“Veronica” is a horror movie that knows exactly what it wants to do and mostly manages it. Directed by Paco Plaza, the film follows a teenage girl in 1991 Madrid who conducts a séance with a Ouija board and finds something far worse than a ghost attached to her soul.
The setup is simple. Verónica, played by Sandra Escacena, loses her father and is left raising her younger siblings while her mother works long hours. She and her friends Rosa and Diana hold a séance during a solar eclipse, and Verónica’s blood drops on the board. From there, the film spends its runtime watching the entity grow stronger and her friends pull away.
Trailer, via TRAILER CITY.
Opening Call Sets the Stage
The opening scene is the film’s best trick. Emergency services answer a call from a young girl on June 15, 1991, who panics about something coming to get her brother. Then the film goes back three days. This framing device works because it promises a payoff we don’t fully see until the very end.
The séance itself is tense. The glass cup grows too hot, and when it shatters during the eclipse, Verónica’s finger cuts and her blood touches the board. She passes out and wakes in the nurse’s office, told she fainted from iron deficiency. That’s the official explanation. The film knows better.
Middle Stretch Drags
The middle stretch of “Veronica” is where the film leans into slow dread. Verónica sees things her friends can’t. The entity destroys the protective Viking symbols she draws for her siblings. Her friends stop wanting to be around her. The film builds tension through repetition — a door opening, a shadow moving, a voice that isn’t there — without ever showing the monster directly.
Ana Torrent plays Sister Muerte, the elderly blind nun who explains the situation. She tells Verónica that the séance attached a dark spirit to her and instructs her to protect her siblings. It’s a small role, but it gives the film a moral center. The nun understands what’s happening, and she tells Verónica to fight it.
Ending Lands With a Thud
The ending is where “Veronica” stumbles. The resolution depends on a reveal that feels rushed and under-explained. The film has spent an hour building dread, and the payoff lands with a thud. It’s not a bad ending, but it’s a disappointing one after everything that came before.
The pacing also sags in the final act. Some scenes feel stretched, and the climax doesn’t match the tension built earlier. The film’s strength is in its setup, not its finish.
Escacena Carries It
Escacena carries the film. She plays Verónica with a mix of fear and determination that keeps the audience invested even when the plot slows. The supporting cast, including Bruna González as Lucía, Iván Chavero as Antoñito, and Claudia Placer as Irene, do solid work, but they’re largely background to Escacena’s central performance.
The film also benefits from its Spanish setting. The working-class district of Vallecas is rendered with a lived-in quality that makes the scares land harder. The school basement where the séance takes place feels like a real place, not a set.
| Scene | Setting | Key Event |
|---|---|---|
| Opening call | Emergency room | Girl panics about her brother |
| Séance | School basement | Blood on the board |
| Nurse’s office | School | Iron deficiency diagnosis |
| Entity’s rise | Home | Siblings protected |
| Climax | Home | Dark spirit revealed |
What Works, What Doesn’t
The strengths of “Veronica” are its setup and its lead performance. The weaknesses are its ending and its middle stretch, which drags in places. The film is a solid entry in the horror genre.
The film’s tagline, “Someone answered your call,” sums up its core idea. Verónica reached out to her father and got something she didn’t expect. That’s a strong concept, even if the execution doesn’t fully live up to it.
“Veronica” is a film worth seeing for its setup and its lead performance, even if the ending falls short. It’s a solid, if uneven, horror movie.
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