Costa Rica does not have many movies from their own country but rather has movies translated to spanish from popular movies in the US. However, I did find the movie called “El Mayordomo” which means “The Butler”.
The movie is about a boy named Peter who is from Costa Rica and received the house of his recently deceased mother. She left the house for him in his will which is very common in Costa Rica for homes to be passed down from generations. The house comes with the butler and his daughter that worked for Peter’s mother and when Peter plans on cleaning out the house he notices that they have something else in mind. The plot thickens when things get creepy. I won’t ruin the movie but I definitely closed my eyes a couple of times.
The movie is rated “Terror” which is “R” in Spanish and I could easily find the movie online, maybe illegally, but found it nonetheless. The movie was released in 2017 and to date is the highest-grossing film in the last 10 years. The film captures many cultural dimensions of Costa Rica. For example, the leaving of the house to Peter is a very culturally hispanic thing to do. In addition, to have maids and butlers is not a concept that only the rich and wealthy have. In Costa Rica, to have butlers or someone to take care of your house is fairly inexpensive and is fairly common. The addition to small supernatural scenes also contrast the religious connotation of Costa Rican audiences and the negative superstitions of the supernatural. The “strange” things that occured to Peter as he stayed in his mother house where not all the “strange” and audiences did not feel that they were going against their religious beliefs by seeing the movie.
Contrast the film is portrayed as a classical film with little to no color in some scenes. The director, César Caro Cruz, makes that irry and scary movie similar to the movie Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a black and white theme throughout the movie in suspenseful scenes with Peter and the Butler.
I read in a critic of the movie in the “La Nacion” newspaper, that the prediction of the outcome for the movie was not positive. However, critics and the public were surprised that with such a vague title the movie was so successful. The thrill of the movie attracted audiences again and again. In addition, the risk of Cruz to lessen the dialogue between characters, required the best of the best cinematography could buy with the small budget of the film. Many critics applaud the movie as well as myself, if I can even consider myself a critic. I very much enjoyed the movie even though I was scared throughout it. I normally stray away from horror movies that cause me to feel my stomach in my throat, however, because of my pride in being Costa Rican I feel that I owe it to the country to give their own movies a chance.
If you enjoy thriller, and suspenseful scary movies I recommend seeing El Mayordomo”, maybe with a friend or during the day.
Toes in the Water, Tica in the Sand 