Tom Dooley Made in 2007 this Spanish film is one that went under the radar which was a shame. It is all about a man imaginatively called 'Quim' - pronounced 'Keem' but still a cracking name. He is off to meet his ex girlfriend and try to put back his failed relationship back together, when he stops to fill up his car with petrol. There he has an encounter with a young and very light fingered young lady. He then heads off up this lonely mountain road.Then out of the blue he gets shot at - despite owning a Volvo (with an NCAP rating of 4 I believe) he still gets hit. Only after he tries to leave does he realise what real trouble he is in.Now there are a few plot holes here or rather some loose ends that I have only really realised on reflection. The plot is basic but the reveal or should I say reveals are good enough to prompt more than at least a couple of raised eyebrows. Good performances all round too; please note this is not a horror in the sense of blood and gore but more of a psychological thriller type. In Spanish with good sub titles - a film for those who really do like their films to be off the beaten track.

Sindre Kaspersen Spanish screenwriter, film editor and director Gonzalez López-Gallego's fourth feature film which he co-wrote with screenwriter and producer Javier Gullón, was screened in the Discovery section at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival in 2007 and is a Spanish production which was shot on locations in the municipality of Vinuesa and Soliedra in the city and province of Soria, Spain and was produced by Spanish screenwriter and producer Miguel Bardem and producers Juan Pita, Juanma Arance and Álvaro Augustin. It tells the story about Quim, a young man who while on his way to visit his former girlfriend Sofia, stops at a petrol station in a small rural community and gets robbed by a young girl he has never seen before. As the girl vanishes without a trace Quim continues towards his destination, but all of the sudden he sees a flash up in the mountains and hears that a bullet hits his car.Finely and engagingly directed by Spanish filmmaker Gonzalez López-Gallego, this fast-paced fictional tale draws a riveting portrayal of a young man's struggle to survive after coincidentally becoming the target of a group of psychopathic hunters in the highlands of Soria, Spain. While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric rural milieu depictions, the fine cinematography by screenwriter and cinematographer José David Montero, editing by Gonzalez López-Gallego and use of sound, this character-driven psychological thriller depicts a sparse though efficient study of character and contains a prominent score by composer David Crespo.This forebodingly atmospheric story about a man who is involuntarily designated as a participant in an inhumane game of life and death, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, multiple viewpoints, esoteric characters and the involving acting performance by Argentinean actor Leonardo Sbaraglia. A continually intriguing mystery.

Bloodwank It's always fun to watch unsuspecting travellers encounter the horrors of the back-roads, so I was rather looking forward to King of The Hill. We follow Quim, on a mission to get back together with his girlfriend but put a little off track when an impromptu gas station tryst with a mysterious lady ends in her stealing his wallet. They meet again, but not before both have come under fire from a sniper, and the movie proceeds with the two of them trying to evade their unseen antagonists. Director Gonzalo Lopez Galego keeps things tight and mysterious for much of the time, concentrating on pace over character and attractive visuals and periodically jolting the viewers with short sharp bursts of action, skilfully turning the heat up moment by moment. The mountainous setting, trees, slopes and blue sky are well captured by the gorgeous cinematography of Jose David Montero, a picturesque setting at interesting odds with the impersonal menace that lurks within. Happily, the setting isn't just used for prettiness but excitement too, with rivers, trees, pitfalls and bushes all obstacles to navigate, there's an adventurous spirit to goings on that takes the film closer to classics like Deliverance than the more clichéd back-woods nastiness that tend to dominate films of this type. Stars Leonardo Sbaraglia and Maria Valverde make for a sympathetic pairing, wisely the film doesn't stop to long to give them a relationship but they have a certain mild chemistry that makes their bond under adversity a compelling one. For around two thirds or so of its length King of The Hill is rather great, hardly earth shattering in its events or approach but sufficiently well handled that it really stands out, unfortunately it doesn't end the same way. Like most films of its mysterious ilk, there's a "big reveal" here, and it's deeply ill-advised, an attempt at sombre significance that flops hard. A turn in events that would be unlikely and fairly tricky to pull off even if it were a significant part of the film from the start, here the film expects us to just buy the plot turn and then continues in the same uncompromising vein as before. To say much about why it doesn't work would be going into spoiler territory and since other have enjoyed this much more than I and not been troubled by the finale I won't divulge events, but for me it was daft verging on laughable, it not only took all the wind out of the film's sails but also rather tainted what had gone before. A saddening turn of events, as I wanted to dig this one and it came close to being a winner, but I can only go by my final impression, which was one of disappointment. A 5/10 then, even though for a fair amount of the runtime this is more like a high 7.

OnkelKarl In the first hour an exciting movie, cause you just don't know why things happen. Plus it's a classic horror theme - a man, a good looking woman and a police officer are caught accidentally in wild and lonesome hills. Somebody's shooting at them and they try to escape. But near the end (and with only one survivor left) the curtain drops and you see - some Kids trying Counterstrike with real guns and killing real people. Camera shows First-person-shooter-view (you see only the gun of an running person) so its obvious. The Kids also wrote down scoring points for shooting or killing people or animals. Very disappointing, I just get sick of this simple conclusion.