THE ELDERLY

After his beloved wife suddenly commits suicide, octogenarian Manuel (Zorion Eguileor) starts behaving strangely, much to the distress of his family and his increasingly independent granddaughter. He becomes aggressive, still believes that he’s talking with his dead wife, and even tries to implant a radio receptor into his chest. His family are confused and angry, and as the temperature in Madrid literally rises due to a summer heat wave (a horror film in and of itself), it appears that Manuel isn’t the only senior citizen preparing for something big. All the elderly folk are acting suspicious, and they all seem to know something the young ones don’t. Tapping into our universal fear of aging and our rejection of aged bodies, THE ELDERLY feels like a contemporary take on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, with some stone-cold, impressive moments that linger long after the film is over. Co-directors Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez weave their small story of a single family into something bigger, weirder, and a lot scarier than just a few choice shots. Their film combines body horror, science fiction, and mystery with a commentary on how we treat our elders pulsing through every scene and every argument about what must be done with Manuel. THE ELDERLY is the latest in a new wave of eerie, high-concept Spanish genre films that confirms there’s something truly messed up brewing on the peninsula. (ANNA BOGUTSKAYA)