King Of The Hill

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Horrorphile - June 2009

El Rey de la Montaña

June 16th 2009 02:38

The international title for this relentless, violent Spanish thriller is King Of The Hill, but I much prefer the literal translation: The King Of The Mountain, as it reminds me less of the U.S. animated comedy series which I was never a fan of. The King of the Mountain commands a darker edge and tone. Mind you I quite like the French title, which translates roughly as The Prey.

Quim (Leonardo Sbaraglia) - yes an odd name for a man - is intending to rendezvous with his girlfriend, although the relationship is strained while h econverses with her from a service station payphone. A beautiful stranger nearby, Bea (Maria Valverde) pricks up her ears, and follows him into the unisex toilets where they have urgent sex. She leaves as quickly as she arrives, stealing his wallet, and drives away. He pursues her, and makes the fateful decision to follow her car up a mountain road.

Leonardo Sbaraglia as Quim

Suddenly a shot rings out and Quim’s car is hit by a bullet from a high-powered rifle. He spots the gun metal catching the sunlight from a mountain ridge. The sniper fires again and Quim is forced to take cover. He finds Bea, but his initial anger at her theft is quickly forgotten as they are both targets from an unknown armed assailant. They seek shelter in an abandoned café, and police rangers arrive, but they don’t believe either of them. One ranger is shot dead, the other joins Quim and Bea on the run. It’s a tense situation to say the least.

Maria Valverde as Bea

King Of The Hill bears some similarities to Deliverance (1972) in the hapless victims being hunted by the rural locals; it is also similar to the French movie The Ordeal (2004) for similar reasons. However the reveal of the killers three-quarters into the movie reminds one of the shocking twist in Ils (I’ll say no more). As dramatically horrifying as this is, the intensity of the movie somehow evaporated, and the final confrontation between Quim and his enemy lacked the thunderous effect the story demanded. But in a way it also was disquietingly fitting to the crazed momentum and irrational motivation behind the events.

King of the Hill Maria Valverde Pablo Menasanch

Bea tries to help wounded police ranger (Pablo Menasanch)

The movie is handsomely mounted, with tight direction and editing, excellent performances from the two leads (charismatic and gorgeous Valverde will be a name to watch), and some startling sequences of nerve-jangling tension and violent execution. This is the kind of strange, visceral and psychological thriller one would catch late at night on the SBS channel, or some other like-minded art-house movie programme. The Spanish are certainly making some of the most exciting terror-horror cinema, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie gets remade by Hollywood.

Bea is trapped in a pit

King Of The Hill doesn’t rely on dialogue or exposition; it simply hurtles and stumbles along with an urgency and tension that is pure cinema. It’s not a brilliant movie, and excellent might be stretching it too, but very, very good is sufficient, and as troubled and unrewarded as I was by the end, I had enjoyed the nightmare journey and that ultimately sufficed. In fact the “game” logic involved was a strong sub-textual piece of truly dark satire. The eye candy also helped tremendously; the vivid Spanish countryside and the buxom senorita in leather, that is. ‘Tis a pity she ...

Here's the Spanish trailer (it doesn't matter that there are no subs):

King of the Hill DVD is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks!

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

7 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David O'Connell

June 16th 2009 04:25

Screen Fanatic

Nice review Bryn, glad you got to see this. I liked it even more than you did I think, and yes, having seen Ils afterwards, it has to be said that the similarity is unavoidable!

Comment by Damo

June 16th 2009 07:20

Bryn

This looks like something that I would love to watch.

Very Euro in its look.

Comment by Someone

June 16th 2009 16:28

Evil Pleasures
Random Musings on Life, Love and Everything
Let's Get Down To Business

I've had this sitting around for ages but have never gotten around to watching it, might have to give it a go now.

Comment by Natalina

June 16th 2009 19:48

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

Movies about people being terrorized by crazy rural folk scare the piss out of me, but I love them. I'll have to check this out.

And since I've seen you mentioned this movie Ils a few times, I should probably check that one out too. Sounds interesting.

Comment by Bryn

June 17th 2009 00:56

Horrorphile

Damo, up your tree definitely
Someone, yes, time to watch my man.
Natalina, Ils aka Them will freak you, oh yes.

Comment by Anonymous

July 27th 2009 18:08

Watched this movie after reading up on it on your website. I really enjoyed it but I wish the ending had some more to it... Thanks for the review!

Comment by Bryn

July 27th 2009 23:48

Horrorphile

Anon, I agree the ending isn't nearly as powerful as the journey there, but still ...
Cheers!

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