In this horror movie, the monster is a lesbian gynecologist that kills fetuses at the third month. Aside from thi questionable moral message, the movie is really badly made: characters take choices that don't make any sense, like ignoring the handle of a door that moves alone, laying to hide irrelevant truths or hiding the body of a person murdered in their own house instead of calling the police and try to catch the killer (presumably hidden in the house). Finally, it looks that some parts of the storyline lead to nothing, like the one of the two creepy old sisters, that could be totally removed from the plot without altering anything.

Part of a six-part series of Spanish made-for-TV movies entitled SIX FILMS TO KEEP YOU AWAKE, BLAME is a hard-hitting ghost story about an abortionist. It's a film that's light years ahead of current Hollywood competition and has more in line with the creepy, slow-moving perils of modern Asian horror cinema. That's right: despite the disturbing subject matter, this is an old-fashioned film through-and-through in which the scares come from noises in empty rooms and inexplicable occurrences rather than any shocking killer babies a la the IT'S ALIVE films and their B-movie ilk.Blame benefits from a uniformly excellent cast that includes a young child actress whose fragile yet sinister performance recalls Heather O'Rourke of POLTERGEIST fame. The direction is assured and confident, leading to a beautiful looking movie that makes the best out of its rather mundane, otherwise nondescript locations: the run-down house, for instance, in which much of the film takes place, is almost a character in its own right. In the end, this is a film about the difficult topic of abortion and all the complexities that go with it: it's utterly moving, sometimes heartbreaking and very upsetting. By the end, it's become a far more intelligent and mature reflection on the topic than we, as viewer, had any right to expect, and I can't recommend it enough.

The body underneath a sheet, blood seeping through, as it is being pulled away by some mysterious woman with a little girl looking on from her window--quite an indelible image to open this particular episode of the 6 films to keep you awake. Gloria goes to live in the home of Dr. Ana Torres, a daughter along with her, and she appears weary, baggage of the past visible on the face and in demeanor. A nurse Gloria will also assist Torres who keeps a lab in her home to perform abortions.A funny knock on the door to a room which Dr. Torres doesn't acknowledge yet Gloria hears. A phone call Dr. Torres strangely evades much to Gloria's dismay. It's very clear early on that Torres is interested sexually in Gloria, the way she caresses her hand or clutches the arm lovingly(it's insinuated and subtle, but obvious; Gloria seems puzzled and unsure how to respond to Torres' advances). Torres even mentions that she would like to help Gloria "pretty herself up", to bring out her beauty which seems to hide underneath a drab exterior.That phone call I mentioned--Christina, a woman sought after on the phone; her name appears on a necklace along with Ana's for which Gloria's daughter finds. Ana is a liberal, free-thinker who sees(perhaps blindly)Gloria as someone who has moved away from the old-fashioned principles of past society and asks her to help give abortions in the clinic. There's kind of an indication that Ana performs a steady influx of abortions regularly..Dr. Torres even seems to talk one young woman(who doesn't know which the father is between two men)into getting an abortion. Dr. Torres, though, informs her clients that she will perform these abortions when they are the most safe, before three months pregnant due to the danger.Ana represents change in mores, a lesbian who performs abortions without guilt, as if any other procedure and attempts to kiss Gloria. Gloria, on the other hand, is a bit put off by assisting in the aborting of a small fetus and resists an attempt by Ana to kiss her. Torres keeps trying, and Gloria keeps turning away. It's clear that Torres longs for companionship and love.Gloria learns from a busybody religious wallflower who lives next door that three women(obviously lovers)have came and went, Ana having coddled them until they no longer needed her. Then comes Javier which further complicates things. Then pregnancy. Torres is dejected in that her love is constantly spurned and instead Gloria is impregnated by a man who could never give that same kind of affection. But with an economy uncertain and possible lay offs looming at the hospital Gloria often works, the idea of having a second child absent a father seems too risky and troublesome a task to endure. Repercussions of an abortion become the turning point in the friendship of Gloria and Ana which results in tragedy. BLAME delves primarily into the topic of abortion and how it concerns the mental breakdown of one fragile woman who decides to have it done despite truly wanting to keep it. Gloria's daughter contributes to the breakdown by mentioning in various ways how she was disappointed in not getting a new brother. We see how other women make the choice and Dr. Torres gladly performs them without fail while Gloria reluctantly assists, later herself in the same position. This felt curiously anti-abortion, the way the procedure and those who have it(and the doctor performing them)is portrayed as almost a crime. Ana's little room in her home, the way women secretly enter therein wanting to be rid of what would be a burden on their lives, the hideous means with how the murdered fetuses are discarded through being flushed down a toilet like excrement. And the final frame of guilt-stricken Gloria balled into the fetal position speaking in the personality of her unborn, discarded child, before the director overlays the image of the fetus over her. BLAME never quite launches into a horror film as you would be led to believe, despite signs of an eerie presence as the principles hear noises, walk into ominous rooms, and through the strange behavior of Gloria's daughter who always seems to be hiding something. Nieve de Medina is Ana, Montse Mostaza is Gloria, and Alejandra Lorenzo is Gloria's daughter, Vicky. Well acted, competently directed, but for some reason this mini-movie never quite took off and the horror elements are lacking. Quite simply, this is more of a drama and I was expecting a horror film..I imagine this will elicit the same reaction from others.

When the single mother nurse Gloria (Montse Mostaza) has financial difficulties, her colleague and friend Dr. Ana Torres (Nieve de Medina) invites her to move with her six year-old daughter Vicky (Alejandra Lorenzo) to her old big house where she runs a gynecologic clinic. In return, Gloria would assist Ana in her clinic in the afternoons. Sooner Gloria finds that Ana dedicates to abortion in her clinic, and also that she is lesbian and has a crush on her. When Ana gets pregnant of her lover Javier, Ana proposes an abortion, and after more than three months, the reluctant Gloria accepts her offer with tragic consequences.The underrated "Películas Para No Dormir: La Culpa" is a macabre and very well constructed tale of guilty and madness with an intriguing screenplay with an unpleasant but realistic theme and a surprising plot point. The director Chicho explores the great cast (unknown in Brazil) and the characters are perfectly developed, with magnificent performances of Montse Mostaza, Nieve de Medina and the promising Alejandra Lorenzo. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Quarto da Culpa" ("The Room of the Guilty")