Terrified on Shudder: How Many Times Did It Make You Jump?

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I kept seeing Terrified in Shudder’s popular recommendations, but I have to admit: I judged it by its cover. It didn’t really appeal to me so I kept passing it over.

I did try to watch it late one night but fell asleep pretty quickly. Which isn’t a reflection on the movie. It’s in Spanish with subtitles, it was late, and the reading lulled me into the Land of Nod within minutes.

However, after my A Haunt Mess podcast co-host, Sara, highly recommended it, I decided to give it another shot. It’s one of Shudder’s offerings that makes me happy that I subscribe to the streaming service. It totally lives up to its name. It’s terrifying.

About Terrified

Here’s the description on Shudder:

On an ordinary suburban street in Buenos Aires, voices are heard from kitchen sinks. Bodies are levitating. Evil is here. It is up to a doctor, her colleague, and an ex-cop to get to the bottom of this neighborhood nightmare.

It’s written and directed by Demián Rugna and stars Maximiliano Ghione (“Funes,” the cop), Norberto Gonzalo (“Jano,” I believe he’s an ex-detective Funes knows and calls in), Elvira Onetto (“Dr. Mora Albreck,” the paranormal investigator), and George L. Lewis (“Rosentock,” Dr. Albreck’s colleague.)

What Is Happening Here?

I wasn’t prepared for where all Terrified went.

Which, that was my only negative regarding the movie. It didn’t go anywhere I thought it might, which was good in one respect.

It started off with a woman in the kitchen hearing something coming from the sink. Her husband, Juan, comes home, she hasn’t made dinner, they talk about ordering out, she leaves to use the bathroom and never comes back.

The husband goes to check on her and finds her levitating in the air, bloodied, being slammed back and forth between the shower walls.

It cuts to him being in the police station. He’s led to a room where three people join him: Rosentock, Dr. Mora Albreck, and Jano.

He professes his innocence, declaring it’s not what it looks like. He didn’t kill his wife.

To his surprise, the trio says, “We know.”

They show him photos from another scene and ask if they look familiar.

Then it jumps back in time to Juan’s neighbor, Walter, who is going crazy. He’s experiencing activity in his home that he can’t explain.

Walter reaches out to a doctor (who we later learn must be Dr. Albreck), but the receptionist refuses to push through his call. He goes home, deals with more activity, including an incredibly spooky scene with a humanoid being under his bed that goes into his closet and also stands over him. Or maybe looms over him is the better way to put it.

Whatever’s happening in Walter’s house is freaky, driving him mad, and he can’t reach Dr. Albreck to help.

Then a neighbor boy getting a drink of water from Walter’s outside faucet gets hit by a bus and dies.

But he doesn’t stay dead. In more freakiness, the little boy comes back, as evidenced by disturbing muddy footprints which lead to the boy’s corpse at the kitchen table.

It just gets wilder and more disturbing and paranormally active from there.

But the jumping from one character to another felt disjointed to me. That’s why I dinged it a half a skull. (That and because I wasn’t entirely nuts about the ending.)

Got Me

Almost every review I say this: Horror movies rarely scare me these days. Once in a while something might startle me and I’ll jump. But as far as creeping me out? Nope.

Terrified creeped me out, made me jump multiple times, and definitely gave me something to think about.

I wasn’t nuts about was the ending, but even it made me jump.

I also found myself thinking something that I often don’t: “I could see them doing a sequel to this. I’m not sure how, but I think I’d like to see one.”

I give it four and a half out of five skulls.

Trailer

Check-In

Have you seen any scary horror movies lately?

If you saw Terrified, did it make you jump? (It got me three or four times. Maybe a new record!)