‘Rosario’ (2025)

Following the titular Rosario (Emeraude Toubia) over the course of a single night, the horror film tracks the woman’s trials as she is confronted with her family’s past.

Ham-fisted and formulaic, ‘Rosario’ provides a fairly simple premise. The film opens on Rosario’s family celebrating her first communion, when she notices her grandmother Griselda (Constanza Gutierrez) is missing. Tracking her to a closed off section in her bedroom, Griselda warns Rosario and tells her to leave, implying that she is practicing and believes in an ominous religion.

Foreboding and mysterious, the film swiftly moves ahead to a now adult Rosario living her best life as a successful stockbroker on Wall Street. Receiving news of her grandmother’s passing, she goes to Griselda’s rundown apartment to wait with the body until the ambulance arrives to pick her up. Waiting for her father Oscar (José Zúñiga) to arrive, Rosario begins to experience a presence haunting her. Unable to escape the apartment building due to a raging snowstorm, Rosario is forced to confront the dark entity that has taken the form of her mother Elena (Diana Lein).

Revealed to have been a witch doctor, Griselda used to practice Palo, something Rosario is entirely unfamiliar with. Finding evidence her grandmother was practicing deals and curses, Rosario believes Griselda cursed her, as Rosario had avoided seeing Griselda since her mother Elena had passed. Finding Griselda’s spell book, Rosario attempts to cast another curse, trapping the entity haunting her within Griselda.

Standing head and shoulders above every other aspect of the film are the practical effects and makeup. Elena’s haunting appearance reminds us that we should be afraid of what lurks in the dark. As if emerged from a deep and murky darkness, the specter commands the space it inhabits, and demands full attention be devoted to it every time she appears on screen.

Less successful in its narrative endeavors, the film delivers a run-of-the-mill spookfest, with Toubia’s Rosario doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to talking to herself in an expository manner. Containing little surprises, the film employs no novel concepts when it comes to its scares. Easily anticipated, some of the scenes may be disturbing because of the fantastic wardrobe and makeup, but by and large the film delivers the feel of a generic horror film.

Criminally underused, David Dastmalchian plays Griselda’s neighbor Joe. Lurking in the background, the more than capable character actor is pushed out the door by Toubia’s Rosario literally every time he appears on screen. Delivering a spooky and curious weirdo, Joe first appears as a potential threat to Rosario but ultimately comes to her rescue during the film’s climax, as a possessed Oscar tries to attack her. Unceremoniously immediately forgotten about, Joe receives little recognition for his ultimate sacrifice.

In terms of the story, the history is revealed as Oscar having attempted to use Palo to make a deal with the evil spirit Kobayende for Rosario, to ensure she has everything she could want for. Having discovered this, Griselda had then offered Kobayende her blood to keep it at bay, with her death having set the entity on Rosario. With Oscar attempting to carry on the blood offerings, Kobayende then possesses him, who Rosario kills, beveling to have ended the curse.

Unsurprisingly, some time later Rosario is ultimately revealed to still be possessed by Kobayende. Going on what Rosario had discovered earlier, regarding trapping the evil spirit, the film becomes more than a little muddled when it comes to the rules of possession and the restrictions Kobayende has to abide by.

Ultimately having revealed the key to her salvation, or what had helped her get as far as she did, Rosario is taught the importance of respecting her heritage. Approaching such a complex issue from almost only a cosmetic perspective, ‘Rosario’ does little to earn an achievement badge for diversity.

Labeling Rosario’s life as somehow unsuitable only because she had neglected her heritage is somewhat problematic, as it fails to examine her as an individual, skirting her personal interests and applying a blanket resolution to all of her issues by turning her towards a background she had forgotten.

Delivering predictable scares and applying a boilerplate solution to a very intricate and complicated issue, ‘Rosario’ fails to rouse scares or satisfy any deeper moral quandaries when it comes to identity, disappointing on multiple fronts. Sure, a gruesome scare here and there, but ultimately a little flavorless, ‘Rosario’ summons no fear and disappoints on skirting intricate and heavy subject matter.

Score: 2/4