What the Waters Left Behind Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

What the Waters Left Behind Blu-ray Movie Review

The Argentina Chain Saw Massacre.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 24, 2020

It's probably a good thing that co-writers and co-directors (and siblings) Luciano and Nicolás Onetti are reportedly open (according to of course always questionable online sources) about the fact that What the Waters Left Behind owes more than a passing amount to a certain Tobe Hooper film which has entered the annals of horror classics, at least for some fans. That admission can lend credence to perceptions that What the Waters Left Behind is an "homage" rather than a complete "ripoff", but aside and apart from any "been there, seen that" tendencies the film offers, there's at least one way What the Waters Left Behind manages to create a distinctive identity: its location. This film doesn't take place in some fetid Texas backwater, but there is water involved, as evidenced by the film's English language title. (The original title is Los Olvidados, which is indeed what the title card on this presentation offers, but perhaps someone wanted to avoid confusion with The Young and the Damned, one of Luis Bunuel's early efforts which was also originally released as Los Olvidados.) Villa Epecuén was an Argentinian tourist mecca that was kind of "Venice"-like in that it was evidently kind of thrust out into water and was accessible only via trains that ran on rather narrow raised beds. Villa Epecuén was more or less completely destroyed in 1985 by a freak flood that wiped everything out and left a devastated landscape in its (literal) wake. That apocalyptic environment provides What the Waters Left Behind with some viscerally effective imagery, even if the actual story seems awfully rote.

If the Onettis probably most overtly reference The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in this film, a number of other horror tropes are employed which will probably seem more than familiar to many genre aficionados, including (but certainly not limited to) the fact that there's a "found footage" element, at least in passing. That aspect comes courtesy of the fact that the film follows a group of young documentary filmmakers who are returning to the (supposedly) abandoned ruin in order to look things over, as well as to interview one of the tragedy's few survivors, a young woman named Carla (Victoria Maurette). While no "after the fact" video remnants are offered, one of the by now hoary clichés the found footage subgenre typically offers, there are brief “cutaways” to the documentary ostensibly under production once the gaggle of characters arrives in Epecuén. Before they get there, though, the Onettis utilize one of the hoariest clichés in the annals of contemporary horror films, namely having the characters arrive at a dilapidated gas station and market offering whatever the Argentinian version of rednecks are in some unabashedly menacing and bizarre vignettes. Of course those "southern fried" ( South America fried?) characters return later in the story to wreak havoc.

The first half or so of this film is really rather viscerally compelling, and it's notable that it features relatively little slash and dash material. The location work is really arresting, and the almost Pompeii like ruins of Epecuén really give the film some considerable visual impact, something aided and abetted by sometimes "arty" but still interesting stylistic tweaks offered by the Onettis. Even a bunch of the character introductions are relatively well handled, but once the film moves into its decidedly more graphic and horror laden latter section (maybe vivisection would be a more appropriate term), the story is just kind of silly, verging on torture porn a lot of the time. Even some diehard horror fans may find certain elements here almost on the laughable side, despite some unabashedly grim imagery.

What the Waters Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

What the Waters Left Behind is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Unearthed Films and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.50:1. I unfortunately have been able to, um, unearth even one whit of technical information on this shoot, but this is an exceptionally crisp, well detailed looking effort that features some really appealing levels of detail throughout the presentation, even when various stylistic tweaks have been employed (which is fairly frequently). Some of the grading is really interesting, including a kind of coolish blue-green-yellow tint to a number of outdoor moments, notably before the group arrives at their destination. There's repeated use of what I assume is drone footage offering various aerial views of Epecuén, and it looked to me like at least some of that may be at a lower resolution than the bulk of the material. The faux "documentary" video footage is also intentionally pretty ragged looking, as can be gleaned by a couple of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review.

What the Waters Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

What the Waters Left Behind features a surprisingly vivid and aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original Spanish (with optional English subtitles), though a lot of that energy is not derived from typical "startle" effects and the like, but rather from a pretty nonstop score which features a glut of harder rock guitar-centric cues (Luciano Onetti is credited with the score). There is still noticeable surround activity in non- muiscal moments, with a glut of outdoor material offering opportunities for well placed ambient environmental sounds. Once the film gets into its more gruesome content, there are some stomach churning sound effects as various bodily harm is inflicted. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly thoughout this problem free track. For the record, there's also a very nice sounding LPCM 2.0 track on this disc, one which I actually preferred at times for its more focused accounting of the score.

What the Waters Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Film Footage (1080p; 6:57) offers lots of clapper boards and raw (silent) footage that plays to some of the film's propulsive rock score.


• Image Gallery (1080i) is authored without a timecode, but does advance automatically, so have the Pause button on your remote handy if you want to linger on any given image. Like the Film Footage supplement, this plays to more blistering guitar solos.


• Trailers includes What the Waters Left Behind (480p; 1:32), along with several other releases from Unearthed Films.

What the Waters Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In doing some background research for this review, I discovered that there's a documentary about a real life survivor of Epecuén entitled Pablo's Villa, which I really wish Unearthed Films and MVD Visual had somehow been able to license and include here (for those interested, it's on YouTube in segments for some reason, but you can start by searching "The Last Man of Epecuen" on that site). The location is what gives this film its real "flavor" (cannibalism notwithstanding), and that alone may be enough to recommend it to some. The story here is beyond trite, but both the setting and some of the Onettis' distinctive stylistic approaches give this film considerable visual impact, with a frenzied guitar drenched soundtrack also adding to the overall effort. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.