Rating: 
Summary: OK for starters...
Review: 'Thesis' is set in a film school, and despite a lurid thriller plot about abduction, torture, murder, snuff movies and conspiracy theories, can be seen as a lecture about cinema, about the morality of editing or the integrity of sequence shots; about the power of images, the dynamics of viewing and the ethics of film-making; about what it means to make Spanish films in a global (read: Americanised) market. All Amenabar's films seem curiously of their cinematic times - 'Open Your Eyes', with its post-modernist concerns about image, reality and masculine identity, was a soul-mate of 'Fight Club' and 'the Matrix'; 'The Others' was a superior excercise in 'Sixth Sense' legerdemain. 'Thesis' is the most interesting in that it anticipates its contemporaries - the murderous fetishistic power of video tape looks to 'Ring'; the detective mystery into the world of snuff movies is only slightly more dignified than '8mm'; the anxieties about indigenous cinema looks to Assayas' 'irma Vep'. Of course, the use of the thriller to lay bare the psychosexual machinations of film-making and -viewing has its famous predecessors in Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' and Michael Powell's 'Peeping Tom' (to which a dream sequence in 'Thesis' explicitely alludes), and Amenebar's film can't help seeming simple-minded in comparison, not surprising in that 'Thesis' is the debut of a young man in his early 20s, while the earlier films were the profound fruits of deep thinking by middle-aged masters about their medium. In fact, youth is the main charge one can level against 'Thesis', both in its eagerness to undigestedly employ theoretical ideas learned in film school, and in the way the plot, already implausible, descends into silliness by the second half (a flaw perhaps attributable to Amenebar's co-screenwriter Mateo Gil, whose own directorial debut, 'Nobody Knows Anything', traded in similar narrative imbecilities; Amenebar's later films, especially 'The Others', reveal a flawless mastery of tone and technique). It's hard to tell whether the film is meant to be serious or funny, a dividing line Amenebar doesn't skirt half as well as Wes Craven. The teasing between director and viewer initiated in the opening scene - with the heroine vainly trying to see the riven corpse of a railway accident - sets the tone for the cat-and-mouse, show-won't-show, is-he-isn't he patterns of the rest of the film, but betrays an intellectual frivolity at odds with Ana Torrent's intense, tormented, ambiguous performance. Amenebar can't keep this no-show up, pace Val Newton, and displays too often what he should have withheld, ruining any creepiness of mood he was trying to build up. The (tongue-in-cheek?) heavy-handed morality about the commercial exploitation of violence and suffering is a bit hard to take after Amenebar's own tame relish in 'audiovisual violence', although I'm told Spanish TV news is the most sensationalist and graphic in the world. The violence recorded in tapes vaulted in hidden archives is possibly a metaphor for the suppressed horrors of Spain's falangist past. It is Amenebar's youth, of course, that makes the film worth watching, as he has a lot of fun with style and technique; it's hard to begrudge him his juvenilia before he gets down to the serious work. For proof of what he can really do with the seen/unseen, the shown/withheld, the real/imagined, see his expert 'The Others'.
Rating: 
Summary: good movie, extremely bad copy
Review: A very exiting new film-maker did this film. There are a lot of plot-twists and that sort of thing, but underneath it all there is also some reflection. It was called "Snuff-movie" in Europe (except Spain) in order to cash in on a speculative subject matter. It deserves better than that and is in fact an attack on a society becoming more and more amoral. A good copy of this film would have gotten five stars. This DVD-copy is however on the level of a bad VHS-copy and is not worth buying as DVD. Buy the VHS instead!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Thesis, a triumph of indie filmmaking, don't miss it!
Review: Alejandro Amenábar's THESIS is one of the most disturbing and original movies I have seen in a long, long time. For some reason I was captured at once by its raw look and complex story, perfectly played by Ana Torrent as the lead character Angela. Angela is a film student at the university in Madrid, Spain. While doing some research for her graduation thesis on violence in movies, she comes across (in part by chance) a snuff video tape where a young girl can be seen (and heard) slowly and viciously being tortured and killed to death, in the most gruesome and inhumane way you can possibly imagine. The genious behind THESIS lies in the fact that Amenábar slowly takes you deeper and deeper into the story, until you find yourself immersed in a world of terror and intrigue from which you realize there is no way out. Angela can't force herself to watch the tape at first, but the choices she makes will lead her deeper and deeper not only into the heart of the killer, but into the heart of her very own fears. Don't miss this one, it's an excellent example of how you don't need a big budget nor A-list movie stars to make a truly outstanding movie. Word of caution though, this is not for the faint at heart. The DVD edition is highly, highly recommeneded, I'm glad they decided to release this one.
Rating:
Summary: Thesis, a triumph of indie filmmaking, don't miss it!
Review: Alejandro Amenábar's THESIS is one of the most disturbing and original movies I have seen in a long, long time. For some reason I was captured at once by its raw look and complex story, perfectly played by Ana Torrent as the lead character Angela. Angela is a film student at the university in Madrid, Spain. While doing some research for her graduation thesis on violence in movies, she comes across (in part by chance) a snuff video tape where a young girl can be seen (and heard) slowly and viciously being tortured and killed to death, in the most gruesome and inhumane way you can possibly imagine. The genious behind THESIS lies in the fact that Amenábar slowly takes you deeper and deeper into the story, until you find yourself immersed in a world of terror and intrigue from which you realize there is no way out. Angela can't force herself to watch the tape at first, but the choices she makes will lead her deeper and deeper not only into the heart of the killer, but into the heart of her very own fears. Don't miss this one, it's an excellent example of how you don't need a big budget nor A-list movie stars to make a truly outstanding movie. Word of caution though, this is not for the faint at heart. The DVD edition is highly, highly recommeneded, I'm glad they decided to release this one.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding work on horror films...
Review: Amenabar creates a new style of dealing with the viewer's mind. He twistes the story around so many times, you get caught everytime. It's a work of art. The best of it's kind.
Rating: 
Summary: A competent thriller from Spain
Review: Angela's thesis is on the subject of violence in the media, and in order to aid in her research, she asks her professor to get a movie from the Univerisity's film library. She also asks Chema, one of her classmates, to help as everyone knows he has a large collection of violent films. The nest day, Angela finds her professor dead in a viewing room at the University, steals the tape he was viewing and takes it to Chema. They soon discover a snuff film - a filming of an acutal murder in one take. And, Chema recognizes the girl as a young student who disappeared two years ago. Together, they set out to discover who made the film. But Angela soon discovers that Chema is not exactly who he says. Can she trust him? And just what role does the university have with this video? A very competent thriller from Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. The script has enough twists to keep you guessing as to who is on Angela's side and who is telling the truth. Plus, with some excellent filming, you can feel Angela's anxiety as she watches the film for the first time, with the picture contrast turned to black, only hearing the sounds. The picture quality of this DVD is a bit grainy, but the sound quality is very good. There are some nice extras, too.
Rating:
Summary: Wow--Amenabar is a creative director
Review: At first watching this film, I was a little confused becuase I watched it without subtitles and I am not a native Spanish speaker. But after watching the "Making-Of" on the DVD, Amenabar's description of scenes and the subject matter of the film, it made much more sense. The shots themselves were a bit dark, but it gave the story an added mysterious quality. I loved the way the the viewer almost never saw actual images of the "snuff" films so it added to the viewers fear. By not being able to see, only hear, the films, it makes the viewers personal fears and imagination run wild. I would definatly see this again to pay attention to the small details in the characters personality and in the great directing by Amenabar. For his first large feature film, he did amazingly. This movie will make you want to see more of Amebabar's later works.
Excellente!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie!
Review: Director Alejandro Almenabar made his directorial debut with this movie, enlisting the help of his buddies, actors Eduardo Noriega and Pele Martinez, who also appear in his fantastic follow-up, Abre Los Ojos. This movie will scare the daylights out of you without hardly showing any violence. Like The Blair Witch Project (only much better), Thesis relies on the suggestive power of sound, where the violence is filled in by the viewer. It's refreshing to see a movie about violence without a lot of it to depict it. The only if I would put on this movie is the protagonist's decision-making towards the end. She falls into the horror film "run, stupid!" formulaic scared victim. All in all, however, I recommended it.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Great spanish movie, keep you at the edge of seat, Angela its a student and she research about the violence in movies for her thesis. During the research she discovered the world of snuff movies
Rating:
Summary: Spanish films are the best
Review: I am a fervant admirer of Amenabars work. Tesis is one of his best films, in conjunction with his latest "Abre los ojos" which is just as good. Amenabar shows the cinema world that a good film is not made by millions of dollars, but by a good script and a good director.
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