Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Warning: Contains minor spoilers.
Review: Netflix released Spanish-based horror Tin & Tina is an adaptation of a short by the same name that was written and directed by Rubin Stein. As horror fans, I can safely assume that most of us have had our fill of plots that involve inherently creepy children who end up doing terrible things with an air of innocence. It’s a shame to see that most of the time the writers cop out and use the age-old adoption storyline as their weak excuse for creating a cryptic origin story. That being said, don’t expect anything to be different with Tin & Tina.
The story is set in the year 1981, however, the cinematography and overall atmosphere scream the late 70s for me. It begins on a happy note with the wedding of Lola (Milena Smith of Cross the Line) and Adolfo (Jaime Lorente of Money Heist and Everybody Knows). Lola is pregnant with twins and tragically suffers a miscarriage as they are leaving the church. The resulting miscarriage leaves her with permanent internal damage rendering her unable to have children for the foreseeable future. She immediately falls into a deep depressive state and while Adolfo tries his best to be understanding his patience soon begins to wane. This brings me to an important point that I just want to interject here. It has been capturing my attention of late that the so-called husbands and boyfriends in recent horror films are repeatedly being portrayed as either completely oblivious to what’s going on or simply coming across as selfish and uncaring. I don’t understand why writers are going for this sort of representation, but it does rub me the wrong way a bit.
Moving on, the possibility of adoption is soon brought up and the couple visit a nearby orphanage which is run by a local convent. Here Lola and Adolf meet the strange albino siblings Tin and Tina who were named after St. Augustine (San Agustín in Spanish; 354-430 AD). Tin and Tina were so far raised using a strict religious education and after the siblings are adopted their unhinged religious obsession and rituals soon begin to play havoc within their new home. After a few disturbing events that point toward Tin and Tina being the perpetrators, Lola begins to visibly fear the strange siblings.
Tin & Tina’s two-hour run time and seemingly repetitive jump scares induce boredom, especially during the filler scenes. The issue that the story experiences is that the audience is not going to be sure what the main concept of the plot actually is. The story focuses too much sometimes on Lola’s skepticism being a hindrance to her mental health not improving and her precarious relationship with the adopted twins. So much so that when the plot shifts into the possibility of Tin and Tina being a religiously menacing danger duo it doesn’t blend well at all. It bounces back and forth from being psychological to having supernatural undertones which I honestly found confusing and led to a huge disconnect with the main protagonist by the end of the film. This leads me to yet another problem, the ending sequence falls flatter than a pancake and I was literally staring at my screen with my face scrunched up in confusion! Like huh? What just happened? I like ambiguous endings but this one took the cake you’ll see what I mean if you decide to venture down that road.
Simply put, Tin & Tina comes across as a problematic mess with the use of religion to cause plot tension. Some might even find it a bit offensive, and others may just find it downright silly due to its predictability and use of cliched creepy twin tropes.
Alice’s Score: 4.5 out of 10
And you can check out more child-focused (but not child-friendly; seriously, hide dem kids!) horror content below:
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More