Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
After a couple finds a traumatized child of unknown origins, wife Paula must decipher the girl's strange behaviors to unlock her identity and dark past.
The Chalk Line (Jaula) is a competent Spanish thriller-horror that leans on familiar 'mysterious traumatized child' tropes seen in films like Room and Prisoners. The central mystery is engaging enough to sustain interest, and the performances—especially Éva Llorach as Paula—are committed and grounded. The cinematography is functional and adequately tense but rarely distinctive. The premise offers moderate intrigue but ultimately recycles well-worn genre beats without a sufficiently fresh angle. The resolution and ending feel somewhat rushed and unsatisfying, undercutting the tension built earlier, leaving the film as a watchable but unremarkable entry in its subgenre.