Atrocious is a 2010 Spanish horror film written and directed by Fernando Barreda Luna. It was released in the United States on August 17, 2011.

The film relates the story of two siblings spending Easter at their family's country house in Sitges

Sitges

*Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla . It houses two Gothic sepulchres , belonging to the an older church located on the same site...

 and investigating a local urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

 about a girl who went missing in a hedge maze

Hedge Maze

A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges.-History:...

.

Plot

Cristian Quintanilla (Cristian Valencia) and his sister July (Clara Moraleda) have a web-show of "paranormal investigations" covering urban legends. When they are invited to spend the easter holidays at the family's summer home, they intend to investigate the story of Melinda, a girl that went missing in 1940 and supposedly haunts the woods. The investigation turns dangerous when the family dog is found in a nearby well, presumably killed by Melinda or her ghost. Five days later, the police find the bodies of the Quintanilla family and recovers the video footage shot by Cristian and July.

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 listing six reviews, 67% of which are favorable. Bill Gibron of PopMatters

PopMatters

PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...

gave it seven of ten stars, concluding: "Thankfully, writer/director Fernando Barreda Luna knows enough about building suspense to overcome the movie's many shortcomings."