FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL 2006
The Kovak Box (El Laberinto de Kovak, Spain, 2006)

Director Daniel Monzon, who brought us the extraordinary film The Machinist, comes back with another thriller about a bizarre experiment done on human beings.

A sci-fi writer, David, is invited to give a conference in the island of Mallorca. His wife goes with him, and on the first night, she receives a mysterious call that makes her jump out of the window killing herself. At the same time, another guest at the hotel receives a call and jumps out the window too. What seems to be a suicide turns out to be something much worse, as David starts receiving clues as to what is really happening. Apparently, a Hungarian researcher, Robert Kovak, had been experimenting conditional behaviour on humans. David soon finds himself entangled in Mr. Kovak’s plan to write a book about his life. He wants of course David to write it, and thanks to his experiment, he is able to control people’s mind if they do not comply to his requests.

The plot will keep you at the edge of your seat until the end. We, as spectators, discover new facts in every scene, and just like the writer David, we are trying to understand and connect the dots. A few graphic killings complete this excellent movie.