Lovely To Meet You

Lovely To Meet You is Darwin Reina’s horror short that uses the manipulative tactics of pickup artists as a driver for a deceptive story filled with graphic violence and brutality. It’s a modern cautionary tale that shows you can’t always trust people you meet late at night, whose intentions may not be what they seem.

Michael (Alessandro Fiorucci) is prowling the dingy bars of Barcelona to find himself a plaything to bring home for the night. He focuses on Caroline (Carmen Hoyos), and turns on the charm – weaving his way through an increasingly passionate conversation whilst dismissively ordering drinks from barmaid Maria (Ariadna Martin Esteve). But Caroline’s presence in the bar is not one of chance, and Michael is not the only one hunting in the city that night…

Darwin Reina’s Lovely To Meet You is a horror short set in the dating world that gets straight to the gory stuff whilst offering a thought-provoking look at the uncertainties that come in hookup culture. It eschews a traditional narrative and framing for its central characters, twisting the expected roles for man and woman when it comes to random encounters and showing that risk is inherent when heading out alone to meet strangers. Whilst a conspiracy twist may not be a regular risk for most people, it is one that the directors and writers have fun with and use to demonstrate a darkness in human nature that can exist on both sides of an encounter.

The film’s lower budget betrays it in moments. Blood effects do not convince and take away from viewer immersion, which is a shame as the film revels in its gore. Horror enthusiasts will feel a little undersold on the grisliness, which does not live up to its set-up in the bar scenes. Other action sequences similarly fail to really capture the intensity of the situations they take place in – such as a moment in which characters break down a door which looks fake and rehearsed. The bar scenes themselves are the production highlight, and where the director is able to build tension between the cast.

Whilst the themes around risk purvey throughout the story, Reina never really coalesces them to focus on an overall statement or message. Instead, the final result is a mild torture fantasy with an unexpected twist, but one that doesn’t really justify its own build up. There are interesting elements here, but viewers will come away without anything that really stands out – outside of Alessandro Fiorucci’s brilliantly creepy performance and a twist that offsets the audience.