Verónica: Netflix Film not as Scary as Advertised

By Ellie Drabnis on March 12, 2018

A new horror movie has taken Netflix and the internet by storm. It is a 2017 Spanish film entitled “Verónica” and, apparently people were so fearful of it that they have been turning it off halfway through.

But, don’t believe the hype: “Verónica” is not as scary as advertised.

Halfway Mark

Just for the fun of it, I set my phone to go off at the halfway point in the movie to really see if I needed a break from it. But, that was when it started to pick up. Nothing ridiculously fear-inducing had happened up to that point. Though, I paused to grab a snack and returned with a notepad in hand if only not to fall asleep during.

Despite picking up at this point, the storytelling remained disjointed and those small details brought me out of it.

Boredom was setting in and even so, I was determined to finish this movie.

*SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT*

Distractions from The Main Storyline

 Yes, obviously no horror movie or even a suspense thriller is just going to dive into the action. However, when any movie dives into a bunch of details about the characters all at once, something is going to get lost.

Verónica (Sandra Escacena) is a supposed ‘good girl’ who ends up using an Ouija Board with her friends during a solar eclipse. They end up summoning an evil spirit who she believes is her father. In reality, though, she has summoned a demon or evil spirit of some sort. This then leads into the main story and thus she is tormented by the spirit. However, various inconsistencies throughout the movie distracted from this.

I was excited to watch this movie but, my expectations fizzled very quickly…
(screenshot take on iPad using my Netflix account)

For example, Verónica’s father has passed away. Therefore, her mother, Ana (Ana Torrent) works day and night leaving Verónica is in charge of getting her three siblings Lucía (Bruna González), Irene (Claudia Placer) and Antoñito (Iván Chavero). That includes being responsible for getting her siblings to and from school.

About two days pass within the movie and, Veronica doesn’t pick the kids up. So, how did they get back home?

Her mother couldn’t have picked them up. Yes, I realize I’m being a bit nit-picky over a small detail but, that very much distracted me.

Plus, the blind nun known as Hermana Muerte, a mean nickname from the students meaning Sister Death (Consuelo Trujillo) at Verónica’s school may or may not also be possessed. This is just completely glossed over. That character wasn’t necessary. If she was, why not add more to her?

Lack of A Legit Scare-Factor

No two Latinx people speak Spanish similarly but, we all more or less understand one another. I didn’t need the subtitles at all. So, maybe the lack of a language barrier took out the scare-factor for me?

While I was hoping to avoid horror movie cliches, low and behold: “Verónica” has one cliche that stood out above the rest: while being tormented by the evil spirit she summoned, she conveniently has several novels about occult things which explain everything about spirits in detail including how to protect oneself from them.

Yes, the movie was said to be based on true events but, yet another cliche took away the scariness for me. I realize this story is taking place in the 90s but, inserting something that rose to popularity in those times is overkill. That 90s object was none other than the classic electronic game: Simon.

I now have a new hatred for the game Simon and the sound effects that come with it. I understand that the color changes and sound effects were meant to be used for a scary purpose. The fact that a child’s toy is possessed could be scary to a point.

However, the noises that Simon systems make is absolutely irritating and childish. It got old very quickly and I was glad once the monstrous evil spirit finally showed up.

Finally, when Verónica is facing torment from said evil spirit, the obvious CGI isn’t at all intimidating. I wanted to be frightened so much so that I would have trouble sleeping but, no. I wasn’t.

I wanted the evil spirit to look menacing but, the CGI was very obvious and not at all intimidating
(https://pixabay.com/en/dark-art-daemon-the-witch-fireball-2838965/)

Though, one of the few redeeming qualities of the movie was that one the last day, when cops find Verónica, her body floats in the air before them before dying. The surprising scare in that scene was what I wished to have seen throughout the movie but, oh well.

From a disjointed storyline to a lack of scares, “Verónica” is not worth the hype or the watch. If you want a legitimately scary movie, I’d say consult a horror movie enthusiast friend or look for a list of movies that offer scares online.

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