Horror Film Review

Veronica (2017):  Facebook is all aflutter with memes about this Spanish horror movie that can be found on Netflix.  These memes, no doubt a quasi-clever marketing ploy, report that most viewers found it too scary to finish.  Some even say it shouldn't be watched by those with heart conditions.  Well, I call bullshit.  I watched Veronica all the way through and while occasionally intense, it is not unduly terrifying.  In fact, I could name dozens of movies way more likely to induce involuntary bowel expulsion.  Nevertheless, ouija board/possession flicks affect different people in different ways.  I suppose just as some fled the theater in terror during The Exorcist, there are those who simply cannot handle Veronica.  I refer to these people as weenies.

Madrid, Spain.  1991.  Police receive a frantic call for help from a girl in the middle of the night.  What the police detective in charge of the investigation discovers upon arrival...well, we find out later.  I should mention these events did really happen, maybe not exactly as depicted here, but after a fashion.  So, quickly:  Teenage Veronica looks after her younger siblings as their mom works nearly 24/7 at a bar and their dad is dead.  At school while all others are on the roof observing a solar eclipse, Veronica and two friends play with a ouija board in the basement.  Of course something inexplicable and creepy happens, leaving Veronica unconscious.  Later, she begins suffering from nightmares and hallucinations (the one of her very dead and very naked father being perhaps the most disturbing).  One of her sisters gets choked by an entity only Veronica can see and her brother is scalded in the bathtub.  Frantic, she consults the occult reference manuals that came with the ouija board as well as the blind nun at her school kids call Sister Death and learns she must use the board again to close the portal she and her friends opened.  Her friends refuse so she tries with her twin sisters.  Let's just say it doesn't go quite according to plan.

The twist at the end isn't exactly a The Sixth Sense-caliber twist, but it's groovy enough.  Not so groovy are the typical annoyances like a disbelieving mom and bailing "best" friend.  I also don't understand why Veronica thinks drawing Viking protection symbols will do any good.  It's not as if she summoned Loki or anything.  Also, she entrusted this rather important job to her 3 year-old brother, telling him to draw this particular symbol on all the walls.  The problem is that in the book containing said symbol, there is another symbol not for protecting but for conjuring.  How long do you think it took for the kid to find the conjuring symbol?  Yeah...there's a reason her portal closing doesn't go quite according to plan.

The Skinny

Acting:  The performances were flawed but serviceable.  Sandra Escacena as Veronica is an actor to keep your eye on.  I think she'll be around awhile.
Story:  Possession and supernatural shenanigans born of ouija board usage by morons isn't anything new.  The hook here is that it really happened...sort of. 
Direction:  Draggy in parts and unique in others.  At one hour and 45 minutes, it's too long.
Production Values:  It's got that gritty, foreign film vibe that really helps set the tone and mood.  I have no budget data, but I'd guess it didn't cost more than a million bucks to make.
Gore/FX:  There's blood, not buckets of it, but enough to satisfy me.  The CGI doesn't suck.
Scares:  You'll jump once or twice, but more importantly, there are alarming scenes that will instill in you a frightful sense of dread. 
Ending:  Twisty and appropriate for this flavor of horror flick. 
Verdict:  Should you see Veronica?  Sure.  It's a solid effort and deserves the majority of the accolades being heaped upon it.  Just don't buy into the ridiculous hype that's it's the scariest movie of 2018 or that it's too scary to finish. 

Rating:  4 out of 5