The plot of recent Spanish hit "Time Crimes" is fairly simple:Hector accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour.Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.The feature length debut of Nacho Vigalondo is a pretty good science-fiction thriller with a sprinkle of horror thrown in.The time machine looks similarly to the contraptions used in 60's time travel sci-fi flicks.The central performance of Karra Elejalde is excellent and his character is sympathetic and believable.Although many of the twists and turns of the story can be guessed quite early on,they are in some ways all the more enjoyable for that and Vigalondo impressively combines thriller,horror,dark comedy and even slapstick elements without making things feel forced.A little bit of nudity provided by beautiful Barbara Goenaga certainly helps!

Having proved their worth in the horror genre (with recent gems such as REC and THE ORPHANAGE),the Spanish now show their hand at the science fiction genre as well, with pleasing results. TIMECRIMES is one of those low budget movies, made with a small cast on a small set, that it's best to go in knowing little about. The main thing is that this film's all about time travel, with all the mix ups, problems, and situations that arise when a couple of characters are given free access to a time machine that can transport people a few hours into the past.

There are plenty of horrific undertones as this film begins; a family man's seemingly straightforward day turns into a nightmare when he stumbles across a beautiful girl in the woods, naked and apparently dead. Soon he's being chased by a masked psycho, and then the science fiction stuff comes, and the film gets really good. The rest plays out full of twists and turns while at the same time keeping the suspense bubbling along nicely. An unknown cast work wonders, with Karra Elejalde particularly efficient as the every day kind of guy losing his mind at the time travel hijinks, and Barbara Goenaga particularly lovely as the unwary cyclist caught up in the mess. Round this out with a good director and great script and you have the kind of B-movie that's far better than many similar A-list offerings.

The low budget "Los cronocrímenes", a.k.a. "Timecrimes", is another movie awfully overrated in IMDb. My wife and I were misguided by the IMDb User Rating (7.2) and have spent the evening watching this terrible and boring film. The plot is repetitive and unpleasant and there is no character development and no explanation for the mysterious time machine or the clumsy operator. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Crimes Temporais" ("Temporal Crimes")