Los Cronocrimenes

The Horror/Thriller genre is full of shit. There's good and bad, but on average its pulpy cliche worn out stuff. Los Cronocrimenes was very fresh however. It went between these genres and sci fi deftly, starting out as a horror. The protagonist, a middle aged man who just moved into a new house with his wife is relaxing in the backyard, looking off into the distance with binoculars when he sees a girl take her top off in the woods. He also sees a man in a trenchcoat with bandages all over his face. As soon as his wife leaves, he's off to investigate. There's already a creepy mysterious tone. I was ready to skip this movie, but the beginning got me into it. Nothing seems to make sense for a while, but its apparent he's in danger. He has to run from the mystery man, while talking to an unknown scientist on a walkie talkie. That is an awesome suspense scene. Early on you are scared for the guy. The scenario is so at once casual, everyday, believable, and yet it is out there as well. Neither you nor the protagonist get what's happening until the end really. I don't want to spoil it, so I guess I'll stop describing scenes, but I will say that this is a time travel story that is impressively tight and coherent. Everything comes back.
Aside from being a great thriller piece, this film was impressive because of it's spare setting. A house, an unadorned scientific compound (which is really just a few house looking structures) surrounded by a fence, and the woods. Limited sets imply to me a limited budget which is great because this plot was awesome and didn't need anything fancy really. The Time Travel lab might have cost more, but whatever, I"m just speculating aimlessly. I also really liked the fine balance the film had between really serious and very funny. The humor was always just a little implied. The events of the film were serious, it was tense, but I feel like it never got that heavy. It never evoked all out laughter, but a lot of the movie was just an inch away from it. I don't know how to describe it more than that.