Invoking Scream

Invoking Scream is the follow up to Patricio Valladares’s 2023 Invoking Yell from which Andrea (María Jesús Marcone) returns. I haven’t seen Invoking Yell but I believe there’s enough in Invoking Scream for new viewers to get up to speed.

Andrea’s cousin Pauli (Luna Martínez) is producing a documentary about her disappearance and the murder of her bandmates, which she is accused of. Pauli is being aided/hindered by friends Nico (Matías López) and Camila (Teresita Ríos).

The band’s events were in 1997 and the documentary is set in 2005 with the film fliting between the two. Here Valladares, to start with, mixes up poor VHS with later better-quality footage to good effect.

Pauli is fairly set on finding out what happened to her cousin with Nico taking it fairly seriously. Camila on the other hand appears to along for the ride and some fun, more interested in showing off her in depth knowledge of death and extreme metal bands. Based on what she has Pauli leads them to a cemetery where the find a small chapel containing candles, a religious icon and barbie dolls with their faces’ corpse painted.

This fits in well what Pauli knows about her cousin’s interest in the occult and even has pages of her witch book and leads the filmmakers to a tree with a natural hollow. This sequence is also on the 1997 VHS as well as a house burning and murder. All of which Pauli and her friends find plus a box with the original book and a VHS.

There is a high element of technical and editing skill in Invoking Scream as Valladares carefully blends the different decades and film stocks. This also creates a real sense of dread as the three friends’ piece together what happened and the consequences of them tampering with the chapel. They also drag in Carla (Romina Dagnino) Pauli’s sister who is not happy with what they are doing and scared.

The dread atmosphere builds as the friends try to make amends for their mistakes only to realise they can’t; whatever they disturbed now wants its pound of flesh.

This is a bleak story of murder, mental illness and the occult which is at times quite heavy (sic). Highlighted when Andrea is speaking to camera in 1997.

This is offset, a little, by the good-natured banter between the three friends as they set about making their film and mistakes. Time to watch the first film.

Invoking Scream had its World Premiere at Tubi FrightFest London, August 2026.