All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Slow, small town, Mexico. Everything revolves around the salt mine. Mounds of white rock and powder, seep into the very soul of the people. The young women disappear and some of the bodies are finally found. Edgy, rough big town policeman is sent to solve the case. This is a different kind of Mexican movie. Slow moving, creepy, with horror undertones. Eccentric characters all over the place... and that is the trouble. Everything seems to be a little slanted, a bit shafted to the side, albeit intensionally in a manipulative way. Like the director wasn't sure enough in the story, so he felt the urge to connive and twist little too far to be believable. Still, well worth watching.

BAJO LA SAL has a lot going for it: a BLUE VELVET kind of quirkiness, some solid performances (with one notable exception: the Culprit, who, when revealed, chews the scenery toothlessly; Dennis Hopper this guy ain't), and some genuinely suspenseful moments. The undertaker's son shows up for his date driving (of course) the family hearse. But rest assured: the quirkiness doesn't stop there: the kid makes his own stop-motion slasher flicks using Barbie dolls, and these are intercut throughout the movie proper (sometimes featuring slow motion sequences that only add to the unsavory savoring of the slashings). Like the aforementioned BLUE VELVET, UNDER THE SALT is a murder mystery into which our hero (also a suspect) gets sucked. A little more depth to the grizzled ex-cop would've helped (we never really get to know him, but his "outing" as an EX cop lends one more twist to an already twisted tale) and, as stated, the villain's big finale leaves a lot to be desired, but BAJO LA SAL is nonetheless worth a look.

Good acting, decent plot, an interesting setting in a town that has a huge salt producing factory which plays well as a backdrop. There is a lot of intriguing character development and interaction, including that between the law enforcement characters, the school characters, and at the funeral home. I disagree with reviewers who said that we don't really care about the characters -- I would rate this aspect highly.I was less impressed by the doll play which struck me as a bit gimmicky but overall the movie was definitely worth seeing as a slightly gruesome horror/mystery. I'm fairly bilingual, and the subtitles were very well done -- often they are not.

I've just finished watching this movie at home because of the poor distribution that had when it was released at Mexican theaters. The fact is that it is a very good movie for Mexican standards, if not the best released during 2008, even I liked more than Arrancame la Vida; the main reason because I enjoyed this movie is because it maintains the suspense that a thriller should have, especially during the last 15 minutes when we discover who is the killer. Also the movie has excellent production values, good acting and an excellent editing. The problem are the development of the characters, which is the problem of many Mexican movies; we never care about them and is the same if they die or not, if the win or not. The actors do they job very well but the have to follow the script, so they can't make characters who make connection with audiences. I think the Mexican screenwriters should learn how to develop better characters so they make them for us enjoyable. If this movie had that, it would be an excellent Mexican product... ahhhh! and also the movie has holes on the plot. For the next time I recommend director Mario Muñoz take notes from this advices and will be able to make a masterpiece.