4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Mood Chiller, January 6, 2011
This review is from: 99.9 (DVD)
Maria Barranco is stellar in this Spanish paranormal thriller. What a find. She portrays a radio talk show hostess dealing in psychic phenomena and ventures to an eery Spanish village to find out the truth about her boyfriend's death. Everything about this film is creepy. The sound effects, music, lighting, camera angles and small village setting gives you the creeps from the get-go. And, just when you think you have the whole story figured out, you're greeted with a shocking ending. This has the feel of a classic horror flick but it's definitely not for the kiddies. To get the full effect, watch this in the dark.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, haunting film, July 19, 2010
This review is from: 99.9 (DVD)
Have to disagree with the other posters on this one. I thought it was terrific.
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5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
My Pocketbook Died So Yours Doesn't Have To, November 5, 2005
This review is from: 99.9 (DVD)
If there were a way to assign a negative five, I would. I'm a sucker for horror movies with a "mystery". NOT movies where the whole purpose of the flick is to see how many gross and gorey ways people can be killed. Not serial killers, blood, guts and raunch. Rather, I want to see something with building tension as the protagonist seeks to solve the mystery of the ghost, the demon, the obscure monster. Eerie surroundings, atmospheric lighting and sets, and a definite sense that we are working with something waaaaay out of the ordinary. I don't mind some blood, but it better be there to advance the plot and not just satisfy the gore mongers. Think "Ringu" "Ju-On" and "The Devil's Backbone". (Okay, I'm enough of a snob that I had come to believe that foreign language + subtitles = good movie.)
With that in mind, I bought 99.9. According to reviews on other sites, it had all that I was seeking: a creepy village, building sense of supernatural at play, vanished beloved, plucky heroine, mysterious faces on the wall and a cool insane asylum nearby. And let's not forget the idea of videotaping someone else's thoughts while under the influence. Unfortunately, there were either not enough ideas for the plot or too many (I really can't tell which) as the story goes off in about six different (and completely undeveloped) directions. Is there a serial killer? What are the faces on the wall? What is the purpose of telling us Lara has a child when he all but dropped from the story? Why isn't there more tension about the radio program Lara hosts? What about the thoughts of the dead man and what happened to that story line? Who are THEY? I realize that tying up all the loose ends would be unrealistic, but I wouldn't object to a slip knot or two.
In addition, the subtitling is sloppy: either the translator was Spanish and didn't really know English that well or the English translator didn't know Spanish OR English. Wierd grammatical configurations and misspellings abound. But at least the feature is subtitled. If you want to watch the "making of" featurette (which might have explained what the creators were going for) you have to be really fluent in Spanish because, guess what? NO SUBTITLES AT ALL.
In all, a frustrating experience that was more horrifying than the story it was trying to tell. Save your money and get ANYTHING else instead.
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