STORIES TO KEEP YOU AWAKE 2021: FREDDY

By Elena Anele (*)

Chicho Ibáñez Serrador’s production company (whose is now in hands of his children) has produced a new series of the cult TV show STORIES TO KEEP YOU AWAKE. Four episodes have been made for a very famous video on demand and shop platform. I was very excited about the news, but I felt disappointed when I was told they all were remakes.

Paco Plaza (VERONICA, REC) has directed one of the episodes, the one called Freddy, in which we deal with the story of a failed actor and lover (Miki Esparbé), a ventriloquist doll in the set in the making of an actual Stories to keep you awake episodes from the 80s. This was also written by  Alberto Marini (SUMMER CAMP)

The story is not bad, but the jokes included are really tacky, old, and chauvinist. It is not original at all and even though the idea of portraying how the series was made could be of interest seemed just as a mockery to gain watchers through the abuse of nostalgia. I felt ridiculous when I saw the actor playing Chicho (Carlos Santos).

I quite liked the plot of the doll taking control of the shooting, although it is totally out of fashion and overused today and wasn’t scary at all.

Entertaining but not so much. I hope the next features are better.

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Elena Anele is the woman in charge of SPANISHFEAR.COM, and  Horror Rises from Spain. A literature and cinema researcher, finishing her postgraduate studies with a thesis about the mystic filmmaker José Val del Omar. She has published in different media and books as Fangoria or Hidden Horror. She has also been in charge of several translations including Javier Trujillo’s complete works, La Mano Film Fest, The Man who Saw Frankenstein Cry and many more.