PARANORMAL XPERIENCE 3D

Allow me to open with a statement of intent from this film's director, Sergi Vizcaino, culled from the Internet Movie Database: "In XP3D we will take the audience to horrific places, we will put them physically there and we won't let them escape. We will follow the main characters into long and sinister basements where 3D will transport them to their worst nightmares".

And so, the film's intriguing prologue introduces us to five students all desperate to get better grades in their psychiatry courses: hot-headed Carlos (Lucho Fernandez), his more rational and academic girlfriend Angela (Amaia Salamanca), sexpot Belen (Ursula Corbero), greaser Toni (Oscar Sinela) and clean-cut Jock-type Jose (Maxi Iglesias).

They've all volunteered to take part in a social experiment to be conducted by their professor, Fruentes (Miguel Angel Jenner). He's promised them better grades if they partake in his little test. This involves him strapping each of them into individual seats and then pretending to slash Jose's wrist open - complete with pig's blood on hand as a prop - in a bid to demonstrate how the mind overtakes the body, and is capable of convincing someone they're about to die when really no harm whatsoever has come to them.

As you can imagine, none of them are best pleased with Fruentes afterwards. They're even less happy when it transpires that he's still likely to flunk them. Incensed by the professor's reluctance to stay true to his word and up their grades, Angela meets with him in his office a short while later. He suggests that she and her friends could pass their course by spending the next few days in an old mining town called Susurro, where several miners were gruesomely tortured and killed many moons ago.

Why? Because locals believe an evil doctor called Matarga was responsible for the murders, despite the fact that he was already dead when they were committed. If Angela and her classmates can collect evidence that such paranormal activities are nothing but figments of our imagination, Fruentes tells her, they will all pass their course. But they only have a few days to do this in...

The first thing for these kids to consider is how they're even going to get to Susurro. Fortunately, Angela has an estranged sister - Diana (Alba Ribas) - who has both an unhealthy fixation with all things paranormal, and a van that will accommodate them all.

Before you know it, the six kids have set off in Diana's van in search of spooky goings-on in Susurro. Toni's the token misfit, reluctantly allowed to tag along on account of his access to a video camera.

The group appears to be having fun to begin with, but there's always the unspoken event from Angela and Diana's past to cause an atmosphere of awkwardness whenever needed. Inevitably this comes to the fore and the flashbacks begin to reveal the truth behind a past tragedy, as the horrors mount when the group start investigating the old mines in Susurro...

The title of this film alone had me fearing the worst. In one short grouping of words, the filmmakers manage to imply that their product is another PARANORMAL ACTIVITY knock-off, deliberately misspell the word ‘experience’ in a seeming bid at hipness, and tag the dreaded gimmick of 3D onto the end. The cover, with what looks like a character from Slipknot on it, didn’t allay my trepidation any.

As it turns out, this Spanish production wasn’t nearly as dreadful as I’d anticipated.

True, Daniel Padro’s screenplay is strictly by-the-numbers stuff (any seasoned horror viewer will know precisely where this one is going at each turn) and the finely chiselled casting owes more to American teen scarefests such as SCREAM than the likes of Paco Plaza or Jaume Balaguero. But the fast-moving plot is relatively plot-free, and the film is lifted stylistically by director Viscaino’s keen visuals: his photography and nose for attractive scenery help distinguish the film slightly, along with the bouncing Spanish dialogue which comes across, weirdly, as more plausible than I imagine it would’ve done if this were a bunch of young Brits fumbling around in the dark.

Performances are agreeable too. The roles taken on are undeniably stereotypical ones, but at least the actors attack them with oomph.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still silly, hackneyed stuff. We’ve seen all of this before (along with SCREAM, the likes of THE DESCENT, ANATOMY, URBAN LEGEND, [REC] and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT sprung to mind on occasion). It’s rarely scary either, its inert polish robbing it of any desired rawness.

But its snappy storytelling and sporadic jumps are, I suppose, efficient enough to hold the attention over the course of an undemanding 86 minutes. And Corbero is worth two minutes of anyone’s time, surely.

The film is being released onto DVD and 3D blu-ray by Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment. SGM were provided with a DVD for review, so cannot comment on the prowess of the ‘full anamorphic 3D’ presentation promised in high definition. It is apparent, however, that this film was shot with every intention of being shown in 3D: from the looming onscreen film title at the start of the show onwards, there are many examples of how everyone concerned was aware of the third dimension whilst shooting.

Even in 2D, the film looks very good on DVD. Presented here uncut and in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the transfer boasts strong colours, a high level of detail and nice clean images with solid blacks, great sense of depth etc. This is a very strong DVD transfer, no two ways about it.

Spanish audio was provided in 2.0 on the screener disc and did its job well, as did the easily readable optional English subtitles.

The disc made available to us was an early, watermarked test disc. As such there were no menus or extras proffered for review purposes.

PARANORMAL XPERIENCE 3D – horrible, horrible title – isn’t the ghastly abomination I thought it would be. It’s not a particularly exciting film either. But it does leave me with the impression that, given a more original script and shying away from superficial gimmickry in the future, Vizcaino could probably deliver something of interest to the genre.

By Stuart Willis