Terrified is a 2017 Argentina film that blends creepy supernatural horror with moments of gore, and a cop-out of his depth thriller action. It’s certainly a picture that severs up some shudder-inducing and bone-chilling set pieces/ set-ups, though it does rather runs out of steam towards its last quarter when it should really be ramping up. From Acorn Media here is a recent Blu Ray release of the film, which is a very bare-bones affair.

Terrified (aka Aterrados) was written and directed by Haedo, Buenos Aires-born Demián Rugna. This is his third and most recent feature-length film, with the other two been 2007’s The Last Gateway which found a demonologist's accidentally opening a portal to hell in a man's stomach, and 2016's gipsy mafia focused action/comedy You Don't Know Who You're Talking To. Terrified is a well enough scoped film, with a passable cast, and some really very creepy/unsettling moments on offer. The film is more than a little in debut to James Wan’s Insidious- we have strangely unsettling spectres appearing and disappearing, creepy 'n' creacking sound design, a group of older paranormal investigators, and sawing ‘n’ jarring string soundtrack.
 
 
The film is set on a street in suburban Buenos Aires- it initially focuses on Juan(Agustín Rittano) a thirty-something man whose trying to get on with his life with his wife, but the next-door neighbour is seemingly constantly bashing 'n' crashing in the early hours of the morning. He goes around and buzzers his neighbour door at around 5 am one morning- just getting creepy static/ possible a strange voice- he angrily goes back home. Finding his partner hanging mid-air in the bathroom, been thrown bloody back and forth- within time his wife dies. Next, we flip back in time a few days to meet Juan's neighbour- his bed is been moved at night on its own, so he decides to start videoing his room- he rewinds it back, to see a strange long, grey and naked fleshed figure – it peers at his sleeping frame for some time, before walking into the wardrobe-  and when checks- there's no one inside. From here we get a little boy knocked down, then his reanimated body coming to sit in its family’s house, and creepy encounters. Fairly soon Juan is arrested by slightly tubby, bearded and middle age cop Comisario Funes(Maximiliano Ghione)- and he starts getting out of his depth with the supernatural going on. So a group of the older paranormal investigators are called in, with them joining Funes to Investigate the haunted street.
 
The set-up/ early encounters are expertly done- with neat spectral/ ghoulish creature design on display. Demián Rugna does a great job of building tension and dread, with some generally nervy shredding and super creepy encounters. When the investigation of the street kicks off, we still have a good enough atmosphere, and this added to the once tough and nonsense cop Funes getting way out of his depth as we move into a blend of cop thriller and gore topped supernatural horror. The issue is the shifting back and forth from house to house and the various experts- which seems to dilute the tension flow rather. Also, aside from fleeting glances, we don’t really have any more prolonged shots of the great and creepy entities that are haunting the street. This last part of the film is still entertaining enough- with some neat jumps/ scares, but one just feels somewhat short-changed after such a great start.
 
Moving onto the Blu Ray it’s self-and all we get here is the film itself, with zero extras which is a little disappointing. The film has the choice of original Spanish or English dub with sub-titles, I played it with both, and I’d say the original Spanish is the way to go.  The English dub has some bad/ unconvincing voice acting on it, which at points makes chilling moments seem a little silly- which is clearly what you don’t want with this type of film.
 
There is no doubt that in places Terrified stands up to and deserves its title- it’s just a pity it seems to lose steam and focus later on. I’d say if you enjoy Insidious- it’s likely you’ll need to check this out and thankful it’s just not a cheap copy/ rip off of said film, as it does add its own distinct twists to the formula too.