Directed by: Víctor García
Written by: Richard D'Ovidio
Other cast: Peter Facinelli, Nathalia Ramos, Carolina Guerra, Gustavo Angarita, Diego Cadavid, Sebastian Martinez, Juan Pablo Gamboa, Tatiana Renteria
Release date: 29 August 2014
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Running time: 87 min
The story follows an American, widowed from his Colombia-born wife, who flies to Bogota with his new fiancée to retrieve his rebellious teenage daughter Jill. After a car accident leaves them stranded in a rundown isolated inn, they discover the old innkeeper has locked a young girl in the basement and their decision to set her free has unintended consequences.
Story Description
In Bogota, Colombia, the widow American David Reynolds is ready to travel back to America with his fiancée Lauren and his daughter Jill to get married after the death of his wife Marcela. However Jill has left her passport in the house of her aunt Gina and they travel in a car with Gina and Jill’s boyfriend Ramon to the town where Gina lives. They drive through a shortcut but they are stopped on the road by Capitan Morales that warns them that the road is flooded and is too dangerous to drive along, but Gina decides to continue. They have an accident and the car overturns and Lauren breaks two ribs in the middle of nowhere. They decide to walk and find an old hotel that has been closed since 1978. The owner Felipe is reluctant to let them in, but he decides to lodge the group. While bringing some wood for the fireplace, the snoopy Jill and her boyfriend Ramon leaves the room and Jill overhears a cry. They seek out and find the girl Ana Maria padlocked in a wooden box. When Felipe returns with David with the wood and learns that the couple left the room, he runs to the box but is subdued by David. Felipe warns that the girl will kill his family, but they believe that the old man is a pedophile. But soon they discover the truth about Ana Maria.
Sophia’s Role
Sophia plays Lauren, fiance of David Reynolds.
Trivia
Filming almost didn’t go ahead when an investor pulled out at the last moment. Luckily, finances were recovered and the filming schedule could go ahead albeit a few days later than expected.
The film is also known as Gallows Hill and Encerrada
Quotes from Others
Director: Victor Garcia
Peter and Sophia are both great actors; they got extremely involved in the whole process, adding their own ideas to their characters. They have been acting for a while so they have an amazing understanding about the whole process, and they are very aware of what’s going to work on screen. It’s been a pleasure to have them on this movie, and their performances and ideas have pushed the story several steps further.
Writer: Richard D’Ovidio
And Sophia Myles, she’s been terrific. We needed a really good actress in that role of the new fiancé because it’s such a 180 from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie, and she’s such a respectable actress that I knew she could pull it off.
Actor: Peter Facinelli
I think whenever you’re in a foreign country, and you’re all stuck together, you form a bond. We all stayed at this little hotel in the middle of nowhere. We would all meet for dinner and eat together. At that hotel, there was a woman who would cook for us, so it was very family oriented. The director, writer and the actors would get together every night and eat together. We would go over the script and talk about the scenes. So we formed that family bond right away.
Quotes from Reviews
About.com / Mark H. Harris
The cast is strong across the board, delivering some surprisingly emotional and believable moments
New York Daily News
The cast is strong enough to keep us rooting for them even when their characters make every wrong choice imaginable.
The Village Voice
It’s all well acted and expertly crafted
Bloody Disgusting / Patrick Cooper
The Damned offers up some decent thrills and surprises in a thickly eerie setting.
We Are Movie Geeks / Sam Moffitt
All the actors are on top of the material and there are several jump out of your seat moments and some truly creepy ideas.
Quotes from Sophia
About Taking on the Role of Lauren:
Well, I found the twist at the end of the story to be really clever. I’ve also never made a horror film before, so it was the first movie I’ve made in that genre, so that also appealed to me.
Another big draw about the movie for me was that it was going to be shot in Columbia. I had never been there before, so I was absolutely fascinated to visit a place that has such a reputation. I wanted to go and see what it was like for myself. I found it to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
About Working with Victor Garcia:
It was an absolute pleasure working for Victor. He’s a lovely person, and incredibly talented at his job. It was also great working with him in the sense that because he’s Spanish, he was able to communicate very well with the crew. However, I had to use a lot of sign and body language, because my Spanish was non-existent before I went to Columbia. But I did pick up a few bits and pieces along the way. Victor was very open, and is a collaborative director. He doesn’t focus on doing things in just one way. He gave us a lot of freedom.