Sleep Tight

Horror movie makers who think that gore equals terror should be forced to watch this white-knuckle thriller from director Jaume Balagueró ([Rec]). With a bare minimum of bloodshed he’s created a movie that will not only have audiences scared in theaters but have them sleeping with the lights on (and a baseball bat by their bed) for weeks to come. The movie stars Luis Tosar (Cell 221) as César, the concierge of a modest apartment building. Outwardly friendly with all the guests, César nurses a secret obsession with one resident in particular, the lovely Clara (Marta Etura). His obsession isn’t romantic in nature, though. César lives to think up ways to disturb Clara’s life, to make her miserable, to drive her crazy. And he’s very, very good at it, too. While there are plenty of honestly terrifying moments in the movie – those who are afraid of cockroaches will be better off not going to see it at all – it’s the tightly controlled performance of Balagueró that sells the scares.