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Antonio (Fernando Acaso) is released after 14 years in prison for
killing his girlfriend (Elena Seguí) to a weird inheritance, a defunct
brothel, and a wife, the night nurse Francisca (Mará José Bausá), whom
he has met through a dating agency while still in prison and who knows
about his past but needs a husband to get away from her parents and
continue her affair with a doctor at her hospital undisturbed. Little does
she know that Antonio knows about her affair, but actually, he doesn't
really mind as long as she is out during the nights ... because you know,
Antonio has since discovered killing as his favourite pastime, first
poisoning a vagabond (Alejo Sauras), then inviting prostitutes (Raquel
Arenas, Xènia Reguant) to his home to strap them to a table and rape,
torture and humiliate them for several days before killing them with a
chainsaw. And somehow, Francisca never grows suspicious about what happens
in room number 6, the room Antonio keeps his victims in but claims he has
lost the key for ...
Only one prostitute he spares, god-fearing Tina (Sonia Morena), but he
brutally kills her pimp Curro (Ramón Del Palomar) by throwing him down
several stairs, just because he's such an asshole.
Eventually, the police grows suspicious about the missing prostitutes,
and when they also find out about the dead vagabond who has been last seen
in Antonio's place and get a testimony out of Tina who's for some reason
worried about her asshole pimp, Commissario Miguel Oliver (Martín
Garrido), who has also arrested Antonio all these years ago, knows he's on
the right track.
When he knows the police is closing in on him, Antonio removes all
incriminating evidence ... all but his diary, which is enough for the
police to nail him ... but all he gets is three years in the psychiatric
ward, then he's a free man again - and as it turns out, Antonio has
planned this all along, he staged his own arrest to become famous, and
now, out againhe can sell book and film rights to his real diary (not the
made-up one the police has found that he also used to get into the
psychiatric ward), live off the royalties and continue his career as a
killer elsewhere.
But why didn't he kill Francisca ?
Because she was family, and he would never kill family.
A film about a serial killer following (his interpretation of) the
writings of Friedrich Nietzsche made as a dark comedy can't be all bad -
and sure enough this one isn't, it's an in parts fascinating and always
tongue-in-cheek study of a totally mad serial killer - who describes his
actions most rationally, actually. What can I say, it's good fun - in a
perverted way maybe, but fun still.
The only things that detract from the film's overall effect are a few
practical questions, trivial as they may be:
Why (and how) does Antonio shag his strapped down prostitutes without
removing their panties, how come the girls never cry for help, even though
his wife is passing the door to room number 6 quite frequently, how come
they, being strapped to a table for several days, never have to pee or
shit, and how come they never try to escape, their straps look anything
but inescapable, and when you know your life's at stake ... ?
Having asked all these questions, I have to admit I might be a bit too
picky and pedantic, after all the film is still fun - it just could have
been better if these things were thought through ...
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