Native Name: |
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Director: | Pau Freixas | ||
Producer: | Joan Bosch | ||
Cinematography: | Julián Elizalde | ||
Editing: | Jaume Martí | ||
Distributor: | Manga Films | ||
Country: | Spain | ||
Language: | Spanish | ||
Budget: | €3.5 million |
Deadly Cargo or Dark Chamber (Spanish; Castilian: '''Cámara oscura'''|links=no) is a 2003 Spanish psychological horror thriller film directed by from a screenplay by Freixas and which stars Silke and Unax Ugalde.
The plot follows the members of an underwater diving expedition (including freelance photographer Sara and instructor Iván) hiding on a gloomy hulk used for people trafficking after being left afloat for a while in the wake of their vessel enduring a wreck off the West African coast.
The film is an Iris Star, Manga Films, and Estudios Picasso production and it had the participation of Telecinco and TVC.[1] It boasted a €3.5 million budget. Shooting locations included Vilanova i la Geltrú.[2]
Deadly Cargo screened out of competition as the opening film of the 36th Sitges Film Festival on 27 November 2003.[3] [4] Distributed by Manga Films, it was released theatrically in Spain on 27 August 2004.[5]
Jonathan Holland of Variety considered that "far the best of a recent crop of Spanish teen thrillers", the "stylish" film manages to exploit "a decent budget, good perfs and self-assured helming".[6]
Alberto Bermejo of El Mundo rated the film 2 out of 5 stars, praising the "steady pace and believability of the characters' harrowing wanderings on the boat" but also writing about the sailors' characters exposing "the lack of entity" of a script and a mise-en-scène both lacking the necessary depth.[7]