Customer Reviews

Alcuarda

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Alucarda begins as a new mother in some sort of implied peril, sends her newborn daughter off to a convent for safe keeping. Years later her grown girl (Alucarda) and companion stumble upon mom's tomb and are overtaken by the evil force that killed her. Filled with piss-and-vinegar the two return to the convent and unleash wave of demonic terror that brings the convent to it's knees.

Riding the crest of the Exorcist and Ken Russell's The Devils, Mexican Director, Lopez Moctezuma delivered this hybrid that still manages bare his own unique brand of surrealism. Not unlike Carrie, Alucarda takes the theme of female sexual maturation to it's absurd limits, right down to having the nuns of the convent garbed in what appear to be bloodied menstrual rags. In fact, there is almost a constant "flow" of blood & nudity intertwined throughout the film; a flow which the nuns try (and fail) to quell by dishing out equal parts of love & sadism toward the two girls and themselves .

Obviously if your not a fan of non-linear flights of blasphemous fancy, you need not apply here, because this by no means your run-of-the-mill demonic possession ripoff. Though filled with a good many arresting visuals, I don't agree with those who feel this is Moctezuma's finest hour. I would still give that honor to Mansion of Madness (Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon), largely because in that film Moctezuma orchestrates his delirium with greater virtuosity and focus. I'm guessing it's the ample nudity that gives Alucarda the leg up for some of it's devoted fans.

Mondo Macabro has put out a pretty nice DVD of this bilingual production, with image quality that does justice to Moctezuma's vision. My only beef is that though they include both a Spanish and English audio option, I would have liked to get English subtitles as the Spanish track had additional music cues not present on the English track, and sounded a little more organic in general.

Alucarda is an erotic, psychedelic horror masterpiece from mexican director Juan Moctezuma. It's both a work of art and a luridly entertaining exploitation shocker. Moctezuma was a collaborator of Jodorowsky's and fans of that filmmaker's work will likely enjoy this. You can also sense the influence of Mario Bava and Jean Rollin on Alucarda, the former in the rich use of color and the latter in the stylized erotic images. The Mondo Macabro DVD looks fantastic and comes with some nice extras including a british doc about the director and an interview with filmmaker and Alucarda fan Guillermo Del Toro. Some might recognize bits of dialogue from this film, which have been sampled by the Electric Hellfire Club and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.

Since this film is most likely going to be noticed and picked up by those who are also into other foreign "horror"/skin flicks, I shall use Jean Rollin and Jess Franco as the comparison references.
Actually, there really IS no comparison. Alucarda is much more of a 'film' than anything those directors have put out, and really makes their cinematic incompetence stand out in sharp relief.
As a "skin" flick it's about on par with Franco's film roster or Rollin's vampire films: no "sex scene" per se, but fabulous full frontals (fairly lengthy) from a couple of beautiful actresses.
Story wise, it's much more coherent than theirs, as well. Even though it probably had about the same budget as an exploitation flick, it uses the money wisely and doesn't come off as being
cheaply made.
Overall, that is. The blood and effects are by current standards primitive, but quite effective nonetheless.
This is definitely not a vampire movie, but rather a film about your typical rebellious girl stuck in a convent who makes a pact with the devil and brings her innocent, wayward friend into it.
She then proceeds to "raise hell" so to speak within the convent. A witch hunt ensues within its walls, and the apocalyptic ending is very much in the vein of "Carrie".
It's only moderately heavy on skin and blood, so the storyline doesn't suffer as a result of flesh overkill. Alucarda's strongest point is the atmosphere which pervades it--an obscure, generic thing to say and hardly explanatory, I know, but you'll understand it when you see it.
I give it four stars based on the genre, comparing it to similar films. I'm not saying it's four stars on an "Oscar" level by any means. It's definitely worth a watch if you like foreign 70s vampire/horror films. Not scary, but great nudity and decent plot. Another plus is that it's in ENGLISH!!! No subtitles needed!

Juan Lopez Moctezuma's horror film Alucarda is mentioned with only moderate frequency as a horror classic, and even then only in the most dedicated circles of horror cinephiles. There are some films that explore the subject of demonic possession far more convincingly (i.e. the Exorcist) so only those horror fans who can appreciate how a film's style is engineered to unnerve its audience will find Alucarda enjoyable. Some less enthusiastic audiences will find Alucarda both gratuitous and even annoying. It's style and atmosphere is unique and clearly the focus of the film. It is like Dario Argento's Suspiria meets Alejandro Jodorowsky El Topo or the Holy Mountain. Jodorowsky was involved in the production of Alucarda so that influence is no surprise.

The film follows a young girl named Justine as she arrives at a convent after the death of her parents. She befriends the mysterious Alucarda who may very well be the spawn of the devil. Basically, what soon follows is a series of horrific events that resemble demonic possession, vampirism, devil worship, and witchcraft.

Alucarda is a very low-budget and modest production. Nevertheless, it is creepy throughout. The sound effects in this film are consistently eerie and sometimes create the horror all by itself. The soundtrack is done with a cheap and unique sounding synthesizer which serves to be both creepy and helps distinguish the style of the film even further. Visually the film is even more bizarre and exceptional. The convent itself looks like a cavern more than an actual building and it is budding with religious imagery that is framed in such a way that we wonder if this is a convent or a witch coven. The nuns in the convent do resemble nuns, but also do not look particularly dissimilar to undead Egyptian mummies either. The girls bump into a random traveling gypsy and also a creepy deformed shepherd who unravels the underlying lesbianism between the two girls and then of course leads them into a naked séance or esbat. There are also some vile moments when the undead emerge screaming, one gets brutally beheaded and another, a girl soaked in blood, violently claws a nun's throat. The film also has some outstanding sequences with fire. You actually have to wonder how some people survived stunts on this set when it was completely consumed in flames.

However, don't let most hardcore horror fans fool you; Alucarda is not a shocking exploitation film. At least it isn't quite as shocking as some people might lead you to believe. There is a lot full frontal female nudity but it's not nearly as much as I expected and it's never too graphic or directly sexual. One scene combines the nudity with violence and that can be shocking. The nude girl rises from a coffin filled with blood and she is covered from head to toe in it. The film is very violent as well but again it's not anything that pushes the limits and the violence doesn't come at you with as much consistency as you might imagine. Alucarda can also get somewhat annoying at times with all of the screaming from the girls. My wife hated the film for that. I've heard it regarded as the film with the most nudity, violence, and screaming ever...or something like that. As a combination of those three things it may very well exceed all other films but overall it does not push enough boundaries to be counted as a significant exploitation film. It is still a great pure horror movie that stands on its own.

Lets make no mistake, this is a B movie, but still one of my all time favorites. Thus i give it 5 stars where more critical viewers may give it less. I am judging it for how much it achieves with what it has at it's disposal. It is beautiful & evocative, & even where it doesn't always quite make sense or balance the equation it always leaves a sense of wonder.

Still, this movie succeeds where many Hollywood & othe high budget movies completely fail. It descriptively rather than emotionally portrays a community of very real religious faith forced to confront a menacing, absolute evil. Often they look silly, ridiculous, & stupid, but never insincere. In the end, faith & the supernatural transcend science & reason in answering the conflict of this story. Many people glorify the Satanic imagery of this movie which is abundant, and yes, devil & demonic possession are treated very real as in the Exorcist, but in a larger, grander scale. Yet the end note in this story retains a very stylistically consistent conclusion that spiritual methoda answers spiritual concerns, while science answers rational concerns. It is a bold approach very rarely attempted by large productions, but very effective & pure to form here in Alucarda.

Other elements including the lesbian sublimation, parts of the dialogue between Alucarda & the other female lead, & the scene of the blood filled coffin can all be traced back to Sheridan Le Fanu's 19th century vampire novel "Carmilla". There is the sense as in the 19th century vampire stories like "Carmilla", & "The Beautiful Dead", where our femme fatale is simultaneously empowered by her love for others and cursed to destroy all she loves to sustain and use that life-giving power. She can't stop existing of her own will, yet she can't stop killing in order to exist, so all she loves continues to die around her.

This movie has a lot to offer if you care to look, but it's probably not a comfortable choice for family viewing because of the graphic nudity and Satanic suject material. Also, personally, i would not want any child to see the blood filled coffin i referenced earlier. I think that it is one of the simplest yet creepiest scenes in horror history. Yet if your a fan of the early vampire literature it gives a very strong insight into the undead as viewed at that time, as well as a descriptive view of religious faith which exists beyond the bounds of scientific investigation or rational plausability. View it by yourself or with a trusted friend. I think you will like it, & even learn a lot from it.

I first discovered Jaun Lopez Moctezuma a few weeks ago. Every once in a while you run across a director like this in the dusty shelves of video stores and you are amazed that you never heard about them before. The film is, for the 70's time period, extremely bizarre and beautiful. Alucarda, for it's low budget views like a Gothic play. The dialog is extremely intense and rather fragrant between the two main characters,Justine and Alucarda. Two adolescent convent girls that meet the devil in the woods and are charmed into a pact for their undying love for eternity. Then when Justine is tortured and killed by the church as a witch, Alucarda wreaks revenge for her lost love with fire and blood.Wielding the power of Satan and out for revenge!
The sets, costumes and performances are all abstract and surrealistic beyond anything I've seen in my 30 years of cult film watching. The nuns wear these wrappings that seem dirty and bloody,almost like mummies. The church has wooden statues of christ melting into each other covering the ceiling with dirt floors. Justine rises from a crypt that is filled with blood like a bathtub, she's naked and dripping blood,while clawing and biting like a wild animal.
Alucarda summons fire and hurls it at the nuns burning the room and them alike, be-headings,sacrificial pacts....etc.

I could write for hours..you just gotta see this.

This film stands up in 70's world horror/exploitation cinema along with such names as Mario Bava,Alejandro Jodobrowski,Jean Rollin,Ken Russell...etc.

I highly suggest this film for any serious 70's horror buff. Euro or American.
If you like this one then try out "The Mansion of Madness" his other film in print on this Mondo Macabro label.
It's just as good.

Justine is thrust in to a depraved world of darkness when she meets the demonically possessed Alucarda, and together, the two set out to defile the church with their unsanctified evil. ALUCARDA serves as a biting critical response to the oppressive Catholic controls that were set on Mexican culture throughout the better half of the twentieth century. The film's arresting visuals, haunting score, and brilliant set pieces are quite unlike anything else in the genre, with each contributing to the surreal mysticism of the plot. Juan Lopez Moctezuma is unafraid to explore a rich and vivid color palette, contrasting hot and cool tones while using the screen as his own morbid canvas. The characters he introduces are equally colorful, depicting a variety of strange, offbeat personas that seem to have stepped out of the pages of some twisted fairy tale. Tina Romero's unnerving performance is wildly over the top, but her crazed shrieks and howls along with her deathly facial gestures will leave viewers believing that she truly is possessed. A culmination of Moctezuma's expressive style explodes on screen in the film's bloody finale, where Alucarda calls upon the powers of Satan to strike down the convent in a rain of fire. ALUCARDA is a compelling visual masterpiece that transforms the screen into a nightmarish vision of hell. It comes as no surprise that Moctezuma was a close colleague of the equally brilliant Alejandro Jodorowsky, director of SANTA SANGRE, let alone an inspiration to other talented Mexican filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro. This possession tale cannot be overlooked, and it still stands as one of the strongest Mexican exports in the genre.

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies

Demonic possession, south of the border. That pretty much sums Alucarda up. Seizing the same
level of unconscionable evil and overwhelming fear that The Exorcist generated, Mexican director Juan Lopez Moctezuma unleashes the gates of Hell upon defenseless viewers in this bloodcurdling cult classic. This film is wicked.

The movie starts off somewhat incoherent, kinda like a Fulci or Rollins film. If you prefer everything spelled out for you, like in most American horror flicks, I'd avoid this one. But for extreme horror fans, this is a must see.

It takes place in a Mexican convent/orphanage. Young Alucarda and Justine meet there, and become close friends. To make a long story short, they both become possessed by some demonic entity and terrorize the convent.

Besides the unsettling demonic themes, this film intertwines the extreme violence with a high level of female sexuality and shocking blasphemous imagery. No crucifix masturbation scenes, but some things close to the same shock level. It is not meant for the timid viewer.

The climax is jam-packed all sorts of nudity and horrific bedlam. Very well shot and orchestrated, it will leave a lasting impression. Truly disturbing.

Overall, Alucarda has been ignored by critics and audiences alike, but is an unheralded gem amongst cult B-movie horror fans.

1978
74 minutes
English

"Alucarda"-- is a demonically silly-ass film that harkens back to the 'Golden Age' of Mexican horror movies (1960's style).
Back in the 60's, Mexicans loved their vampires no matter when or where they came from and this film rips that philosophy off.

One thing I like about (south-of-the-border)surrealist-horror flix-- is that they take no prisioners. Scene after scene in "Alucarda" is drenched in violent absurdist art direction and goofy-creepy insane dialogue.
Thank you mondomacabrodvd.com for reissuing this lost classic...

Never scary but always compelling (director) Moctezuma (RIP), lets the story unfold like a cartoonish bad dream.
Much like "El Topo" (by Alejandro Jodorowsky, another South American filmakin' mavrick) "Alucarda"-- is all about atmosphere and an oppressive feeling of dread and destruction.
My Review: Creepy, dumb, captivating and in-yer-face, "Alucarda"-- remains a lost minor horror masterpiece.

Alucarda was obviously made to cash in on the success of the Exorcist. And on many levels, it succeeds. The film is about a young girl who lives in a convent, and takes a fellow young nymph into the woods, where they encounter some strange gypsies. These gypsies are, well, basically devil worshippers, and they seem to possess poor Alucarda, who wants nothing more than to have some fun in the woods, and escape the sin obsessed nuns of the convent, who seem to be wearing bloody bandages as habits. Well, from there the film gets very crazy, with lots of blood, screaming, and blasphemies, as Alucarda uses her new found power much the way Sissy Spacek did in Carrie. And from there, it's nuns vs. devil-chicks, and sheer lunacy. There is a disturbing scene towards the end with a crucufix, that worked well in the "anything goes" seventies, but would never work today. The film is erotic, disturbing, and just plain old fun, but certainly not for everybody. Very eerie, and atmospheric, and on a stormy October night I cant think of a better way to spend it than by watchin a film with as much guts as "Alucarda".