El amuleto
2016 · 10m · Argentina
Directed by Javier Kresta
A young man is given a cursed amulet and leaves it exposed without realizing his sister will be possessed when she touches it. Strange events begin to occur after she does.
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It's a competent possession thriller that hits all the expected beats—cursed object, sibling betrayal, escalating dread—but there's nothing here that makes you uncomfortable in the way that matters; the subversion never arrives.
Kresta demonstrates formal control in the pacing and visual grammar of classic folk-horror lineage, though the film doesn't quite achieve the thematic depth or visual distinctiveness that would elevate it beyond capable genre exercise.
The film turns entirely on the single unguarded moment where the sister touches the amulet—a split-second of careless contact that Kresta shoots with enough restraint and consequence to make you feel the weight of that one choice cascading through everything that follows.