Carlos Fernández Movies

A "grumete" is an apprentice sailor, at least it was a long time ago, but the word applies in this family film to a 16-year-old, adventuresome lad who hides in a naval training ship so he can make his way to the very southern tip of Chile and hopefully find his brother. It is not long before his presence is discovered on the ship, and he is taken under the wing of an elderly officer who feels it will serve a much better purpose to train the boy than to punish him. As the boy's adventures continue, his brother is indeed happy and healthy, living on a distant island among the last vestiges of a Native American tribe -- and with very little inclination to return to what passes for the civilized world. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This charming story of an old woman and her dog living in modern Havana is laced with comic overtones and sharp social commentary. Queen, a widowed, former servant lives in the villa of her former employers who emigrated to Miami 20 years before. Her boon companion is King, a dog, who helps her with the housework and keeps her company on her long walks. When the two can no longer obtain meat scraps from the butcher for King, the unusual canine begins to find food in other places. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gerardo Chijona directs this screwball comedy hailing from Cuba. Macho truck driver Candido (Enrique Molina) forbids his drop-dead gorgeous daughter Sissy (Thais Valdes) to become a dancer at Havana's hippest club, the Tropicana, though she does so anyway. On the job, Candido accidentally smashes into hunky biker Sergito (Vladimir Cruz) who has a star-shaped mole on his butt, just like Candido. Out of guilt, he brings Sergito home to recuperate. Though Sissy is more than delighted at having this injured Adonis lollygagging about the house, Candido's buddy Promedio (Litico Rodriguez) fears a potential sexual encounter. As all of this is going on, Candido's arch-nemesis Armando (Santiago Alfonso), a choreographer at the Tropicana, tries to strike vengeance by seducing Sissy. When she rebuffs the creep, she is demoted to chorus girl. As the film progresses, subplots are layered upon subplots until the film's delirious denouement. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A man goes to hell and back to avenge the death of the woman he loves in this over-the-top horror story. Troubled artist Jaspers (Mark Frost) is depressed and considering suicide after his girlfriend, an illegal alien, is killed by thugs. Before he can go through with it, Jaspers is visited by a mysterious man calling himself M (Andrew Divoff). M, which is short for Mephistopheles, is an earthly emissary of the Devil, and along with sexy Claire (Monica Van Campen) and devious Dr. Yanamoto (Junix Inocian), he leads a Satanic cult called the Hand. M and his companions persuade Jaspers to join the Hand, and soon Jaspers and other members of the Hand wreak vengeance by staging a mass murder against the men responsible for the death of Jaspers' lover. But Jaspers finds he quite likes ritual murder, and his enthusiasm leads to sloppiness that gets him arrested; he also becomes involved with Claire, which makes him very unpopular with M. As police detective Margolies (Jeffrey Combs) and psychiatrist Jade de Camp (Isabel Brook) try to get some answers about Jaspers' strange and deadly behavior, Jaspers begins to transform himself into a demonic beast in a desperate battle to defeat M before M can kill him. Faust, Love of the Damned was the first feature from the production company Fantastic Factory, formed by American filmmaker Brian Yunza and Spanish financier Julio Fernandez; the film was shot in Spain with an English-speaking cast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Laura Mana's psychological thriller Killing Words concerns a test of words and wills between a serial killer and the woman he is keeping as his prisoner. Laura is tied up in the killer's basement, but he agrees to release her if she can beat him at a word game. However, if she loses, she will never leave his private dungeon. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Brad Anderson directs the psychological thriller The Machinist, a production of Spain's Filmax company. Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a factory lathe operator who has developed a serious case of insomnia. Lack of sleep has already started to wear down on his brain and his body. When he's involved in an accident at work, his co-workers turn against him. He starts to find strange notes in his apartment and see people that apparently aren't there. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as call girl Stevie. The Machinist premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Cuban filmmaker Gerardo Chijona directs the romantic comedy Perfecto Amour Equivocado (Love by Mistake), set in Havana. Writer Julio del Toro is torn between his wife Miriam, his mistress Silvia, and a mystery woman. Meanwhile, his daughter Milly falls in love with an older businessman from Spain. Love by Mistake was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the World Cinema program. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

A remote village known for their beautiful funerals awaits the arrival of a wealthy man on the verge of death in director Laura Mañà's dark comedy. When people wanted to go in style, they used to come to San Hilario. But these days funerals are rushed, impersonal affairs, and as a result the people of San Hilario are desperate for work. When the villagers learn that a wealthy client named Germán Cortés is currently en route, they realize he may be the key to revitalizing the local economy, and pull out all the stops to ensure that his last days on Earth are everything he'd hoped for and then some. Unfortunately for the people of San Hilario, the man who arrives claiming to be Germán Cortés is an intruder, and he doesn't seem to understand the true nature of the town's once-thriving business. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A malevolent supernatural force besets a dilapidated children's hospital on the Isle of Man, terrifying the young patients and breaking their bones in this supernatural thriller from Spanish horror specialist Jaume Balagueró (The Nameless, [REC]). Mercy Falls Hospital has been in operation for nearly a hundred years, but now the authorities have declared it unfit for human inhabitation. As a result, the time has come for the hospital to close. But just as the helicopters arrive to transport the children to a new facility, bad weather forces them to remain grounded. Later, as Nurse Amy (Calista Flockhart) tends to her young charges, the children's bones begin to fracture for no apparent reason. Though the doctors remain baffled by the inexplicable injuries, the children sense something that the grown-ups do not. Somewhere in these crumbling corridors lurks a force of darkness consumed by pain, and filled with hatred. The children have dubbed it "The Mechanical Girl," and they claim to have stolen glimpses of it sobbing in the shadows. In order to banish the spirit and save the children, one brave soul will have to summon the courage to face a force powerful enough to cause physical damage, yet so fragile it might be completely destroyed by the slightest touch. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Originally filmed as part of the Six Films to Keep You Awake horror series from Spain, Alex de la Iglesia's The Baby's Room weaves the unsettling story of a young couple who moves into a renovated home with their newborn child, only to discover that sinister forces are at work around them when the baby monitor begins to malfunction in a most unsettling manner. Juan and Sonia have found the perfect home to start a family in, or at least that's what they thought when they first moved in. Everyone is content in their new surroundings until, after tucking into bed after an exhausting day, Juan begins to hear strange noises coming though the baby monitor. Upon checking the child to find that nothing is amiss, Juan assumes that he was just hearing things. When the noises persist, however, the couple makes the decision to replace the audio-only monitor with a new version that also features a video camera. Unfortunately things go from bad to worse when Juan wakes up in the middle of the night to see a complete stranger standing over his sleeping child. Racing into his child's room, Juan is relieved to find that, once again, his imagination seems to have gotten the best of him. Still, the concerned father can't shake the feeling that something supernatural is happening in his beautiful new home, and after falling into a frightening spiral of paranoia he enlists the aid of a paranormal investigator to find out what's really going on. But the truth, as Juan will soon find out, is so shocking that it will test the very limits of his sanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Jaime Balagueró's short feature To Let constitutes an installment in the Spanish horror 'hexalogy' 6 Films to Keep You Awake (6 peliculas para no dormir, 2006) - a multi-director miniseries, comparable to the American Masters of Horror, originally produced for and aired on Spanish television. This episode concerns Carolina and Tony, a newly married, expectant couple searching for an apartment to rent. Caught in a pounding rainstorm, they happen upon an abandoned property with a third level available to rent. The facility hardly looks inviting: its floors are littered with dismembered store mannequins, its rooms seemingly vacant. The real estate agent nonetheless assures them that the building is being renovated, and that two families have just moved in. He then invites Carolina and Tony to visit the third floor apartment and have a look around. They unwittingly oblige him, and soon find themselves suddenly entrapped in a prison of horror ruled over by a venomous, malevolent landlady. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

After teaming up in 2002 for the dramatic music documentary OT: The Movie, Spanish horror specialists Jaume Balagueró (Darkness) and Paco Plaza (Second Name) join forces once again for this experimental frightener about a mysterious outbreak in an old tenement building. Reporter Angela (Manuela Velasco) and her trusty cameraman Pablo are following a local fire crew for a segment of their reality television series "When You're Asleep" when the firefighters receive a distress call from a nearby apartment building. An elderly woman has become locked in her apartment; a routine call by any account. The police are already on the scene, so now it's up to firemen Manu (Ferran Terraza) and Alex (David Vert) to break down the door and ensure that no harm has come to her. Upon arriving at the building, everything appears normal. But the calm atmosphere at the moment betrays the horrors that begin to unfold after the firemen break down the tenant's door and experience something that no one would believe had it not been captured on camera. Later, as the building is surrounded and quarantined, Pablo continues to roll tape to ensure that whatever the outcome of this terrifying situation may be, there will be some evidence to ensure that the truth gets out. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi