Alucarda
by Juan L?pez Moctezuma
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DVD Cover Information
Director: Juan L?pez MoctezumaDVD: Region Code 0
Audio: Spanish (Original Language); English (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 74 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Mondo Macabro
Movie Reviews of Alucarda
Movie Review: Simply brilliant.
Summary: 4 Stars
Alucarda (Juan Lopez Moctezuma, 1978)
There's something about seventies horror movies that really gets to me. Not in a scary way, mind you, and not (I don't think, anyway) in a nostalgic way. There's much more of a feeling of transgression in a movie like Alucarda than there is in the latest slasher picture in 2008; while there are certainly still guys who are pushing the envelope (in America, anyway; Eli Roth isn't doing anything Hideshi Hino didn't do twenty years before him, but a lot more Americans saw Hostel than will ever see Mermaid in a Manhole), there's a different feel about the seventies horror romps than there are about the new pictures. Perhaps there was more of an immediacy to envelope-pushing back in the seventies? With so much more being socially acceptable nowadays thanks to the wonders of basic cable, you'd think a movie like Alucarda would feel dated in its extremity, almost boring. And yet that's not the case. I grant you, there's very little in here (aside from the full frontal nudity) you wouldn't see on episodes of certain TV dramas these days, but somehow it still comes across as an over-the-top sex-and-violence extravaganza with serious, and rather ugly, undertones.
The story concerns two lovely young ladies, Alucarda (Tina Romero) and Justine (Susanna Kamini), who are growing up in a Catholic orphanage. Alucarda was taken there just after her birth, while Justine has only recently arrived after the death of her parents. Some odd, otherwordly bond connects the two girls, and it is solidified by a band of gypsies they meet on one of their long walks through the woods (and the process of that solidification is one of the scenes in this movie that's going to have you saying "what the hell was Moctezuma smoking when he made this movie, and where can I get some?"). The process lets the devil out of the young girls and into the convent, in a way, to be fought by the only rational human being left in the movie, Dr. Oszek (Claudio Brook). To say any more about the plot would be to reveal major spoilers for the film, but I can't really describe the enormity of the insanity to be found here without doing so. You'll have to trust me on this-- Alucarda, despite being relatively tame with its sex and gore, goes a lot farther, conceptually, than many more modern films that have trod in its footsteps.
It's tempting, in retrospect, to see this more as a period-piece version of something like The Exorcism of Emily Rose crossed with a good dose of The Devil's Rain; it would certainly convey the atmosphere better (despite the obvious play on words in the title and a number of reviews I've read, the story is far less about vampirism than it is about demonic possession). But the sex and violence angle seems to take a backseat in Moctezuma's film (and Alexis Arroyo's scrrenplay) to the attack on the Church. Granted, Moctezuma softens the blow by having the Church, in this film, be a weird, radical offshoot of Catholicism, but it's still obviously an offshoot of Catholicism (and it's entirely possible Moctezuma simply wanted to portray the whole Catholic church as this particular flavor of crazy; a good deal of Father Lazaro's speech should put the viewer in mind of the Inquisition). Given that, the rather tame nature of the prurient scenes makes sense (they're just seasoning, rather than the main dish), and Alucarda could probably be used as a textbook by more modern directors as to how to integrate such things into their movies, keeping the prurient interest, while still making them at least somewhat integral to the plot; one cannot help but think "communion" during the gypsy ritual, for example.
I can't believe it's taken me this long to see this movie, and I cannot but urge the rest of you who haven't seen it to do so at your earliest opportunity. Yeah, it does have its flaws, but they are eclipsed by the many, many strengths here; the script is very good, the set design is fabulous, the costume designer was truly inspired (though by what I've no idea), Moctezuma's direction is at least competent enough to pay tribute to these things, and the special effects are just cheesy enough to come across as charming rather than stupid. But what's really impressive is how all these things fit together to make this film the iconoclast masterpiece it is. ****
Summary of Alucarda
Directed in Mexico in 1975 by Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) collaborator Juan Lopez Moctezuma, the Psychotronic Video Guide describes Alucarda as "The strongest, most imaginative, and visual witch movie since Ken Russell's The Devils." Alucarda tells of the strange relationship between two young girls, Justine and Alucarda, and how their relationship destroyed the lives of those around them in a torrent of blood, death and damnation. This legendary horror film contains images that will shock and disturbArt House & International DVD Video
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