Over three decades have passed since E.T‘s Dee Wallace hid in a car from the terror of a St. Bernard in the Lewis Teague adaptation of Stephen King’s novel CUJO – and a brand-new Spanish horror film takes the baton of the battle between human and animal.
ROPES is the story of quadriplegic Elena, a young woman who has retired with her father at a country home to try and get over a recent tragedy with her father. Accompanying them is a Belgian Shepherd by the name of Athos and a ferret. However, Elena’s own raw feelings about the tragedy have manifested themselves in anger and resentment towards her father, coupled with her own status quo being paralysed in a wheelchair.
Whilst investigating a mystery smell coming from one of the adjoining rooms, the father discovers what appears to be a dead bat on the ground, which Athos sniffs……
Heart-breaking and very downbeat cult horror which proves to be effectively claustrophobic given the lead character’s predicament and not only references the King adaptation, but also films like Lucio Fulci’s THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. Part single-location thriller and part supernatural drama, ROPES keeps the attention by upping the ante and making the hard all the more harder for Elena.
There are limits to what you can do with a simple premise like this, but director José Luis Montesinos wisely balances the terror with reflective depth of character, thanks mostly to lead Paula Del Rio, who holds the frame in the lead role of Elena and captures the essence of a woman coming to terms with her own physical disadvantage in a sensitively handled and occasional weepy performance that cuts to the heart of the audience.
Not a gore-fest, but with some good bona-fide scares thrown in, ROPES is deserving of its’ recent award-winning success at Manchester’s Grimmfest 2020 event.
