Awesome Movie

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

How much do you know about the Colombian film industry? Probably more than I do. 'El Paramo' is a heck of an introduction; opinion seems to be rather divided here and I won't pretend that everything is perfect with this movie but I found it very watchable. Yes, it follows a well-trodden path but is none the worse for it. I thought it a shade heavy on the melodrama and it lacked a little refinement here and there, hence only 8/10 but artistic direction and photography were tight and sensitively handled throughout. I enjoyed the device of concentrating totally on the actors to the exclusion of just about everything else -there IS a lot of darkness and mist around, so may be best avoided if expensive sets and grand scenery are more to your liking. Or if somewhat grisly scenes turn you off! The basics of the story (which all unfolds quite nicely) are no more than have been revealed by other reviewers, so I've nothing to add except praise for the well-designed music soundtrack and a warm recommendation overall.

I love different kind of horrors, I adore that blend with war, especially after seeing "Outcast" but this one, as many other Spanish, Latino productions, it fails to deliver as a horror movie. So, let's make it clear, I'm not stating it's bad, but if you get it for a late, cold night, it will seem overlong and will put you right to sleep. The comments here are positive, almost everyone is praying The Squad, but how many remember what the purpose of it really is? Enough with finding excuses for horror, "it doesn't act like one but it is so different", "such a bold approach", "new and original!", are nothing more that signs that you may want to stay away from this. After you watch it, you can barely put it in the horror section, only cause the plot offers 2 small clues, one coming very obviously at the end and one at start.Anyway, sorry to say, but I'm disappointed, cause I came for a duck, it looked like a duck, did not act like one, did not sound like one, so stop telling me this is a duck. Get a pair of glasses and problem solved!I recommend Outcast or Dog Soldiers.!Cheers!

Unfortunately The Squad fails to deliver on its interesting premise and promising first ten minutes. Competent camera work and a decent cast is unable to make up for a lack of plot, structure or coherent direction. I can appreciate what the director was attempting to do with lingering close-ups of grim, suffering faces, subtle sound cues and atmospheric lighting, but one can only rely on those techniques so long before delivering some kind of pay-off. For me the film completely failed to rack up any tension or arrive at a destination. I was more concerned with wondering why the characters - supposedly trained soldiers in a war zone - were behaving more like angsty teens who've fallen out with their parents.The message that in a civil war everyone looks like the enemy could have been portrayed far more effectively without tacking on a poorly-realized supernatural element. The film-makers tried to do both and ended up with neither. I hate using the word, but 'boring' really is the only word that comes to mind.

As with the first two reviews, I have to agree that there were no weak acting here. Every single one of them were marvelous. The cinematography and especially the atmosphere were very effective and notable.However, I would not classify this as a horror movie. I'm inclined to say that this is more of a suspense/drama.Admittedly, the director was extremely talented in building up the tension, though it is quite tiring to always have that accumulate inside you without having any form of release as nothing of significance really happens. Granted, that he wasn't going for cheap thrills, which I can respect, but a movie gets anti-climactic fast, even with superb actors and atmosphere, if it's not going anywhere.This would have been great for a short film, but made into a full length movie, it became a bit diluted. Still, I did not regret watching this for the positive points already mentioned above. Those were so good, it salvaged the entire film.