DVD reviews of Mexican Horror

[Doc Faustus]

While Mexico has brought us iconic cult films such as the Santo and Blue Demon luchador monster rallies, much of its horror output has been unavailable and/or forgotten by American audiences. Now, CasaNegra entertainment has decided to ameliorate this and give American horror fans a chance to see some intriguing Mexican classics. With horror fans growing more conscious and appreciative of foreign horror, this seems inevitable. Nowadays, any fan of the genre who doesn't know who Mario Bava, Dario Argento or even Takashi Miike are looks uncultured. In ten years could this be true of anybody who hasn't seen a film by Chano Urueta? This depends on two things: our reception of these films and the quality of the films themselves. It is my hope with these reviews to warm the reception of this particular fanbase to these quality films.To date, I have seen and own three CasaNegra films [I]The Witch's Mirror, The Black Pit of Doctor M and the Curse of the Crying Woman, all of which I shall review here.
The Witch's Mirror or El Espejo de la Bruja is an intriguing curiosity, a capable blend of many horror subgenres. It is the story of a witch who avenges the murder of her beloved goddaughter by her morally repulsive surgeon husband, who seeks to fight off black magic with his own brand of mad science. To save his new wife, the target of the witch's curse, he goes to lengths that make the witch's satanic petitioning look sensible in comparison. Without spoiling too much of the plot, I can tell you that Mad Love and Eyes Without a Face are both heavily influential, but somehow director Chano Urueta makes capable homages to these films, while still keeping his vision fresh and interesting.
Urueta uses cheap but potent effects to create a somewhat ersatz gothic that nonetheless gets its points across. The titular mirror is used as a screen that projects images of the witch's slain goddaughter rising from the grave to aid in the grisly revenge on the surgeon, which transcends both Mad Love and Eyes Without a Face in shocking cruelty. The devil the witch converses with is shown merely with ominous shadowpuppetry and yet still generates a chill. The effects and the skillful combination of various horror elements create a product similar in mood to Bava' s Black Sunday and every bit as interesting to fans of early sixties black and white gothic.
CasaNegra' s DVD however, is not quite as novel or eclectic. The selection of special features is thin, though not quite as sickly as those available on Black Pit of Dr. M (which I'll get to later). These include a stills gallery, a colorful and very aesthetic bingo card (Loteria in Mexico), an essay on Urueta ( regrettably not in a nice, collectible booklet) and audiocommentary by one Frank Coleman. Coleman's commentary is not altogether polished, but rather that of an excited fan. This is not altogether bad. Coleman is more congenial and less stiff than film historians tend to be and for some it might be more interesting to watch the movie with a genre buff than with a genre expert. It's of course a matter of preference. Some more hardcore fans will soak up the information he provides but grow tired of his gushing and lack of professional demeanor.
CasaNegra's release of Black Pit of Dr. M, which is known in Mexico as Misterios de Ultratumba is a gutsy, eclectic and (truth be told) somewhat confusing package, which might not appeal to as many consumers as The Witch's Mirror. This film has a more distinct brand of gothic, one similar to that of thirties pulps and the "House of Mystery" comics of the seventies. It tells the story of Dr. Mazali, a scientist eager to see what lies beyond the grave. His dying colleague, Dr. Aldama agrees to assist him in this endeavor and does so by leaving behind a cypher involving a closing door, his estranged daughter and a key. A disfigured lab assistant and a madwoman help Aldama's cryptic prophecy come true, leaving Mazali with a new body and a number of unpleasant surprises.
Black Pit of Dr. M is skillfully filmed under the watchful eye of Fernando Mendez. And what an eye it is sometimes; with great composition and interesting shots of well constructed and interesting sets that will make you forget somewhat cliche makeup, flagrant overacting and the occasional plot hole . But, those of you who like late fifties early sixties European horror will already be acclimated to this kind of tradeoff. All in all, it's not bad for 1958 Mexico.
The selection of special features, primarily textbased could be incentive not to purchase Black Pit . Once more, Coleman's enthusiastic commentary is not for everyone. Coleman's godawful music video is more or less not for anyone. The tiresome music video, with its puzzingly verbose introduction by Coleman is a poor choice of features, a gamble CasaNegra shouldn't have taken. The very cool Loteria card is quite welcome, as are the informative bios and the photo essay on the history of Mexican monster films. Regrettably, none of these things, which could have made a great Criterion style booklet are in print. I have no clue who decided that people love text on their DVDs, but whoever initiated this trend should be drawn and quartered publicly. All in all, it's not a bad buy, but CasaNegra still has a lot to learn about packaging DVDs.
Rafael Baledon' s the Curse of the Crying Woman, exceeds the prior two films in every way. The Curse of the Crying Woman deals with a folkloric icon similar to the Scottish black Annis, the German Lorelei and other such devouring crones. The history of this legend is briefly detailed in (brace yourselves) a well written and aesthetic little booklet. The sort of little booklet that consumers ought to expect when they shell out twenty dollars. Finally something in the same league as those very cool Loteria cards.
The movie itself is amazing. To those who have any doubt that Mexican gothic can be the equal of Italian or Hammer gothic, I wholeheartedly recommend this movie. From the very opening with an eerily made up witch setting upon travelers with a pack of great danes, this movie holds you. Even those who don't stand by Jung and Campbell will see the archetypal power of the story and the imagery. The witch's creepy eye makeup and eerie performance will keep you glued to your chair.
The story of a young woman deciding whether to embrace or break a family curse is an intriguing one, asking us to think about heredity and tradition and to wonder whether the cursed houses of Greek tragedy and the works of Poe are contrivances or truth. Add to this good camera work, and an able makeup job on the dead crone the witch hopes to revive and on a monster with a mysterious origin and you have a winner. Curse of the Crying Woman is a stirring gothic fable that comes packaged with a nice booklet and features audio commentary by a Mexican film expert. Curse is the most obvious addition to any horror collection.
In conclusion, CasaNegra films give you the following: mediocre text based special features, swanky but unplayable bingo cards, fun, intriguing and atmospheric films and most importantly a chance at a new cultural experience and an expanded understanding of the genre. The latter alone, makes CasaNegra worth it for any genre fan, but the Loteria cards are damn swanky.

[Roderick Usher]

awesome reviews Doc. I'm really interested in these. I wrote a La Llorona script a few years ago never knowing that a movie (other than a Santo flick) had been made on the subject.

My wife's family is from Mexico and they all tell me of very specific run-ins with the Weeping Woman. I'll be looking for these films!

[Festered]

Extraordinarily well written Doctor. Look forward to more writings on the subject.