Classic Horrors Club

Eloy de la Iglesia was a gay filmmaker best known for portraying “urban marginality and the world of drugs and juvenile delinquency.” Many of his films dealt with homosexual themes. He became addicted to drugs and stopped making films for 15 years, but returned sober in 2003, making one more film before dying of kidney cancer three years later.

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La Semana del asesino (The Week of the Killer) is a remarkable film from Spain. It’s a crime drama with some horror elements, but none so distinctive that it fits its other United States title, The Cannibal Man. Neither our conflicted anti-hero, Marcos (Vicente Parra), nor any other character, consumes human flesh or body parts.

That’s not to say there aren’t any gruesome murders along the way. When his girlfriend, Paula (Emma Cohen), is threatened by an angry cab driver, Marcos defends her by bashing him in the head with a large rock. The next day, they learn that the assailant died and the couple argues about going to the police.

Paula insists they tell everything to the police and they’ll understand it was an accident or self-defense. Marcos says they would never believe it; the police listen only to the rich. In the heat of the moment (“So I can go to the police or I can go to hell, right?”) anger turns to passion. Marcos strangles her.

This begins a streak of murders by Marcos to protect himself. It’s not as if they’re pre-meditated, but it just never ends well for anyone who comes looking for one of his previous victims. Much is made of the stench that overtakes his home. Although he does have a way to dispose of the bodies at work, it’s by one small gym bag at a time.

Before any of this happens, Marcos is watched by a neighbor through binoculars in a high rise a short distance away. While Nestor (Eusebio Poncela) can see Marcos lying shirtless on his couch pleasuring himself, it’s left for us to speculate if he’s also witnessed any of the murders.

If he has, it doesn’t matter, he always seems to be nearby to provide friendship when Marcos needs it the most. We’re sure Nestor is gay. Besides watching shirtless Marcos, he watches shirtless boys on the beach. Although they enter into a sort-of relationship, I never felt Marcos was gay… but I suppose the signs are there.

He has bikini-clad women on the calendar above his couch, but he’s not looking at them when he pleasures himself. He’s not interested in marrying Paula and, although they make love, she asks him afterwards if he regrets it. He shows no interest in another woman who seeks his affection, Rosa (Vicky Lagos), and ultimately kills her, too.

As a hot evening winds down, Marcos gags entering his home and decides to sit outside instead. Nestor wanders by. Marcos tells him, “It’s too hot in there” and Nestor replies, “Well then, come to my place.” Once there, director Eloy de la Iglesia cranks up the suspense, an intense game of verbal cat and mouse.

While it’s been a rather slow-paced, but not dull, hour or so of a film, I didn’t realize how invested in the story I had become and how impactful the ending would be for me. It’s ambiguous, so don’t expect a straight (no pun intended) answer. Like Marcos, you’re left with a choice and can decide if he did the “right” thing.