Podcast: DJ Bruja on ‘Terrified’

There are no movies without music, and nobody knows that better than Dorina, aka DJ Bruja. In this episode of Certified Forgotten, the accomplished producer and composer shares what it was like to grow up on American horror films from outside the United States. And for her movie, she picked Demián Rugna's Terrified, a ghost story that tears apart the institutions we thought were here to protect us and a film that set the stage for When Evil Lurks, Rugna's award-winning feature.

After his wife suffers a violent death, young Buenos Aires resident Juan is locked away for life. But Juan has a different story, one that involves the possession of a next door neighbor and a supernatural force that battered his wife to death. Thankfully, Juan also has believers: a trio of paranormal investigators who believe they’ve stumbled on a gateway between Earth and a darker dimension. And as they kick off their own investigation, they soon realize there are forces at play beyond mankind’s ability to grasp.

In this short excerpt from the podcast, Dorina explains why Terrified's untidy narrative structure might be one of its biggest cultural strengths.

I feel like Americans are so used to the narrative of any movie or TV show being presented in such a tidy manner that, in Aterrados, you have all these timelines that are overlapping. And I always wonder, is that weak writing or is that actually meant to be on purpose? And was Demián just trying to disorient us as the audience?

The Terrified episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast with Dorina is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, or the podcast platform of your choice.