Coisa Ruim aka Bad Blood (2006)
A family decides to leave behind the stress of city life and move into a huge house in the countryside that they recently inherited. And the country is a vastly different place than the city, a place where superstition runs widespread, the local priest still performs exorcisms, and there may just be a thread of truth surrounded in the strange, disturbing tales told about their new home.
The film takes its time to build mood and atmosphere. Rather than slapping you around with shock after shock or spooky encounters, the film builds its characters carefully while slowly raising the tension. It is a film where more is hinted at than demonstrated, a serious look at the possibilities of the supernatural. The storytelling is more concerned with the consequences of the supernatural tales & beliefs that the family is dealing with in a new place than it is with exposing the supernatural itself. But when the supernatural forces involved finally becomes evidently real that investment in character pays off beautifully.
The camera work is beautiful and the entire cast & characters believable through and through.
Overall, this is a subtle, slow burning tale of a haunting, set in rural Portugal with a tragic finale. Highly recommended.
>>: A-