infiesto movie review

Demon and Prophet reveal that the girl, Elena (Natalia Perez Bestraten), was held in an old farm in a heavily forested area and that they are part of a 400-year-old cult named Infiesto, meaning ‘the infested’. Led by an unknown man, the cult firmly believes in a killer deity, the Destroyers, who demand human sacrifices.

The investigation takes a darker turn, the tunnels leading the cops to a cabin deep in the forest. As they near the cabin, a dense fog commences that seemingly engulfs something powerful, something unstoppable. They enter the cabin and come face to face with gruesome humanoid creatures covered in dense matte black fur. These creatures can read people’s thoughts and can mimic inane conversations effortlessly.

The creatures are Infiers, the Infiesto’s protectors and prophets. They can teleport themselves and can seemingly turn themselves into something as well

Samuel and Castro, scared but trying their best to understand and regain control of the situation, find out from the hooded leader of the cult that the kidnappers were instructed to bring a certain person to him, and eliminate anyone else who found out about the cult. But, who actually is this person and why did Elena have to be taken?

Things are explained soon enough, with Elena being the long lost daughter of the hooded leader. She was taken to be initiated into the cult as a new leader. While trying to make sense of the situation, miles away from any help, the entrance to the cabin is sealed by the Infiers.

After fruitless attempts to open the gates, Eli's friends step in as reinforcements and manage to break down the gates. As some of the Infiers escape, threatening to unleash a curse upon them all, there is an eerie feeling in the air of things not being over.

Maybe this is the beginning of a conspiracy where Infiers will haunt the world, or at least their minds, sometimes when they least expect it. Maybe this is the start of something dark and sinister.

But hey, if anything, there is one thing that stands clear: life doesn’t always have to be all doom and gloom, however dark the circumstances can be. There is always something that can break the chains of fear and reunite families, false prophets and humanoid monsters included.

In the end, the cops make sure that everyone receives the punishment they deserve. Life continues, and the country comes out of lockdown, eventually managing to contain the virus.

To say too much would spoil the film, but the film’s scapegoats are the outlaws of its society—the outsiders who have found a morbid interest in paganism. Unlike the much more nuanced Mare of Easttown and the Australian thriller The Dry, which rooted their culprits amidst everyday suburbia, Infiesto settles for the conventional tactics of blaming the outsider. A last-minute twist comes to upend this trope. However, by that time, the film’s procedural politics have already cemented the culprit.

An unsaid rule in genre writing is to follow the rules and conventions set by the previous films, and you will end up with a serviceable product. Infiesto does just that, resulting in a taut little thriller that makes the most of its setting and runtime. It could have done more to subvert its traditional ideological leanings. Still, for a ninety-minute feature film that dexterously replicates the relentlessly murky and apocalyptic feel of the pandemic, Infiesto is definitely worth seeing.

Perhaps, this movie’s biggest legacy will be the lesson that fear can be overcome with faith, that family is stronger than anything and that love triumphs over all. As for Infiesto, well, it looks like it will remain part of the history of this pandemic.Directed by Patxi Amezcua. Starring Isak Ferriz, Iria del Rio, Jose Manuel Poga. Running time: 96 minutes. Theatrical release February 3, 2023. Updated February 3, 2023

ABOUT AUTHOR

Keith Hawkes.