“DEADLY PROMISES” by Joseph Ramos

Joseph Ramos, in his first test with the feature film format, makes a complex, layered but extremely enjoyable and fascinating film for any type of audience. Ramos certainly draws from the codes and archetypes of genre cinema, mixing elements of different origins. The film in fact tells the troubled youth path of a high school community, which develops between loves and fears in the setting of a typical American province. But here, in this coming of age story, the horror element creeps in, metaphor and concrete representation of that submerged world that stagnates in the depths of every social group and every person.

While referring to different languages, Ramos never loses sight of a strong authorial identity, which allows him to compete with the greatest examples of genre cinema without fear of confrontation. The suggestions evoked by the staging and the aesthetics of the film are very strong: the feeling is to live and share the same spaces and situations with the protagonists. thanks to an engaging vision that captures the essence of the story and communicates it effectively to the audience. The credit also goes to the splendid script on which the skill of the director and the entire cast rests solidly. A little pearl of independent cinema.