(1991)
Dir - Pedro Galindo III
Overall: WOOF
Overall: WOOF
Another in a string of terrible genre excursions from filmmaker Pedro Galindo III, El teatro del horror, (Theater of Horror), bypasses the slasher formula for a more convoluted and monotonous tale about two college students who try to rid a theater of a curse, only to have that go awry and end up causing their professor to become a walking corpse with a decapitated head. Some other characters eventually show up who are about as funny as wet asparagus, and Rafael Sánchez Navarro's scenery chewing must be seen to be believed. The first act is atrociously paced, but things do not get much better from there, only more loud and stupid. Set almost exclusively at the crumbling Teatro Colonial in Mexico City, Galindo III loads it up with fog and cheap synth music to create a macabre atmosphere, but the tone is more ridiculous than creepy. It eventually settles into lots of yelling, running around, talking, walking around, and repetitive dialog that advances nothing until lots of stuff catches on fire. Besides Navarro mugging it up with a detached head, no other supernatural set pieces occur, and the piss pour budget wears itself embarrassingly on its sleeve.
(1992)
Dir - Paco del Toro
Overall: WOOF
The obscure relic Persecución infernal, (Infernal Persecution), from Mexican director Paco del Toro is in line with most of the genre fare stemming from the country around the era as far as non-existent production values are concerned, but it is a more curious watch since it comes off like a cross between an embarrassing horror film and a Christian public service announcement. Because it is noticeably so low on budget, (the laughably cheap title font, pedestrian cinematography, most scenes playing out in continuous takes to insure maximum boredom, etc), the movie is loaded with dialog in place of action, and a significant portion of that dialog is dedicated to characters explaining the glory of Jesus and how it is all that that is required to defeat evil. We even get a sequence where someone plays "Stairway to Heaven" backwards to sincerely suggest that ole wives tale that it contains a hidden demonic message. Such Satanic panic nonsense is adorably dated, and little information exists as to the origins or intentions of such a film, but it seems more like poorly executed exploitation with a half-assed religious moral undercurrent than something that was sanctioned by any church organization. In any event, this is talky, lifeless, and dull stuff made with no flare whatsoever, so unless you are simply hankering for some early 90s mullets and lots of scenes of people in acting class, stay away.
(1996)
Dir - Gilberto de Anda
Overall: WOOF
A non-union Mexican equivalent X-Files done with Telemundo production values. El chupacabras would be hilariously wretched if not for how insultingly boring it is. The problem here stems from the obvious piss-pour finances that were at the disposal of prolific director Gilberto de Anda and his crew. Which is to say that the title monsters are merely talked about instead of shown, and boy are they talked about. Sprawling three different countries and just as many pairs of characters, everyone in this universe starts investigating the mysterious goings-ons of the folklore creatures, and it all leads them to a cave where we finally get a few quick glimpses of them hanging back in the shadows within the last five minutes of the running time before our macho heroes blow the cave up and run away from it in slow motion, as one does when dynamite is ignited. There is no humor, no clever dialog, no enticing kill scenes, no atmospheric cinematography, and this cannot be stressed enough, no goddamn chupacabras until their aforementioned "blink and you'll miss them" appearance at the very end. Instead, we have big strong burly men with mustaches, women flirting with them, and everyone talking about stuff that either has nothing to do with anything or would be far more exciting to actually see on screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment