In high school, I had a friend named Mark. I described him in the introduction to an interview I did years ago with the musical performer, the Great Kat.
___One of my more noteworthy friends in high school was a guy named Mark who had long hair, wore a denim jacket, carried around a briefcase emblazoned with metal stickers, and was the first person I knew to have one of those T-shirts with Dali’s configuration of naked people into the shape of a human skull.___
Yeah, Mark was that kid—the weird dude who was very into underground music and often shocking media. (It was at his house I first saw the ultra-violent and scrotum-shriveling rape revenge film “I Spit on Your Grave”.)
Anyway, in the 1996 Spanish horror/thriller film “Thesis”, a female college student named Angela turns to a fellow student named Chema to help navigate the world of snuff fims (e.g. movies that show actual deaths.)
And damned if Chema looked doesn’t look exactly like my buddy Mark.
It’s an interesting movie. Angela, who is doing a thesis on media violence, tracks down some obscure videos in the school library. With Chema, she watches them, and they both recognize the victim in one snuff film. This leads Angela to a possible suspect, camera welding Bosco who is so handsome that she develops a kind of fearful crush (the best kind!) on him.
Hijinks ensue and the film mainly bounces between Chema and Bosco as suspects.
It’s a decent thriller, though it may have gone on a bit long.
Mixed into the plot are various bits of commentary on violence in the media. Angela’s thesis advisor argues that Spanish cinema has no chance of competing with the West unless it gives the audience what they want, which is sex and depravity. (Dude has a point.)
The film seems to be the type of horror film that subtly condemns its audience for the very violence it promises to deliver.
For a movie with such dark themes, it was wisely coy about presenting much blood and guts. It’s more what it doesn’t show that gets you.
I enjoyed “Thesis” and am inspired to watch more Spanish horror cinema.
