There can be nothing worse for a parent than losing a child. Except, perhaps, losing two children, but that would be considered careless, surely?

In Gabe Ibáñez’s directorial feature debut, he delves deeply into the psyche of one woman’s journey into a world of pain, loss and suffering.

María (Elena Anaya) is a single mother, taking her young son Diego (Kaiet Rodríguez) to El Hierro, which is the smallest of the Canary Islands. Diego is quite excited about the trip as it will be the first time he’s travelled on a ferry before.

On board all is well until Diego asks if he can go play. María allows him to do so and watches him as he runs off to join the other children in the play area. When she realises that she hasn’t seen him for a while, she goes off to check if he’s alright. Try as hard as she might, she cannot find him. Diego has disappeared, not only off of the ferry, but seemingly off of the face of the earth.

Three years on and María is just about on top of her grief. This changes however when she receives a phone call from the police on the island, informing her that a child’s body fitting the description of Diego has been found. She’s requested to return so that she can identify the body.

Her return to the island however, is far from straightforward. It soon becomes apparent to her that there’s something very sinister about the island and its inhabitants. She decides to dig a little further, only to reveal a dark side she’s ill-prepared to deal with.

We’re not quite sure what the Spanish are putting in their sangria of late, but it’s certainly working. Long gone are the days where it was seen that Almodóvar was running the Spanish film industry all on his lonesome. Recently Spain appears to be the new home for original horror, and although this feature doesn’t quite fall under that gory category, it’s certainly a walk on the dark side.

Ibáñez has proved with his first film that he has what it takes to be a director worth watching. Hierro is far more stylish than it needs to be, and yet the extra mile that Ibáñez has taken it to lifts it out of the realms of a regular thriller into far more interesting territory. Everything from its muted use of colours, to its purposefully-placed pacing makes it an intriguing visual experience.

He’s also not bad at directing actors either; Anaya is virtually in every frame of the film and copes with the demands put upon her admirably. It’s clear that there was more to his direction than simply asking her to look a little sad for the film’s duration.

The direction of the story also appears to take you on a route that you have a vague idea where it’s going, before surprising you with a small detour over some bumpy terrain. Although you may have a tendency to run just ahead of it to see the film’s conclusion, try not to. You’re in good hands with Ibáñez and you should trust him to get you there when he wants you to.

Hierro has so much going for it, you can expect some Hollywood runt to snap up the rights and shoot a bland, watered down version for the US market shortly. Do yourself a favour and see this gem in its original form before that happens.