10 · 09 · 08

Spam: A film “full of clichés”

Clara Sánchez/Translated by Caroline MacKinnon

[imagen]Yesterday, Charlie Gore (Carlos Sariñana) presented his horror film Spam, in which a strange Internet site www.pidemuerte.com becomes responsible for a series of murders of teens at a high school. The chain of deaths started when a student entered the web page and sent emails to various students and one of their teachers.

With regards to aesthetics and subject, the movie is filmed, audiences said, in a “very American” style. It takes place in a high school where cheerleaders make an appearance, there is a psychiatric hospital and a emergency medical service that has everything you’d expect including the typical blankets. The director responded to these observations by saying, “whenever I write, I imagine my stories take place in a patoholandezco world.”

Verónica Merchant, Gloria Nava, José Antonio de la Vega, Tobias Sariñana and Fernando Sariñana, the films producer, were taking questions at the end of the screening.

Fernando Sariñana was asked about the Mexican horror films that he last produced (El libro de cabecera, Hasta el viento tiene miedo) and how they still haven’t yet found “their path” in filmmaking. Sariñana responded, “there isn’t a ‘path’ now. They’re going to, little by little, find it. The fact that there are other genres that exist that are growing in production, this lets me play around with a lot of different things. Finding this path will take time. I am really interested in helping out young directors.”

Verónica Merchant, who plays the part of the psychiatrist, said “I took on the role in this film because I wanted to experiment with new genres and new directors.”

The lead actress in Spam Gloria Nava who has the lead role in Spam said “Although I had a coach help me with my character, I felt very free to work as closely to the director's vision as possible.”