Rotterdam 2026 Review: TALKING TO A STRANGER Shows A Grief, Scarier Than Ghosts

We have been fans of director Adrián García Bogliano ever since his films Cold Sweat (reviewed here) and Here Comes the Devil (reviewed here), so we consider it good news when a new film by him comes out. Yesterday, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) hosted the world première of Talking to a Stranger, a horror drama in which Bogliano pushes any fun exploitation into the background, focusing instead on the immense sadness following the loss of a child.

In the film, we follow Patricia, a woman tortured by grief and guilt after a particularly cruel accident resulted in seeing her young son Chris burn to death in front of her. Her husband and family try but fail to provide solace, and her depression deepens to the point where she needs to be heavily medicated. The pills keep her in a constant numb state, not fully awake, not really asleep, but in this cloudy twilight she picks up signals nobody else can hear: it appears Chris is calling out to her, and he knows of a way to get reunited with his mother. At first Patricia is delighted, but unfortunately this Chris doesn't like the other family members all that much. Is it really her son, or is something else taking advantage of her grief?

Good ghost stories are sad, and the shock is often not so much that there is a ghost, as what caused the ghost to be there in the first place. Talking to a Stranger immediately begins by showing ghosts exist, and gives a reason for why Chris may have turned into one. Therefore, when Patricia starts seeing things we have no reason to doubt her. We are, after all, watching a horror film by Adrián García Bogliano, right? Then again, maybe Patricia is just going crazy... Bogliano keeps things very close to reality, showing the impact Patricia's decline has on her family, who seem unable to prevent it. A thrill-ride this is not, especially since we like Patricia, we empathize with her. Nobody deserves the hell she is in. Like in The Exorcist, her family at first try to solve everything through medical means, and it takes quite some time before someone realizes that something else may be plaguing her.

With the film having this tone, you can't get away with silly acting, everything needs to be played straight. And thankfully, that's where Talking to a Stranger shines. Patricia is played by Gigi Saul Guerrero, who we know (and love) as a horror director. While she has acted in many shorts and on television, this is her first leading role in a feature film. And straight out of the gate it's a tough one, as the script puts Patricia through several wringers at once. Guerrero delivers one hell of a performance, and there is one speech in particular, where she defends the depth of her grief, her right to debilitating sadness, which impresses a lot. It hurts to watch, because we feel with her. Eugenio Rubio is also excellent as Patricia's husband who is sympathetic and tries to help, but often finds himself powerless to do so.

An easy watch this is not, as you see a nice family traumatized by the aftershocks of a terrible event. That supernatural forces then start pushing them deeper into the pit seems doubly unfair. But Adrián García Bogliano doesn't make things too hopeless, and eventually allows for some fighting back. It makes Talking to a Stranger a successful meld of ghost-horror and serious drama. I highly recommend it.



Talking to a Stranger had its world première on February 3rd in Rotterdam, but will get a wide release in Mexico in the second half of this year. Until then, it will travel the festival circuit.