‘The Virgin of the Quarry Lake’ Movie Review [Sundance 2025]: A Vicious Summer Fever Dream

Photo from Sundance Film Festival

From Jeff Nelson

Growing up isn’t always pretty. Laura Casabé breathes visual life into Mariana Enríquez’s short stories that merges socioeconomic and adolescent pains into a peculiarly visceral transition to womanhood. The Virgin of the Quarry Lake has the grit to explore the dark corners of young love and sexuality, but its supernatural leanings aren’t embraced as fully as they could be.

Set in the outskirts of the Buenos Aires in 2001, Natalia (Dolores Oliverio) and her friends yearn for Diego (Agustín Sosa). However, her romantic feelings for him extend beyond her attraction to his good looks. Her plans for a relationship with Diego begin to fall apart when he meets the more experienced Silvia (Fernanda Echeverría) and she draws his attention.

Alyssa lives with her grandmother after her family fell apart. A neighborhood altercation breaks out between a resident and a homeless man with a shopping cart, who narrowly leaves with his life. His belongings and a pool of blood remain on the street as a reminder of the violent attack, but freak local occurrences cause some to believe that the remaining cart holds a curse. However, the magic draws Alyssa in, as she desperately seeks any answer to solve her romantic dilemma.

The Virgin of the Quarry Lake deals with superstition and social pressures – from the homeless man to the claims of the supposed children’s deaths at the quarry lake that halted construction. Silvia’s introduction comes with an added dose of both. She poses a threat for catching Diego’s eye but also for her seemingly unflinching confidence and envious character. Alyssa and her girlfriends are desperate to join their peers and lose their virginities, but Silvia’s presence only complicates their goal that much more. It morphs their perceptions of womanhood into something darker.

This thriller thrives off its mysteries, from the supernatural details to Silvia’s questionable intentions. These moving parts all play into Alyssa’s journey to adulthood and desire for control. However, this yearning comes at a steep cost. The level of violence is surprising, although the magic and romance components are underplayed. Casabé puts more effort into the surrealism, while the character arcs feel clunky. It’s difficult to get invested in this journey.

There are plenty of thrills bubbling under the surface to keep you on the edge of your seat, but the film eventually renders flat. Casabé’s visual storytelling maintains consistent tension, even though the narrative feels limited by its short story origins. The compelling fragments of sexual discovery and a supernatural socio-economic thriller don’t meld into a cohesive whole, leaving glimpses of terror that never fully materialize. It’s thematically ambitious, spreading itself thin connecting its two halves.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Virgin of the Quarry Lake played Sundance 2025 on January 27th, 2025.

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