Spooky castles, vengeful witches, malevolent eyeless crying women and a shapeshifting Baron who transforms into a hairy, big-headed monster with an elongated forked tongue that sucks out your brain. These are some of the pleasures in an astonishing new Blu-ray box set from Indicator called Mexico Macabre, which includes 4 superior chillers from Mexico’s Alameda film vaults (1959-1963).
To be honest, aside from The Brainiac, I knew very little about this period of genre filmmaking from Mexico. I think I equated “South of the Border” horror films to Santos (the wrestling legend) battling Aztec mummies or later gore-fests like Night of the Bloody Apes. But this box set was a thrilling eye-opener.
The hero of this series is Abel Salazar, born in Mexico in 1917, who began his career as a handsome leading man in films, then branched out to producing and directing in 1957 with a new production company “ABSA” specializing in genre films. But it was when the company did the elegantly eerie Dracula film- El Vampiro (1957)- that things changed. The movie was a box-office and critical smash and ushered in a fabulous series of gothic chillers utilizing some of the best craftsmen and directors around. These films were also exported and seen around the world. This box set includes four of their very best, beautifully restored and including the original language and English subtitles, not to mention a mind-boggling array of extras.
The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959) is, in my opinion, the finest one of the set. A bizarre, nightmarish gem about a scientist who strong-arms his dying partner to share with him, after death, what the afterlife is like. The scientist lords over a mental institution and when the daughter of the dead man unexpectedly shows up, she unwittingly becomes a deadly pawn between the obsessed doctor; a facially scarred orderly; not to mention a vengeful spirit. The scientist ends up being wrongfully charged of murder and hanged but he does return from the dead, just not how he ever imagined. A great ghoulish treat with gorgeous cinematography and excellent direction by Fernando Mendez (El Vampiro).
The Witch’s Mirror (1962) Is about a devoted housekeeper (and witch), who is unable to save her beautiful Goddaughter from being murdered by her treacherous doctor husband. The husband returns home with a new bride (the beautiful Rosita Arenas) and the housekeeper begins spinning a spell-filled web of calamities to befall both of them in order to avenge her Goddaughter. This results in a deadly fire that violently disfigures the new bride and the doctor begins stealing the corpses of recently-deceased women to graft new skin on his wife. What’s wonderful is that the hero of the film is actually the witch. This will remind you of everything from Rebecca to Eyes Without a Face, but it’s beautifully filmed by director Chano Urueta and has clever special effects and macabre twists and turns.
The Curse of the Crying Woman (1963) is a variation of the of the “Llorona” legend. Starring Rita Macedo as the villainous eyeless crying woman, who, with her scarred, club-footed servant (and two massive dogs) waylay and kill travelers, draining them of their blood to feed the rotting corpse of an ancient witch (stabbed with a sword) in their cellar. Arriving at the “cursed” mansion is her sweet niece (Rosita Arenas) along with her new husband (Abel Salazar) but they have unwittingly stepped into a nightmare where the niece will be used to bring back to life the corpse of the witch at midnight. Meanwhile, wouldn’t you know it, there’s a deranged, tortured, elderly madman chained in the attic in this gothic goodie.
The Brainiac (1962) is the best-known because of the jaw-dropping, goofy monster. It stars Abel Salazar as the Baron, accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake in 1661 who curses the jury of the inquisition that he will return for revenge in 300 years to wipe out their entire families. And he sure does, arriving in a comet, and with the ability to transform into a creature with an inflatable head, long stringy hair, a sharp beak-like nose, tentacle like hands, and a long, forked tongue that sucks the brains right out of your head. He sets himself up in a mansion and invites all the families he plans to kill to a big party, but sneaks off to snack on brains he keeps in a giant goblet locked in a desk. Yes, it is that nuts. There are hilarious rear-projections and an unforgettable bug-eyed expression of a father (hypnotized in a frozen position by the Baron) forced to watch his daughter die a hideous death. This also was directed by Chano Urueta, who later was used by Sam Peckinpah in his masterpiece The Wild Bunch (he’s the white-haired old man William Holden tips his hat to as he rides by on horseback).
The extras are invaluable, chronicling the Mexican film industry and the people behind the scenes of the making of these strange films. One fascinating extra is an on-stage interview with Rosita Arenas, who recalls the professional and respectful relationship she had with producer Abel Salazar while making The Witch’s Mirror. After the shoot, she went to Acapulco and the person she was staying with decided to throw a huge costume party. He was also a dress designer and created an amazing Cleopatra outfit for Rosita to wear- she arrived at the party carried by four men. Abel Salazar was there, dressed as an Apache Indian, and, as she puts it, “that’s when the romance began.” She married him and within no time they were both appearing in The Curse of the Crying Woman while she was pregnant with their daughter. Filmmaking as a family affair. These four gothic chillers are really remarkable- they are creepy, crazy and an important chapter in horror history.
Love to see these, but only with you by my side screaming and laughing!