Fever Dream or Distancia de rescate is a drama-horror movie directed by Claudia Llosa and is based on a novel by Samanta Schweblin. The movie stars María Valverde, Dolores Fonzi, and Germán Palacios, alongside other cast members. The movie is 93 minutes long.
Netflix describes the movie as:
The charged relationship between two young moms, one a visitor and the other a local, reveals a looming environmental catastrophe and a spiritual crash.
– Fever Dream review does not contain spoilers –
There’s something very creepy about listening in on a mysterious story being told. You don’t know whether it’s true or not and whether you should believe whatever they are telling the other person. But, as a third-person observer, you are creeped out. And Fever Dream does a great job at creating an environment and mystery that sticks to you like gum.
Fever Dream has a very odd way of storytelling. It jumps from here to there to somewhere else and spills a tale that will make you question your sanity. The chronology is as interesting as the story itself.
Coming to the story, Fever Dream has a story that will keep you guessing. What happening to David? What happened to Amanda? Is Carola’s story true? What is going to happen? These are questions that I kept asking throughout the runtime. Sometimes the story gets muddled and confusing and you have no choice but you keep watching as the questions become more pressing.
The movie talks about the environment, pollution and toxins. There’s something very scary and immediate about such a subject matter. It doesn’t showcase any violence or overt horrors; Fever Dream is very much a character-driven and story-driven film. There are no jump scares, neither will you find anything supernatural.
However, there are horrors much worse than the supernatural. And the movie portrays that splendidly. The fear of a mother to protect her child reigns supreme in this atmospheric horror movie that is beautiful to look at and witness. As I said, throughout its runtime, due to how tightly it holds on to its cards to its chest, you wonder what could be the answer to the puzzle. The payoff isn’t all that great and the secret that comes out at the end is a bit… meh. But still, it’s a movie that is worth the time.
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The characters themselves are interesting, with Carola and Amanda, two striking women with everything going for them, try to keep their anxieties at bay when it comes to their children. It also showcases how the women have very little help from their spouses when it comes to taking care of the children or the house. These are subtle and are not really the subject matter of the movie, but still come out to make this a confusing, yet interesting, watch.
A horror movie is as good as its actors and leading ladies María Valverde and Dolores Fonzi are excellent as two mothers who are as different as they come. Fonzi and Valverde bring forth the right amount of mystery through their acting and their personalities are so different that you feel great to watch it go down in front of you.
Summing up: Fever Dream
Most of Fever Dream’s runtime is extremely great to watch and the slow-paced horror feels wonderful. Although the payoff isn’t that great and leaves you with a slightly bitter taste in your mouth, you’ll still enjoy watching it regardless.
Fever Dream is streaming on Netflix.
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