The Film:
Killing Words, or Palabras Encadenadas as it is originally called, is one of few Spanish films I have seen and, damn, am I glad I have seen it. Killing Words (directed by Laura Mañá) stars DarÃo Grandinetti (Hable Con Ella AKA Talk To Her) as Ramon, a philosophy lecturer who has been taken into an interview with Spanish police superintendent Espinosa (Fernando Guillén - A la sombra de los sueños, All About My Mother) and his colleague, inspector Sanchez (Eric Bonicatto - Morir en San Hilario, Rien que des grandes personnes) over the alleged murder of his former wife, Laura (Goya Toledo - Bailando chachacha, Amores perros). To bring you up to speed, the first scene shown is Laura waking up in a dark room alone, gagged and taped to a chair. As she awakens, a video starts to play, and it is her ex-husband Ramon, who on the tape is confessing to nineteen other murders. Then the lights come on and they come face to face. Ramon challenges her to a word game where you must take alternate turns saying a word that starts with the same syllable the last one ended with. If Laura wins, she gets to go free, but, if she loses, Ramon will pop her eyeballs out a spoon. As the story goes between scenes in which Ramon has kidnapped Laura and scenes in which he is being interviewed, many twists and turns happen. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but missing this film would make you stupid. Very stupid. A very entertaining thriller with some of the best actors in Spanish cinema makes for a fantastic experience. The only thing that does spoil it ever so slightly, is that during the word association games, Spanish words have completely different syllables to that of their English counterparts, which, when reading the subtitles can cause slight confusion (if you're as easily confused as me).
The DVD:
Video:
Filmax Home Video have done a very nice job with an anamorphic transfer in the OAR of 1.78:1. There are moments with slight grain, but it is only noticeable if you are looking for it. Other than that, the colours are dark and grimy where they need to be, yet bright and vibrant in the correct spots (such as Laura's red dress in all the dark scenes). Subtitles are available in either English or Spanish, and the English ones are up to par. I think I only saw one error and it was ever so slight and I could still understand what the line was supposed to say. Well done Filmax.
Audio:
Contrary to the fact that there is a bright red DTS logo on the back of the box underneath the 5.1 'diagram', I was very disappointed to find it wasn't in fact present, though I expected this as it isn't advertised at most online shops. Included on the disc though, is a Spanish dolby digital 5.1 track and it is a fine one at that. Creating a good atmosphere during the 'kidnap' scenes as well as the dialogue being controlled superbly, it is a very good soundtrack. Just gutted about the DTS track.
Extras:
Unfortunately, all extras are in Spanish with no English option so I can only describe what is going on in the extras. The mark for extras in the overall will be based upon what is present on the disc and if it seems to be substantial.
Making Of Documentary - Lasting just over thirty minutes long, this documentary looks a lot better than the average American fluff piece. It features interviews with the main cast and crew and seems to show a lot of behind the scenes footage with the director.
Q & A Session - Although I don't know where the Q&A Session was held, it does appear to be from a horror convention in Spain. All four of the main cast members are present as well as several other people (who I assume to be the director and other principle crew members. It runs for over twenty minutes.
Cast and Crew List Simple starightforward cast and crew list.
Biofilmographies - Also included are 4 biofilmographies for the main cast members consisting of several pages for each person. All in Spanish.
Bonus Trailers - There are also 8 bonus trailers included. They are for Peopel I Know, Bulletproof Monk, Good Advice, Re-Animator, Cid, Mucha sangre and Jeepers Creepers 2.
Trailer - The theatrical trailer.
