''The House of Snails'' ( es, La casa del caracol, links=no) is a 2021 psychological thriller film with rural horror and fantasy elements directed by from a screenplay by Sandra García Nieto based on García Nieto's novel ''La casa del caracol'' which stars

Javier Rey Javier Rey (born 25 February 1980) is a Spanish actor. He is popular for his performance in the television series ''Fariña''. Biography Born in Noia, Galicia on 25 February 1980. He was an avid comic book collector before starting his actin ...

alongside

Paz Vega María de la Paz Campos Trigos (born 2 January 1976), known professionally as Paz Vega (), is a Spanish actress. She became popular for her performance in comedy television series ''7 vidas''. Her film credits include ''Sex and Lucia'' (2001), ...

and Carlos Alcántara.

Plot

The plot is set in the 1970s in a fictional village ("Quintanar") in the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

n sierra, where Antonio Prieto, a writer addicted to mezcal rents a house there so he can write his novel in relative isolation. The mysterious folks and the village are connected to superstitions and rumours about a strange and frightening creature known as El Vímero.

Cast

Production

Written by Sandra García Nieto, the screenplay is an adaptation of her own novel of the same name. Described by Macarena Astorga as "a thriller that mixes a bit of psychological horror, suspense, mystery and fantasy", ''The House of Snails'' is the director's debut feature film. A joint Spanish-Peruvian-Mexican co-production, it was produced by Esto también pasará and Casita Colorá Producciones AIE alongside Bowfinger International Pictures, Basque Films, Producciones Tondero and Hippo Entertainment Group, with the participation of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

Canal Sur Canal Sur ('South Channel') is part of Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA), the public broadcasting company of Andalusia. It was created by means of the devolved powers given to this region by an Act of Parliament in its statute of autono ...

, and

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

. It was shot in the mountains of the

province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to ...

, including the village of , belonging to the municipality of

Antequera Antequera () is a city and municipality in the Comarca de Antequera, province of Málaga, part of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" (''el corazón de Andalucía'') because of its central locat ...

Release

The film was presented in the official selection of the 24th

Málaga Film Festival The Málaga Film Festival, formerly Málaga Spanish Film Festival (FMCE), is an annual film festival held in Málaga, Spain. The festival was established to promote Spanish cinema and help disseminate information about Spanish films. Since 2017, ...

on 7 June 2021. Distributed by

Filmax Filmax International is a Spanish production company, motion picture production company and film distributor based in Barcelona, and one of Spain's largest integrated film and television groups. It produced the Rec (film), ''REC'' horror series, ...

, it was theatrically released in Spain on 11 June 2021. It was also invited to the

27th Lima Film Festival The 27th Lima Film Festival, organized by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, took place from 10–18 August 2023 in Lima, Peru. The awards were announced on 18 August 2023, with ''Tótem'' winning the Trophy Spondylus. Background On ...

in the Galas section, where it will be screened on 12 August 2023.

Reception

Beatriz Martínez of '' El Periódico de Catalunya'' rated the film 1 out of 5 stars, writing that "none of the elements of this film make any sense", and the film ends up becoming "an incompetent and arbitrary thriller" attempt. Irene Crespo of '' Cinemanía'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars underscoring as a veredict the film to be " nintense psychological thriller. Magical and rural realism". Raquel Hernández Luján of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' rated the film with 50 points ("so-so") positively citing the good main actors and the well-done cinematography, whilst negatively assessing the "very poorly directed" secondary actors and the film's overly "abrupt and gimmicky" denouement, otherwise pointing out at the result being a "quite unsatisfactory" film overall. Elsa Fernández-Santos of ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' considered that, despite early managing to unsettle the viewer with the atmosphere and setting, Macarena Astorga "gets totally lost when the secondary characters end up reduced to nothing and the main character leaves the viewer, to say the least, perplexed".

Accolades

, - , rowspan = "4" align = "center" , 2022 , , rowspan = "3" ,

1st Carmen Awards The 1st Carmen Awards, presented by the Andalusian Film Academy, were held on 30 January 2022 at the in Málaga. The gala, broadcast on Canal Sur, was hosted by Adelfa Calvo and Pedro Casablanc. History The Andalusian Film Academy disclosed the ...

, , Best Actress , , Paz Vega , , , , rowspan = "3" , , - , Best New Director , , Macarena Astorga , , , - , Best Sound , , Diana Sagrista , , , - , 30th Actors and Actresses Union Awards , , Best Film Actor in a Minor Role , , Fernando Tejero , , , , align = "center" ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:House of Snails, The 2021 psychological thriller films Films set in the 1970s Films set in Andalusia Films about writers Spanish psychological thriller films Peruvian psychological thriller films Mexican psychological thriller films 2020s Spanish films 2020s Peruvian films 2020s Mexican films Films based on Spanish novels 2020s Spanish-language films Tondero Producciones films Bowfinger International Pictures films 2021 directorial debut films 2021 films Films shot in the province of Málaga