The Corpse of Anna Fritz

The Corpse of Anna Fritz (Spanish: El cadáver de Anna Fritz) is a 2015 Spanish thriller film co-written and directed by Hèctor Hernández Vicens. It premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas on 15 March 2015.[1]

The Corpse of Anna Fritz
Theatrical poster
Directed byHèctor Hernández Vicens
Written by
Hèctor Hernández Vicens
  • Isaac P. Creus
StarringAlba Ribas
Cristian Valencia
Bernat Saumell
Albert Carbó
Music byTolo Prats
Edited byAlberto Bernad
Release date
  • 15 March 2015 (2015-03-15) (SXSW)
Running time
76 minutes
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish
Box office€360,000

Plot

Pau works as an orderly at a hospital, a job that gives him the opportunity to watch the bodies of young women that are brought to the hospital's morgue. One day he is stunned when the body of Anna Fritz, a beautiful and desirable actress, arrives. Pau cannot resist taking a picture and sending it to one of his friends, Ivan, who quickly arrives with Javi, his other friend, at the morgue to view Anna's nude body.

Ivan ponders out loud if it is possible to rape a corpse and Pau replies that saliva must be used for lubrication. When asked whether he knows this from past experience, Pau confesses he has raped the corpse of a 17 or 18-year-old girl. Ivan soon decides that he wants to rape Anna's corpse and begins raping it, prompting Pau to suggest that he take a turn after Ivan. Javi is disgusted when they suggest he takes a turn and refuses. During their act of necrophilia, however, Anna suddenly returns to life and opens her eyes while Pau is raping her. She cannot move, but her eyes are open in terror. Pau screams when he realizes this and the others come into the room.

The men are then faced with two choices: They can either report Anna's revival and face rape charges, as there was no way Anna could have consented to sex, or they can murder her and cover up their crimes. While Pau and Ivan both want to hide their crime, Javi pushes for them to save Anna and take responsibility for what they have done. The three men argue and Ivan unintentionally kills Javi. Without Javi to stop them, Ivan is set on killing Anna. Ivan convinces Pau that he would be an accessory to the murder of Javi, and that there is no way Anna would stay silent if she is left alive.

They decide to smother her with bunched up sheets so no mark is left on her body. While Ivan disposes of the evidence, Pau cleans Anna's body and covers her in a white sheet. As he is about to leave, Pau tells Anna to pretend she is dead and it is revealed that he faked the murder. Ivan returns and they both leave the room. As they are about to get on the elevator, Ivan checks his wallet and realizes he forgot his card in the morgue. Pau unsuccessfully tries to convince him to leave rather than get his card, saying he will pick it up the next day. Ivan opens the door to see Anna putting on a hospital gown.

Ivan furiously starts to choke Pau, accusing him of conspiring to blame all of it on him. He finally stops, announcing that he does not care anymore if Pau wants to go to jail. Anna sneaks up behind him and stabs him twice. He bleeds to death from the wound in his neck. Pau cries, saying that Ivan had already said he would leave. Silent, Anna repeatedly stabs Pau. Anna is then seen staring off with tears in her eyes and blood spatter on her face.

Cast
  • Alba Ribas: Anna Fritz
  • Bernat Saumell: Javi
  • Cristian Valencia: Ivan
  • Albert Carbó: Pau
  • Nico Avila: the doctor

Release

The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival on 15 March 2015.[2] It was later released in Spain in October of the same year, where it made €36,000 at the box office and was viewed an estimated 9,000 times.[3] In February 2016, director Hèctor Hernández Vicens discovered that his film was popular in the Philippines, where it was illegally viewed or downloaded between 5 and 7 million times via outlets such as Facebook and YouTube.[3] This prompted the film crew to seek out legal counsel in an attempt to stop the illegal distribution. They have since managed to get an upload of the film deleted from YouTube.[2] Due to the film's popularity overseas, the film's crew and producers are seeking to launch an advertising and screening campaign in the Philippines.[3]

Reception

In a positive review from We Got This Covered, Matt Donato remarked that it is "not a perfect thriller — but it's an aptly paced ride that doesn’t shy away from divisive boundaries".[4] The International Business Times praised certain elements such as lighting, while stating that they felt it would have worked better as a short film.[5] Cliff Wheatley at IGN singled out Alba Ribas's performance, the story's tense subject matter and denouement, though he felt that its 76-minute runtime was overlong, "because it relies so heavily on the shock value of the subject matter and doesn't bother to deliver any inkling of a likable character".[6]

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 67% rating based on nine critics, and an average of 6.4/10.[7]

See also
  • Husma, a 2019 Sinhala film with a similar plot

References
  1. "The Corpse of Anna Fritz". SXSW Schedule 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  2. "Spanish necrophilia movie is surprise hit in the Philippines". The Local. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  3. "El extraño caso de la película española sobre necrofilia que triunfa en Filipinas". El diario. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  4. "The Corpse Of Anna Fritz Review [SXSW 2015]". We Got This Covered. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  5. "'The Corpse Of Anna Fritz': Necrophilia Movie Pushes The Horror Boundaries At SXSW". International Business Times. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  6. Wheatley, Cliff (14 March 2016). "The Corpse of Anna Fritz Review". IGN. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. "The Corpse of Ana Fritz (El cadáver de Anna Fritz)". Rotten Tomatoes.
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