Plot: Unspeakable horror meets the blackest of black comedy. To celebrate the birth of their baby, a bickering couple buys a coffee table. Guaranteed to bring happiness to their family by the smarmy salesman, the couple instead find nothing but horror with this furniture and all without ghosts, monsters or possessions, just a tacky coffee table.
Review: It is hard for movies to fall between the cracks for a movie site like ours. Rarely do we learn of a movie after everyone else, especially two years late. The Coffee Table, directed by Caye Casas, is a Spanish movie that debuted in 2022 in Europe before hitting the festival circuit in 2023. The movie snuck onto DVD and streaming platforms domestically in April but is now buzzing thanks to an endorsement on social media from Stephen King. Knowing nothing about the film besides King’s endorsement, I checked out The Coffee Table and...
Review: It is hard for movies to fall between the cracks for a movie site like ours. Rarely do we learn of a movie after everyone else, especially two years late. The Coffee Table, directed by Caye Casas, is a Spanish movie that debuted in 2022 in Europe before hitting the festival circuit in 2023. The movie snuck onto DVD and streaming platforms domestically in April but is now buzzing thanks to an endorsement on social media from Stephen King. Knowing nothing about the film besides King’s endorsement, I checked out The Coffee Table and...
- 5/20/2024
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Horror fans looking to test their mettle should take note of director Caye Casas‘s The Coffee Table. Horror master Stephen King recently said of the pitch-black tragicomedy, “My guess is you have never, not once in your whole life, seen a movie as black as this one. It’s horrible and also horribly funny.”
That sums up this grim movie well, with King’s recommendation worth taking.
In a press release, Casas said, “We wanted to make one of the cruelest films ever made, one that people cannot forget. It will make them feel very strong emotions, real terror without monsters, zombies, ghosts or murderers, only with a dining room table and the cruelest fate that you can imagine.”
The filmmaker, who co-wrote the film with Cristina Borobia, isn’t downplaying the cruelty.
The film “follows Jesus and Maria, a couple going through a difficult time in their relationship.
That sums up this grim movie well, with King’s recommendation worth taking.
In a press release, Casas said, “We wanted to make one of the cruelest films ever made, one that people cannot forget. It will make them feel very strong emotions, real terror without monsters, zombies, ghosts or murderers, only with a dining room table and the cruelest fate that you can imagine.”
The filmmaker, who co-wrote the film with Cristina Borobia, isn’t downplaying the cruelty.
The film “follows Jesus and Maria, a couple going through a difficult time in their relationship.
- 5/15/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Caye Casas’s second feature is audacious and sharp, but the shifts between acidic comedy of manners and humour-free horror are grating
Exhausted new parents Jesús (David Pareja) and María (Estefanía de los Santos) are looking for something to tie their front room together. But in the furniture shop, when an unctuous salesman (Eduardo Antuña) suggests the “famous” Rörret coffee table – glass top, held aloft by two golden nymphs, a snip at €1,099 – old tensions emerge. Jesús is smitten; María thinks it’s a tacky abomination. She gets to choose everything, he says – even forcing him to have kids, and also dictating their son’s name, Cayetano. “A shoddy name for a fascist bullfighter,” he says. The salesman, who shares the moniker, is put out.
The worst happens; they buy the table. Actually, that’s not the worst: it’s what occurs, involving the table, when María heads out to buy...
Exhausted new parents Jesús (David Pareja) and María (Estefanía de los Santos) are looking for something to tie their front room together. But in the furniture shop, when an unctuous salesman (Eduardo Antuña) suggests the “famous” Rörret coffee table – glass top, held aloft by two golden nymphs, a snip at €1,099 – old tensions emerge. Jesús is smitten; María thinks it’s a tacky abomination. She gets to choose everything, he says – even forcing him to have kids, and also dictating their son’s name, Cayetano. “A shoddy name for a fascist bullfighter,” he says. The salesman, who shares the moniker, is put out.
The worst happens; they buy the table. Actually, that’s not the worst: it’s what occurs, involving the table, when María heads out to buy...
- 5/13/2024
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
"Enjoy if you dare..." What crazy idea will they come up with next for a horror movie?! Try this on for size, why don't ya. Watch out for deadly tables! The Coffee Table is a Spanish horror film about, uh, some kind of haunted, killer furniture. Jesus and Maria are a couple going through a difficult time in their relationship. Nevertheless, they have just become parents and are also struggling with the pressures of a newborn baby. To shape their new life, they decide to buy a new coffee table. A decision that will change their existence and their lives forever. This indie horror was entirely shot over the course of 10 days. Starring David Pareja and Estefanía de los Santos, with Josep Maria Riera, Claudia Riera, and Eduardo Antuña. It's described as "an unsettling descent into absolute madness and misery," and also "uproariously funny until it is not at all.
- 4/18/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"Buying that coffee table was the single worst decision I've ever made."
Caye Casas made a fantastic debut in 2017 as co-director of "Killing God," a hilariously dark comedy about messed-up family dynamics and a world-ending proposal. Now, he is really focusing on the dark part of dark comedy for his solo directorial debut in "The Coffee Table," a movie best watched as blind as humanly possible — if you even dare experience it. This is one of the bleakest, meanest, most unbearably cruel movies you could ever see, yet it is so uncomfortable and awkward you can't help but laugh in a maniacal way that might give you more than a few looks from those around you (if they're not laughing themselves). "The Coffee Table" is the anti-schadenfreude movie, one that gives you so much unpleasant misfortune you cannot possibly find it funny ... until you do.
The film follows a middle-aged couple,...
Caye Casas made a fantastic debut in 2017 as co-director of "Killing God," a hilariously dark comedy about messed-up family dynamics and a world-ending proposal. Now, he is really focusing on the dark part of dark comedy for his solo directorial debut in "The Coffee Table," a movie best watched as blind as humanly possible — if you even dare experience it. This is one of the bleakest, meanest, most unbearably cruel movies you could ever see, yet it is so uncomfortable and awkward you can't help but laugh in a maniacal way that might give you more than a few looks from those around you (if they're not laughing themselves). "The Coffee Table" is the anti-schadenfreude movie, one that gives you so much unpleasant misfortune you cannot possibly find it funny ... until you do.
The film follows a middle-aged couple,...
- 9/24/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
Friendship is always a fascinating subject for genre pieces. As a thesis, different filmmakers approach it in a variety of different ways. It can be something that binds our characters together, something they fight for, the thing that allows them to survive whatever horrors are thrown at them. Other times, it is more of a festering wound. Something broken below the surface. Amigo is more of the latter. The characters’ longtime friendship has been damaged in a way that is not readily apparent. Their issues emerge slowly and painstakingly and are more entrenched than either the characters or the audience thought was possible.
Directed by Óscar Martin from a script co-written by Martin and starring Javier Botet and David Pareja, Amigo starts out feeling like a buddy drama. Maybe in the years before, it could have been a buddy comedy, but life has drastically changed for these longtime friends, and...
Directed by Óscar Martin from a script co-written by Martin and starring Javier Botet and David Pareja, Amigo starts out feeling like a buddy drama. Maybe in the years before, it could have been a buddy comedy, but life has drastically changed for these longtime friends, and...
- 12/2/2022
- by Emily von Seele
- DailyDead
There’s something about the relationship between a severely disabled person and a carer which seems to distort the perceptions and expectations of outsiders. Perhaps it’s a fear of looking too closely, of seeing aspects of mortality and responsibility which most people would rather not acknowledge. It can be easier, even for those involved, to think of it purely in pragmatic terms, like something mechanical, ignoring the human dimension, without regard to what went before. But as in any other area of human interaction, the reality is that there are complex emotions involved which extend far beyond the care dynamic, and sometimes the weight of the past is much harder to bear.
Óscar Martín’s Fantastic Fest hit opens with an arresting scene. A small, battered looking white car pulls up on a dusty slope in the middle of nowhere, and a tall man (David Pareja) unfolds himself from within.
Óscar Martín’s Fantastic Fest hit opens with an arresting scene. A small, battered looking white car pulls up on a dusty slope in the middle of nowhere, and a tall man (David Pareja) unfolds himself from within.
- 12/2/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Unhappy Holiday Movie has become almost a genre unto itself, this year’s new additions running a now-familiar gamut from the sour seasonal rebound rom-com to wreathed-in-gore Yuletide horrors (including this weekend’s “Violent Night” and “Christmas Bloody Christmas”). No matter how dyspeptic in spirit, all tend to hang onto a certain cuteness, reassuring viewers they don’t really mean to rain on anyone’s annual good cheer.
Having none of that is “Amigo,” a first directorial feature for Óscar Martin, who co-wrote the screenplay with stars Javier Botet and David Pareja, a pair of frequent comedic collaborators expertly transplanting their chemistry to macabre dramatic terrain here. This wintry Spanish psychological thriller, culminating in a New Year’s Eve likely to be some characters’ last, premiered at Fantastic Fest over three years ago. It’s taken its time getting a North American release, but will prove worth the wait for fans of restrained,...
Having none of that is “Amigo,” a first directorial feature for Óscar Martin, who co-wrote the screenplay with stars Javier Botet and David Pareja, a pair of frequent comedic collaborators expertly transplanting their chemistry to macabre dramatic terrain here. This wintry Spanish psychological thriller, culminating in a New Year’s Eve likely to be some characters’ last, premiered at Fantastic Fest over three years ago. It’s taken its time getting a North American release, but will prove worth the wait for fans of restrained,...
- 12/2/2022
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Three years after making its film festival debut, the Spanish thriller Amigo is finally set to receive a theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada this Friday, December 2nd. The film stars popular creature performer Javier Botet in a rare dramatic role that didn’t require him to be hidden under a creature suit, and co-stars his comedy cohort David Pareja.
Described as a “charmingly dark” thriller and a cinematic journey along the lines of Misery and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Amigo has the following synopsis: After a violent accident, the good-natured David (Pareja) decides to accommodate and care for his best friend, Javi (Botet). But as the two of them begin arguing, the truth about their toxic, homicidal relationship bubbles to the surface – and madness soon takes hold.
Botet and Pareja wrote the script with director Óscar Martín.
A press release says that Amigo will take viewers to “the heart of deep,...
Described as a “charmingly dark” thriller and a cinematic journey along the lines of Misery and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Amigo has the following synopsis: After a violent accident, the good-natured David (Pareja) decides to accommodate and care for his best friend, Javi (Botet). But as the two of them begin arguing, the truth about their toxic, homicidal relationship bubbles to the surface – and madness soon takes hold.
Botet and Pareja wrote the script with director Óscar Martín.
A press release says that Amigo will take viewers to “the heart of deep,...
- 11/30/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive look at the psychological horror Amigo, featuring comedian David Pareja losing his mind as he cares for his immobile friend,
In Amigo, a violent accident convinces good-natured David (Pareja) to accommodate and care for his best friend, Javi (acclaimed creature performer Javier Botet). But as the two of them begin arguing, the truth about their toxic, homicidal relationship bubbles to the surface – and madness soon takes hold.
The film is described as “an intense cinematic journey that echoes Misery and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Amigo is a journey to the heart of deep, dark, gothic Spain that offers a radical twist to the amazing chemistry that Botet and Pareja have previously displayed in their comedy sketches together.”
A co-release from Dekanalog and Raven Banner, the acclaimed thriller, which played Fantastic Fest and Sitges, opens in U.S. and Canadian cinemas this Friday, December 2nd.
In Amigo, a violent accident convinces good-natured David (Pareja) to accommodate and care for his best friend, Javi (acclaimed creature performer Javier Botet). But as the two of them begin arguing, the truth about their toxic, homicidal relationship bubbles to the surface – and madness soon takes hold.
The film is described as “an intense cinematic journey that echoes Misery and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Amigo is a journey to the heart of deep, dark, gothic Spain that offers a radical twist to the amazing chemistry that Botet and Pareja have previously displayed in their comedy sketches together.”
A co-release from Dekanalog and Raven Banner, the acclaimed thriller, which played Fantastic Fest and Sitges, opens in U.S. and Canadian cinemas this Friday, December 2nd.
- 11/29/2022
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
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