Martin Mauregui’s haunting gothic horror story goes for the jugular as it indulges in extremes that leave the audience simultaneously provoked and protective.
The responsibilities and universal tenets that hang over our lives are some of the most effective places to draw fear and anxiety. There’s an enduring horror trope that loves to pervert elderly individuals into scary and unstable threats. This is ripe territory to unpack when it’s properly handled, and films like The Visit, The Taking of Deborah Logan, and The Rule of Jenny Pen create conflict from the uncertainty over whether supernatural activity is even in play or if it’s just nature’s cruel circle of life.
Crazy Old Lady, the solo feature film debut by director Martín Mauregui, stands apart from its peers by digging into the symbiotic relationship between caretaker and patient. It takes the fears, anxieties, and dread that accompany caring for a weak, aging loved one, only to then blow them up on an exaggerated, haunting scale. Crazy Old Lady is an incredibly promising directorial breakthrough from an exciting new name in Spanish horror.
There’s a simplicity to Crazy Old Lady that begins this twisted, tragic narrative from a grounded, believable place. Pedro (Daniel Hendler) is asked to look after his ex’s frail mother, Alicia (Carmen Maura), when she worries that she’s not taking her meds. This simple favor festers into a nightmare, and Pedro finds himself punished for this act of kindness and fighting for his life. Pedro runs through the gamut of emotions as he tries to appeal to Alicia’s frail mental state and find any wiggle room that can be turned into freedom. The film keeps its audience guessing as the film’s relationships and dynamics continue to transform. It also introduces Pedro under extremely bold circumstances that condition the audience to automatically have their knives up with him.
Crazy Old Lady takes advantage of the expected tropes that accompany grandmother figures and how they’re so often associated with bedtime stories and peaceful imagery. At the same time, they also function as predatory players in so many folk and fairy tales, like Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel. It’s a cinematic expression of this duality and why these elderly archetypes are such fascinating figures. The movie isn’t always successful in this endeavor, but it stays true to its mission statement and makes sure that Alicia contains multitudes.
Crazy Old Lady is produced by J.A. Bayona, whose film The Orphanage taps into the same gothic vibe as Mauregui’s movie. It also brings other recent claustrophobic Spanish horror films to mind, like Jaume Balagueró’s Venus and Paco Plaza’s Veronica and La Abuela. At first, it feels like Crazy Old Lady simply embraces this familiar territory without bringing anything new to the table. It’s not long until the film eschews expectations and does its own thing, which results in an unpredictable and exciting experience.
So much of the movie’s success comes down to Carmen Maura’s committed work as Alicia. She delivers such a haunting performance that it creates a truly uncomfortable atmosphere. The movie confines the audience with a fragile, unstable character for an extended period. It makes sure that any barometer for normalcy is skewed from the start and only continues to deteriorate over time. It’s an exhausting structure, albeit one that’s deeply effective. There are shades of Misery, Reservoir Dogs, and even Saw as Crazy Old Lady effortlessly blends terrifying tension with a goofy sense of humor.
That being said, Alicia does occasionally feel like a cipher. Mauregui could have created some additional tension by providing a look at Alicia before everything falls apart, so that there’s a greater frame of reference regarding her state of mind’s extremes. To this point, Mauregui’s feature never attempts to consider if Alicia can be saved. She’s out of control, and the film is content to roll with that energy for the rest of its runtime. A mounting sense of confinement intensifies courtesy of the fim’s meticulous blocking and cramped sense of spatial awareness.
Outside of its grueling subject matter, Mauregui’s Crazy Old Lady is a horror film that also looks absolutely incredible and boasts gorgeous cinematography by Julián Apezteguía. A real sense of atmosphere and personality is established very quickly when it comes to the haunted house of hypothetical horrors that Pedro unassumingly heads into. Alicia’s dwelling is given the same gravitas as the house from The Exorcist. The film goes for broke with stylistic elements that do a lot of the heavy lifting early on in terms of building this terrifying tone poem’s elevated ambience.
There are phenomenal fantasy sequences that initially feel out of place that help Crazy Old Lady flex its creative muscles when it comes to prosthetics, practical makeup, and effects for monstrous creatures. These moments allow the film to further assert its odd identity and how it zigs when you expect it to zag. The dream sequences also contribute to the film’s fairy tale-esque quality that’s present through the film’s stylistic choices. That being said, it never gets anywhere even close to something like Pan’s Labyrinth.
Crazy Old Lady is a bleak commentary on power dynamics that becomes a heartbreaking exploration of regret during one’s twilight years and the last gasp of fulfilment that follows. It’s a psychological horror film with its share of torture that highlights how easy it is for a dream to become a nightmare.
Mauregui’s film looks at our tendency to turn to fantasies as a means of comfort and escape, whether it’s with romantic crushes, daydreams, or literal delusions. Fabricated alternate realities are repeatedly peppered throughout, as if to taunt the characters and, occasionally, the audience. It’s a gut-punch of a horror movie that’s rich in style and vision, and will leave you simultaneously wanting to call your mother and lock the door.
Crazy Old Lady is now streaming on Shudder.
