“Everything happens for a reason.” Seasoned horror fans may not have all that difficult of a time figuring out what that reason is in writers/directors Marisa Crespo and Moises Romera’s tense new horror film, You’re Not Me, which just played at Fantastic Fest, but that doesn’t make the journey any less chilling. Set in Spain, the film follows Aitana (Roser Tapias), who has decided to surprise her parents by showing up unannounced on Christmas Eve with her partner, Gabi (Yapoena Silva) and their newly adopted baby. Turns out, they’ve crashed a holiday party Aitana’s parents are hosting, and only her disabled brother, Saul (Jorge Motos) seems happy to see her. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she also discovers that her parents have taken in a young woman off the streets named Nadia (Anna Kurikka) and given her all of Aitana’s things, including her room. She might as well be their new daughter. Jealous of Nadia, Aitana looks to expose her replacement for the dangerous person she assumes she is, unprepared for the sinister truth. It’s a strange thing, returning to the house you grew up in once you’ve moved out. Subtle changes feel like slaps across the face. The space you knew so well turns alien. And though most of us would never admit it, moving so far away from home can spark a fear that we won’t be as welcome once we return. That subconscious worry that you’ll become disconnected from family. Less loved. Maybe even replaced. That’s been my experience having moved more than two-thousand miles away from my closest relatives, and it’s that terror that the filmmakers slice into with sharp precision in You’re Not Me. Crespo and Romera take that dread that something is off with home and set it loose right away like a wild animal gnawing at Aitana’s ankles. First, the airport loses their luggage. Then, she hits a pig with her car on the way to the house. The unexcited looks on her parent’s faces are just the foul icing on top of a shit-cake of a night gradually getting worse. Imagine showing up to surprise your family, and they greet you with a shrug. You’d probably find yourself falling down a hole of anxiety as well, a persistent clawing at the mind that turns into a full-on shredding once Aitana discovers Nadia sleeping in her bed. Through our protagonist’s bubbling anger, the filmmakers drag you to the edge of your seat, waiting for the powder-keg of tension to explode and take the whole house down with it. What’s clever about the portrayal of Aitana here is in how well Crespo and Romera balance both sympathy and frustration with the character. On one hand, anyone who’s ever felt the sharp blade of their parent’s disappointment (all of us, I imagine), will relate to the gut-wrenching devastation our protagonist experiences as she finds Nadia in her pajamas, watches the impostor be given her old wedding dress from the marriage she ran away from, and receive all of the love from her family that she so badly craves. At the same time, the audience is given hints that Aitana may not have the best history with her mental health, injecting enough paranoid horror and nightmare sequences to imply she may be wrong about Nadia. There are moments where you want to side with the family against Aitana’s party pooper attitude, while also empathizing with her terror. Through it all, Tapias delivers a gripping performance that keeps you tottering between whether or not to trust her, just as she is unable to trust anyone around her. You’re Not Me comes close to reaching the paranoid heights of something like Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation. There’s a similar craftsmanship to this film, from the suffocating sense that something is wrong to the warm lighting that belies the cold dread building underneath. However, experienced horror fans will likely be able to spot the trajectory of the film long before it reaches its destination. The filmmakers have fun inserting loads of subtle nods to the secret, making it worth an immediate re-watch for anyone that enjoys that kind of thing, but they aren’t so subtle that it keeps from ruining the surprise. Whether it fools you or not, though, this story is much less about the endgame and more about the sweaty anticipation in getting there. That’s because Crespo and Romera prove to be exceptional in building skin-prickling suspense, with ideas as juicy as a Christmas ham roasting underneath the surface. You’re Not Me takes traditional Christmas themes such as family and holiday miracles and twists them into something nightmarish. You’ve never experienced a winter night as chilling as what You’re Not Me has in store. Even knowing where the film is going doesn’t prepare the viewer for a wallop of an ending guaranteed to get your teeth chattering. This despite the filmmakers hardly incorporating any scares at all. This film is all about what’s going on underneath the surface, hidden right in front of our eyes. The intent isn’t to scare you outright, but to make you consider the terrifying implications. Don’t call it a slow-burn, but rather a slow-chill that leaves your flesh frostbitten. Perhaps a little too well-telegraphed, You’re Not Me probably won’t send you reeling like walking into a surprise party. We’ve seen this film before, but the tension it serves up isn’t any less delicious. Give it a chance, and it’ll have you second guessing the next time you decide to show up to your parents unannounced. By Matt Konopka
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