Featured Audience Ratings

• Carlos M

  
  Amenábar's low-budget debut stands out as the first display of his talent as both a writer and director, a suffocating thriller that is not only extremely tense and suspenseful but also respects the viewer's intelligence and always keeps us interested.

• Drew S

  
  I can understand why this brought Alejandro Amenabar to a fruitful career, but I really just thought this was a serviceable, brainless thriller. The one thing that irked me most is that Angela is simply one of the dumbest horror protagonists I've ever seen. She is vacant,… More
  I can understand why this brought Alejandro Amenabar to a fruitful career, but I really just thought this was a serviceable, brainless thriller. The one thing that irked me most is that Angela is simply one of the dumbest horror protagonists I've ever seen. She is vacant, unresourceful and a God-awful liar. For one, she NEVER calls the police, despite being embroiled in a steadily worsening snuff film situation; she has no compelling reason not to do so. None. When confronted by people who are suspicious of her snooping around, she stutters and says "no" a lot, or just repeats what they're saying to her. She has about two good ideas through the entire course of the film and it's kind of amazing that she even pulls these off. We are led to believe that Angela is an intelligent girl, but she shows us almost none of this, making one awful decision after the other. Angela's indiscretions serve to highlight some flaws in the plot - again, why does no one call the police? Why are the killers keeping their video tapes in the basement of the school, and how come so many people have access to this basement when security is presumably patrolling it? And ultimately, what compels Angela to try and solve this case herself? All we know is that she has a cursory interest in (though supposed disdain for) violence, but that offers no real reason for her not to get anyone else involved. This is a technically strong film with a decent message, though "obsession with violence in the media" is really old-hat by now. It's a far better delivery of the theme than Funny Games, I have to say it, and I'm sure it hit harder back in 1996. I guess this aged in a way that Se7en did; sensational pictures rarely seem to last very long.

• Elvira B

  
  Tesis is an excellent thriller about the powerful fascination that surrounds violence and death. Especially in movies. Angela is a visual communications student who begins to make her thesis about violence in cinema. From then on, she encounters, face to face, the rawest expression… More
  Tesis is an excellent thriller about the powerful fascination that surrounds violence and death. Especially in movies. Angela is a visual communications student who begins to make her thesis about violence in cinema. From then on, she encounters, face to face, the rawest expression of her subject of research, closer to her than she can imagine. Angela's fascination/rejection relationship with violence implicates her in a terrible murder and the uncovering of a network of snuff filmmaking. The suspense in Tesis is perfectly built. Alejandro Amenabar puts everyone against Angela and makes us try to guess who is really who he says he is. The performances (Ana Torrent, the little girl from the Spirit of the Beehive, Eduardo Noriega from Open Your Eyes and Fele Martínez also from OYE and recently The Bad Education) are excellent. The best part is that it doesn't leave things resolved. Even after all the twists and shocks, there is something "in the air" to think about as the credits roll. When a film can entertain, frighten, and challenge you, imho, it's a good film. The public wants violence, does it need it?

• Pierluigi P

  
  A great whodunnit about the snuff-movies myth. entertaining and suspenseful.

• William S

  
  This film terrified me so much! Never has a film exploited so well our fear of the dark. It literally had me looking over my shoulder I was so tense.

• Caesar M

  
  Another day, another foray into Spanish territory. This time I saw a film that explores the state of violence and the film Spanish film industry. The ideas it explores are thought provoking, but the plot is muddled with problems that prevents it from being a piece of cinema. Tesis… More
  Another day, another foray into Spanish territory. This time I saw a film that explores the state of violence and the film Spanish film industry. The ideas it explores are thought provoking, but the plot is muddled with problems that prevents it from being a piece of cinema. Tesis (Thesis) is about Angela, a young woman who is writing a thesis on violence in the media, in order to get her degree in communication science. While doing her thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty. The less I say about the plot the better. The plot is a straight up thriller which hurts it in far to many ways. The protagonist is as intelligence as a dumb blonde stereotype in a horror movie. She never calls the police. Lets herself get seduce by a good looking guy who she knows killed his ex. She's very terrible at writing a thesis which we hardly see her do. For some reasons does not tell any of her family member not to let the good looking maniac into the house. The film tries to makes the viewer guess by having twists in the plot which are overdone. It switches between who the actual killer could be one to many times. A guessing game is not bad in a thriller, but overdoing it looses the film focus on story it was telling. The good aspect of the plot are the subject it brings up. One in particular is by using snuff films as an example for why the Spanish film industry is declining. In the film context it works for it's a fictional work for art. A professor says Spain's film industry will not be a success until it gives the people what it wants - and that theory in it's purest form is snuff films. Snuff films are very popular in the film timeline and go on to say only exist to give the audience what they want on an authentic level. This is a thought provoking subject as violence is nothing unusual on film, but in real life events the film illustrates the average person has a curiosity for actual violence. Weather it's a murder caught on tape, someone who got run over by a train, some kind of burned dead body, and so forth will attract a crowd. The subjects here allows judgement on our self and just on the characters. If you could look past some questionable actions by the protagonists you'll have plenty to think about after it ends. The saving grace comes from the excellent acting. Especially from Ana Torrent who makes a compelling lead. The scenes she shares with Fele Martínez are pure gold. None of the two leads excel as much as Eduardo Noriega. You will wonder if this guy is the killer or if we a misconception of his nature. Thesis saved by the acting and fined direction. The plot could aspire to something greater, but it held back by some questionable narrative choices. As it stands though it's still a film worth checking out.

• Nicolas K

  
  While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl which was a former student in her faculty is tortured to death. The violence is more implicit than explicit in this wonderfully directed low budget film, and shows the potential of the director that brought… More
  While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl which was a former student in her faculty is tortured to death. The violence is more implicit than explicit in this wonderfully directed low budget film, and shows the potential of the director that brought us "Open your eyes", "The others" and "the sea inside"...

• Francisco G

  
  The debut flick for Alejandro Amenábar had a budget of 600 and unfortunently it shows a bit too often which hurts the flick to some extent: the soundtrack is pretty lame, visually it's pretty boring to look at and the settings are a bit too clean and unmemorable. However, he… More
  The debut flick for Alejandro Amenábar had a budget of 600 and unfortunently it shows a bit too often which hurts the flick to some extent: the soundtrack is pretty lame, visually it's pretty boring to look at and the settings are a bit too clean and unmemorable. However, he manages to capture our attention surprisingly well with this snuff investigation story, keeping us guessing until the end, featuring a handful of memorable scenes and performances, tying everything up with some nice commentary on our obsession with violence and of what draws us to it. A very confident debut to a director that would sign some upcoming very interesting movies.

• Eduardo C

  
  About 1/3 of it is top notch. The rest is a very underwhelming, perfunctory done-to-death thriller.

• John M

  
  This is the clever debut of the spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. He did a great job writing and directing this movie. "Tesis" is not only a interesting horror thriller, but is also an intelligent study of people's fascination with death and the imagery of death.… More
  This is the clever debut of the spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. He did a great job writing and directing this movie. "Tesis" is not only a interesting horror thriller, but is also an intelligent study of people's fascination with death and the imagery of death. Thrilling from the first to the last minute, and sometimes quite shocking and disturbing, The acting in the movie is very good, specially by the lead characters, Ana Torrent as Angela and Fele Martínez as Chema. A good cinematography supports the suspense and the thrilling atmosphere. In conclusion, this flix is disturbing, terrifying and intelligent.

• Patrick D

  
  If Argento made a solid mainstream flick, with a not so great score, this is what might happen. This film if actually pretty great, suspenseful and really keeps you confused, paranoid, and trying to figure out exactly what the hell is gonna happen next. It's aged for sure, as… More
  If Argento made a solid mainstream flick, with a not so great score, this is what might happen. This film if actually pretty great, suspenseful and really keeps you confused, paranoid, and trying to figure out exactly what the hell is gonna happen next. It's aged for sure, as it's dealing with video and was made in the mid 90s, but that doesn't really hinder it too much. The direction is stylish enough but seems to concentrate more on tell you a straight story, and build the suspense. It definitely scores a hell of alot higher than a lame "edgy" american mainstream thriller.

• Leina R

  
  Perfect, just perfect. Thus began my love for Alejandro Amenabar, Eduardo Noriega y Fele Martinez.

Read all 12 featured audience ratings