Customer Reviews

H6 - Diary of a Serial Killer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

H6 basically is about a man who is convicted of killing his girlfriend in a fit of rage and after serving his time for it decides to carry out the work for which he feels he has been chosen. This of course is to be a serial killer. Despite his outwardly normal life with a woman whom he marries, but does not love him, he still maintains his maniacal ways behind her back in the locked room of the guesthouse he inherited from family after his prison release.
The movie has blood, has gore, has rape basically everything needed to make a good horror movie yet it lacks the intimidation of the murderer. He seems relatively harmless even while commiting gruesome murders. Because he feels it is more of a job than an urge it loses something. It's the "need" and "drive" that makes murderers usually so scary on screen. I found it to be nothing more than a gory drama. It was in interesting story and definitely twisted so it's worth seeing, but if you're looking for a movie that will make you jump it literally lacks all surprises in the dark.

H6: Diary of a Serial Killer (Martin Garrido Baron, 2005)

Have you seen any of the recent rash of low-rent serial-killer biopics? I'm not talking about the big, gaudy, theatrically-released flicks like Chopper here. I'm talking about, say, David Jacobson's Dahmer (starring a young Jeremy Renner) from 2002, or Chuck Parello's 2000 Ed Gein (with Steve Railsback in the title role)--movies that have a lot more in common with Deranged than they do with Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer. (Or, for that matter, even such fictional classics as M.) Did you ever wonder to yourself whether, or why, someone would want to create one of these low-budget biopics for a completely fictional serial killer? Neither did I. But then I saw H6, and that's exactly what it is.

Antonio Frau (TV actor Fernando Acaso, doing his best Javier Bardem impersonation) and his wife Francesca (Maria Jose Bausa, in her first, and to date last, screen appearance), seem to be happy orbiting in their own separate places. Frau has recently been released from prison, always proclaiming his innocence. While he was up the river, Maria started an affair with the doctor she works for, and that's still going on. It'snever explicitly stated that Antonio knows, but I always got the feeling he did. It doesn't dim his ardor for her one bit, but like Francesca, Antonio is pretty much insatiable. The difference is that his urges come with a darker twist; instead of having affairs, he prefers rape, torture, and murder, and the bulk of the film goes back and forth between him abducting and killing young woman, usually prostitutes, and darkly comic scenes of his trying to hide what's going on in room H6 of the boarding-house they're fixing up from Francesca.

So you tell me. Are director Martin Garrido Baron and writer/actor Martin Garrido the same guy? I can't tell, and IMDB seems to believe they're different, but I'm having a hard time believing it (Barron has only two credits, both of them working on Garrido flicks). Depending, This is either Baron's first or fifth film, and that really does make a difference in how I would rate this shindig; some of its problems are generally forgivable from first-time directors (like the stuttering pace of the thing, especially during its first half-hour), but not so much in someone who's been directing for more than two decades, albeit rarely. Don't get me wrong it's not a terrible film; the acting is good for the most part, the lighting is spectacular (especially in H6 itself), the script isn't bad. But this is a movie that could have been so, so much more than it is. The DVD box blazons, "Europe's answer to Hostel!". Not by a long shot. ** ˝

[MINOR SPOILERS]
The DVD artwork for this film features a blurb from a review of the movie that compares it to Eli Roth's 'Hostel,' which is likely where many of the comparisons have come from. This is a totally different film, in almost every way, shape and form. While Roth's effort suffered from an inability to decide whether it wanted to be psychologically disturbing (horror through suggestion, as well as the unsettling nature of the subject matter) or in-your-face with its gore, 'H6' knows exactly what it is from the outset: a serial killer thriller that builds slowly, keeps its gore mostly off-screen and merely suggested, but loses steam in its second half when nothing new seems to be happening.
Antonio Frau is imprisoned after violently murdering his girlfriend during an argument. Released many years later, he finds he has inherited an old brothel from his aunt. He decides it is his purpose to 'cleanse' the streets of 'unclean' citizens, by utilizing his newly inherited estate to lure in prostitutes and murder them. Inspired by a similar case, he also decides to document - in great detail - all of his exploits in a diary. He gets married so as to have someone to vouch for his innocence in case of trouble, and persuades his wife to work night shifts in a hospital, so he can deal with his victims.
Though not explicitly mentioned in any reviews on this site, other reviews have mentioned the misogynistic nature of this film. Whether or not that was the filmmaker's intent, the fact the killer only kills prostitutes is telling; surely there are just as many evil or corrupt men for him to dispatch? (In fact, he does murder the abusive pimp of one of his potential victims; still, the amount of screen time given to this death is a fraction of what is given to the torture of the women). Adding to the misogynistic nature of the narrative is the fact that Antonio is never really punished in the end for his actions.
Now, back to 'Hostel,' briefly. The reason this film drew comparisons to Eli Roth's picture is no doubt because of the torture scenes in this movie. Antonio's victims are tied to a metal table in a locked room and made to suffer before he kills them. That's where any similarities end. Unlike Eli Roth's film, the torture in 'H6' is deeply disturbing because it is entirely psychological, and will haunt you longer because of it. Antonio's victims are aware they are going to die, yet are made to wait for days as Antonio scrutinizes them for his diary, probing them with questions about just what in their pasts led them to drugs and prostitution. He feeds them nothing, and rapes them constantly as their conditions deteriorate. And then finally, when they are weak enough to accept their deaths as an inevitability he brutally kills them with a chainsaw. And when he does kill them, director Martin Garrido Baron wisely pans his camera away, aware that the extent of the psychological torture the audience has witnessed leading up to each death is far more gruesome than any make-up effect could ever hope to achieve.
The first problem with the film is that the second half drags a lot. Once Antonio begins his rampage, very little new information is presented, and his character does not seem to develop. Unfortunately, since the film is basically a character study of Antonio (his diary after all) this detracts largely from the overall experience.
The cinematography in the film is generally very strong; inventive and effective in creating an atmosphere of helplessness and despair. Yet the editing is erratic and sometimes counterproductive to the mood of the narrative. During slow scenes (there are a lot, since the film takes its time getting started, and the second half drags) it almost appears as if the editor increases the pace of each cut just to artificially add intensity, cutting to new shots when there is no new information to be gained from doing so, and then quickly cutting back. During conversations this just looks downright silly.
Overall, while 'H6' has some things working in its favor, there is ultimately too much going against it for me to give it a sincere recommendation.

"H6" is about a man who is released from prison and begins raping and killing women inside a brothel that he runs. Just so you know there are subtitles on this film due to the foreign nature. Yes, this guy is a psychopath who rapes and kills several women, but the plot kind of falls apart after that. This film wasn't what I had expected it to be. It centers all attention on him instead of his victims, which is the opposite of the movie Hostel. There is plenty of gore, but each scene tends to repeat itself with yet another victim. This film isn't bad but it could have been much better.

I don't know why people tend to over-simplify movies by making a lame, and usually completely inaccuare comparison to a great movie. When I read a review that says "its a *insert random country here*'s answer to Taxi driver" I cringe. Hey reviewers, Why not compare a serial killer movie to "Titanic" or "Sweet Home Alabama", It is no more asinine of a comparison.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is no "Hostel" and Reese Whither*whatever the hell her name is* is scarier than anything is this movie.

He's a rapist with a chainsaw. It will scare the hell out of you if you paid to see it and had high expectations. I don't mean to state the obvious or anything, but horror movies have violence. All the death scenes are off-screen.

I enjoy horror movies and I have the stomach for it. What I don't have is an understanding of the purpose of all the rape scenes. It added nothing to the movie or the horror. In "Irreversable", it was critical, and you were meant to sit there in agony, completely montionless, this let you share the pain of the female lead and all that knew her, it also added countless layers of ways the viewer identified with the characters, and allowed Noe to draw you in. Here it is just unwarranted filth, I just don't understand it.

Man, just when you think you've seen all the brutal, messed-up scenes
you can, along comes a movie like this to shake you up. What's in the
water over there in Spain? Antonio Frau is a recently-paroled killer
who served his time but hasn't been very well rehabilitated. He
inherits an old brothel from some relative and he decides this is a
sign from God to kill hookers...and pretty much anyone else who he
deems "unclean". Of course, he doesn't just kill them, he "purifies"
them, which consists of a lot of torture and drawn-out pain until
finally dropping the chainsaw on them.

Admittedly, you don't see all the blood and guts, a lot of it is
insinuated, but in a way that's better. It sticks with you, the mental
images of what he does.

If you liked Hostel or are a big fan of really sick torture scenes,
this is a must-see!

My god this is horrible. Totally misleading and just plain horrible. The reviews were just as bad in being misleading. There was no torture and no rape scenes in the entire movie. Killings were off screen. Isnt there one movie out there that actually delivers what they advertise.

I want my money back. My header says it all. This one sucked big time.
I guess it's back to looking at the classics all over again: (original, Fred Walton version) When a Stranger Calls, (original) TCM, Henry: Portrail of a ... Aja's Hills Have Eyes, Romuald Karmakar's The Deathmaker, Herk Harvey's Carnival Of Souls... You got the idea.

This is a really good movie. Unlike Eli Roth's, you have to actually THINK to understad and enjoy what's going on and why is this guy doing such things. Also, not as gore-ish as Hostel and I think thats great because you wont be distracted from the real trama of the movie.

this film is good but deff violent......if your not into the violence..stay away...but like the other reviewer stated if you like ..hostel...then this is your movie....more violent than hostel...it made hostel look like a kids movie.....good for those who like blood...