Because of our continued interest in living, one would think that human beings would shy away from death, but the opposite seems to be the reality. There’s a certain morbid fascination with violence, to the point that some people are captivated in making it more intense, more sensational, and more dangerous. Just before his groundbreaking second feature, Alejandro Amenábar made his debut around that idea in Thesis. It’s quite meta, of course, with the film about film students studying violence in media pulled into a murder mystery after discovering a snuff film, but Amenábar also sticks quite close to the narrative conventions of the genre, remixing certain tropes and the general knowledge of how such a film would go to heighten the sense of paranoia that Angela (and the audience) feels.
Synopsis
While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured to death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student at her college...
Storyline
While searching for sources for her thesis on media violence, film major Angela finds a snuff video where a missing student is tortured until death. This leads to an investigation marked with unsettling meetings, dangerous encounters, and a disturbing relationship with a fellow classmate.
TLDR
I’m just so glad that doing my thesis was so much calmer than this.
What stands out
The entire cast is excellent here, but there’s such something captivating yet menacing about the way Eduardo Noriega looks…
