Terror 5: A World of Sex, Vengeance, Zombies, and Snuff Films
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Terror 5 follows five storylines that stretch over one fateful night in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There’s a school where kids can get back at their teachers, some sleazy guys trying to swap girlfriends, a couple who get a motel room for a night of fun, a bunch of friends watching a snuff film, and the overarching narrative of corruption, tragedy, and revenge.
Is It Though?
Terror 5 has been advertised and reviewed as an anthology and we all know how much I dig anthologies. What I went in expecting was the standard wrap around narrative that was revisited between the telling of several complete tales. That is not what I got. I honestly don’t think that anthology fits this film. It’s more like Pulp Fiction or some other early Tarantino film than any horror anthology I’ve ever seen.
Don’t get me wrong, though. That’s not really a complaint. I love Tarantino flicks. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are two of my favorite movies ever. So, I was a little thrown off initially but once I realized that is was a film with parallel-ish storylines I was still on board.
What’s Really Going on Here?
In order to really dig into this film and talk about it properly, I’m going to take a look at some of the storylines and talk about how they connect. The rest of this review will probably be lousy with spoilers. If that’s something that you’re concerned about go ahead and skip to the bottom where I give my final thoughts. Otherwise, buckle up. Shit is about to get weird.
The Wrapper
The film starts with some news footage. A building collapsed and the citizens of the city are waiting to find out who is to be held responsible. Most everyone is waiting on the court to rule that the mayor and his cronies are guilty of negligence. This, like the most of the other stories is told in bits and pieces throughout the film.
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As the verdict is coming down, the families of the victims of the collapse pack a city bus and head out to the cemetery where everyone from the tragedy is buried. They gather around a big memorial, set up a tablet, and watch a livestream of the news coverage. As one does. When it turns out that the smug assholes in charge have been exonerated (shocker), the mourners go apeshit. They don’t stop at just screaming at the sky or crying. Oh no. They become zombies! They’re zombies with glowing blue eyes hellbent for revenge, to be precise. They pile back on the bus and head to the capital where the smarmy assholes who they blame for their relatives’ deaths are holding a press conference. There are a couple showdowns and things get pretty damned interesting.
Now, this story doesn’t cross over into the others much except for the one KISS paint wearing douchebag that the zombies kill. Other than that, this story just kind of gives you a feel for what is going on in the city. It shows you what everyone else is distracted from by their own desires.
The One about the School
The story that comes in right after the opening sequence you follows Juan as he meets up with this cute girl that he is trying to date. She tells him to meet her at the school at night so she can show him something.
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Instead of T and A, Juan gets shown a whole new world. The students from his school are there torturing teachers. They decided that education was traumatic for students so it should also be traumatic for teachers. Juan’s crush and a jaded, super=cool, cigarette smoking guy explain everything to him as they go through the school’s various torture rooms. Juan seems a little skeptical about the whole thing at first but he finally gives in.
I don’t know if it was the cute girl in the short skirt or his need for revenge that pushed him over the edge but whatever it was, really worked out. He ends up not only pushes past his inhibitions about torture but he also gets the girl. Good job, Juan. Good Job.
This little vignette is told all at once, as far as I remember. It is weird, surreal, and ultimately a good way to set the mood for the other weird and surreal stories that this movie has to tell. This one connects to the story about the two lovers in the hotel room. The jaded cigarette kid is one of the lovers.
Two Assholes Walk into a Hotel Room
As with most characters in this film, the two lovers are pretty unlikable. I honestly don’t remember their names. They hang out in this hotel room, they fuck , and they argue. That’s about it.
Well, that’s all that’s going on until the girl notices movement behind their headboard mirror as she’s watching herself get plowed from behind. They try to look through the mirror by cupping their hands and getting super close but they see nothing but darkness behind the mirror.
Figuring that everything is fine, they get back to mirror-face aardvarking until the guy gets upset. Ol’ girl is making extra sexy faces and he feels like she’s putting on a show for whoever may or may not be watching them. I think she was. It was pretty effective too, if you ask me. I just don’t understand why homeboy got so butthurt about it. Like I said, couple of assholes.
The audience knows that there are a group of masked individuals behind that mirror armed with a hammer, a whip, a camera, and bunch of bad intentions. They finally get tired of watching the action and decide to enter the room and make a little action of their own.
This storyline connects to the one about the torture school as well as the one about the friends getting together to watch a snuff film. Do you wanna guess how it fits? Yup. Exactly.
A Bunch of Twats Watch a Snuff Film
This one opens up with a handful of people at a small house party where everyone except one guy is in costume. They keep calling the one not in costume Cherry. I think it’s because he’s a virgin. The whole group treats him like shit. They’re goaded to be bigger dicks to him by Juan Carlos, the dickhead in KISS makeup that I mentioned earlier.
This dickhead with horrible taste in music claims to have access to the secret section of a local video store. In this section they keep weird pornos, extreme obscure horror films, and snuff tapes. He tells them that he has a bona fide snuff film on him and they’re going to watch it. They do. It’s pretty rad.
They keep bullying Cherry until he snaps and fucks someone up with a bottle.
Creeps in Cars Getting Eaten
This one, as far as I know, didn’t connect to the other stories except for the fact that they mention the same suite in the hotel that the couple is in. I’m pretty sure I missed something.
Apparently these two dudes are trying to think of ways to sneakily swap girlfriends. They’re just really fucking lame but their story is pretty cool. In the end there’s a little bit of cat and mouse, some spooky shadows, and a ton of blood.
Nuts and Bolts
I might not have seen how some of the stories connected and I think there was some cultural stuff that subtitles alone won’t translate but honestly this movie was really good.
Performances
While it is absolutely true that I hardly remember any of the characters’ names and the I liked even less of them, the performances were pretty solid. The cast was pretty balanced, and for me, there were no weak performances. Everyone came across believably.
I think the best performances in the movie were Juan’s crush and Cherry. She was cute and innocent looking and delivered her lines in such a measured and polite manner that it made the stuff she was advocating and explaining to Juan that much darker. Watching Cherry go from a pudgy punching bag to a rage-filled killer was awesome. There’s no gradual descent here. The switch flips and he is done with everyone’s bullshit. I loved it.
Visuals
This was a beautiful movie. Even in the scenes where it was supposed to be dark you could still tell what was happening. The practical effects were all handled really well. Even the little bit of CGI they used for the zombies was bad ass. These things had bright blue glowing eyes and were some of the scariest zombies I’ve seen in a cool minute. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it visually stunning but I did love the aesthetic of the film. Check out the trailer and you’ll see what I mean.
Commentary
I love when a movie had some subtext to it. Even though this was a foreign film based in not only another language but also a different culture some of the commentary in it is universal. Terror 5 touches on how goddamned sick and tired the world is of government corruption while at the same time taking a critical look at the outrage mobs of modern social media. I mean, fuck, they watched the precedings on a tablet and their eyes look like bright glowing screens. It also touches on the education system that is failing our youth as well as bullying and how it can turn out poorly for everyone involved.
Some of what this movie had to say may have been lost in translation but some things are universal. That’s why I love watching foreign films so much. It shows you that we may all have out cultural differences but when you get down to the root of things, we share so much in common. Cinema, like music, is a universal language.
All in all…
All in all, would I recommend Terror 5? Definitely! This is another film from the one of my favorite distributors, Artsploitation Films. I have watched and reviewed several of the films they have brought to America and they have been consistently enjoyable. You can pick up a copy of this one for yourself tomorrow, April 2nd from their site.
