It’s easy to grow frustrated with your mother when a mid-road trip phone call turns into an opportunity for her to nag you about the men in your life, question whether you’ve quit smoking, and demand the directions to a recipe. But when she calls again just moments later and repeats the exact same conversation, this frustration turns to heartbreak.
Realizing you can’t keep your parents from growing old, or that you now have to act as the caretaker to the woman who raised you, is enough to overwhelm anyone. Even more horrific is when those loved ones start to forget where they are, who they are, or who you are. This is where Laura (Agustina Liendo) finds herself in Martin Mauregui’s Crazy Old Lady.
While in the middle of nowhere driving her daughter, Elena (Emma Cetrangolo), to meet her father, Laura realizes she’s unable to do anything as her mother’s condition suddenly worsens. So she calls an unexpected helping hand – her now ex-boyfriend, Pedro (Daniel Hendler) – who agrees to go check on her mother, Alicia (played by Carmen Maura). But after a little dinner, wine, and a scuffle over some pills, Alicia’s grasp on her present is quickly overtaken by the memories of her past. This creates life-threatening circumstances for an unsuspecting Pedro.
Crazy Old Lady is an Argentinian psycho-biddy that certainly doesn’t shy away from the tropes of “crazy old lady cinema.” But the film’s self awareness grants wiggle room to have fun – even when it bumps against the darkness that haunts Alicia’s, as well as Argentina’s, past. Carmen Maura absolutely steals the show as Alicia. With a decorated career spanning back to her feature debut in 1971, Maura has no problem toying with the audience by switching between playful, menacing, or tragic at any given moment.
The elderly body has always been exploited as a source of disgust and shock in the horror genre – and naked old ladies have certainly made quite the comeback in the late 2010s and 2020s, with films like Barbarian, X, and The Substance (just to name a few). But it’s refreshing and even surprising that this is an element completely absent from Crazy Old Lady. While the premise itself certainly relies on the sensationalism of degenerative diseases, there’s still a nuance and sense of care present for a character like Alicia. Because, oftentimes, hurt young women grow to become viejas locas.
The horror of Crazy Old Lady is beyond any sort of abject disgust towards the elderly. Rather, it lies in the fear and terror that comes with losing grasp of time, reality, memory, and identity. Sometimes the scariest thing we’re faced with are the horrors of our own past. The predicament within which poor Pedro finds himself is due to Alicia’s confusion between him and César, a mysterious man from her life before Laura came along. But because Alicia refuses to take her medication and refuses to admit she needs help, she’s unable to pull herself out of this dark hole.
Pedro’s presence has triggered memories of the tumultuous relationship she had with César, a violent man who’d taken advantage of his military connections during the days of the Dirty War – a period of civil unrest in Argentina spanning from the late 1970s to early 1980s – to make people disappear. The good times for which Alicia yearns, and the bad times from which she harbors pain and anger, trap Pedro – mentally and physically – in a game that, at times, requires his complete cooperation with her delusions and, at others, pushes him to desperately plead for Alicia’s mercy.
Unfortunately, the middle stretch of the film slows in pace as Pedro’s captivity continues. This may be a disappointment to horror hounds hoping for a single night, tension-filled chamber piece. However, writer-director Martín Mauregui knows how to raise the stakes and deliver a grimace-inducing yet conflicting final act. With such a small cast carrying us through the film, performance is everything. Mauregui’s direction allows Pedro’s experience to be that of the audience. As he carries us through confusion, pain, and terror, Daniel Hendler rises to the challenge of a monumental scene partner such as Maura.
Between animal death, amputation, and sexual assault, Crazy Old Lady warrants a few content warnings. But for those cinephiles who are looking for something just a little sick to add to the watchlist, you can now stream it on Shudder.
Siren Death Cult 
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