What the Waters Left Behind

Epecuén was one of the most important touristic villages of Argentina. Thousands of people concurred, attracted by the healing properties of its thermal waters. On November 10th 1985, a huge volume of water broke the protecting embankment and the village was submerged under ten meters of salt water. Epecuén disappeared. Thirty years later, the waters receded and the ruins of Epecuén emerged exposing a bleak and deserted landscape. The residents never returned. The plot revolves around a group of young people that take a trip to the ruins in order to film a documentary about Epecuén. Ignoring the warnings, and after a brief tour, they get stranded in the abandoned village. Contrary to what they thought, they begin to realize that they are really not alone…

Yeah, I get it, it's a rip off... and it's a rip of of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and that was a pretty epic horror movie. That was a defining horror movie. But... it was a horror more, and, let's be honest... they aren't that different from one another. Sure, you have movies like "The Exorcist" that stand out, that have a different plot... but those are rare and often ripped by a lot of "Horror Fans." Ultimately, The Hills Have Eyes is the same as Wrong Turn. Friday the 13th is the same as... well... Every other slasher movie, and the same can be said by the genre defining Halloween. My point is, I don't get the originality argument. This is a rip off, but it's actually pretty well acted, it keeps enough in the shadows to compensate for a low budget. It hits some of the tropes, and honestly, being a low budget rip-off it could have used to hit all the tropes to an exaggerated degree. But, the acting was pretty well done. The director and the cinematographer knew how to film a decent horror movie withing their limited budget. They knew how to hide things and when to show them. I can't really fault that. So I am giving 10 out of 10 stars because it did the job it set out to do. And, it entertained... and at the end of the day, who sits down to watch a film like his and expects something original and groundbreaking?