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H6: Diary of a Serial Killer AKA H6: Diario de un asesino (2005)
R1 - America - Tartan Video US Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (9th March 2007). |
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The Film
 Serial killers have always fascinated filmmakers. Bona fide classics like “M (1931)” and “Psycho (1960)” led the way for the modern classics like “The Silence of the Lambs (1991)” and “Se7en (1995)” - along with the countless Hollywood imitations. Films like “Saw (2004-2006)”-trilogy turned the serial killer-theme into the silly popcorn horror and “American Psycho (2000)” to almost a black satire. Fincher is back with “Zodiac (2007)”, so the interest of these ultimate human predators is not going away any time soon. This subject has also spawned many rugged, low budget movies, which strip away any “polished” aspect of the serial killers and often don´t have that “mastermind FBI investigator” coming to rescue at all. The killer doesn´t listen to Beethoven or make phone calls to the police, he just kills like it would be business as usual. No remorse, no profiling. “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)” is a perfect example, there was also “The Last Horror Movie (2003)” and the Europe-originated films like “Man Bites Dog AKA C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992)”. Again, this gritty style evolved to something else in “Natural Born Killers (1994)” and “The Devil's Rejects (2005)”, so the themes are constantly changing and serial killers getting new features. There were also films that took the subject to its limits - very little was “off screen”; the blood and pure sadism filled the canvas. American based “August Underground (2001)” and “Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)”, along with several Asian ones (e.g. “Guinea Pig AKA Za ginipiggu: Akuma no jikken (1985)” and “The Untold Story AKA Baat sin faan dim ji yan yuk cha siu baau (1993)”) are not for the faint hearted - even the serious horror-fans probably should be warned. These films are often accused of being “morally dubious” (can a film go “too far”?), but there are also other opinions. Spanish “H6: Diary of a Serial Killer AKA H6: Diario de un asesino (2005)” - debut film by the director Martín Garrido Barón is an interesting hybrid of low budget-violence and European cinema. It doesn´t go “over the top” with violence, but it´s no picnic either. The opening scene introduces young Antonio Frau (Fernando Acaso), who in the heat of an argument ends up killing his girlfriend. Fast-forward approx 20 years to the present, when Antonio is released from prison. Due to the fact that he is the only living relative, Antonio inherits an old empty “guest house” (actually - a whorehouse) from his late Aunt. This big house will be the centre place of his new “work”, inspired by the famous French serial killer Henri “Bluebeard” Landru; he´ll write a diary like Landru (the real Landru didn´t actually write any “murder diaries”, but he had a memorandum note book listing who he met and how much money he had) about the woman he´ll meet and which he will kill, explaining his thoughts and illusions. In the process, he´ll “purify” his victims. During that time he also marries the voluptuous Francisca (María José Bausá), who sees the marriage as an escape from her suffocating parents. Her true love is the married man Dr. Planas (Antonio Mayans - from the countless “Euro cult”-films starting from the 1960s) from her work; the affair has already continued for two years. Antonio now lives a double-life: part of him is a calm husband, cooking for his wife (guess what the meat is?), while another part of him lures the naive and troubled prostitutes to “room 6” of the apartment - the room completely lined with plastic and the table, where he can strap his victims. First the homeless man Cristóbal (Alejo Sauras) - just the appetiser, then Rosa (Raquel Arenas) and Marisa (Xènia Reguant). Antonio gets his satisfaction from power and domination. For him, the real sexual act takes a week - with a woman strapped to a table and the chainsaw waiting in the next room. Superintendent Miguel Oliver (Martín Garrido - also the writer/executive producer of the film) from the police is interested in the mysterious disappearances, which might change things drastically for Antonio. “H6: Diary of a Serial Killer” offers a visual and moody atmosphere, where the calm wide angle-shots dominate and the spooky, old and dirty rooms of the apartment are put into good use to support the story. Together with the narration style (where you can hear e.g. Antonio´s thoughts while he´s writing his diary), the glimpse of surrealism is in the air. I was quite intrigued for the first half of the film, not really knowing what will happen to the poor victims and does the main character have some humanity left at all (probably even the most hardcore gore-fans hope that he´ll let the girls go). It´s too bad that the story doesn´t really evolve from that and the ending is ultimately a disappointment. It feels that part of the potential is lost somewhere in the middle. Still, the film offers a good balance of different themes from subtle art house and strange black humour to bloody violence with a chainsaw (a serious dose of blood will be delivered, but the scenes are still mainly off-screen). Fernando Acaso is not an instant winner in the lead role, but doesn´t fail either (a funny side note is that for some reason I kept seeing the actor Brad Garrett in the side profile of Acaso). Most of the actors are relatively inexperienced - along with the director, and it shows in certain scenes. “H6: Diary of a Serial Killer” is a “distant European cousin” to “Hostel” (both from 2005), but is still taking a different route. The film is giving a decent run, but fails to reach the finish line.
Video
The transfer is presented in Anamorphic 1.85:1 and it looks pretty good. The overall style of the film is a bit dark, with the colours that lean more to the brown. Despite the minor noise, the DVD captures this rather well. The black levels and colours are solid, but there´s some clear edge enhancement in selected scenes. The “dual layer” disc is “R1” encoded and has 15 chapters. The film runs 95:16 minutes (NTSC).
Audio
As is often with “Tartan”, the disc offers DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (with surround encoding) tracks, all in Spanish. Optional English subtitles are included. This release shows that “DTS” is not always the weapon of choice, even when many fans tend to choose it with no questions asked (some without even listening). I started watching the film with DTS only to notice quite quickly that something´s wrong. The dialogue is placed to the “front left” channel, the “front center” mainly gives some surround-sound and the “front right” is almost silent. I first assumed that this was some kind of creative decision, but by listening to the “plain” 2.0-track with “Pro Logic”, the dialogue was centered properly and the surround-sounds moved to the rears. The 2.0-track generally sounded pretty effective and well balanced, spreading the music and effects to the surround channels. Since DD 5.1 was quite identical to DTS, I´ll recommend using the 2.0-track to get the natural surround mix. The only real complaint is 2 clear audio “glitches” that were absent from the 5.1-tracks.
Extras
All extras are in Spanish, with optional English subtitles (some Trailers also include subtitles). The main extra is “Interview with Director and the Cast” -featurette, running 8:28 minutes. These interviews are clearly done in the middle of shooting the “fist murder” scene, involving the lead actor Fernando Acaso (Antonio), director Martín Garrido Barón and actor Alejo Sauras (the first victim, Cristóbal). In this short piece Acaso talks about the script and the interesting character he was set to play. He was well prepared for the scenes, but still some scenes were difficult for him (no wonder). He speaks about the young director Barón (and vice versa). Barón himself doesn´t get to say much and Sauras mainly introduces the only scene he was in. Very trivial featurette, shot quickly in the mini-DV during the shoot. Spanish theatrical trailer (1:38 min) is quite effective and makes the film look more like intense and action packed “serial killer on the loose” story (when in the end it´s more subtle and “different”). There are also various bonus trailers from Tartan´s “Asia Extreme” line: -“Cello AKA Chello hongmijoo ilga salinsagan (2005)” (1:54 min) -“Oldboy (2003)” (1:32 min) -“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance AKA Boksuneun naui geot (2002)” (1:22 min) -“Sympathy for Lady Vengeance AKA Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005)” (1:48 min) -“Ab-normal Beauty AKA Sei mong se jun (2004)” (2:11 min) -“Marebito (2004)” (1:52 min) -“Spider Forest AKA Geomi sup (2004)” (1:20 min)
Overall
Serial killer film in Spanish style is worth a look, but fails to be an instant classic. Some of the good qualities will be lost when the end credits start to roll. The DVD offers a good transfer, a flawed DTS-track and rather forgettable extras. The “Chainsaw Menu” on the DVD is quite inventive. For more info, please visit the homepage of Tartan Video (US).
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