Never sleeping again. — Erin ? (@erincandy) March 2, 2018

‘Veronica’ on Netflix is so fucking scary I can’t — Chloe Dennison (@chloedennison_5) March 1, 2018

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So, what’s the film about? Who does it star? Does everyone agree that this is the “scariest film ever”? Here’s all you need to know.

What’s it about?

The film, directed by Paco Plaza, is set in 1991 Madrid. It follows teenager Veronica and her friends Rosa and Diana as they take a break from looking after their younger siblings to hold a seance in an attempt to contact Veronica’s dead boyfriend, who died in a motorcycle accident.  But, using an Ouija board, they mistakenly make contact with Veronica’s late father instead.

The film, which was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, quickly escalates as the teenagers are haunted by an evil supernatural force. The movie features jarring music and freaky sound effects, moving objects and, even, a terrifying, cigarette-smoking blind-nun. It distorts reality, leaving viewers to wonder whether what is happening is genuine or the result of Veronica’s imagination.

What’s the background to the film?

Veronica  is based on a true story about the unsolved case of a young girl in Madrid in 1992 named Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro, who mysteriously died after using an Ouija board. Police were never able to crack their investigation.

Estefania reportedly tried to conduct the seance at school to contact the late boyfriend of one of her friends, after he died in a motorcycle accident. When a teacher interrupted, the group she was with described seeing a kind of smoke going into Estefania’s nose and mouth.

The story goes that Estefania began to suffer from seizures and hallucinations for the following six months. She told her parents she saw “evil” shadows from her room and was taken to see doctors by her parents. Ever since she died in hospital, her death remains unexplained. Her parents reported that following her death their house became haunted, a phenomenon verified by police reports .

Who’s in it?

Relatively unknown Spanish actor Sandra Escacena plays the lead role of Veronica. Escacena also stars a Spanish thriller released this year, called  The Same .

Veronica’s friends Rosa and Diana are respectively played by Ángela Fabián, who starred in the Spanish fantasy series  El Don de Alba , and Carla Campra, who stars in the upcoming Spanish thriller  Everybody Knows .

The movie features a couple of quite well known names, too. These are Ana Torrent, who played Catherine of Aragon in the 2008 film  The Other Boleyn Girl – which also featured Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansson – and Leticia Dolera, who played Carmen in  Mad Dogs. 

Director Plaza, meanwhile, is no stranger to frightening films – he previously directed another horror movie, the 2007-film  REC .

Not everyone thinks the film is scary

Despite plenty of Twitter users expressing their fear of the film, others have disagreed. One writes: “[Veronica] was good, quite scary, a few jump scares, creepy demons and Ouija boards… Yet definitely not THE scariest film I have ever seen”.

Just watched the “scariest film of the year” on Netflix – #Veronica . It was good, quite scary, a few jump scares, creepy demons and ouija boards… Yet definitely not THE scariest film I have ever seen. — Eva Str (@EvaStr93) February 28, 2018

Another, who slates the movie, says: “Just watched Veronica on Netflix, it’s terrible. My 9-month-old is scarier than that. The people that are claiming this movie is scary must be getting paid well for those reviews. There goes 1 hr 46 mins of my life I can’t get back.”

https://twitter.com/13RDG/status/969018088699121669

Others, meanwhile, have praised the film. One user writes: “Veronica on Netflix is soooooo good. I usually am so skeptical about new age horror movies but damn I’m shook.”

Veronica on netflix is soooooo good. I usually am so skeptical about new age horror movies but damn im shook. — Almita (@OhBrujita) February 28, 2018

What do the critics think?

Film critics have also praised the film, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it 100 per cent on its “tomatometer” based on 12 reviews. IMDB, however, has been less favourable, rating it 6.5/10.

Seen the film? Scroll down to leave us a comment about it.

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Is Netflix's Terrifying ‘Veronica’ Based on a True Story?

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The Big Picture

• Spain's rich history of cinema includes renowned directors like Buñuel and Almodovar, and Netflix has had success with Spanish productions like Money Heist and Veronica .
• Veronica is a critically acclaimed Spanish horror film that tells the story of a girl who accidentally summons a demon while trying to communicate with her deceased father.
• The film is loosely based on the infamous Vallecas Case, one of Spain's most well-known stories of paranormal activity, but director Paco Plaza took creative liberties and did not intend for the film to be an accurate account of the case.

With legendary directors like Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar , it's safe to say that Spain has a rich history of cinema. The sunny Mediterranean country has produced quite a lot of worldwide hits over the years, including the global sensation Money Heist (the most-watched non-English Netflix show before the release of Squid Game ), and the success of Netflix España's productions doesn't end there. One of the streaming service's most critically acclaimed horror films also originated from Spain: Paco Plaza 's 2017 film Veronica . Veronica had big shoes to fill, being the direct follow-up of Paco Plaza's previous cult hit trilogy of terror, the [REC] series , and it delivered: Veronica won the hearts of horror fans everywhere thanks to its chilling scares, brilliant child actors , and frenetic, infernal energy.

Besides the qualities of the film itself, Veronica also stands out thanks to a harrowing opening and closing scene . As the film begins, we listen in on what seems to be a real-life phone call to the police reporting paranormal activity, and just before the credits roll, we see what looks like very real photos from a criminal investigation. These are small glimpses into what Veronica claims to be the very real events the film is based on, and after sitting through horrifically exhilarating 105 minutes of terror, these glimpses into the "real world" simply serve to seal the sleepless night we were already going to have anyway. Yes, Veronica finds its roots in the very real, very tragic, very eerie unexplained death of a Spanish teenage girl and the subsequent police investigation that, for the first time in Spanish history, officially reported paranormal activity relating to a case. But what is the full story? And how did the film build its terrifying rollercoaster ride upon it? With a prequel to the 2017 hit, Sister Death , now on the steamer, it's the perfect time to find out.

What Is Netflix's 'Veronica' About?

As a quick recap: Veronica tells the tale of a young 15-year-old girl called, you guessed it, Veronica ( Sandra Escacena ), and her accidental summoning of a demon. In an attempt to communicate with her deceased dad, Veronica conducts a Ouija board with a group of friends during a solar eclipse. In place of her father, a demonic entity connects with the group , leading Veronica to smash the glass and break the barrier between worlds, allowing the demon to possess her.

The film then follows Veronica over the next few days as she experiences terrifying and increasingly violent paranormal phenomena surrounding her. The effects of her possession reach a point where they're almost constant, getting more and more extreme until they jump off from her and affect her small brothers at home, turning the possession into a full-fledged house haunting. As both friends and family become more and more skeptical of Veronica because of her strange behavior and wild claims, she tries desperately and hopelessly to rid herself of the demon, eventually resorting to the guidance of a creepy, chain-smoking nun and paranormal expert. The nun, awesomely nicknamed "sister death" ( Consuelo Trujillo ), mentors Veronica in the dark arts, showing her the sketching of magic runes and the performance of demon-ridding rituals in an attempt to save the girl's soul.

It almost seems like Veronica is going to learn witchcraft and fight off the demon in a badass girl-boss finale , but in a genre where there's always a "final girl" standing victorious, Veronica 's outcome is a surprisingly tragic and disturbing one: The teenage would-be heroine is continuously tricked, duped, and outsmarted by her demon possessor until the worst outcome is inevitable... Veronica is finally killed by the demon after being psychologically tortured to breaking point, and her soul is dragged to hell to become another devil's plaything for all eternity. Veronica is a scary-ass film, made scarier by leaving the audience with a horrifying message: "Bad guys can win. Children can be taken by the devil and never returned... Oh, and all of this was based on a true story. Sleep tight, viewer!" Pretty metal, right?

'Veronica' Is Based On the Chilling True Story of the Vallecas Case

It goes without saying, but Paco Plaza obviously took many creative liberties when creating Veronica , playing it fast and loose with the source material of his haunting tale of possession. Although only slightly, the film is based on the infamous Vallecas Case, one of the most well-known stories of supposed paranormal activity in the history of Spain, akin to an Iberian Amytiville horror . So, what happened?

According to Newsweek , the story is as follows: In early 90s Madrid, Spain's capital, a young girl by the name of Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro participated in a Ouija board ritual at school. The séance was an attempt to communicate with one of the participant's dead boyfriends, having died in a motorcycle accident some months prior. According to the first-hand accounts of Estafania's friends and co-participants in the séance, one of the school's teachers (a nun) found the girls in their ritual and proceeded to smash the ouija board, and in that same instant, a kind of strange "smoke" manifested and appeared to enter through Estefania's nose.

According to a TV interview with Estefania's family , Estafania died in the hospital of an "unexplained, sudden, and suspicious respiratory restriction." According to first-hand accounts of Estefania's close circle, the months leading up to her death were full of distress and hysteria: She claimed to be seeing shadows, hearing voices, and being "stalked" by evil forces. Estefania's mother claims that her daughter began speaking in unknown languages and foaming from the mouth and nose periodically. At this point, many rumors have been birthed from the certified claims surrounding the case and have penetrated into the Spanish pop culture discourse surrounding Estefania's death such as scratches appearing on her skin and the girl apparently "levitating," but all that we can say for sure is what those who were around her in the weeks to months prior to death have claimed.

The story doesn't end with Estefania's untimely, tragic death either. In the same TV interview, Estefania's mother Concepción reveals that her father, Estefania's grandad, passed away sometime prior to the teen girl. Due to a turbulent relationship with the family, Estefania's grandad's final wish was "making his family's lives impossible from beyond the grave." The Gutierrez family believes that it was their mean-spirited patriarch who possessed Estefania and took her life, all to torment his offspring. With Estefania dead and both friends and family going on record (and on TV) to confirm their eyewitness reports of demonic possession, the Madrid metropolitan police officially set up an investigation of the Gutierrez family home, as Concepción claimed that the house was haunted.

The official police reports surfaced from the investigation, having been written up by three Madridian officers including Chief Inspector of National Police, Jose Pedro Negri. It's truly frightening what these actual officers claim to have witnessed on the official record: Loud, unidentifiable noises protruding from empty areas of the house, a wardrobe violently swinging its doors open right in front of the police officers in an "unnatural" way with nobody inside, a Jesus figure being torn from its cross, and large, brown stains appearing in various odd places in the house, such as under beds. The police reports were illustrious and haunting, ultimately referring to the unexplained phenomena occurring in the Gutierrez household as "mysterious and rare." In the end, no concrete explanations for what happened to Estefania and her family have ever come to light, and the police reports surrounding the phenomena that followed the young girl's death will forever contain the words "paranormal activity."

How Much of 'Veronica' Is True?

Despite certain elements being the same such as the setting and time period, the brown stains, the broken crucifix, and the set-up of the possession itself, Plaza himself explains in a TIFF 2017 Q&A that he freely invented his own story simply inspired by the Vallecas case . The original story of Estefania and her family served as a starting point, an anecdote of the dark side of Spanish pop culture that has been talked about and mythologized to the point of legend. As a born and bred Spaniard, Plaza had always been intrigued by the Vallecas case and wanted to use it as inspiration, but the director confirms that h e in no way intended for Veronica to be seen as an accurate account or documentary of the case .

"In Spain it's very popular, this story, because it is, as we say in the film, the only time a police officer has said he has witnessed something paranormal (...) But I think when we tell something, it becomes a story, even if it's in the news. You only have to read the different newspapers to know how different reality is, depending on who's telling it. So I knew we were going to betray the real events. I just wanted to make a whole vision."

In the end, Paco Plaza created one of the most beloved Netflix horror films on the platform and introduced many fans of horror to one of the most interesting official reports on possible paranormal activity in investigative history. He may not have intended to adapt the true story at any point — simply taking a true story as anecdotal inspiration — but his film serves to illustrate how society loves a good ghost story and will mythologize and build up these kinds of accounts until they're their own beast entirely.

Veronica is streaming on Netflix.

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Veronica: The True Story Behind the Spanish Horror Film

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• The real events behind the Spanish Netflix horror film Veronica are even creepier than what is depicted on-screen, involving actual paranormal activities and an intervention by the law.
• The film is loosely based on the Vallecas case, where a teenage girl named Estefanía and her friends used an Ouija board to contact a deceased boyfriend, leading to a series of terrifying occurrences and ultimately Estefanía's death.
• While the film takes creative liberties with the story, adding fictional elements and heightened suspense, it serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of playing with the occult and the chilling experiences of the real-life family involved.

Horror fans love seeing the "based on a true story" title pop up at the beginning of any spooky film, and even the filmmakers employ creative liberties to make the narrative scarier in order to arouse strong emotions in the audience. The real events are considerably creepier than the ones that you see on-screen because there is no fiction involved, especially when it's a case where someone actually faced paranormal activities that no one was able to comprehend and occasionally resulted in their demise.

While you might have heard many such frightening stories, this actual story behind the scariest Spanish Netflix horror film, Veronica , manages to stand out. The Vallecas case is remembered to date as the terrifying and first case where the law intervened, and an official report was documented.

Released in 2017, Veronica takes place in 1991 Madrid and follows the story of a teenager named Veronica (Sandra Escacena) and her two friends, who conduct a séance to summon her deceased father and a friend's boyfriend in their school basement during the solar eclipse. Even though Veronica's intention is to connect with a loved one, it puts her life at stake when the conjured evil spirit possesses her and poses a threat to the other family members.

This horror film is directed by Paco Plaza and is loosely based on the real events of the Vallecas Case. But if you're someone who is intrigued to find out the real story behind Veronica , then stick around.

Who Is Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro?

Veronica is inspired by the real-life story of an 18-year-old girl named Estefanía, who was a school-going teenager and used to live with her family in Vallecas. She had five siblings, a normal life, and friends to hang out with. Just like how children are easily fascinated by perilous pastimes, in the same way, Estefanía started taking an interest in occult books and games, but was simply unaware of the harm it might cause her. One day, she along with her two classmates used an Ouija board to contact her friend's deceased boyfriend, who died in a motorcycle accident.

They began playing with the Ouija board, and as per the girls present during the séance, they witnessed unusual occurrences around them. For instance, the glass they used as a pointer on the Ouija board began to fly around the board and shattered into pieces. Even though they weren't able to conjure the spirit of the deceased boyfriend, they saw smoke emerge from the board that was inhaled by Estefanía.

Soon, their game was interrupted by a nun, who started questioning them about this occult activity. The nun took away the board and destroyed it. ​​​Following this strange event, Estefanía's life changed forever, and so did the lives of her family members, who, even after she passed away, were subjected to paranormal activities that constantly haunted them until they moved to another place.

Related: 20 Horror Movies Based on True Stories

The Real Story of Veronica: The Vallecas Case, Explained

Although the Vallecas case has been a topic of discussion among horror lovers, to date, none have been able to determine the reason behind Estefanía's deteriorating state — was it a death caused by paranormal activities or due to an unknown health condition? The truth still remains a mystery. In the aftermath of playing with the Ouija board, a noticeable change was seen in Estefanía's behavior, which became a matter of concern for her parents when she became violent towards her siblings.

She explained her hallucinations to her parents, saying she saw malevolent shadows roaming around her room that kept torturing her throughout the night. She also suffered seizures and insomnia, and at times her odd behavior got so out of control that she would scratch walls, bark angrily, and attack others. Worried about her poor condition, her parents took her to the hospital to treat her and to know whether she had any major issues. But as per the doctor's diagnosis and evaluation, she seemed fine physically and mentally, with no sign of any disease or severe condition.

As the days passed, Estefanía's condition worsened. Her parents sought all sorts of help from priests, doctors, and specialists, but there was no ray of hope left for her to get any better. Soon, after almost half a year after the Ouija board incident, she was found lifeless on the hospital bed. However, autopsy reports claimed she suffered from cardiac arrest, whereas some of her symptoms also suggested that she might have had epilepsy.

Related: The Best Netflix Original Horror Movies, Ranked

The untimely death of Estefania brought immense grief to her family members, and it still remains unknown what actually happened to her. What's more, after her sudden death, the hauntings never stopped for the Lázaro family: they constantly heard someone scream and laugh; Estefanía's things in her room were all scattered; the door and windows would slam; there were scratches on the wall; a black figure was roaming and crawling around the house; furniture was damaged; and electrical appliances went on and off.

In one instance, Estefanía's photo fell on the ground burned while the frame remained undamaged, and a nearby crucifix flipped. The paranormal activities got so out of hand that the Lázaro family reached out to Inspector José Negri and other officers. Even the police noticed that there was something suspicious inside the house because they felt a drop in temperature and reported some paranormal activities taking place during their inspection. Even the police couldn't help the family in such an unusual case, and the family took the last escort to sell their home and move to another place in order to stop the haunting.

A YouTube channel named The Paranormal Scholar reveals that the evil spirit troubling the Lázaro family might have been that of their grandfather, who loathed them and uttered his last words in the ears of Estefanía. The words were, "If I cannot harm you in this life, I will do it in the next one," and he passed away. As per the channel, during the haunting of the Lázaro family by her grandfather, Estefanía seemed to have been present in order to stop him from causing any harm to her family. While this particular case might have numerous different interpretations — scientific, paranormal, and absurd, the grandfather's part in the story is not yet confirmed because the truth about the evil happenings is unclear. It's only after the family moved away that the paranomal occurrences ended.

How Does Veronica Differ from the Actual Events?

The best horror movies based on true events don't necessarily translate completely to the screen; no matter how traumatic the real story might be, in movies, there is always a good amount of fiction to it that even the audience likes. In the case of Veronica , many creative modifications were made by the director while also picking some elements from the original story. Veronica joining her friends to play Ouija to contact a friend's dead boyfriend remains a true part of film and reality. Additionally, the horror film added Veronica's emotional and personal motivation by showcasing that she also wished to conjure up her dead father, whom she missed dearly, as justification of her intentions behind playing Ouija. In actuality, Estefanía's dad was alive and saddened by her sudden demise.

During the séance scene in the film, the glass breaks, Veronica's blood drops on the board, she becomes unconscious and screams out loud, and no one interrupts their occult practice, whereas, in reality, the nun stops them. In Veronica , yes, a nun does warn Veronica about the danger that's about to come into her life.​​​​ The stakes of the plot and a sense of danger in the audience's minds were increased when Veronica only had a few days in hand to save herself and protect those around her. But in the case of Estefania, she suffered severe paranormal happenings for continuous six months after playing Ouija and later died.

The 2017 film dramatically reimagined the original horror elements from the real story, like the dark shadows, screams, erratic and possessed behavior of Veronica towards her siblings, her interest in reading occult books, insomnia, convulsions, and her picture burning down at the end of the film. In the beginning, we see the emergency service getting a call from Veronica's residence for help, and the police witness her demonic scream and take her to the hospital, while her burned photo suggests she has already died, giving the film a chilling ending .

Veronica ultimately showed us the horrors the Ouija board brought to its titular character. It also gave the audience a lesson to not play around with spooky things; even if they might feel harmless, you never know what you might attract. Believing in the paranormal or not is one's personal opinion, but in cases like the Vallecas, it sends shivers down the spine thinking about how the girl and her family go through something that's completely unnatural and disturbing. ​​​​

Veronica is available to watch on Netflix.

• Cast & crew
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Madrid, 1991. A teen girl finds herself besieged by an evil supernatural force after she played Ouija with two classmates. Madrid, 1991. A teen girl finds herself besieged by an evil supernatural force after she played Ouija with two classmates. Madrid, 1991. A teen girl finds herself besieged by an evil supernatural force after she played Ouija with two classmates.

• Fernando Navarro
• Sandra Escacena
• Bruna González
• Claudia Placer
• 269 User reviews
• 122 Critic reviews
• 5 wins & 19 nominations

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• Hermana Muerte

• Vecina enfrente

• Profesora de Literatura
• Doble mellizas #1
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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Based on true events.
• Goofs When the children first enter the restaurant where Ana ( Ana Torrent ) is working, she promises Antoñito ( Iván Chavero ) two Euros. The Euro did not become legal tender in Spain before 1999 and notes and coins were not introduced before 2002. However the film is set in 1991, ten years before. Instead the Peseta was used, and she should have promised ESP 300-400.

Hermana Muerte : You know when you go inside a house and they've just made French toast? It's easy to tell the smell. That smell of cinnamon... fried bread... warm milk. If you close your eyes, it's like they're on a dish in front of you. You could almost take a bite. I was a Language and Lit teacher. The French toast is a metaphor. What grade are you in?

Verónica : Ninth.

Hermana Muerte : So you know what a metaphor is, right? And you also know we aren't talking about desserts.

• Connections Featured in FoundFlix: Veronica (2017) Ending + True Story Explained (2018)
• Soundtracks Maldito duende Lyrics and Music by Pedro Andreu (as Pedro Andreu Lapiedra), Juan Valdivia (as Juan Valvidia Navarro), Joaquín Cardiel (as Joaquín Cardiel Gericó), Enrique Bunbury (as Enrique Ortiz Landazuri Yzarduy) Performed by Héroes del Silencio Courtesy of Warner Music Spain S.L. © Copyright by Warner/Chappell Music Spain S.A., Disilogan SL, Buen Tao SL ©(R) Copyright by Servidor de Nadie, S.L. Version licensed to Ediciones Musicales Clipper's, S.L.

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• Mar 2, 2018
• How long is Veronica? Powered by Alexa
• August 25, 2017 (Spain)
• La posesión de Verónica
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Paco Plaza , who co-directed one of the best found footage horror movies of them all,   2007’s  [REC] , is back this year with the Spanish horror film  Veronica , which surprise-released on Netflix late last month. The film has been generating a whole lot of buzz here on the net, with many sites reporting that it’s so scary some can’t even finish it.

Veronica  is about a young woman who must protect her younger brother and sister after she attempts to bring back the spirit of their dead father through a Ouija ritual.

Like many horror films, Veronica was actually based on true events, the real story coming out of Madrid, Spain back in 1991. Story goes that a teenage girl named Estafania Gutierrez Lazaro died mysteriously in August of that year, with her parents believing that her unexplained death was the result of her playing with a Ouija board.

Shortly before Estafania’s own death, one of her friends had died in a tragic motorcycle accident, leading the group to perform a seance in the hopes of making contact with him. The seance, which was being performed at Estafania’s school, was interrupted by a nun before it could be completed; the nun reportedly broke the Ouija board, and all Hell broke loose in Estafania’s life in the wake of the failed seance. For months, she was having seizures and bizarre hallucinations, with dark, shadowy figures swirling around her.

Doctors were unable to find anything wrong with Estafania. Something obviously was, however, as she died in the Summer of 1991. Estafania’s parents claim that in the wake of their daughter’s death, the torment continued. And that’s where things get really spooky.

What makes the “Vallecas case” so infamous in Spain is that it’s the only time in the country’s history that police actually filed a report that indicated that *they* had witnessed something paranormal. Around a year after Estafania’s death, her parents called local police to report an evil force within their home, and police arrived at the house to discover that something very strange was indeed going on in there. They heard loud noises and saw scratches on the walls; creepier still, a photograph of Estafania reportedly lit ablaze inside its frame.

“ In Spain it’s very popular, this story; as we say in the film, the only time a police officer has said he has witnessed something paranormal ,” says Paco Plaza. “ And it’s written in a report with an official police stamp… it’s really impressive when you look at it .”

If you’re looking to watch a scary movie with scary real life origins, look no further.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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6 Arthouse Body Horror Films to Watch After ‘The Substance’

Regardless of their artistic merit, it’s understandable that it can sometimes be difficult for mainstream cinephiles to connect with movies about twisted bodies and grisly mutations. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that these films are any less deserving of praise – it’s just that not every critic has a strong stomach. That’s why it’s so satisfying to see a production like Coralie Fargeat’s satirical body horror flick The Substance get the recognition it deserves in spite of its disturbing mean streak.

And in honor of this Demi Moore / Margaret Qualley experiment wowing highbrow audiences worldwide, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six other arthouse body horror flicks for your viewing pleasure! After all, there’s no reason that fine cinema should be devoid of blood and malformed guts.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining “arthouse” as any film specifically meant to engage with off-kilter ideas usually reserved for non-commercial cinema. That being said, I’d like to make it clear that every single scary movie is technically a work of art regardless of presentation, subject matter or even quality – some of these flicks are just more brazen about this fact than others.

With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own body horror favorites if you think we missed a particularly artsy one.

Now, onto the list…

6. Excision (2012)

Adapted from an equally disturbing short film made by the same director, Excision is a lot darker (not to mention bloodier) than your average coming-of-age high school movie. Telling the story of a delusional teenager with an unhealthy obsession for invasive surgeries, the film cleverly juxtaposes violent imagery with traditional youthful desires in a memorable cocktail of psychosexual storytelling.

And with a cast featuring the talents of genre veterans like John Waters, Malcom McDowell, Ray Wise and even Traci Lords, there’s really no excuse to ignore this one – unless you’re uncomfortable with the idea of teens conducting homemade organ transplants.

5. Audition (1999)

Takashi Miike is no stranger to fans of body horror, but it’s this controversial 1999 feature that first propelled the Japanese director to neo-exploitation stardom with its wince-inducing exploration of misogyny, feminism and human cruelty. An adaptation of Ryu Murakami’s celebrated novel of the same name, Audition follows widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) as he searches for a new wife through a mock casting process. This leads him to Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), a mysterious young lady that might just be the man’s downfall.

While most of the actual body-horror here is relegated to the film’s final act, it’s the contrast between these visceral terrors and everything that came before that makes the flick so effective. I’d just recommend avoiding any trailers if you’re planning on checking this one out, as the film’s marketing spoils many of its most iconic moments.

4. Raw (2016)

Habitual binge-drinking, widespread STDs and a diet almost exclusively comprised of instant ramen and energy drinks – it can be argued that the average college experience is already a terrifying precursor to genuine body horror. That being said, French director Julia Ducournau takes the horrors of higher learning to the next level by incorporating bizarrely sexualized cannibalism into her coming-of-age thriller Raw .

Following a vegetarian who begins to suffer from unexplainable cravings after being forced to eat meat during a hazing ritual, Raw may take a little while to get going (with the film establishing its themes and characters before bringing out the nastiness), but I guarantee that body horror fans will be pleased with the amount of visceral depravity present in the film’s second act.

3. American Mary (2012)

In real life, the body modification community is much more focused on artistic expression than turning oneself into an off-brand Cenobite, but you have to admit that the concept of regarding the human body as a malleable canvas seems like a great starting point for an artsy body-horror flick.

Canadian filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska seem to agree, as their cult classic American Mary dives into the darker side of both surgical revenge and the underground body modification scene. Telling the story of down-on-her-luck medical student Mary Mason (played by the insanely talented Katharine Isabelle) as she turns to illegal operations in order to make a living, this is one of my favorite films on this list – as well as a shining example of how practical effects can make or break a body-horror movie.

2. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

A cult film that slowly grew in popularity in much the same way that the biomechanical infection takes over the titular Iron Man, Tetsuo is a textbook case of a film that “must be seen to be believed.” Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto (an underground artist fascinated with surrealism and experimental theater), the film replaces a conventional narrative with an interconnected collection of horrific vignettes about mankind’s toxic relationship with machines and big city living.

Despite now being considered one of the greatest Japanese films of all time, it actually took quite a while for folks to warm up to such a strange feature, with a steady supply of international festival praise steadily propelling the flick to home video fame. That’s why you shouldn’t blame yourself if you don’t quite connect with Tetsuo on your first watch, as this unique experiment is something of an acquired taste.

1. Naked Lunch (1991)

It would be easy to fill this list with high-profile Cronenberg flicks, with the Canadian director being known for his gruesome indie films that tackle serious subject matter through a fleshy lens, but in the interest of keeping things varied, I’d like to limit today’s Cronenberg recommendation to a single film based on a celebrated novel by infamous author William S. Burroughs.

A surreal sci-fi romp following an exterminator-turned-secret-agent living in a disgusting world that doesn’t play by our rules, Naked Lunch managed to earn its director a series of prominent prizes (such as Best Motion Picture at the Genie Awards) despite its frequent use of fleshy creatures and characters that are actually carnivorous bugs disguised as human beings.

If you ask me, body horror doesn’t get much more artsy than this.

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Netflix's Veronica Review

Seeks to be about more than your average haunted house movie..

It's not “the scariest film of all time,” but Verónica is still plenty scary, and it features some rather well-executed haunted house imagery that will certainly get under your skin. Also, the film's messages of a decayed modern family add a lot of emotional heft to an already stressful scenario.

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Veronica Review: Great Horror Film From Co-Creator of [REC]

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Ign recommends.

The creepy true story behind Netflix horror 'Veronica'

Knowing this makes it even scarier

Got a question for ya: have you seen Veronica  on Netflix yet? It’s a scary Spanish horror movie about a girl who does one of those ouija board things and then ghosts get the hump and start bothering her. It’s very spooky indeed.

BUT (I’ve written that in capitals because I screamed it, I screamed it so loud your wig set on fire) did you know that it was based on a true story? Yep, a film about ghosts based on hactual hevents . 

A girl died in Spain in 1992 after doing a ‘makeshift seance’ at school with her mates. This definitely happened, although the exact cause of her death is unknown - all that’s recorded is that she started having seizures and reported seeing ‘evil’ figures in the weeks following the oujia board experiment.

The really unusual thing about this case though (as if a girl dying after doing a seance wasn’t enough) is that it’s the only recorded case in history of a policeman actually filing a police report stating ‘paranormal events’ in the paperwork.

Supposedly, soon after the board game, the girl’s parents called the authorities complaining of mysterious events, such as seeing shadowy figures and even feeling invisible hands grabbing them. When the police showed up, they actually backed up these claims, reporting unexplainable noises, cupboards opening on their own and even photographs bursting into flames. Real proper ghost shit, no take-backs.

Veronica is based on a true story

Newsweek reported that the director has talked about the case, as it’s a very famous story in Spain. He said:

“In Spain it’s very popular, this story, because it is, as we say in the film, the only time a police officer has said he has witnessed something paranormal.

“And it’s written in a report with an official police stamp and it’s really impressive when you look at it.

“I think when we tell something, it becomes a story, even if it’s in the news.

“You only have to read the different newspapers to know how different reality is, depending on who’s telling it. So I knew we were going to betray the real events.”

So although the film embellishes things a tad, the original events still remain at the heart of it. And that, my friends, is what makes the film so scary. It’s based on real ghosts, not fake ghosts.

So, if you fancy scaring your little frilly panties right off, all the way out the back door and over the fence into Mr. Stewart’s back garden, where you’ll never get them back again, because they’re his property now, then Veronica is on Netflix now.

(Image: Netflix)

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Entertainment

This Scary Netflix Movie Is Based On A True Story That'll Make You Sleep With The Lights On

If you've been on Twitter this week, you've likely heard about the Netflix movie that's reportedly so scary some people can't make it to the end without slamming their laptops shut. That movie is Veronica , the based on a true story horror movie that is giving the internet nightmares. But how much of Veronica 's true story is actually, you know, true ? While director Paco Plaza has been candid about the ways in which he melded fact and fiction, this is one time when the reported real-life story behind the scares may actually be spookier than what made it to the screen.

Horror movies often come with the "inspired by a true story" label, but in most cases further investigation will prove that there's only a grain of truth in the scary events that make it onscreen. In many ways, the same can be said for Veronica . The main character and her adorable siblings never actually existed, and the events in the film are heavily fictionalized. However, the police documents that follow the credits are from the Vallecas Case , a chilling series of unexplained events that happened to a family in Spain in the early '90s.

According to Newsweek , a young teen named Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro did fall ill after reportedly having a seance at school. The seance is said to have been interrupted by a nun who broke the Ouija board, and afterwards the young woman reportedly suffered for months with seizures and hallucinations. She died at a hospital in Madrid in 1991, but there doesn't appear to be an official cause of death — at least not one that has been made public by her family.

Lazaro's unexplained death is tragic, but it bears little resemblance to the demon-fueled nightmare that Veronica finds herself in after playing with a Ouija board during a solar eclipse. However, the Lazaro family's troubles only intensified after their daughter's death, and it's the events that followed that are documented in the police report shown at the end of the movie.

As reported by Newsweek , three officers and Chief Inspect of the National Police, Jose Pedro Negri, all claim to have witnessed disturbing events in the Lazaro family's home. They claim to have seen the door of an armoire open suddenly in an unnatural manner, and a figure of Jesus separated from a crucifix. The Sun further reports that the family reportedly heard whispers in their home after their daughter's death, and experienced other unexplained phenomena including electrical anomalies and slamming doors. Because there is a police report that includes detailed unexplained experiences by the officers, the story has become something of a legend in Spain — there are even TV specials about the case .

In Veronica , the action moves swiftly and the demonic happenings are unquestioned, but for the real-life family whose story inspired the film, the heartbreak and unexplained events stretched out over years. Whether or not there's any truth to the supernatural aspect of the case, it's chilling to imagine what kind of mental toll the family went through before they finally moved to a new home.

During a Q&A at the Toronto Film Festival, Plaza told the crowd that the popularity of the story in Spain actually gave him a greater sense of creative freedom when it came time to put a fictional spin on the true events. The director said,

"In Spain it's very popular, this story, because it is, as we say in the film, the only time a police officer has said he has witnessed something paranormal, and it's written in a report with an official police stamp and it's really impressive when you look at it. But I think when we tell something, it becomes a story, even if it's in the news. You only have to read the different newspapers to know how different reality is, depending on who's telling it. So I knew we were going to betray the real events. I just wanted to make a whole vision… but the whole story of Veronica and the sisters and Antonito, this little Marlon Brando with glasses, it's all a vision."

Veronica may not be real, but this horror movie's true story is one that will keep you up at night thanks the tragedy and mystery surrounding Lazaro's death and the events that followed.

Screen Rant

Veronica: how the horror movie compares to the true story it adapted.

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Director Paco Plaza's 2017 supernatural horror film  Verónica   follows the titular teenage girl as she faces tragic consequences after using a ouija board to contact the dead. When a séance takes a disturbing turn and a malevolent spirit latches onto Verónica, she must protect herself and her family from the paranormal force.

During the initial séance in Plazas's film, Verónica has a strong reaction to the board, letting out a demonic scream before passing out. Following this she begins experiencing paranormal occurrences and becomes concerned and protective over herself and her young siblings. After a number of violent confrontations Verónica takes actions in order to defeat the spirit, causing her to realize that the evil is stemming from her. As cops arrive at the chaotic scene, Verónica passes out and later dies, but paranormal activity is reported in Madrid five years later. 

Related:  Zodiac: How The Movie Compares To The Real Life Cases

As stated at the end of the film, the events are loosely based on a case in Vallecas, Madrid during which Estefanía Gutierrez Lázaro and her family experienced increasingly violent paranormal acts following Estefanía’s encounter with a ouija board at school. Plaza clarifies that his film is not an attempt to portray the actual events as there is no sure way to know what Estefanía experienced in the months before her untimely death. While Verónica is a work of fiction, it does borrow facts from the 1991 Vallecas case, which many avid followers still theorize about today. While Plaza's film was heavily inspired by the Vallecas case, there are several key differences between the real case and its adaptation.

What Verónica Gets Right About The True Story

Due to the ouija board séance and supposed demonic occurrences, the Vallecas case was popular among occult lovers and became especially notable for being the first case in Spain where paranormal activity was recorded in official police reports. In both the film and reality, the girls had the intention of contacting one of their boyfriends who had recently died in a motorcycle accident. The movie, however, adds the detail of Verónica also trying to reach her father, who passed away years prior. According to the girls present on the day of the séance , smoke rose from the glass of the ouija board and Estefanía breathed it in before they were stopped by a teacher who tore the board apart. Following this occurrence, Estefanía began experiencing insomnia, seizures, and hallucinations which included ominous figures appearing at night, as depicted in Plaza's film.

In  the film and the actual story , a teacher intervenes on the séance but proves to be too late, as the spirit has already attached itself to Verónica. Following the séance, Estefanía's parents stated that she barked at her siblings during manic episodes and, though they tried to have her diagnosed and treated, they were met with no success. While Plaza chose not to include this specific instance in his film, Verónica's and her siblings are very close and in her efforts to protect them, she terrifies them with her erratic and disturbing behavior. According to Estefanía's family, two years after her death, a photo of her caught fire, burning the picture but not the frame surrounding it. This moment is directly referenced in the film at the time of Verónica's death: a photo of her catching aflame just as the police are informed that she has passed.

How Verónica Is Different From The True Story

Plaza's film follows the real account of the séance closely, but alters the events slightly for his horror film narrative, opting to show Verónica being cut by the ouija glass at the moment of an eclipse, her blood dripping onto the board before she lets out a demonic scream. The dramatic elements certify the film as a work of fiction stemming from the now notorious case. Plaza'a film ends with a suggestion that the paranormal threats continued following Verónica's death, but does not venture any further. The real story of the Lázaro family offers an account of the occurrences hinted to by the director, adding more terror to an already disturbing tale. While in a comatose state, Estefanía died mysteriously at the hospital overnight, but her family states the paranormal activity heightened after her death.

Related: Netflix Is Adding So Much Foreign Horror (& What That Means For Streaming)

Estefanía's mother describes doors slamming shut, voices echoing, and shadowy figures similar to those her daughter had claimed to see prior to her death. When called in to investigate the home, police reported feeling drastic drops in temperature, hearing whispering voices, and seeing claw marks on a wall where a crucifix hung prior to it being discovered on the floor. None of the events following the death were included in Plaza's film and, while Estefanía's family was heavily concerned with her behavior and health during the supposed possession, the director chose to focus mainly on Verónica and the pain and panic she endures internally, her stress increasing as she tries to hide the events from her mother.

By taking fictional liberties with the very real and tragic death of Estefanía Gutierrez Lázaro in Verónica , Plaza is able to bring the story to light without disrespecting the actual events of the haunting and mysterious case.

More: Best Horror Movies On Netflix

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Common Sense Media Review

Scary Spanish horror film with demonic imagery, violence.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Veronica is a 2017 Spanish horror movie in which a teen girl unleashes horrific paranormal activity after using a Ouija board to contact her deceased father. The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles. While there are some moments rife with horrific and demonic imagery, anyone…

Why Age 17+?

(Warning: Some spoilers.) Nightmarish and demonic imagery. Teen girl attempts su

Nonsexual nudity: The lead character's deceased father is completely naked as he

Occasional profanity: "f--k," "s--t," "bulls--t," "dumbass," "sucks."

Adults smoke and drink. Teens smoke and drink at a party.

A commercial jingle for a Spanish product is used by kids in a seance as a mantr

Any Positive Content?

A teen girl unleashes paranormal activity after trying to contact her deceased f

Teens smoke and drink. Very little parental supervision while a teen girl unleas

Violence & Scariness

(Warning: Some spoilers.) Nightmarish and demonic imagery. Teen girl attempts suicide with a mirror shard, bleeds from her hand. Teen girl has a nightmare in which her younger siblings are eating her alive. They bite off her thumbs and gnaw on her arm; flesh, blood, and sinew graphically shown. In another nightmare, the teen girl is held down and choked by demonic hands. Scenes of traumatized children screaming, crying as they try to escape from the terrors unleashed in their apartment.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Nonsexual nudity: The lead character's deceased father is completely naked as he slowly lurches to her.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

A commercial jingle for a Spanish product is used by kids in a seance as a mantra.

Positive Messages

A teen girl unleashes paranormal activity after trying to contact her deceased father through a Ouija board.

Positive Role Models

Teens smoke and drink. Very little parental supervision while a teen girl unleashes paranormal activity through a Ouija board.

Parents need to know that Veronica is a 2017 Spanish horror movie in which a teen girl unleashes horrific paranormal activity after using a Ouija board to contact her deceased father. The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles. While there are some moments rife with horrific and demonic imagery, anyone curious about the hype claiming that this is "the scariest movie" ever will be disappointed. A girl attempts suicide with a mirror shard. During one of her many nightmares, the lead character is shown getting eaten alive by her younger siblings; they eat her thumbs and arms as flesh, blood, and sinew are graphically shown. In another nightmare, the girl's deceased father is shown as a naked zombie slowly approaching her. An elderly nun with opaque blinded eyes who attempts to exorcise the demons she senses inside the lead character will surely give nightmares to younger and more sensitive viewers. Teens drink and smoke at a party. Occasional profanity, including "f--k." There are enough scares to be disturbing to teens and adults who are susceptible to nightmares from horror movies. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (10)
• Kids say (8)

Based on 10 parent reviews

What's the Story?

During a solar eclipse in 1991, while everyone else in the Catholic girls' school she attends is outside watching it happen, 15-year-old VERONICA goes to the attic of the girls' Catholic school she attends, joined by her friends Irene and Lucia. They set up a Ouija board and conduct a seance in the hopes of making contact with Verónica's deceased father. To the dismay of Irene and Lucia, the game takes a disturbing turn when Verónica appears to be possessed, paralytic, and whispering that she's going to die soon. In the apartment where Verónica lives with her three younger siblings, strange things start to happen. Verónica begins to have visions: a naked zombie version of her father lurching toward her, her siblings trying to eat her alive, lights flickering, TVs turning on and off, fire, blood, demons, the youngest sibling believing that the father has read him a story. As Irene and Lucia, completely creeped out, begin to distance themselves from Verónica, the only one who's aware of what's happening is an elderly blind nurse the kids call "Sister Death," a nun presumed by the other nuns to be senile and deranged and therefore left in the attic. Sister Death tells Verónica that she must find the proper way to end the seance she started with her friends, and only then will she have a chance to survive. After believing she has found the solution, Verónica attempts another seance -- this time with her two younger sisters as her brother watches. During this seance, Verónica must find a way to contain the demons she has unleashed and prevent them from wreaking further havoc on her and her family.

Is It Any Good?

While disturbing, violent, and creepy, this is most definitely not "the scariest movie ever made!" Not by a long shot. While the acting is above-average, especially for a horror movie, and there are some frightening moments of haunting demonic imagery, this is basically another tale of teens unwittingly unleashing paranormal terror. It's a "Demon Git-R-Dun To-Do List" familiar to any horror movie fan: Make lights turn on and off, slam doors, possess poor Verónica while she's trying to eat dinner, etc., until said demons get bored with these antics and turn increasingly murderous.

Then the movie muddies the waters. Are the demons inside or outside poor Verónica? Was the father a good or bad person, and if bad, why would Verónica try to bring him back via a Ouija board? Even with the heavy-handed flashback montage reminders of plot points the viewer might have missed, it's unclear what exactly has been let loose to scare everyone. The result is a lot of occult and Catholic imagery paired with the requisite predictable and occasionally less predictable scares layered over the kind of "demons set loose" story seen in so many other horror movies. Horror fans will probably enjoy Veronica . Definitely not for kids.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about horror movies. How does Veronica compare to other horror movies you've seen?

The movie claims that the story is "based on actual events." How does this disclaimer add to any terror and suspense the movie might hold for the viewer? What are some other examples of horror movies allegedly "based on actual events"?

How was nightmarish imagery used to scare audiences in this movie? How was horror movie violence used?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 6, 2017
• On DVD or streaming : February 26, 2018
• Cast : Sandra Escacena , Bruna González , Claudia Placer
• Director : Paco Plaza
• Studio : Koch Media
• Genre : Horror
• Run time : 101 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 18, 2023

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Verónica (2017) Review

Intensity: 🩸🩸 Paco Plaza’s supernatural, semi-religious horror tour de force, Verónica, humanizes the demonic harassment sub-genre. Just Say No to Ouija boards, kids!

Written/directed by Paco Plaza

Ouija boards. There oughtta be a law, I’m tellin’ ya. Countless movies have shown us the consequences of playing with those cardboard links to The Great Beyond. And yet? If we’re not goofing around with a plaster hand , we’ve got our finger on a planchette trying to chat with dead ol’ Aunt Betsy. The trouble is, it’s never our favorite aunt who answers the call, is it?

Verónica: The Story

Enter: Verónica [ Sandra Escacena in her debut role] and two of her friends. In 1991, on the day of a solar eclipse in Madrid, Spain, the trio skip the celestial viewing for a surreptitious Ouija board session in their Catholic school basement. Young Verónica, supplier of the Ouija board and occult magazines detailing “How To Ouija”, is hoping to contact her recently departed father. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the catastrophic.

A couple fresh bandaids later and being ghosted by her best friend, Rosa [ Ángela Fabián ; TV’s El Príncipe (2014-2016)], Verónica begins to spiral under the increasing pressures of her life and this is where the screenplay really shines. While the oldest of 4 children, Verónica is still a child in her own right. After the demise of her father, her mother has had to take over the family business and is now sole proprietor of the local bar. Meaning Verónica is basically on her own when it comes to raising her brother and sisters. With the combined weight of her home life, puberty, and school drama she’s teetering on the edge of what she can endure. The masterful slow-burn from Paco Plaza & Fernando Navarro’s script lets the viewer feel every bit of this increasing unbalance in Verónica’s life.

Verónica: The Cast

Sandra Escacena was born to play the role of Verónica. Age appropriate and capable of nuance beyond her years, she drives home the oppressive circumstances of her character’s existence. Supporting actor, Bruna González [in her feature debut as Verónica’s little sister, Lucía], compounds that effect as the wry little sister who depends on her older sister’s protection and support.

As we all know, every movie in this sub-genre needs its All Knowing Character. In Verónica , that role is satisfied by Sister Narcisa. Also known by the students as Sister Death [ Consuelo Trujillo ], Sister Nacisa is a blind nun with extrasensory perceptive abilities. She alone guides Verónica to the best of her ability.

Special effects are minimal in Verónica , but expertly applied. What doesn’t fit into applying bandaids or scant special makeup effects is accomplished admirably with judicious use of CGI. A refreshing and minimalistic decision that only serves to increase the intimacy of the story line.

Fans of Paco Plaza ‘s work or movies with a similar theme (for example, The Conjuring ) will love the Spaniard’s take on the well-trodden trope of Ouijas Gone Wrong.

Verónica is currently available via Netflix and wherever else movies get streamed these days.

Review by Robert Zilbauer.

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Film Review: ‘Veronica’

Spanish director Paco Plaza, best known for the "[REC]" series, returns with a new horror opus, surprise-launched by Netflix with no fanfare.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Finding surprising new life in the found-footage horror genre, Paco Plaza ’s “[REC]” movies (the first two co-directed with Jaume Belaguero) looked like a fantasy franchise with the potential to get better and better. That is, until parts 3 and 4 disappointed sufficiently to end the series with a whimper. Released online without any advance publicity by Netflix, “Veronica” proves helmer-coscenarist Plaza certainly still has the chops to remain a player among global genre talents. But this somewhat long-winded tale of demonic invasion in a Madrid household is just a partial bounce-back: Its ideas aren’t ultimately original enough or its scares potent enough to suggest Plaza wouldn’t benefit from trying his directorial hand at someone else’s screenplay.

After a teaser opening in which police respond to a panicked call from some children (arriving to witness a scene whose horror remains off-screen for the next 90 minutes or so), we rewind 76 hours. It’s just another toilsome day for 15-year-old Vero, AKA Veronica (an impressive Sandra Escacena), who must wake her three younger siblings, feed them, escort them to and from school, and otherwise do all the parenting that their widowed, bar-employed mother (Ana Torrent) benignly neglects.

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Under the circumstances, Vero is bearing up pretty well. But she’s hurt when reliable best friend Rosa (Angela Fabian) seems to have taken up with crass new girl Diana (Carla Camera), inviting the latter along to what was supposed to be a secret rendezvous — a ouija-board summoning sneaked in the Catholic school’s basement while teachers and students are off gawping at an eclipse.

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This just-for-fun supernatural experiment goes a little too well, however: Amidst strange phenomena, Vero appears to go into a trance, then become “possessed.” When she wakes up later, the nuns assume it’s simply a case of fainting from low blood sugar, sending her home with twin sisters Lucia and Irene (Claudia Placer, Bruna Gonzalez) as well as littlest bro Antonito (Ivan Chavero). But things keep getting more berserk, with the family’s apartment prey to poltergeist-y disturbances. Spurned by spooked Diana and Rosa when she realizes she must hold another “seance” to end this invasion, Veronica finally turns to her wee siblings — which turns out to be a very bad idea.

Set in 1991 (though it’s not particularly clear why), “Veronica” is admirably intriguing and tight to a point. But somewhere around the midsection, when our protagonist has a long tête-à-tête with a ponderously creepy-for-no-reason blind nun dubbed Sister Death (Consuelo Trujillo), the movie begins to play its cards a mite too slowly, with insufficient reward. The eventual visual effects-laden shocks aren’t really stirring enough to compensate for the fact that we never find out why Veronica was “chosen,” or who her demonic possessor is. Closing text asserts this is all based on real-world Spanish police files — which may well be true, but is rendered somewhat worthless by the ubiquity of such claims in contemporary horror films.

Plaza is no hack; leaving behind the found-footage conventions of the “[REC]” films, he stages this modestly scaled enterprise with an elegant, straightforward polish, imbuing the family’s ordinary flat with ominous atmospherics. The young performers are all very well handled, and there’s a nice, unforced sense of detail to the fatherless nuclear unit’s slightly-dysfunctional-yet-still-functional dynamic.

The only packaging element that’s more self-conscious than naturalistic is Chucky Namanera’s score, which manages to encompass both ’80s-style synth suspense motifs and melodramatically older-school flourishes, all to good effect. But the care that goes into “Veronica’s” assembly is still ultimately let down a bit by its content: This movie just takes too long getting somewhere that isn’t different enough from umpteen other recent “haunted family” chillers in the “Conjuring” mode.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, March 2, 2018. (In Toronto, Palm Springs film festivals.) Running time: 105 MIN.

• Production: (Spain) A Netflix release (U.S.) of an Apache Films and Expediente La Pelicula production in association with RTVE, Orange, Sony Pictures International and Film Factory. Producer: Enrique Lopez Lavigne. Executive producers: Maria Angulo, Lavigne, Mar Ilundain.
• Crew: Director: Paco Plaza. Screenplay: Plaza, Fernando Navarro. Camera (color, HD): Pablo Rosso. Editor: Marti Roca. Music: Chucky Namanera.
• With: Sandra Escacena, Claudia Placer, Bruna Gonzalez, Ivan Chavero, Ana Torrent, Consuelo Trujillo, Angela Fabian, Carla Campra, Chema Adeva.

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Netflix horror movie is so scary that viewers have to turn it off halfway through

Best to avoid watching this one if you're alone at night.

Brenna Cooper

A movie so scary that viewers have had to stop watching halfway through has landed on Netflix.

A horror movie enthusiast could be considered a glutton for punishment seeing as they spend their free time willingly watching films which see people possessed by demonic spirits and nightmarish entities.

Fortunately for fans of being freaked out, Netflix has realised it's quite the lucrative market and has plenty of supernatural and psychological horror titles such as Insidious , The Grudge and Prey for the Devil in its library.

For anyone who's already made their way through all of the big name franchises and horror classics, Netflix has a lesser known Spanish film which has been described as scary enough to make viewers switch off half way through.

Originally released in 2017, Veronica is loosely based off of the a true story.

The synopsis reveals that the movie takes place in Madrid and sees a teenage girl - called Verónica (played by Sandra Escacena) - possessed after holding a seance at her own school, hoping to contact her recently deceased father.

However, as this is a horror movie, things don't go exactly to plan and Verónica later suspects she is being haunted by a malevolent spirit at home.

We won't spoil too much from the film but it's safe to stay that things get pretty creepy from that point, as Verónica begins to grasp the severity of the situation she has put herself and her younger siblings in.

Now it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that a horror movie would be scary, but apparently Veronica managed to scare viewers so much that they switched it off half way through when it originally premiered on Netflix.

" Veronica on Netflix was based on a true story and if that doesn’t freak you out a little you may need Jesus," one person wrote on X , while another added: "Ok, I'm watching # Veronica on my own. I've nearly had to turn it off twice... I'm only halfway through."

The Daily Star reported that only one in 100 viewers were able to watch Veronica in i's entirety due to it being so scary, however it's worth noting this figure wouldn't be able to tell you if people switched off due to fear or other reasons.

Perhaps the scariest part of Veronica is the fact that its based on a true story, with the film inspired by the events surrounding the death of Spanish teenager Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro in 1991.

Born in 1973, Estefanía had become interested in the occult as a teenager, leading to her using a Ouija board with friends in her school basement.

The ritual was ultimately stopped by a teacher, however Estefanía started suffering from seizures and hallucinations in the six months following the incident.

She would later be found dead in her bedroom, with the cause of her death unexplained.

Veronica is available to stream on Netflix now.

Topics:  Film , Netflix

Brenna Cooper is a journalist at LADbible. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in History, followed by an NCTJ accredited masters in Journalism. She began her career as a freelance writer for Digital Spy, where she wrote about all things TV, film and showbiz. Her favourite topics to cover are music, travel and any bizarre pop culture.

@ _brencoco

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Netflix horror movie 'Veronica' is scaring people into shutting it off halfway through — here's what it's like to watch it

• "Veronica" is scaring people so bad they can’t even finish it.
• I watched the movie to see what all the fuss was about.
• I thought it was a really well-made movie but not all that scary.

When "Veronica" arrived to Netflix this week, Twitter exploded with reactions. Many users were so scared they had to turn it off without finishing. Others were less convinced.

—thisaintmacysbitch👻😇🍑👊 (@thisaintmacysbb) March 4, 2018

As a huge fan of horror, I was skeptical and a bit worried.

I can watch monsters, killers, ghosts, or a tape that kills you in seven days, but I don't typically handle demonic possessions really well.

But I vowed to watch it without turning it off, especially considering the filmmaker is Paco Plaza, who made the incredible 2007 zombie film "REC."

"Veronica" is a Spanish film loosely based on the story of Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro , a teen girl who died under mysterious circumstances in Madrid in 1992. The film opens with text letting the viewer know that the events they're about to see are based on a police report filed on the events.

I sat down to watch "Veronica" after work, thinking I would be able to write a little while it was on. But I was immediately hooked.

This was, in part, partly because it's in Spanish so I needed to be reading the subtitles, but also because the world drew me in. The performances are so good, especially those of Veronica (Sandra Escacena) and her little brother Antonito (Iván Chavero).

The first scene shows police storming into the apartment staring horrified at something you can't see, before cutting to Veronica getting ready for school three days earlier. This builds in a tension to the whole movie, as you wait to see what it was that stopped the officer in his tracks.

Veronica is 15 and tasked with the care of her three younger siblings. Her mom works nights and sleeps most of the day, and you're told that her father has passed away, though you don't get any more information than that.

During a solar eclipse, all the students in her school go outside to view it, but instead of joining them, Veronica and two friends head to a basement at the school to use her new Ouija Board.

They try to summon Veronica's father, but quickly realize that plan didn't work. Lights flash, glass breaks, and Veronica ends up fainting. Later that evening, strange things start happening in her home including her being temporarily paralyzed, the bathwater somehow becoming scalding hot and burning Antonito, and a slew of other typical paranormal events — lights flashing, doors slamming, and a ghoulish version of her father a la "It Follows."

For a movie that starts so strong and builds its characters so well, the second and third acts felt remarkably typical. If you've watched "Paranormal Activity" or any possession movie for that matter, you've likely seen the same kind of things you'll see in "Veronica," which I should have realized as soon as they pulled out the Ouija Board.

Despite its tropes and unoriginal plot, I was super engaged with the movie. I desperately wanted to know what was going to happen, and the climax absolutely delivered.

During the ending credits, they share crime scene photos that eerily depict the events you just watched, which was pretty creepy.

So, I made it all the way through and slept just fine. That's not to say the movie isn't scary, and I definitely screamed (a little) the first time they showed one of the creepiest monsters.

But ultimately, it's a movie I've seen before and will likely see a hundred times over. There are only so many ways you can show the occult, and it just feels like we've seen them all already.

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Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

Watch: Acting coach reviews iconic screams in horror movies

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Veronica movie review: Netflix horror film offers scares, tenderness, tension and intriguing protagonist

Veronica, Netflix’s latest addition to its horror roster, is director Paco Plaza’s most thematically complex and ambitious work till date.

When Rec came out in 2007, it represented a turning point in the much-maligned genre of found footage horror. This Spanish language film became an instant classic, spawned a largely successful franchise, a couple of customary American remakes — predictably dry and drab — and made director Paco Plaza a horror director for the future. Here was a person who had the smarts to leverage the advantages the found footage genre offered with its limited set-up, carefully removing the extra fat that had derailed so many good stories previously. Rec and Rec 2 , more than anything else, remain terrifyingly propulsive narratives, grabbing hold of the audience by the throat and refusing to let go till their memorable climaxes.

Veronica , Netflix’s latest addition to its horror roster, is Plaza’s most thematically complex and ambitious work till date. It is a character study, a coming-of-age tale, a psychological thriller and a horror film, all at once. For a film that attempts to saddle multiple themes while staying true to its genre roots, even failure would have been quite laudable. But Plaza etches his lead character, Veronica, with remarkable empathy of detail, and newcomer Sandra Escacena’s assured performance holds the film together during its shaky moments.

Fifteen-year-old Veronica is the eldest of four kids living with a mother who’s usually away working trying to make ends meet after her husband’s passing. Vero, as she’s affectionately called by everyone, is having a hard time saying goodbye to her father. One day at school, she gets a few friends together to perform a seance and summon her father’s spirit. Things go wrong, as they often do in horror films, and her life turns on its head from that moment. A new presence makes its way to Vero’s apartment and it is up to her to ensure the safety of her family.

As the reader must have noticed, there is a common tendency to critically dismiss or simply ignore the horror genre. The reasons are multifarious. They are accused of being vehicles of titillation or cheap entertainment that exploits primal human responses. But the best films in this category are always cognisant of their genre roots and manage to overlay them with social and human commentary of titanic proportions. In so doing, they turn into able vehicles of propagating ideas, without compromising on the entertainment factor.

Plaza understands this structure all too well. By donning different thematic hats, he cleverly employs the strength of one to nullify and steer clear of the excesses of the other. His film is a thematic patchwork, a reflection of the inner world of its lead character, who’s pulled and pushed by different forces throughout the film. She’s not always in command of these forces and it shows in her relationship with her younger brothers and sisters, who look up to her for navigating through daily life while mum’s away. The film can appear too chaotic for its own good at places. But it’s simply because as a character study it mirrors the state of mind of its protagonist who’s all too young to be asked to grow up so quickly.

Imagine all the confusions of being a teenager, your father gone forever, mother almost always away working, three children to take care of at home, studies, friends who think you’re always busy to spend time with them and a body and mind coming to terms with a blossoming sexuality. Now try putting these within the generic umbrella of a horror film, often considered too flippant for tackling serious stuff. But Plaza rises to this task in superlative fashion. Supported by an incredible first-time performer, he crafts a mature film that is too wise to judge any of its characters. And yet not once does he forget his genre roots. The film is chock full with steadily growing terror, resulting in a climax where all hell breaks loose. And then some. Plaza’s cut his teeth in the art of building cinematic tension with the Rec series. He pours all that experience into crafting a film that’s beautiful, moving, deeply-felt, bold and inventive.

The dexterity with which the director balances one theme against the other is made clear in the scene where Vero experiences her first period. Coming as it does quite late for her age, and that it follows a night full of nightmares, she’s already very distressed and anxious. She turns around to see her blood on the mattress. A few moments later, it is followed by her turning over the mattress to discover another huge stain left by a presence, which may or may not be her father’s. A turning point in her life is literally mirrored by a turning point in the film. The film is full of such seemingly chance encounters that are cleverly arranged by a director working at his best.

Armed with a terrific lead performance and a director whose ambition is ably matched by his maturity, Veronica offers all the excitement of a genre film while remaining firmly anchored in a deeply moving character study. Veronica shall be remembered as a great blend of scares, tenderness, slowly mounting tension and an intriguing central character. Plaza creates images that will linger with the audience for time to come. Its immediate impact is visible in the multiple nominations the film has received at Spain’s highest film awards, the Goyas. This writer, for one, eagerly awaits what this major horror director decides to do next.

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Heretic Review: Hugh Grant Is Terrifying In This Twisted A24 Horror Movie [Fantastic Fest]

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have mastered the art of the 8 out of 10 genre movie. No one in the world is making better 8 out of 10 horror and science fiction films. And their latest movie, the claustrophobic religious thriller "Heretic" is a 10 out of 10 in the category of 8 out of 10 horror movies. I know this sounds like a lunatic thing to say, but 60% of the time, it works every time.

"Heretic" continues the trend of Beck and Woods being two extremely talented movie dorks who read the room and know exactly what the audience wants, even if they don't know they want it yet. "Haunt" is a modern gem that will only accrue a powerful cult following as the years go by, the Adam Driver-versus-dinosaurs survival adventure "65" is one of the most unjustly overlooked blockbusters of the past few years, and now "Heretic" is an A24 horror movie that has all of the trappings of something like "Hereditary" while also thinking of the audience's pleasure first and foremost. It's dark and nasty and cerebral, but it also never forgets to be a good time at the movies. One gets the impression that Beck and Woods would happily sacrifice a few points in reviews from hoity-toity critics like me if it means sending the audience out into the lobby buzzing and on a strong cinematic high.

And they're right to do so. I rewatch 8 out of 10 movies more often than I do 10 out of 10 movies. There's something to be said about a movie that just hits right , and even more to be said for a movie that hits right while approaching those familiar pleasure sensors from a fresh and exciting direction. Frankly, I can't wait to see "Heretic" again.

The best new horror characters in a decade

Deliberately designed to function as a sort of anti-"Quiet Place" (which Beck and Woods wrote), "Heretic" is a horror movie driven entirely by dialogue, conversation, debate, and words as weapons. Set almost entirely in a series of rooms in a Very Bad House, the film follows two Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, who take an appointment with a seemingly friendly older man, only to learn that his curiosity is a mask for his staggering expertise in religion. What begins as an awkward meeting slowly transforms into a theology class from hell, as Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton first politely endure their host's lecturing before realizing the front door is locked, they cannot leave, and the only way forward is to learn what he wants with them. And what he wants from them certainly can't be good.

A horror film this contained lives or dies by its performances, and "Heretic" is shouldered by three powerhouses. The slightly thorny Sister Barnes and the sweet-natured, trusting Sister Paxton make for an incredible and unlikely horror movie duo: two religious young women who are treated as intelligent and thoughtful even as they stumble into a nightmare. The film's screenplay ensures they avoid common genre pitfalls and generally make smart choices in a dire situation. Sophie Thatcher's Barnes, tough and quietly ferocious, balances perfectly balances Chloe East's Paxton, whose bubbly naïveté finds itself tested repeatedly and brutally as she's dragged further into darkness.

There are too many religious horror films to count, but so few of them are actually interested in the inner beliefs and thoughts of characters who believe in a higher power. The power of Thatcher and East's performances is that even a non-believer can understand their perspective, and feel the agony of the film's ongoing assault on everything they hold close to their soul. They are, quite frankly, the best new horror movie protagonists since "The Conjuring" introduced its fictionalized versions of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Hugh Grant channels real Vincent Price energy

The third great performance comes from Hugh Grant, continuing his astonishing transformation from former heartthrob to fascinating character actor. His Mr. Reed is a perfect use of Grant's talents (using every part of the Hugh Grant, if you will). His goofy charm, that inherent friendliness that made him such a compelling rom-com lead for so many years, is front-and-center. Of course you can trust this guy. But the smarm slowly emerges, coating every friendly smile and seemingly kind word with a texture of discomfort. Eventually, we're seeing sides of Grant we've never seen before as an actor, a previously untapped capacity for terror that lands all the harder because we watched several familiar masks dissolve in slow motion before our very eyes.

The character of Mr. Reed, and Grant's performance, recalls the kind of oft-forgotten horror villain actors like Vincent Price used to play. His power is his way with words, the way he ingratiates himself in a room, charming those around him until they're lulled into a sense of false security. There's an edge of camp present, but one gets the impression that it's Reed himself who is indulging a dramatic side — he loves to hear himself talk, and he loves to watch those across from him squirm as they realize exactly what he's saying. Mr. Reed would be right at home in a '60s Amicus horror anthology, the kind of host who sits in the comfy chair and tells you exactly how awful things are going to get before delivering on that promise. Frankly, it's an incredible performance.

Beck and Woods aim to please above all else

For its first half, "Heretic" is unlike any horror movie released in 2024, and perhaps the most stressful and intense horror movie of the year. Beck and Woods make use of their limited locations to strangle the audience, bringing their cameras into suffocating extreme close-ups to emphasize the impossibility of escape. Mr. Reed talks and talks and talks, and Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes smile and nod and politely respond until the politeness runs out. Plans are plotted in hushed whispers. The deliberate lack of action leaves the characters, and the audience, powerless. Rare is the horror movie that can mine so much sheer terror from being in a room with a man who prides himself on being able to talk his way through someone's defenses. We use "skin-crawling" a lot when we talk about horror cinema, but the sheer ickiness of Grant's performance, its pompous escalation, makes the epidermis twitch. It's powerful, disconcerting filmmaking.

But Beck and Woods are crowd-pleasers at heart. They want the audience to have a good time, darn it. Eventually, "Heretic" does evolve into something a bit more familiar, shedding the heart-pounding sense of pure wrongness that defines the first hour in favor of more action, violence, and traditional excitement. And it's all very well-executed, frequently very scary and, honestly, probably the right choice for filmmakers who clearly care about their audience.

Beck and Woods, masters of the 8 out of the 10 movie, the movie that you want to revisit again and again, need to offer that familiar release. It's in their nature. And I'm not mad at it, even as I acknowledge that the film's first half bowled me over while I merely found the second half to be just a terrific time at the movies. Who am I to turn my nose up a movie ultimately making the choice to be good entertainment above all else? 

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10

"Heretic" opens in theaters on November 8, 2024.