Customer Reviews

Dance With the Devil [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Being a huge Barry Gifford fan, having enjoyed De La Iglesia's Day of the Beast, and of the opinion that Wild at Heart was one of the best novel to film adaptations in the history of cinema, needless to say, my expectations for this movie were very high. I couldnt have imagined it being so satisfying.

De La Iglesia's adaptation of Perdita Durango takes its liberties but (like Wild At Heart) finds its inspiration in the original source material without destroying the spirit.

Romeo and Perdita carve thier way through the world with violence, magic, and sex. They are sadistic, perverse, and perfect for each other. From thier first fateful meeting, it is a dark destiny, a collision of two black souls. If the movie has any message, it is that even the most wicked person has a diabolic soulmate. Love does not discriminate.

The preformances are great. Javier Bardem as Romeo was totally unrecognizable as the same guy who played the stud in Jamon, Jamon. He plays Romeo as charming, self preserving, and almost noble killer because his beliefs are in darkness, sacrifice, revenge, and amoral spirituality. My fears of Rosie Perez, an actress I am not fond of in any way, were unfounded as she embodied Perdita perfectly with sadism and sizzle. James Gandolfini, as the Wile E Coyote like DEA agent Dumas, was also very good, perpetually abused and doggedly determined.

De La Iglesia handles with the film great skill. The pacing is fast and furious. Every scene is alive with energy, and his compostion is masterful. He has vastly improved from the flawed, yet entertaining, Day of the Beast, and demonstrates that his is a talent that continues to grow. Given the proper material and time, I can see him providing a enjoyable body of manic, surreal, and outrageous work.

This movie rocks. It seems it is being marketed as some direct to video cheapie. But wait... Violence , sex, drugs, car accidents, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and James Gandolfini. The script is great. The direction is sharp, superhip and intelligent. Alex de la Iglesia has been called the director of generation in Spain. His other two flims (Accion Mutante and The Day of the Beast) have been hits all over the world except in the U.S. He has won many awards at film festivals worldwide. The acting in the film is top notch. Pacing is relentless and some of the action sequences are breathtaking. So once again don't be fooled by bad american marketing. This film gives any Tarantino or Rodriguez flick a run for its money. The Europeans know how to make action and horror. Don't forget to check out The Day of the Beast, de la Iglesia is definitely a filmmaker on his way up.

This is a great work by Alex de la Iglesia, but sadly this edition ("unrated") has been butchered by A-pix. Many shots have been removed or replaced by video generated titles.

Also, one of the high and emotional moments of the ending has been completely removed.

If you can't get the original version, get this one. You will enjoy it because it is still a great movie. I give this edition only one star because I can't accept loosing that key moment at the end.

Upping the bizarro quotient from David Lynch's Wild at Heart, comes Alex De La Iglesia's Dance with the Devil (aka Perdita Durango -- i like that title much better), a wild ride of a film that features a pre-Before Night Falls Javier Bardem gleefully chewing up the scenery as Romeo, a witch doctor/mercenary enlisted to hijack a truckload of foetuses and bring it to Las Vegas. Casting against type is Rosie Perez as the title character, Perdita, who is as wild and crazy as Romeo. Along the way they kidnap a couple of white bread kids and stay ahead of the law, represented by a pre-Sopranos James Gandolfini in a hilarious turn as really unlucky lawman who keeps getting run over by speeding vehicles, and Repo Man director, Alex Cox as his dimwitted partner.

This is funny, violent, warped cult film oddity that features an awesome cast (also including Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and an equally impressive soundtrack (with not one but two rockin' tunes by Southern Culture on the Skids). Think of this as Natural Born Killers without all the political stuff or Wild at Heart on bad acid.

Certainly not a film for everyone but if you like your action movies fast 'n' furious with a good dose of weirdness on top, then check this bad boy out.

Dance with the Devil starring Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem are brilliant in their roles as Perdita and Romero. A crazy, psychotic couple who kidnap a teenage couple and rape them.
Perdita and Romero are equally insane and equally unpredictable. These two are capable of doing anything and nothing is off limits with these two.
Perdita is a very tough, street smart sexy woman, who you don't want to mess with. Perdita is just as tough as any man. Rosie Perez was absolutely brilliant as Perdita.
The movie is done in English and Spanish, but you won't need subtitles throughout the whole movie. The Spanish is just a couple sentences or conversations but not much. The movie is well worth the watch even if you can't speak Spanish.
The movie has some sex and rapes scenes and a few bloody gore scenes.
And of course swearing in English and Spanish.
A+ Movie. Well done and High Quality.

this movie-containing explicit sex scenes, and sick violence-is at times entertaining as well as quite hollow at some point. however this may be forgiven, due to the outstanding performances by Javier Bardem, who plays the main character Romeo Dolorosa, a satanworshipping, killing psychopath, and Rosie Perez, who is in the movie(as i would take it) his second half Perdita Durango, also pretty sickminded. Together they take it to the road to finally pick up a young couple. Their purpose is it, to sacrifice them to this weird gods or whatever Romeo believes in. But the ceremony is interrupted. Bad luck for Romeo and Perdita. With the couple in the back they start their way to Las Vegas, where Romeo has got some deals. But as those kind of roadmovies are, everything goes wrong. That's quite it with the story!!! however there are these few sequences in this movie that are just of sheer brilliance like these weird flashbacks, shortly-cut scenes that are being seen as Romeo or Perdita are telling stories of their past or so. Pretty sick though is the rough violence, shown in the movie!! But in this film it's simply a neccessity!! well, that's it so far!!! If you like Tarantino or Lynch, or you are even into splatter, go and watch it; if you've got the nerves, it's great fun!!
bye, bye martin

Don't blow 35 bucks on this because it says it's "unrated", here. They're ALL UNRATED, and you can find the same thing for just a few bucks elsewhere on this site!

Much better than for example Natural Born Killers, this is one of the best Movies of the 90's. Once you get into the Story you are taking for a weird out crazy trip with Romeo, Perdita and their two Hostages. The Acting of everyone involed is over the top. I highly recommend this if you love plenty of laughs, pointless violence and voodoo rituals.

Ya gotta love movies that successfully mix violence with laughter. Dance does that fairly well. One scene will make you so uncomfortable that you're compelled to turn it off. The next scene will make you giggle. The director moves you from one emotion to the other often with no purpose rather than just shock value, but it works well!

Aside from the theme that can (and has) been done many times, the acting made this movie. It was the acting that held me through the difficult parts. As a collector of cult-type movies this one will be added to my collection.

Watch without kids and with somebody you love. :)

When you are already down, there isn't much further to go. Two people who already have criminal tendencies start to excite each other with their crimes, their "macho". You throw in Voodoo and kidknapping, rape and white collar crimes of business. It is very exciting and strange from beginning to end. If immorality and vicious crimes are what you are looking for, this may be more than 3 stars. Rosie Perez is very believeable. ....