Monday, September 27, 2010

Sensual Panique

Alucarda (1978) - Moctezuma
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After her parents' death, 15 yr old virginal Justine(Susana Camini) is sent to the convent/orphanage. There she meets Alucarda (Tina Romero), a dark haired beauty with mischievous smile. They develop a relationship quickly even though Justine smells danger around her new, mysterious friend. After their naked blood-letting initiation with a Puck like creature, the Sisters and the priests at the convent suspect that the girls are possessed by the devil and perform a barbaric exorcism on Justine on a cross. A big mistake.

I'm not a huge fan of Mexican Panic Movement of the '70s that includes Arabal and Jodorowsky who presented surreal, counterculture epics. But their colleague Juan Lopez Moctezuma seems he had a different sensibility. It's very sensual and I like it a lot. The film has almost eastern European feel to it (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders comes to mind). Vibrant color palette and organic looking sets are quite beautful to look at. Plenty of nudity, vampirism, beheading and spontaneous combustion occur throughout, all in the sacred ground. The craftmanship and its subversive nature of the film makes it more than just a b-horror.

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