Gonzalo (Pablo Echarri) is a 30-something college student who has managed to hook-up with a girl that is willing to financially support his delayed educational endeavors. Such good fortune leaves him with a large amount of free time to pursue his true passion in life: thrill chasing. Via the World Wide Web, Gonzalo and a group of cohorts are provided with riddles, the answers to which direct them to normally inaccessible and exceedingly dangerous locations (such as the Paris sewer). The group then posts the results (pictures and the like) online and chat about their experiences. Such endeavors are arranged by a sketchy individual named Iblis who provides direction but never reveals himself to the thrill-seekers (or “infiltrators” as they refer to themselves). The stunts start out extremely dangerous (an exploration of an underground tunnel, for example), but are seemingly innocent. They do, however, quickly intensify as group members begin to die. The crew of infiltrators start to receive threatening emails, supposedly from Iblis, claiming that the only way to avoid being killed is to complete specified treacherous thrill-seeking missions. Of course a love interest develops between Gonzalo and one of the other members (Sonia) and amplifies as his girlfriend’s nagging increases. It is soon discovered that Iblis is indeed one of the infiltrators and each member of the group begins to suspect the other. The search to discover the true identity of Iblis and halt the thrill-seeking madness results in a number of deaths and all events accumulate and lead to a boiler room chase scene.
“You Should Not Be Here” (No Debes Estar Aqui) is Spanish director Jacobo Rispa’s first feature film. The picture is extremely technology heavy; the narrative is fueled by emails, web cams, chat rooms and online sex (Gonzalo and Sonia’s first sexual encounter takes place with the help of a web cam). At times the picture borders on feeling like a USA original movie, but it does have certain tendencies that propel it past such classification. The special effects in a few areas are bad enough to be distracting, but the performances are impressive and there are several scenes that are strong enough to compensate for the inefficient ones and keep the film on track. The subject matter at times seems to hint at a meaningful and unique story line, but the last thirty minutes of the film confirms that it is, for the most part, an archetypal action flick. Overall “You Should Not Be Here” is a typical, but solid, action-thriller, one that is as good as the emblematic American big-budget action-adventure.
