MORBO (AKA MORBIDNESS)
Dir. Gonzalo Suarez, 1972
Spain, 88 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 – 5:00 PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9 – 10:00 PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19 – 7:30 PM

Alicia and Victor are newlyweds – in fact, Morbo starts as they exit the church on their wedding day, and take to the road with a trailer to spend some time alone, together, on a camping honeymoon. At first, the solitude leaves the couple ample time to fool around and just relax in nature, but as small things start going missing, and Alicia increasingly feels like she is being watched, the couple comes face to face with some disturbing questions: Are they really alone in the woods? Does the house that Victor claims to have visited for water actually exist? Do Alicia and Victor even know who they married?

Morbo is a deliberately paced, four-character thriller that leaves the audience in the dark as much as Alicia is – the slow burn and increasingly tense atmosphere are more effective than a slasher running through the woods ever would be. Somehow, director Gonzalo Suarez makes the empty wilderness seem as claustrophobic as Catherine Deneuve’s apartment in Repulsion – with as much terror derived towards female sexuality, as well. Like a horror film directed by Luis Bunuel, Morbo leaves the audience unsure what is actually happening, what is in the characters’ minds, and what is just a cosmic joke.