H6 – Diary of a Serial Killer (2004) | DVD Review

For the uninitiated, watching a foreign-language horror film with subtitles might not be the most attractive proposition. How do you enjoy the tension and dread if you’re trying to keep up with the dialogue? But H6: Diary of a Serial Killer, newly released by Tartan Video, is worth the effort.

H6 has been compared to Hostel and others of the extreme torture sub-genre of horror films, but it’s not really a fair comparison. While the genre may or may not be your cup of (blood?) tea, H6 is more a glimpse into the psyche of a man obsessed with purifying and cleansing the lost and tormented souls of the world than it is an exercise in how much blood and gore the filmakers can compress into a 90-minute movie. In fact, there’s comparably little on-screen killing in this film, although there’s quite a lot of splattering blood in it.
H6 is the story of convicted killer Antonio Frau (Fernando Acaso) who, upon his release from prison after fourteen years for the murder of his girlfriend, inherits an old guesthouse from an aunt that he did not know. The fact that it was used as a brothel is a sign to Antonio that he should use his freedom to “cleanse” the local riff raff from the streets by luring them into Room 6 and keeping them tied up for days on end until he deems they are ready for the final purification: death. He does all this while keeping a meticulous diary of each and every unspeakable act. You see, he doesn’t want his crusade to be misunderstood should he ever be caught.

First-time director Martin Garrido Baron has been accused by critics of making a film whose sole purpose is to shock and create controversy, but what he’s really done is create a wonderfully morbid, albeit mildly disturbing, character-study of a man with deep-seated psychological problems. While he doesn’t try to re-invent the wheel, he does use lighting and musical set pieces to fantastic effect. While you never actually root for Antonio Frau during his rape, torture, and murder spree, you also don’t feel much sympathy for the seedy characters he disposes of. The point is that this is a dark, cold film, populated by unsympathetic characters. There is no right or wrong…it just is.

The climactic murder scene takes place about halfway through the film, and it is after this that H6 starts to stumble a bit. Yes, we need to see that Frau has done this many times, but the murders could have been set to a short montage rather than played out completely. Having said that, the performance of Fernando Acaso, a Spanish television actor, is so brilliant that it’s actually fun to watch him delight in what he’s doing. Really, the only problem with H6 is that the ending is a little too quick and convenient. This is a film that has just enough blood to please horror fans, but it is first and foremost a macabre look at the mind of a sick and twisted man. Who doesn’t want to see that?


The film itself is the jewel of this release. The colours, music, and mood are all emphasized in this widescreen transfer with 5.1 digital surround sound. The extras are a little less enticing. They consist of a series of trailers from Tartan Video’s Asia Extreme division and a short interview reel with director Baron, star Acaso, and an actor who plays one of his victims. The best part of this is watching Acaso squirm as he tries to explain why he wanted to play this role.

H6: Diary of a Serial Killer is not a pleasant film, but it is a great one. To own the DVD release may not be attractive to anyone but the most avid horror fans (of which I count myself and therefore will watch it at least a few more times over the years), but I would strongly recommend seeing it at least once, if only for the performance of Acaso as a sick and twisted man who believes he is doing good and wants to be recognized and immortalized for his actions.

Movie rating – 3.5

Disc Rating – 2.5