Cuidado con lo que deseas
| Careful what you wish for | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Agustin Tapia |
| Written by | Agustin Tapia |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Javier Morón |
| Edited by | Raul Kintaing |
| Music by | Daniel Hidalgo |
| Distributed by | Cinepólis Distribución |
Release dates |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Land | Mexiko |
| Sprache | Spanish |
Cuidado con lo que deseas (Careful what you wish for) is a 2020 Mexican horror and Thriller film, written and directed by Agustin Tapia. The film main plot follows a family during a weekend vacation in order to celebrate their child eight birthday but when she receives a Jester doll as a gift; its exposes their darkest secret desires.[1]
The film was a box office success and was considered a popular film in its origin country Mexico[2]; however it was mainly criticized by critics for its plot and confusing writting.
Plot
Pamela is a seven years old girl and a horror films fan who is taken by her parents Nuria and Bernardo to celebrate her eight birthday in their shack in the woods. Norberto's youngest brother Esteban joins them as well even though he has a rivalry with him. Once there Pam finds Sebastian's gift: a jester puppet doll named Hellequin who according to her uncle; it is based on a real jester who was hanged when he failed to amuse his King.
That night Nuria and Esteban meet at the Shack' shed as they are living an affair and have sex, they plot against Bernardo as Esteban plans killing his eldest brother at the family's boat with a manipulated pole so he can report it as an accident. Meanwhile at Pam's bedroom she is awakened by a living Hellequin who shows her with a puppet theatre and other puppets: her uncle and mother' secret affair and plan of killing her father. Even though Pam tries to warn their family of the situation, Hellequin stops her, claiming if she does he will take their souls to Hell.
Due Nuria and Esteban plan, the family celebrate a private party for Pam (so they can eventually kill off Bernardo with no witnesses) however Pam tries to warn her family anyway so she plays a puppet 's play of a king betrayed by his wife and sings songs to both Bernardo and Esteban with clues of their hideous plans. Hellequin reveals to Pam her parents actually are pretending to be on Esteban side and they have their own plan for killing him at the tools shed as Esteban began to suspect his plan's success and discovers part of Hellequin background might be true in a book where it is revealed his soul was trapped inside the doll by a wizard.
On their last day of the weekend; Esteban and Bernardo get ready for killing each other; Esteban apparently kills his brother when his plan of hitting Bernardo in the head with a pole is successful. However when he and Nuria go to the shed they are ambushed by Bernardo who protects himself with a hidden helmet and tries to kill him with a shotgun. His plan backfires as Nuria disassembles the munitions forcing both brothers to confront each other with an axe and a rake in a violent battle where Bernardo kills Esteban with the rake. Bernardo tries to kill Nuria as well as she is not trustworthy but he is killed by his wife when he chases her through the wood until he falls for a bear trap and is beaten to death with the shotgun. Pam learns everything thanks to Hellequin who shows her once again what the adults do with his puppets.
Days later Nuria inherits from her husband and brother in law family company by nepotism as she planned and Pam apparently is severely shocked for Bernardo's death. Nonetheless Nuria is killed by Pam who makes her fall from the stairs with a rope, presumably as an influence of Hellequin or either revenge.[3]
Production
Writting
The movie was written and directed by Agustin Tapia who was inspired by crimes stories from Agatha Christie and thrillers films and tv shows like Alfred Hitchcock films and The Twilight Zone episodes. Tapia wrote the film as a mystery drama with some takes from fantasy and psychological manipulation in order of make people believe either any character could be the villain or if the doll might be alive or not.[3]
Filming
Principal photography concluded in earlier 2020 as the original premiere date was on April 2020 before being delayed due to the COVID 19 pandemic in Mexico.[4]
Reception
Box Office
The film premiered in Mexico on August 20 2020 and it was the third most successful film during its opening weekend. It was one of the first films projected during theaters reopenings in Mexico.[4][2] However it lost its third spot as more films premiered like Tenet, Scoob!, The New Mutants and Trolls: World Tour. It grossed a total of 438 728 pesos for its domestic box office and worldwide.[5]
The film was eventually distributed by Netflix in December 2020; becoming one of the most watched films in the same month.[1]
Critics
The film was met with mostly mixed to negative reviews.
Jose Roberto Landaverde from CinePremiere gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 in a positive review calling the film a waste of creative obssessions that keeps the best of everthing it explores, writting: "From terror to thriller going through true crime; this is a fresh take taken from admiration's ditch".[6]
References
- ^ a b Zambra, Darío. "Cuidado con lo que deseas: un thriller de terror que llega a Netflix desde México". Finde. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ a b "Crece en taquilla el cine mexicano". El Universal. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ a b Garcia, Christian. "Explora con el cine de terror profundidad del alma humana". Zócalo. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ a b Trejo S., Hector. "Cuidado con lo que deseas, el nuevo terror a la mexicana". Criticadn.com. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ "Cuidado con lo que deseas' Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ Landaverde, Jose Roberto. "Cuidado con lo que deseas – Crítica". CinePremiere. Retrieved 16 January 2021.