A group of luckless hotties must follow a set of rules at the behest of a mysterious individual while holed up in a big house after being invited to a birthday party. Failure to adhere to the rules of the house will result in discipline. Failure to have fun will result in punishment. Failure to obey the whistle will not make the homeowners happy.
Now, any reader can be forgiven for thinking that this sounds like your standard, generic ho-hum horror set up but trust me, you'd be wrong and very pleasantly surprised as this isn't quite like any horror film you've ever seen before or ever will see.
I gotta say, I was completely blown away by 36 Pasos. Supposedly shot on a minuscule budget of $5000 it easily transcends its shoestring funding, and via clever use of rewind, animation, flashbacks and an honest to God choreographed Mtv-style dance number- that actually works all the better for the film as a whole- it emerges as one of the quirkiest, offbeat and highly original gems I've ever seen and has become one of my new favorite horrors of the 00s. I'm not gonna give any spoilers regarding plot as it's actually a helluva lot more effective if viewed "blind", with no prior spoilers. Reason being, as well as being highly original, it also comes with a refreshing and very effective sense of unpredictability that makes for captivating viewing as you're really not sure what to expect next or how things will develop amongst the housemates.
I really cannot say enough nice things about 36 Pasos. I watched it purely on impulse one night and it surpassed my expectations in spades. The director Adrian Bogliano is IMO an innovative creative genius who gets the absolute most out of his micro budgets. His slasher Rooms for Tourists also easily transcended its shoestring budget and made for absorbing viewing and his vicious rape revenge film No Morira Sola, while also being probably shot for about the price of a plane ticket is a brutally effective and genuinely gritty throwback flick to those nasty 70s, as opposed to some self aware homage.
I advise horror fans to keep an out for this guy as he's criminally underseen and underrated and his output is worth the time of any self respecting horror fan.
Anyway 9/10 for 36 Pasos, a brilliantly innovative, shoestring budgeted treat, a far superior horror than many of its much larger budgeted counterparts and one of the best horrors I've seen in years. See it now, it's a waiting to be discovered gem.
