In a decade where senior actors like Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell help lead successful horror franchises, Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez confirm that the genre is currently an old person’s game with their new film, The Elderly. A mystery surrounds an old widower after his wife’s unexpected suicide, and the film asks: what if the worst potential symptoms of dementia, the hallucinations and paranoid delusions, were real? The Elderly’s story of aging and conspiracy belongs in most libraries’ film collections, especially those that specialize in the horror genre and independent features.
During a particularly intense heatwave, an elderly Spanish woman, Rosa (Ángela López Gamonal), goes through her morning routine and lets her husband sleep in. She fixes her hair, picks out a dress, and leaps to her death from their bedroom balcony. Rosa leaves behind a son, Mario (Gustavo Salmerón), a pregnant daughter-in-law, Lena (Irene Anula), a teenage granddaughter from Mario’s first marriage, Naia (Paula Gallego), as well as the widow mentioned above, Manuel (Zorion Eguileor). When a baffled Mario asks for an explanation for Rosa’s death, Manuel cryptically answers, “It’s the static noise. The magnetic waves.” Despite his off-putting behavior, Mario asks Manuel to stay with their family, against Lena’s wishes. Since the family struggles financially after the loss of Mario’s job, and there’s a new baby on the way, Lena feels apprehensive about Manuel’s presence in their apartment. Lena suspects the old man did something to Rosa and urges her husband to investigate.
Feeling closer to her grandfather than her stepmother, teenager (and aspiring future video game developer) Naia spends most of her time tending to Manuel or hanging out with her boyfriend, Jota (Juan Acedo). Naia is the most sympathetic to Manuel’s situation, confiding in Jota that she feels frightened of aging. “Nobody listens to you, they ignore you.” She has a strong bond with Manuel, as she reminds him of his headstrong, rebellious Rosa. Despite a vague attempt at a tragic backstory for Naia’s mother and Mario’s late first wife, we rarely feel connected to The Elderly’s characters outside of a poignant storytelling scene between Manuel and his granddaughter.
Naia starts to see and hear apparitions, inexplicable shadows, and faint voices, as well as the more startling image of her bloodied grandmother. Seemingly haunted by the woman, Manuel asks Naia if she’s also heard a voice at night. But what initially plays like a ghost story evolves into something more far-reaching and unpredictable. Old folks in the family’s neighborhood, including Manuel, behave oddly, looking into the distance and speaking of death and rebirth. The behavior violently escalates when Manuel goes missing and his family searches the apartment building he once shared with Rosa.
The Elderly is a compelling story that smartly uses sound, color, and transitions to great effect. The movie’s strong soundtrack of foreboding, building strings sets the tone early. Manuel’s radio provides environmental music, the big band music juxtaposing against the frightening score. Cinematographer Ignacio Aguilar uses rich, glowing oranges and golds to give the film’s darker scenes a rare and appreciated depth. Transitions between scenes are marked with a black screen showing the temperature slowly increasing as the heat wave builds to the “hottest day on record,” providing a countdown (or in this case, a “countup”) to the film’s denouement.
The Elderly is not the movie that audiences will expect from the just title or the poster’s tagline – “Something is wrong with Grandpa” – and that’s a good thing! Similar to Brian Yuzna’s Society in structure, but with themes of aging instead of class, The Elderly will satisfy seasoned horror enthusiasts and maybe shock those less familiar with the genre, earning it a spot in most library film collections.
What kind of film series would The Elderly fit in?
The Elderly easily fits in with a screening series of recent horror movies about aging, including X, The Taking of Deborah Logan, and Relic. The film would also make a great double feature with Brian Yuzna’s Society, with both films slowly building to the realization of a massive, violent conspiracy.
What public library shelves would The Elderly be on?
The Elderly fits on any library shelves that host horror, independent, and foreign films.
How would audiences react to a screening of The Elderly?
Audiences will likely react with surprise or shock to a screening of The Elderly, as its slow burn pace leads them to something far bigger than an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.