1992, on Netflix, is a Spanish thriller by Álex de la Iglesia and Jorge Guerricaechavarría of 30 Coins (on Max) fame. The pair are known for their gruesome effects and dark satire. In present day Madrid, a man named Álvaro (Álex Gadea) is killed in an explosion, and his wife, Amparo (Marian Álvarez), suspects it wasn’t an accident. The police don’t believe her, so she teams up with alcoholic former cop Richi (Fernando Valdivielso), a friend of the dead man. The clue that the explosion wasn’t an accident is that a plastic figure of Curro, the mascot from Seville’s Expo 92, is placed in a second corpse’s hand. When the murders continue, the cops finally get on board. The killer, who we meet very early on, is a burned-beyond-recognition guy who dons a Curro mask when he kills. Obviously, the murders are tied to the 1992 Expo in Seville, but we don’t know how.
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The Characters
Amparo is a feisty middle-aged lady whose son just left for college in Canada, so she has all the time in the world to look into her husband’s death. The show takes great pains to demonstrate her independence and self-reliance (read: stubbornness), which sometimes put her in danger. Right after the explosion, she had run into the building to find her husband, saw the Curro figure in another man’s charred hand, and passed out from smoke inhalation. Security guard Richi, also looking for Álvaro, rescues Amparo before the fire completely decimates the building. Richi is the only person who believes Amparo about the Curro, but the problem is he’s a persona non grata with the police, and he can’t get them to look at the case as a homicide. That is, until a second murder happens, again with fire and again with the Curro figure left behind. Richi and Amparo uncover the connection between the victims and head to Seville to research the 1992 Expo.
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The Look and Feel of 1992
An Álex de la Iglesia series has a distinct style that embraces the grotesque, likely stemming from his work as a comic artist. 1992 seems like a straightforward thriller and then, bam! there is an extra grisly death with gory special effects. You will also notice that a level of absurdity creeps into the action. He has a Guillermo del Toro sensibility in his production design. The metamorphosis of Curro, the adorable bird-like mascot, into a menacing plague doctor creature is truly effective, harkening to killer clowns. The killer’s lair is among the abandoned ruins of the Expo 92 fairgrounds, in a desolate tower full of decrepit Curros of every size. The deranged psycho killer with a Freddy Krueger type face is kind of a throw-back to, you guessed it, the 1990’s. Today’s villains tend to be less over-the-top, but also less fun.
Learn more about Álex de la Iglesias here.
Our Take on 1992
To enjoy 1992, you have to suspend disbelief that an oddly dressed burned guy can walk around unnoticed by office, hospital, and hotel security, among other things. While some plot points, such as Richi’s physical need for booze when it’s not available to him are dead on, others, such as Amparo’s willingness to walk into serious danger, are eye-rolling. Also, bothersome realities, like day jobs, are shoved aside. But Richi and Amparo have chemistry, and despite his hang-dog appearance, Richi’s not a bad detective. There is a bit of repetition in the middle, but it picks up steam in the final 2 episodes. Despite mixed reviews, if you are willing to have fun with it, 1992 is entertaining as heck, and it even evokes a nostalgic feeling for deranged villains that seem to have super powers.
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