‘Rosario’ Review: A Chilling and Claustrophobic Exploration Of Grief [Overlook Film Festival 2025]
Death is cruel. Not only does it leave loved ones behind to process the life lost, but there are also the physical reminders. The items collected, photos left behind, and clothes still hanging in closets serve as tangible accessories alongside the mental baggage that is grief. Harmless items become triggers and another annoying thing to deal with while searching for a new normal. Many of us are at an age where we’ve unfortunately received at least one call informing us that someone we have unresolved business with is no longer here. However, some people have the added layer of handling the belongings of the recently departed. There is a macabre rollercoaster of emotions when that responsibility falls on us. This process begs to be explored in cinema. While I am biased, I believe horror examines these confusing and conflicting feelings the best. This is why I am excited the new film Rosario is here to unpack that experience while also sending chills down our spines.
Rosario (Emeraude Toubia) is a successful stockbroker on Wall Street who has turned her back on her deceased mother’s side of the family. So, when she gets the call that her maternal grandmother, Griselda (Constanza Gutierrez), has passed away, it comes as an unexpected blow. Rosario is Griselda’s last living relative, so she heads to her apartment to sit with the body until an ambulance can make its way there in the snowstorm.
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However, once she enters the building, things get weird. The landlord seems to know more than he is letting on, and an odd neighbor keeps trying to get into Griselda’s unit. To make matters worse, there is a supernatural being with its eye on Rosario. Armed with a cell phone that allows her to call her father and the little information she has about her grandmother, Rosario must figure out how to remove the evil entity that seemingly wants to inhabit her body.
Rosario is a creepy little banger with quite a few scares up the sleeves of its housecoat. Director Felipe Vargas creates a claustrophobic and terrifying space where anything can (and does) happen. This is Vargas’ first feature-length film, but it has a similarly unsettling vibe as his short Milk Teeth. However, Rosario carries the filmmaker’s adoration for Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead throughout its tight 88-minute runtime. Amid the cheers, laughs, and screams, there are also sick practical effects paying homage to the beloved franchise woven into the fabric of this unsettling journey. I also think there is just enough Drag Me to Hell energy to alert audiences who do not get to see the movie with Vargas in attendance that the filmmaker has been taking notes on Raimi’s work.
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While Rosario is disturbing in all the right ways, it also takes the ideas of identity and breaking generational curses in a more fun direction than we often get in the genre. Don’t get me wrong. You will feel bad when you realize the cool creature design is informing you of the trauma suffered by Rosario’s family members. However, the movie overall feels akin to a midnight screening. It practically encourages vocal audience responses as it scares up laughs and mayhem. Screenwriter Alan Trezza has crafted a script that feels familiar, haunted, and lived in. It knows the audience has a dark sense of humor, and many of us have odd relationships with our elders. It meets us there and invites us to walk the dark hallways and explore the creepy cabinets as Rosario looks for clues to stop this evil entity.
While Rosario gets into similar conversations about turning your back on your culture and intergenerational conflict, it never feels stale. Maybe it is the film’s heavy emphasis on sacrifice that allows it to find its own path. Maybe it is Emeraude Toubia playing the relatable character and making her one of the most engaging leads we have seen navigate this type of narrative in so long. This is her first horror movie, but I sincerely hope it will not be the last. Her casting also shakes things up because we rarely see Latina actresses driving this type of story in American theaters. Usually, women of color are shut out of these supernatural tales in the States. Unless, of course, they have been cast to sacrifice themselves and keep that boring trope alive.
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Or, perhaps, it is simply because Rosario understands that slow and excruciating process of grief. We will always have more to say to the people who go on before us. We also sadly realize that what we knew of them was just a glimpse of a much more interesting and complex life lived. This film understands the gravity of burying an estranged loved one. It captures the awkwardness of sitting in their home trying to piece together the puzzle that is their worldly possessions.
While it takes this weird human experience and cranks it until these feelings manifest in supernatural dangers, it keeps one foot firmly planted in the real world. That delicate balance pays off for some of us still reeling from recent losses or battling anticipatory grief. As with most good horror films, Rosario will find its intended audience and stay with them in ways they could have never predicted.
Whatever the case is, Rosario is a damn good time for weirdos like you and me. However, it is also a movie that leaves its audience peeling back more layers days after the credits roll. It is a very confident first feature from Felipe Vargas, and I imagine it’ll win him many new fans. The film is an unexpected crowd-pleaser with a surprising amount of depth. It is one of very few movies that I can say I watching it in theaters added to the experience. Hearing other people react in real-time to this twisted gem was a moment we should all be so lucky to experience.
Rosario arrives in theaters on May 2.
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Rosario
Summary
‘Rosario’ is a creepy little banger with quite a few scares up the sleeves of its housecoat. Director Felipe Vargas creates a claustrophobic and terrifying space where anything can (and does) happen.
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