The Virgin of The Quarry Lake, adapted from the short stories of Mariana Enríquez (Things We Lost in The Fire), recently celebrated its World Premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It’s a simmering, atmospheric story that has horror in its heart but mostly plays like a brooding summer hangout with a group of girls on the verge of adulthood where the vibe is all wrong. It’s an Elevated Horror that spends the majority of its time in a coming-of-age story but packs a creeping cold open and a ripping finish.
Directed by Laura Casabé (The Returned) from a screenplay by Benjamin Naishtat (Rojo), this early 2000’s-timepiece follows a young girl caught in a love triangle with a boy and an older “more experienced” woman. In the heat of the Argentinian summer, Natalia (Dolores Oliverio) has fallen in love with Diego (Agustín Sosa). It would be a summer romance for the ages, but Diego is caught in the web of Silvia (Luisa Merelas), an early 30s woman Diego met while chatting on ICQ. We’ve all met a Silvia or two in our lives, but Diego is young and he doesn’t see through Silvia’s far-fetched stories of an adventurous life as quickly as Natalia and her friends.
“A simmering, atmospheric story that has horror in its heart.”
For Natalia, it’s as though Silvia has bewitched Diego and her over-stepping is driving Natalia absolutely mad. Boys have always been drawn to Natalia, but not the only one she has eyes for. On the edges of this teenage love story is a country that beginning to boil over. Like a wheel turning inside a wheel the tensions of the group builds toward a breaking point as Natalia begins to discover her own powers as a woman and as (maybe?) a witch.
The Virgin of The Quarry Lake is a far cry from teen witch staples like The Craft (1996) but rest assured, there’s a handful of glimpses at the powers lurking inside Natalia and plenty of promise of what a sequel would look like. Elevated Horror movies always seem to feel like the prelude to a story that’s only just kicking off when the credits start rolling, and The Virgin of The Quarry Lake is no different. The bookends of the story make for a dynamite short film, but the expansion is almost a different movie entirely. It’s a stretch label it strictly a horror movie, but fans of sun-soaked dark dramas poisoned with a dose of doom, The Virgin of The Quarry Lake certainly casts a spell.
“A sun-soaked dark drama poisoned with a dose of doom.”
Laura Casabé’s The Virgin of The Quarry Lake celebrated its World Premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Click HERE to follow our continued coverage of the festival and share your thoughts on Elevated Horror with us in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord.
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