The weird thing about watching The Similars is that I’d convinced myself that the movie was from the late sixties. It’s set in 1968, and the use of desaturated colors gave it an antique feel. The movie is actually from 2015, a fact that jarred me when it was over. As I watched it my first thought was, “this is like The Twilight Zone.” It is, very much so. It begins with a voiceover and it follows a group of eight people in a bus station during a preternatural hurricane. By the way, there will be spoilers here. It’s pretty difficult to discuss the movie without them. Please be warned. Also, the film is in Spanish, so you may need subtitles.
Ulises, a youngish man, is trying to get to Mexico City where his pregnant wife is giving birth in the hospital. A native woman, a shaman, avoids Ulises, while Martin, the ticket seller, doesn’t trust him. The bus isn’t coming because of the hurricane which, the radio announces, covers the entire world. Another pregnant woman, Irene, is fleeing her abusive boyfriend, but odd things have begun to happen. A bathroom attendant and the shaman have seizures. A mother and her ill son arrive. Martin insists Ulises is a witch, and Martin has covered his face with bandages. What soon becomes clear is that everyone is taking on Ulises’ face. They assume he’s either a government agent and they are being experimented upon, or he’s somehow a supernatural being. Then the Twilight Zone twist comes: it’s the ill boy who’s the one with special powers. He is following the plot of a horror comic book he read, where everyone is transformed to look alike and they lose their identities. That part was borrowed directly from the Zone. The shaman reveals that aliens gave the boy his powers and this is an extraterrestrial plot.
There’s a lot going on in this movie. Isaac Ezban, the director, apparently wanted it to be a character-driven drama, like Twilight Zone. Indeed, the film nods to more than one episode of Rod Serling’s series. Although it’s derivative, it’s artfully done. The retro feel to it adds to the effect. And when Irene’s baby is born it’s pretty clear that we’re firmly in the world of horror. There’s a certain amount of humor here, but the parts are played straight. The idea of a child with unlimited power is terrifying, as even ancient stories of Jesus as a boy show. It does seem to be, however, an alien plot while the camera stays firmly focused down here.