PERDIDOS: A Different Way to Scare

By Pablo Rendón

Taking on a “found footage” horror film is no easy task — the mere idea of presenting a group of friends carrying out a search for paranormal activity in an abandoned building brings to mind the Canadian film Grave Encounters (The Vicious Brothers, 2011), a landmark in this horror subgenre. Fortunately, Perdidos, a film by Mexican director Diego Cohen, never attempts to parody the formula so often used in rather failed films. Nor does it try to reinvent the wheel — it even pays tribute, through its dialogue, to the genre's great pillars and unavoidable references: The Blair Witch Project (Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, 1999) and Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007).

Perdidos, which premiered in Mexico City during the 2015 edition of Macabro FICH, has a very simple premise: Lalo, a young film student, gathers several of his friends to document the paranormal events taking place in some old, abandoned steam baths located in the Santa María La Ribera neighborhood.

While a “found footage” film is predictable and doesn't require deep analysis to guess the fate of our protagonists — a fate sealed from the first few minutes, when we learn that this group of enthusiasts disappeared after venturing into the realm of the paranormal — Cohen brings in discordant elements, such as the Jewish exorcism ritual and its connection to the number 18, which force viewers to set aside that prior baggage and recognize they're facing a different approach.

At other times it sticks to the genre's conventions: one of the subgenre's rules is the use of space as an element of dramatic tension, giving it a starring role within the story. Cohen does the same with the Santa María La Ribera baths, a gloomy setting that holds a dark secret, but rather than going for the easy scare, he opts for an atmosphere we could well call Hitchcockian, quite unusual for this kind of film exercise, that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

Perdidos, has been warmly received by Mexican audiences during its first week in theaters, screening in 88 movie complexes across the country, a record figure for a Mexican-made horror film. To the delight of genre fans, the film continues to screen in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, and Tijuana.