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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Simple, Effective Slasher, 7 March 2006
7/10
Author: Hal-900 from WA, USA

For about 30 minutes, I was suspicious of this modern slasher. I thought it was going to be an imitation of Wes Craven's Scream, but I quickly changed my mind. Firstly, unlike the Craven movie, there is nothing in the film that is self-referential, and the story is treated with a straight face. In fact, I think I liked this movie because it takes its slasher mentality quite serious. It's about a group of young friends who know more than what they are willing to admit, about the sudden (and mysterious) disappearance of a mutual acquaintance. I do not want to say more because I do not want to give away a few surprises. There is a very clever twist near the end, that quite frankly, I did not see coming. In fact, that twist reminded me of a recent, very popular Hollywood horror film, but I'm not going to say which one is, because I don't want to spoil the fun. And when you think you know everything you need to know, director Fernández Armero throws another twist at the viewer. Anyhow, I liked it very much, and I think it successfully plays with the expectations of the subgenre. The movie does not have any nudity and it is low on violence, so if you are a rabid horror fan you may want to skip the film. But it is a good film for older kids that like this sort of thing. If you liked something like Thesis (1996) and Abre Los Ojos (1997) (I loved both movies!), you will enjoy this movie. Spaniards do know how to make spooky films! Terrific music score by Bingen Mendizábal.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Did he rise from the dead?, 4 April 2005
5/10
Author: dbdumonteil

People will fatally evoke "los ostros" and "the sixth sense".Those remarkable works did not invent the "trick" though.It was already used in "carnival of souls "(1962).And anyway "arte de morir" owes more to the largely underrated "Jacob's ladder" and to the rather original adolescent movie " Campfire tales" .

"El arte de morir" suffers from a screenplay which lacks focus and intensity and the story does not take off during the first thirty minutes.There are good ideas which suggest that the movie could have been much better than what we see on the screen.I particularly dig the lines "it takes nine months to be born,why would it take so little time to die?"

"There'll come a time when all of us must leave here(...) There' ll come a time when all our hopes are fading When things that seem so very plain Become an awful pain." (George Harrison,"Art of dying","All things must pass " album)

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Better than what i expected, 29 April 2003
7/10
Author: (JasonT413@aol.com) from Barcelona

This film turned out to be an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours in front of the boob tube. The film succeeds due to the entertaining ensemble cast and the great to watch acting of Fele Martinez. Man, I love this guy. He seems to make every film he's in. The films that I have seen him in I greatly enjoy. He seems to me sort of like a Spanish version of Ewan Mcgregor, maybe even better. He's very versatile and fun to watch (Lovers of the Artic Circle, Open Your Eyes, Talk To Her). For him I give the movie a 7. Without him it's a six.

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it was the idea I loved, 1 April 2003
Author: sanctusspiritus (sanctusspiritus@hotmail.com)

as I saw this flick in the middle of the night, that might have made it even more breathtaking, for that is what this is, breathtaking. The idea is brilliant and quite original, the idea that one can die at different levels before the final death, and that death, however terrifying, is the final liberation. But it is the idea I loved, not the film itself. Something is lost, the staging is simple and the murders are textbook. It in the end is nothing more then a successful slasher film. I wish someone would do a remake which was actually true to the idea. The only character which really works here is Ivan, a forlorn and neglected genius, slightly schizophrenic and well, charismatic. Unlike the others, who are simply uninteresting.

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Good and imaginative Spanish horror movie, 14 April 2000
Author: guybrush105 from Barcelona, Catalunya

I have to admit that when I decided to see this movie I was completely sure it was going to be another "Scream" clone. Despite that, since it was the first Spanish horror movie that belonged to this new "horror-movie-for-teenagers" genre, I though it might be interesting to watch.

How little could I imagine that it was going to be much more intelligent and scary than any "I know what you did last summer" type of movie(It also has some flaws,though, but I'll take about them at the end). The plot seems rather similar to that of the movie I've just mentioned, but only at the beginning, because afterwards it has amazing plot twists that don't just focus on the identity of the killer. (Even though the final plot twist isn't good enough)

The way it's directed helps the movie be different too, making the movie kind of "cold" and distant. To be honest, I think the director has got inspired by films such as Crash and Gattaca to set this kind of mood.

The performances are good, specially the main two characters, even though sometimes they behave strangely. (They seem to be a bit unfocused sometimes, but maybe that's the way their characters are supposed to be)

As for the bad things, the movie gets a bit boring towards the end, not because of what happens, but because of the performances and the direction (I know, I'm contradicting myself a little bit here, since I've said all of this was good, but maybe the director should have made things go faster at the end and make the character's personalities not so monotonous.) Then, when you thing it's over, there are two more plot twists that instead of getting better and better get worse and worse, and make the ending less interesting.

Overall, "El arte the morir" is a GOOD movie BRILLIANTLY directed and with fairly good CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. And it's much more intelligent than Scream2 and "I know what you did last summer" and its sequel. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Not a bad film, not at all, 24 September 2005
6/10
Author: skylane_pictures from Spain

Directing lacks of strength, has a few flaws, might get a little boring sometimes, but this is one of the few Spanish movies I would save if the Earth were to be wiped out by an striking meteor. At first glance (you only need to have a look at the film poster) you get the impression (at least I got it) that this is going to be a very typical teenager-murder movie, as silly and void as any other. The first, say, 30 or 40 minutes (I can't remember) don't do anything to change this point of view. The murders begin, and sometimes it gets even visually silly. But then things change, and the story starts getting really weird... what the heck's going on? you might ask yourself. When the big twist, the ultimate truth, arrives, something in your head goes off and you realise the cleverness of the story.

All in all, a clever thriller, sufficiently well put together. Could've been better done, but it's not bad. An unusual movie for Spanish standards, and I applaud that.

6 out of 10

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Not Amenabar., 29 April 2000
Author: TechNoir from Madrid, Spain

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A new genre was created in the Spanish cinema when Alejandro Amenabar presented his two first and great movies, "Tesis" and "Abre los Ojos". They were brilliant movies with some things in common: A thriller with complicated stories, scenes of great visual impact where weird, impossible things happen and leave the viewer breathless, awaiting for the next surprise, but at the same time with brilliantly resolved screenplay and avoiding the cheap "scary" tricks of bad terror movies. Young and relatively unknown actors are also used in both movies, but they perform great, and the movies last in your memory forever.

Some movies have tried to follow this pattern to obtain the same success as Amenabar's. With some good marketing and Amenabar's well rounded work, they have everything to be box-office megahits, and indeed they have been. Some of these movies are "Nadie conoce a Nadie" and "El Arte de Morir". The first one was not bad after all, even though Amenabar's movies were a lot better; but "El Arte de Morir" is really a very VERY bad movie.

The story is very typical and seen before a lot of times; a killer goes after a group of friends, who are killed one by one. Nobody knows who he is and even if it's one of the group members, ala "Scream". (I don't think this is a spoiler since it's what the trailer shows). What tries to make the movie special is some weird events that happen along the movie, which are explained in the ending. But overall, it's a move seen a thousand times. However, that doesn't necessary have to be a bad thing. But also the acting is just horrible (Only María Estevez does an acceptable job and Fele Martinez is disappointing after much better performances in Tesis and Abre los Ojos), the story is quite uninteresting and the ending is plain dull and implausible. Some scenes are absurd, they are often placed in moments of the movie where they do not belong and the killings are... well, boring. Some key factors of the movie are overlooked (Nacho's paintings influenced by El Bosco) and almost everything is undeveloped.

All in all, a really bad movie that will make a lot of money thanks to a good marketing campaign, a nice trailer and the hope of seeing another great "Abre los Ojos". But stop dreaming. It is not. We will have to wait for Amenabar's next movie for that.

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1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
SPANISH THRILLER/DRAMA,REALLY WORTH WATCHING !!, 27 June 2003
Author: spanky6666 from Belgium

Nice Spanish Thriller(supernatural)/Drama that's definitely worth watching,nice rental!!

It's your typical "Kill them one by one" movie (like Scream) where a bunch of young adults did something wrong in the past and have to pay for that now...

This is NOT a horror/Comedy,it breaths a dark,chilling atmosphere... It's very well directed,kind of strange and has good music(New Wave/Gothic).

Ideal to watch once on tv or for an overnight rental.

GO SEE THIS,YOU'LL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!

See ya!

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2 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Boredom in the kingdom of spain, 18 April 2001
5/10
Author: Fredericmignard from paris

Spain has made good impression lately with movies such as The Nameless, tesis, Abre los ojos, Los amantes del circulo polar... Unfortunately el arte de morir fails to impress. it inspires boredom instead of inspiring awe and terror. The murders depicted (it's a slasher film) are uninteresting which is the worse defect for a film of that genre.

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