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Alucarda
Director by Juan Lopez Moctezuma
Released: 1975
Starring: Claudio Brook, Tina Romero, Susana Kamini, and David Silva
Juan Lopez Moctezuma's 1975 classic, Alucarda, is a truly twisted film. It has been a while since a movie has left me slack-jawed throughout most of its running time. Although
Alucarda is relatively short (74 minutes long), it will make you feel like you have been run through the ringer several times over. I can guarantee that you've never seen anything quite like this one before.
The film opens with the birth of a child named Alucarda. Mother and child are seperated and then Alucarda's mother dies mysteriously. Flash forward 15 years to a convent/orphanage where 15-year-old Justine (Susana Kamini) has just arrived after the death of her parents. She befriends the strange but mesmerizing Alucarda (Tina Romero) and their good times together don't last long. The girls fall in with the wrong crowd (Satanists) and make a blood pact with each other and the devil. Once their unholy bond is formed, is there anything that can stop the approaching slaughter?
It is clear that Moctezuma was definitely not playing around with his vision when making
Alucarda. The evidence of his meticulous filmmaking can be seen throughout. From the gritty set designs to the iconoclastic imagery, Moctezuma gets his point across (and then some). If there is any fault with the filmmaking it can be found in the script, which bludgeons the viewer over the head instead of taking the subtle route.
The other failings of this movie come from some of the actors. Most of the performances are very well done but heavy-handed performances dominate some of the scenes. Claudio Brook, who plays the good doctor, is especially wooden while delivering his lines. In this dual role (as both the good doctor and the gypsy), he is clearly a versatile actor but the good doctor hams up most of his already cheesy lines.
Criticisms aside, I absolutely love this movie. Alucarda is one of those rare moments in horror movie history when great things come together to make a masterpiece. Take a little vampirism, a little witchery, and a whole bunch of satanic possession,
then mix them all together and you've got something really amazing. The movie is like a sledgehammer in its effectiveness and should be able to disturb just about anyone who watches it. Some excellent gore, tears of blood, a funky synthesizer soundtrack, wacky characters, and sacrilege of nearly every kind will make this a memorable addition to any Eurohorror fan's collection.
Links:
For more information go to
Mondo Macabro.
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