The pain in Spain: an analysis of horror auteur Jaume Balagueró’s films

Abstract

Contemporary Spanish horror auteur Jaume Balagueró’s films are animated by thematic motifs that surround traditionally marginal ‘Others.’ This study focuses on Balagueró’s more recent works, which include three films in the [·REC] series and Mientras Duermes. Specifically, this study reads Balagueró’s film symptomatically, drawing on auteur theory and the horror genre as well as its relation to Spain. The psychoanalytically inflected concept of the Monster teases out the films’ sociopolitical symptoms that surround traditionally marginalized people (immigrants, women, children). The ‘archaic mother’ and ‘final girl’ further flesh out the sociopolitical meanings around Balagueró’s conjuring of zombies and viruses. The analysis also encompasses Balagueró’s relation to the ‘found footage’ horror sub-genre and his male characters’ lack of ‘phallic sufficiency.’ While Balagueró’s work can be interpreted as tacitly right-wing (despite channeling strong doubts about male authority), the films present one moment within a larger sociopolitical national discourse. That is, Balagueró’s films do not perform a simple ‘mirror’ function – even as they are deeply embedded in Spain today.