Sandra Sanchez Movies

Folks are literally dying to make room in a desirable neighborhood in this black comedy from Spain. Madrid's once-decaying Chueca district has suddenly become fashionable with gay couples looking for flats in vintage-style buildings, and Victor (Pablo Puyol) is a real estate agent determined to make the most of the neighborhood's new profitability. However, a number of choice properties are currently home to elderly women who've lived there for decades and have no intention of moving. Victor isn't about to let a little thing like uncooperative tenants stop him from signing new leases with wealthy clients, and at night he becomes a bloodthirsty killer, murdering old ladies and renting out their now empty flats. One gay couple who've already been living in Chueca are Leo (Pepon Nieto), a driving instructor, and Rey (Carlos Fuentes), who is between jobs. Leo and Rey are flabby, middle-aged and not in step with Chueca's new image, which has already made them a target in Victor's eyes, but when Rey's harridan mother Antonia (Concha Velasco) moves into the building, their days could well be numbered. Chuecatown was the first theatrical feature from writer and director Juan Flahn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Combining Hi-8 video with black-and-white 16 mm film, this film presents a raw look at what can happen when college students forego common sense and enter the world of voodoo and witchcraft. Presented as a straightforward documentary, the film opens with a title card explaining that in 1994, three students went into the Maryland back woods to do a film project on the Blair Witch incidents. These kids were never seen again, and the film you are about to see is from their recovered equipment, found in the woods a year later. The entire movie documents their adventures leading up to their final minutes. The Blair Witch incident, as we initially learn from the local town elders, is an old legend about a group of witches who tortured and killed several children many years ago. Everyone in town knows the story and they're all sketchy on the details. Out in the woods and away from their parked car (and civilization), what starts as a school exercise turns into a nightmare when the three kids lose their map. Forced to spend extra days finding their way out, the kids then start to hear horrific sounds outside their tents in the pitch-black middle of night. They also find strange artifacts from (what can only be) the Blair Witch, still living in the woods. Frightened, they desperately try to find their way out of the woods, with no luck. Slowly these students start to unravel, knowing they have no way of getting out, no food, and it's getting cold. Each night they are confronted with shrieking and sounds so haunting that they are convinced someone is following them, and they quickly begin to fear for their lives. The film premiered in the midnight movie section at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi