Terrified (2017) Review – Stylish Horror With Emotional Distance
They said it would scare me silly, but Terrified unsettled me instead. With levitating bodies, undead children, and a whole lot of calm denial, this Argentine horror is more tonally fascinating than flat-out frightening. I wasn’t terrified, but I was deeply intrigued. #motherofmovies
There’s something quietly disorienting about a film that tells you, upfront and earnestly, “this will scare the pants off you,” and then delivers the most intensely polite horror you’ve ever seen. Demián Rugna’s Terrified (Aterrados) has been hailed as one of the scariest films to come out of Argentina. And I believe it. I do. The bones are there: creepy kids, levitating corpses, sinister water pipes, and a neighborhood quietly coming undone.
But here’s the thing, I didn’t jump. I didn’t even flinch. Instead, I sat, watching, eyebrows raised, unsure if what I was witnessing was a strange televised lesson in subtle absurdism or, I’d finally become desensitized to horror as a genre. For a self-confessed jump-scare flincher, that’s a plot twist.
Death, Dishes & Domestic Denial
The film opens with Clara, a woman who hears human voices bubbling up from the kitchen sink. Not dripping, not creaking, actual people plotting her murder through the plumbing. And yet, her husband, Juan, is mostly annoyed that the neighbors are renovating at 5 am.
When Clara later dies in one of the film’s most intense scenes, her body slamming against the bathroom walls like a haunted pinball, it’s horrifying. Genuinely. The choreography is brutal. But what makes it uncanny is Juan’s reaction: standing in the doorway, asking, “Clara, what are you doing?” as if she’s decided to try vertical yoga.
That single line encapsulates the film’s strange power. The horror is real. The responses are not. And that tonal dissonance stays with you. It’s also jarring in a really cool way.
⚠️ Trigger Warning: This review discusses themes of violence involving children.
Monsters Under Beds, and Bureaucrats on the Edge
Across the street, Walter is battling a nightmare, a gangly, unnerving presence under his bed. He films it, hides from it, and his story doesn’t end well, predictably. Meanwhile, Alicia’s young son dies in a tragic accident… (For Terrified, think Pet Semetary if Gage came home and made himself cereal). Only this kid returns, quietly muddy, and resumes his spot at the breakfast table.
Commissioner Funes, the overburdened officer at the center of this unraveling suburb, is one of the most relatable horror protagonists I’ve seen. He’s not brave. He’s not heroic. He’s got heart issues and a slow-building panic attack that spans most of the runtime. When he sees the undead child seated at a table, milk glass beside him, he doesn’t scream; he winces as Jano asks, “Is that him?” Like he’s just realized the wrong kid got off at the school bus.
That quiet underreaction, the bureaucratic malaise in the face of interdimensional entities, makes Terrified so tonally unique. It’s not a spoof. It’s not satire. It’s… clinical absurdism. And I mean that respectfully. Janos (played by Norberto Gonzalo) was the zingiest flavor in the title, and I loved every minute of his dialogue. Calmly curious about having shards of glass in his eyes was both unsettling and oddly satisfying.
Sitting by the Void
One sequence, in particular, will stay with me: a woman (one of three paranormal investigators that swarm the street where Walter lives) parking a chair beside a gaping hole in the wall. She studies it and gazes into the darkness like she’s waiting for a friend to drop by. She has full conversations with whatever’s in there. No screaming, no fleeing. Just the steady patience of someone watching soup simmer. It’s not about whether Mora (Elvira Onetto) would die a horrible death… but when.
Is the hole a portal? Possibly. Some theories suggest these entities travel through water, can’t tolerate light, and that the entire neighborhood may be a weak spot between dimensions. The film offers breadcrumbs, but never a full loaf.
As an explanation-lover myself, I found this maddening, in a good way. There’s enough to suggest why things are happening, but not quite enough to stitch it all together without a speculative thread.
Argento and the Art of Tonal Whiplash
There’s a reason I thought of Argento while watching this. Or even more recently, “When Evil Lurks”. Not because of visual excess (though the blood does spatter with gusto), but because of the way Terrified marries stylistic precision with emotionally muted performances. It’s the kind of film where something truly horrific can be unfolding, bodies contorting, portals cracking open, and the characters react like someone forgot to close the fridge.
That’s not a flaw. It’s a choice. A bold one. And in its offbeat way, it works.
Did It Terrify Me?
Not quite. But it unnerved me. And more than that, it intrigued me. Terrified plays by its own rules. It’s deeply atmospheric, visually rich, and narratively fractured in a way that makes you feel like you’re peeking into something larger and unknowable.
If you’re after a horror film that will haunt your dreams, this might not be it, unless you’re already prone to glancing nervously at your sink. But if you want a film that creeps, confuses, and challenges the way fear is usually served onscreen, Terrified is worth the remote click.
3.5 and a half polite investigations into the supernatural out of 5
Spoiler Theories & Interdimensional Speculations
Here’s where the theories start piling up. We’ve got a neighborhood experiencing overlapping hauntings, timelines that don’t quite sync, and a ghost that possibly films its own murder (?!). The investigators suggest the area is a kind of entry point between dimensions, specifically, one where malevolent entities exist in ways we can’t fully understand.
Water is the conduit, they say. The monsters travel through pipes, pool in walls, and lurk under beds. And light? Possibly their kryptonite, though that’s never explicitly confirmed. One thing is certain: the moment they manifest, the laws of grief, trauma, and physics get thrown into a blender.
One of my favorite “wait…what?” moments is when a corpse child is handled like an awkward guest. The reaction isn’t “Oh god!” It’s “Do we have concrete to keep him down this time?” Not because these people are brave, but because resignation is the film’s primary survival tactic.
Funes’ ending is tragic and inevitable. His final attempt to burn down the affected homes feels almost mythic, like a man trying to cauterize a wound in the fabric of the world. And even in the psychiatric facility epilogue, with Juan distracted by ghostly visitors, there’s no real resolution. Just more silence. More waiting.
Not quite terrified, but deeply perplexed, in the best way
Aterrados
Language: Spanish
Directed & Written by: Demián Rugna
Produced by: Fernando Diaz
Starring: Maxi Ghione, Norberto Gonzalo, Elvira Onetto, George L. Lewis
Cinematography: Mariano Suárez
Music by: Demián Rugna
Distributed by: Aura Films
Release dates: October 2017 (Mórbido Fest), May 3, 2018 (Argentina)
Running time: 87 minutes
Country: Argentina
For an alternate view of Terrified, check out the fabulous ScreenAnarchy.com
