Rewind: ‘Veronica (2017)’ Review
Stars: Sandra Escacena, Bruna González, Claudia Placer, Iván Chavero, Ana Torrent, Consuelo Trujillo, Ángela Fabián, Carla Campra, Chema Adeva | Written by Paco Plaza, Fernando Navarro, Coral Cruz | Directed by Paco Plaza
Opening the film on 15th June 1991, [REC] co-director Paco Plaza sets the scene with a distressing phone call where a panicked girl tells the police that someone is inside her home. As officers pass a crying family outside, they enter the house to find it in disarray. The story then cuts to 3-days-earlier, as 15-year-old Verónica (Sandra Escacena) helps to look after her younger siblings while their mother works long shifts.
Using a Ouija board to try speaking with the dead during an eclipse, Verónica becomes possessed during the séance. As strange occurrences unfold around the schoolgirl, she is harassed by dangerous supernatural presences which threatens her family.
Plaza and co-writer Fernando Navarro loosely based this story on a police report filed by the detective in charge of the case, where Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro mysteriously died after using a Ouija board to perform a séance. This fictionalisation sees the titular character’s grief come alive in spooky ways which haunt her, as she feels all alone by her mother working long hours and her best friend avoiding her. Reality is not as Verónica believes and, despite evident suffering. her cries for help tragically fall on deaf ears.
Distinctively shot sequences bring alive this story, including a striking sequence where those in the background move in reverse during a low moment for the lead. It is a well-shot tale with good ideas, which leaves it unfortunate how the execution feels lacking. Despite pieces being there for something haunting, it rarely sends a chill down one’s spine, which is unfortunate for this tragic and well-acted tale.
