8/10
Apparently Costa Rica's first ever horror movie. Presented by the director himself, who looked to be no more than 16 years old (he's actually 28), a very likeable and earnest young man. El Sanatorio is another entry in the growing "handheld horror" genre a la BWP, Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism, [REC], et al. The story is a classic horror trope - a group of people make a documentary about an abandoned sanatorium that's said to be haunted, and wind up with more than they bargained for. The movie, despite the wonky subtitles, is actually laugh-out-loud funny, and does a good job creating believable characters. It takes a while for the spooky stuff to go down, and it hits like an avalanche when it finally does, to the point that I was left wanting more (the movie clocks in under 80 minutes and feels like 60). The scares are good, if too few, and do seem to be heavily indebted to Paranormal Activity, but there are nice moments all around. Everything is done competently and credibly, and I enjoyed myself.
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