The Corpse Of Anna Fritz

The ick factor is readily apparent in the latest Spanish entry into the horror genre, "The Corpse of Anna Fritz." It's hard not to reveal the key surprise in this movie, which occurs about fifteen minutes into the film, but I guess the trailer does that anyway. If you don't want to know the twist and you want to go in cold, just know that I dug this nifty little suspenser. If you don't want to know any more, **STOP READING NOW**.

"Corpse" is a small "chamber thriller" about a young pathologist named Pau (Albert Carbo) who brings the newly dead body of world-famous actress Anna Fritz (Alba Ribas) to the morgue. Within minutes he has taken a picture of her lifeless face and sent it to his friends as bragging rights. Soon after, those friends Javi (Bernat Saumell) and Ivan (Cristian Valencia) arrive at the hospital to take Pau to a party. With an hour left to work, he sneaks his friends down to the morgue to see the sex symbol for themselves. This is where a few gross truths are revealed, one of which is that Pau once had sex with a dead seventeen-year-old girl. This gives Ivan an idea, and he decides he's going to have sex with the body of the International Celebrity, eschewing the protestations of Javi, who is the only one of the three with a soul.

Ivan does the deed and then tries to convince Javi to as well, but he refuses -- clearly repulsed by his friends and desperate to leave. Pau pipes up and says he'll do it to and... well... that's when things change. As Pau rapes the corpse, the corpse wakes up.

To be fair, there isn't a lot of depth to this 75-minute horror fest, but if you think there is a supernatural element to this, you'd be (thankfully) mistaken. While there is no reason given for Anna's revival, the audience sort of just accepts it for a fluke (we've all seen stories about this sort of thing happening), so it doesn't feel out of the realm of possibility. What it does, however, is set up a great deal of anticipation as we root for Anna to survive the panic of the three men, while not having full use of her body.

Director Hector Hernandez Vicens offers up a modicum of suspense here, especially in the sequence where Anna attempts to get away. The one flaw in the film is a script that doesn't offer much in the way of a character to side with or root for other than Anna, and that is simply (and understandably) because she's a victim. Only one of the guys has any morals, but we end up following the two rapists for too long, and with Anna on a gurney for most of the film, all we want to do is punch them in the face.

That said, despite the uncomfortable set up to the film, this is a solid thriller that keeps you wondering how it's all going to play out. The actors are all well cast here, with Cristian Valencia most effective as the dominant member of the pack. He is a threatening presence throughout, which is what makes this film as darkly menacing as it is.