Written and directed by Isaac Ezban, The Similars is a 2015 Mexican supernatural thriller, although the Spanish-speaking audience here on Steemit may know it as Los Parecidos.
Set in 1968, and filmed in colour but with a very dark tone, The Similars takes place on the night of an enormous rainstorm, causing the inhabitants of a bus station to seek shelter there until the storm dies down.
Focusing on character development, each character is obscure, seemingly hiding something, and definitely very interesting. The film's characters are excellent, and really keep you engaged, constantly searching for answers behind their weird ways. To my surprise, that feeling stayed with me throughout the entire film.
Trapped inside this bus station, the characters slowly turn on each other, slowly begin to crumble and fight, but that's not where the film really shines at all. Where it shines is in its ability to be so spectacularly weird and unexpected. The real threat is an unexplained force, slowly turning the characters' faces into the face of another character. As you'd expect, this causes a lot of panic among them. A lot of questions raised towards that one character; is he a demon? Is he the devil in disguise? Just what exactly is happening here?
Those questions stick with you. They begin to become your questions, almost as if you are yourself there in that situation. You are becoming similar. It's utterly thrilling in all the right ways, and the film's dark tone keeps that feeling of inevitable despair with you, making you think that the questions will never be answered, that slowly, one by one, each person will crumble and become the same.
The Similars feels like classic horror. It feels so fresh, so unique, and its horror is just so strange. It's a film that exceeds all expectations, especially with such a small budget. It's an intelligent film that has you longing for much more like it.
