Directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma
Mondo Macabro
R1 DVD
Alucarda
is a very adult work of horror entertainment which looks like a cross between a
Ken Russell film and The Exorcist. It is wickedly entertaining and is surreal,
full of excessive scenes, bizarre, humourous as well as blasphemous dialogue
and a heavily sexualized approach to Nunsploitation. The sets and costumes are
quite astounding, the chapel has a strange cave like appearance and the nun’s
outfits are more like the bindings of a mummy than traditional clothing. This
is a beautifully filmed work which is filled with strange and compelling
imagery.
The
director Juan Lopez Moctezuma had a close relationship with Aleandrjo Jodorowsky
and Fernando Arrabel – and was closely involved in what became known as the
Panic Movement. The Panic movement was inspired by the god Pan and influenced
by the work of Luis Buńuel and Antonin Artaud. It was a deliberate revolt
against what was seen as the degeneracy of surrealism. The Panic Movement
believed Surrealism had become the plaything of the bourgeois and that only
through cinema that shocked and confronted could the movement be saved. While Jodorowsky
dissolved the movement in 1973 many films, including Alucarda, show its
influence. The combination of deliberately confronting and shocking imagery
with surrealism certainly offers a unique visual experience.
The
film opens with the birth of a child. To protect the child’s life, the mother
entrusts her to a local gypsy. Some fifteen years later we meet Alucarda, a
young girl who is trying to be part of the life of a convent but finds herself
at odds with nearly everything they do and teach, she constantly wears black
clothing and seems melancholic to say the least. She has made friends with
Justine, who is only in the convent as her parents have died and she has
nowhere else to go. They become very close friends (ahh ! the joys of young
lesbian love) and rather than taking to the austere lifestyles required of a
nun, they spent inordinate amounts of time in the woods together doing what
young girls do.
One
day they meet a very strange gypsy, who offers to read Alucarda’s palm and tell
her what the future holds. However, as the gypsy reads her palm, suddenly the
gypsy looks away in horror and mumbles indecipherable but ominous comments
about what is in store, Alucarda is terrified by what she hears. However,
Justine promises to stand by her and after some sort of past life experience
they open a coffin in an abandoned chapel and a strange eerie noise is heard.
It seems that opening the coffin has unleashed a randy and uncontrollable spirit
which takes hold of Alucarda. Time and time again Alucarda feels like she has
done this all before and due to the force of these flashbacks she begins to
become possessed.
By
this stage things are getting pretty weird. The gypsy appears in their room and
using a dagger, pricks their breasts and forces them to drink each other's
blood. Alucarda is now totally possessed and doesn’t take being in the convent lightly.
During a scripture class, in a rather fun scene, Justine and Alucarda mock the
nun in charge and begin to loudly praise Satan. Justine collapses while
Alucarda attacks Father Lázaro during confession. These are fun girls to have
around.
Father
Lázaro seems to have been educated in a rather Medieval tradition and is a
priest with steeped in the forbidden knowledge of demonology, he immediately
comes to the conclusion that “ it’s a heliophobic demon! That's a
sixth-category devil who hates light!” and starts prepping for an exorcism. No
use wasting time with pesky second opinions, even the convent’s doctors advice
that the girls are sick and not possessed is conveniently ignored. Who needs medicine
when god is on your side !
As
you do in an exorcism, Justine is stripped naked and tied to a cross. She is then
pierced with needles while Alucarda--also tied up—can do nothing. When she yells
and screams in protest, she is knocked out. The doctor arrives and with the only
voice of reason in this mad world of religious excess denounces the stupidity
and hysteria of the convent, but Justine is dead and the possessed Alucarda is
very pissed off.
Now
it seems the undead somehow enter the equation. Justine’s corpse is nowhere to
be found and one of the nuns has been burnt to death. Father Lázaro taking a
leap in faith and for no apparent reason chops the head off the poor nun’s
corpse, which then reanimates writhing and screaming. As they search for
Alucarda they find Justine lying naked in a coffin filled to the brim with blood,
she returns to life. The doctor, now convinced of the power of the cross,
throws holy water on her and she starts to burn but in her final death throws
she tears out Sister Angelica’s throat, a damn good showing I must say.
Alucarda
now runs amok tormenting the nuns and monks in the convent as the possessed
tend to do, monastics are bursting into flame spontaneously and the cave like
chapel and building is shaking with statues crashing to the ground. Sister
Angelica’s body is returned to the convent and head in a Christ-like pose which
for some reason confronts Alucarda who dies with her body vanishing into thin
air !
Alucarda
has superb cinematography, amazing sets, stunning costumes, witty and cutting
dialogue filled with humour and blasphemy, solid character development (Alucarda
is a real charmer) and a plot which will have your scratching your head for
quite some time after you watch it. There is even an bonus 20 minute history of
Mexican horror films !
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.2
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here
to go to the Synergy Magazine front page. (http://www.synergy-magazine.com)