In terms of sexual explicitness for most of the
movie, it's like, oh, everyone's clothed and
it's it's it's watchable. Yeah, totally. They
might be on fire or, you know, like decapitated
or bathing in blood. But they're well, when she's
bathing in blood, she is actually fully nude.
Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie
Podcast. We're your hosts, Matt Levine and Vincent
Hannum. And we're talking about all our favorite
monster movies, the good, the bad, and the downright
campy, and asking if they stand the test of time.
Traditional kaiju, creature features, space invaders,
and the supernatural, and everything in between.
All strange beasts are welcome here. Camp Kaiju
is brought to you by Zack Linder and the Zack
Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty. Whether
you're looking for your dream home, a savvy investment
property, or expert guidance in home rehab and
flipping, the Zach Pack has you covered. Check
the link in the show notes for more information.
in his infinite wisdom, understands the wiles
of the devil. And so, he gives us the strength
to face them with noble thoughts and prayer.
In this way, Justine, Alucarda, I trust that
you have been listening. Yes, sister. Then you
can repeat what I have just read. Well, Alucarda,
stand up, child. And this is what the devil does.
He grants us virtues to expand his kingdom, the
only valid one. God, with his lack of knowledge,
does not understand this truth and opposes it
with false thoughts and prayers. God, silence!
Satan, Satan, Satan, our Lord and Master. I acknowledge...
Don't listen to them! Don't listen to them! Our
Lord and Master. Vincent, good to see you. How
are you doing tonight? I'm well, Matt. How are
you? I'm doing well. Thank you. Tonight, I'm
very excited. Here on the podcast on Camp Kaju,
we're going to talk about a classic of Mexican
horror cinema called Alucarda from 1977. Indeed,
this movie is in the demonic possession genre,
which we have not really talked about on this
show. You know, thinking about your exorcists,
I don't know. It's honestly not a genre I'm well
educated in. I've seen The Exorcist and maybe
that is a disservice to other films of its ilk
because I've started with the best. Not to foreshadow
my conclusions about Alucarda, but it is a genre
that I'm coming into it a bit of a newbie. Yeah,
I... For whatever reason, I usually am kind of
like affected by movies about the devil or like
Satan. I don't know why that is exactly because
I'm not especially religious. I was not raised
religious by my parents. But like the concept
of Satan and like being possessed and like where
evil comes from, if it's from the sort of like
outside force or whatever. I do like that theme.
But you're right that we haven't really talked
about it a lot on Camp Kaiju. It's, you know,
we were just talking about this. Is Satan a monster?
Is this a monster movie? It's kind of right on
the edge, but it's sort of in our strange beast
umbrella. So it counts. Everything in between.
And I'll echo you, Matt. I would consider myself
more religious, just for what it's worth. But
regardless, I am also... If there's one monster
movie genre that actually gets under my skin,
it is usually Satanic. possession devil movies
so you know i'm out of my comfort zone here and
i think that's a good thing yeah i i feel like
i am too i'm also not really very familiar with
mexican cinema in general sorry to say that it's
kind of a blind spot for me and i'm hoping to
rectify that but yeah so you know i'm kind of
like coming into this as kind of a newbie as
well but that's a good thing Yeah, yeah. I've
been watching the Friday the 13th movies. I know.
Yeah, you've been keeping up on my Letterboxd
reviews. I figured I should like do that series
like, you know, do it some diligence, some due
diligence or whatever, because I've never seen
all of them. So I'm four movies in. Generally,
I don't like them very much. Nightmare on Elm
Street is definitely my slasher franchise that
I love. Halloween is okay. Friday the 13th has
its like, you know. campy thrills that are kind
of fun every once in a while but i'm hoping they
get better and more ridiculous as they go on
so you've seen one through four yes okay four
is generally regarded as the best of the franchise
huh the low bar but yeah i know i've read that
too and it does seem like a low bar i like the
makeup and gore effects are really great and
the ending is very strong in the fourth one yeah
some of the stuff leading up to that You know,
I mean, just like the characters are so redundant.
It's like the same horny teenagers over and over
again. I know that's where you go with the slasher
movie. I know that. But like, I don't know. I'm
just surprised how boring they are. Like half
of those movies are like people stumbling around
in dark rooms, you know? But like I said, there's
some good stuff about them. I thought number
three was pretty fun. Like all the sort of like
3D effects, even if you're not watching them
in 3D. That was pretty entertaining. And he gets
his mask in three. What I what what kept me going
because I agree 100 percent with everything you've
just said. And so I was like, what keeps me going
when I watched number one? It's a sense of continuity.
Like Jason does have a through line from the
first film through the eighth or ninth film through
the eighth film. That's all one story arc for
Jason Voorhees. And it's. I love stuff like that,
even if it's as bad as bad as the series is.
It keeps it keeps you on a cliffhanger. I love
that. Yeah, I do. I agree with that. It's cool
to see Jason's first appearance in the second
movie. And then, like you said, the hockey mask
in the third one. So I don't know. I'm going
to keep going. I hope like the more ridiculous
they get when he's like in Manhattan and in outer
space, I might start liking them more the campier
they get. So we'll see what happens. I won't
spoil it, but there is one film in the series
where the tone decidedly shifts to camp. And
at that point, you're off to the races. Cool.
Okay. I can't wait. I'm going to keep on going
with them. Yeah. All right. Keep you posted.
Yeah, for sure. Happy Friday the 13th, everybody,
this past February. And we have another one coming
up in March. Oh, cool. And I think this episode,
I think it's coming out on the 14th. So one day
after that. Yeah. All right. If we stick with
that schedule. What about you? Have you seen
any good monster movies recently? Yes, I've been
doing some blaxploitation exploration. One film
called Abby, which is about a woman being possessed
by the devil. So I'll bring that one up later
in our chat here. But I also watched a movie
called Sugar Hill from 1974. It's a mob revenge
story with zombies, voodoo. It's every exploitative.
genre thrown into it. But, you know, it's fun
for what it's worth. I've always wanted to see
Sugar Hill. I've never gotten around to it. I
think it had a theatrical screening around here
recently. I can't remember where exactly. Yeah,
the Imagine Theater, I think. Nice. I did want
to shout out a couple movies that are showing
in late March here in Minneapolis for any of
our listeners that are in Minneapolis. And this
is kind of a conflict of interest, I'll admit,
because I'm a volunteer at the Trilon Cinema.
But... The weekend of March 13th through 15th,
Alien, maybe the best monster movie of all time,
is playing in 35mm at the Trilon. If you're in
Minneapolis, check that out. And then later in
March, They Live, the John Carpenter classic,
is playing as well. So it's a good month for
monster movies. All right. Thank you again for
hanging out with us, friends. Please rate and
review Camp Kaiju. Follow us on Patreon .com
slash Camp Kaiju for additional videos, reviews,
merchandise, and more. Other ways you can get
in touch are via email, campkaijuatgmail .com,
at our website, which is campkaijupodcast .com,
on Instagram, or our voicemail number, which
is 612 -470 -2612. As always, we want to shout
out our current Patreon members. Thank you so
much to Jason, Chris, Sean, Peggy, Don, Steffi,
Jim Chaney and our anonymous patron. We really
appreciate you. What a list. Yeah, it's growing.
It's so good to see. Yeah. We'll get to Minya's
mailbox, but we're loving all the comments and
the conversation that's happening around a lot
of these movies and your interests. And it's
been really great interacting with you all. Absolutely.
Yeah, it's a pleasure. And if you've seen Alucarda,
let us know what you think. It definitely makes
an impression. If you haven't seen it and you
are a little bit adventurous in your movie going,
please check it out. Let us know what you think.
I love that. Be adventurous. Yeah, it's I mean,
nothing better than like just a one of a kind
movie, you know, pushing your comfort zone a
little bit. Yeah. Let's talk about a couple.
standout horror movies or monster movies from
movie history in mid -March. It turns out this
is kind of a good time of the year for horror
movies. There are a lot of good movies on this
list that have come out throughout history right
around this time in mid -March. Any of those
movies jump out at you, Vincent? Forbidden Planet
from 1956. It is one of the... It is a landmark
science fiction film. Of the 50s that influenced,
for example, George Lucas when he was creating
a Star Wars universe. I mean, this is a Technicolor
movie ensemble based on Shakespeare's The Tempest.
So it's smart, but visually stylish, as you would
say, Matt. And it's a classic. Haven't talked
about it yet on this podcast. I do have some
quibbles with it, but. One day it may come up
in the podcast. We could dive into it then, but
I'll just leave it there. Forbidden Planet. Check
it out if you haven't. I love that movie. I agree
with you there. Yeah, so stylish, like you said,
Vincent. There's a lot to that movie. I love
campy, fun sci -fi movies, but it's more than
just that in this case. That's a good choice.
Love that one. There are a couple Brian De Palma
movies on this list, which are not actually totally
monster movies. The one that I'm going to shout
out is The Fury from 1978. That's a relatively
early Brian De Palma movie, maybe about a decade
into his career. He made that shortly after Carrie.
The Fury kind of has some similar themes. It's
like telekinesis and like secret government programs,
which is not like Carrie, but a new kind of wrinkle
to the story. And it's just so... not to use
the phrase that you just said, Vincent, but so
visually stylish. It's like the most stylish
movie ever made. And one of the late scenes in
the movie features a very well -known actor getting
blown up and his head flying at the camera, at
the audience. I don't want to give away too much,
but check out The Fury if you haven't before.
I love Brian De Palma, and that's one of his
most ridiculously extravagant movies. It's so
fun. I'm a sucker for two things in my... In
my horror movies or movies in general. One is
when somebody loses a head. And two, when somebody
is on fire. Yeah. So the fury you had me at the
flying head and people on fire happens in Alucarda.
Yeah. And somebody loses a head too. Oh, you're
right. Yeah. it's like a corpse that maybe is
alive or like an undead corpse. Maybe it's hard
to know exactly what's going on, but somebody
loses a head for sure. Oh, what's wrong with
me? But you're right. I, yeah. I mean, there's
so much in Alucarda, like a violent horror trope.
There's like a 75 % chance it's in this movie,
you know, it might be, it might be a little high,
but there's, there's so much to it. I love it.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. There are some good
movies coming up or recently released that are
sort of monster movie adjacent. I don't really
know what to think about The Bride, which stars
Christian Bale and Jesse Buckley. I love both
of them. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. It looks
like kind of a cool sort of like crime movie
update of Bride of Frankenstein. So I don't know
what to expect, but really excited for that one.
The blending of genres intrigues me. Classic
sci -fi Frankenstein with a 1920s gangster. I
mean, that... That should be a winning combination.
I don't know why I'm so skeptical, but I'm here
for it. I will support any monster movie. Yeah.
What are these other ones? Undertone and Alpha.
I am unaware. Unfamiliar. Undertone, I don't
think that's so much a monster movie, but it's
kind of like a spooky, it's a horror movie about,
I think it's a podcast recorder. So, you know,
close to our line of work. And it's like some
kind of ghostly presence. comes out of like some
kind of recording and torments this podcast host.
I don't really know a lot about it. It might
be a Blumhouse production, whatever that tells
you, but it looks kind of cool. The trailer is
pretty good. All right. The one that I'm probably
more excited about coming out in late March is
called Alpha. It's directed by the French director,
Julia Ducournau. I really like her movies a lot.
She made Raw and then Titan a little bit more
recently. Speaking of like extreme movies, which
we'll be talking about with Alucarda tonight,
Duke Corno's movies are very extreme, like very
intense, graphically violent. Raw is kind of
about cannibalism. Tatan is indescribable and
is like very, very, yeah, I can't describe it.
It's indescribable. But I love her movies and
Alpha sounds like very divisive, but I'm really
looking forward to that one. Words we've mentioned
in this podcast already, or like about decapitation.
Cannibalism. Undescribable. Which is very, you
know, leaves that to your imagination. It's going
to be a good one. Good one tonight. Exactly.
Yeah. This is like, this ends a PG episode. You
know, it's PG -13. Parents strongly caution.
Yeah. And I'll just mention the Sam Raimi movie
called Send Help that came out last month. Came
out of nowhere for me. It wasn't on my radar,
but it's gotten really great reviews. Strong
box office. Word of mouth. And it's Sam Raimi.
It looks like he's at the top of his game. It's
like a survival horror movie. I don't know if
there's a monster in it, but it looks very bloody.
And it stars Rachel McAdams. And it looks cool.
I want to see it. Yeah, I did see it. I liked
it quite a bit. Yeah, there's not really a monster,
but it's one of those movies where it's like
the monster is man. You know what I mean? To
be a little bit corny and on the nose about it.
But it's a very fun movie. It is very bloody.
I always love Sam Raimi most of the time. So
yeah, highly recommend it. Yes. Let's not talk
about Drag Me to Hell, but let's just say Drag
Me to Hell is a movie I've only seen once. And
it still remains one of my favorite horror movies.
It's so fun. Yeah, and one of my favorite endings
ever in that movie. Don't tell me. I can't even
remember. I saw it in the theater, and that movie's
just always stuck with me. Yeah, it's great,
and you should rewatch it, and then tell me what
you think of the ending, because it's so good.
Yeah, definitely. Coming up on Camp Kaiju, we
got some good stuff. Do you want to talk about
your next pick, Vincent? Yes, Troll Hunter from
Norway, circa 2013. It's a Norwegian kaiju movie.
These trolls are kaiju -sized, and it's set in
the modern day. It's about a team of troll hunters,
a scientist research team, and they're tracking
trolls throughout the Norwegian countryside of
the mountains. Obviously, chaos and terror ensues,
but it's just like a great reimagining of classic
troll lore. And it's a Norwegian film, so get
ready to read some subtitles, but it's a really
fun time. Another movie I've only seen once,
but it's always stuck with me. Awesome. I've
never seen that. I've always wanted to. Thank
you for giving me the excuse to do so. I'm looking
forward to that movie. And then the episode after
that, my next choice will be At Midnight, I'll
Take Your Soul, which is a Brazilian movie from
the late 60s. I did see it once back in college.
I don't really remember it very well. I do remember
that it was the introduction of a character named
Coffin Joe, who would be kind of a recurring
character in Brazilian horror movies for a long
time after that. So it's kind of vampire based,
kind of like, you know, undead zombie -ish a
little bit. That'll be a fun, fun episode. And
Frank Olson will be joining us for that one.
So all you Frankaholics have that to look forward
to. Heck yeah. And I just want to point out.
Maybe they're our Olympic theme. We did not plan,
but our international picks are on the money
here. We started the season with a Japanese film,
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. The Abominable Snowman
was a British film. Blackula, American. Alucarda,
Mexican. Then a Norwegian, and then a Portuguese
film. Yeah. It's like a Brazilian film, yeah.
Brazilian film. But Portuguese language, yeah.
So we're touring the world. I love it. That's
so cool. Weirdly enough, Alucarda is in English
and they shot it in English. So even though it
was filmed in Mexico, it's an English language
movie. Really? It sounded and seemed like the
actors were dubbed. You know, I think the actors
were post -dubbed, but were also speaking English
while they shot the movie because it has an international
cast and all the actors spoke English. And there
are some possible reasons for that, which we'll
get into a little bit later in the episode. But
yeah, they intended it to be English language
the entire time. Okay. Yeah. Just one of many
ways this is a very strange movie. Yeah. On that
note, what is your personal history with Alucarda?
None. I feel like I say that all the time now,
which is a great thing. You mentioned it. I thought
it was a vampire film. I was wrong about that.
I rented it on Amazon Prime. And at first I was
confused because the title that comes up on Prime
is Sisters of Satan. Yeah. So I had to, which
is, I guess, the US title, release title. Yeah,
so it didn't really get a theatrical release
in the United States, but then it did kind of
gain a cult following on VHS when it came out
in the 80s. And it actually went by several different
titles in the United States on videotape. Sisters
of Satan was one of them. We'll go into some
of the other titles a little bit later on. So
I think it was an example of like various companies
had the distribution rights, so they could just
like title it whatever they wanted, basically.
I will say, like... Just from like a marketing
standpoint, Sisters of Satan would probably sell
better than Alucarda. It's like, what is that?
You don't really know what that is. But Sisters
of Satan, now you have my attention. Yeah, it's
a pretty good title. I'll just say right now
that the other titles that this movie was known
by on VHS in the United States were Mark of the
Devil 3, also not a bad title, and Innocence
from Hell. Which is a great exploitation title
as well. So, arguably, those three titles might
be a little catchier than Alucarda, you know?
Arguably. All right. Well, what was the one with
the three in it? What was that? Mark of the Devil
3. As in the third movie in a series? Oh, well,
that's a good point. I thought maybe, like, does
it mean, like, Justine, Alucarda, and Satan?
Like a triumvirate? That was my guess. I don't
know. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of the Devil 3.
Exactly, yeah. But who knows? Yeah, I'm not really
sure. I kind of like it, though. I like that
name. Yeah. I like Alucarda, too. I think I liked
it better when I thought it was Dracula spelled
backwards. Same. Yeah, I mean, I'll share my
personal history with the film. I also didn't
really know anything about this. I knew I wanted
to bring a Mexican movie to the podcast because
we've talked about... Guillermo del Toro a little
bit, but I don't think we talked about Kronos,
which I think is his only Mexican movie. The
Devil's Backbone is a Spanish movie. So, you
know, we haven't really talked about very many
Mexican movies. We talked about, sorry, the one
about the sex alien octopus creature. Yeah, you're
right. Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot that.
The Untamed, which is a movie I like quite a
bit. That's pretty extreme too. That was like
five years ago we talked about that. Yeah, man.
Four or five years ago. Back to the beginning.
Yeah, pretty much. Beginning of our time together
anyway. But no, good point. That might be the
only other Mexican movie we've talked about.
But then I did some research. Alucarda is on
a lot of lists of the best Mexican horror movies
of all time. I did read up a little bit about
it, but I still kind of was under the assumption
that it was a vampire movie with the title Alucarda.
But that is barely correct, if correct at all,
as we'll talk about. Yeah, so we both kind of
went into a blind a little bit. Were we pleasantly
surprised, unpleasantly surprised? We'll find
out later in this episode. Somewhere between
science and superstition, there is another world.
The world of darkness. Nobody expected it. Nobody
believed it. And nothing could stop it. There
are no experts. You probably know as much about
possession as most priests. Look, your daughter
doesn't say she's a demon. She says she's the
devil himself. I'm telling you that that thing
upstairs isn't my daughter. And I want you to...
Tell me that you know for a fact that there's
nothing wrong with my daughter except in her
mind. You tell me you know for a fact that an
exorcism wouldn't do any good. You tell me that!
The one hope. The only hope. The Exorcist. This
was Abby. This was Abby. A woman loved and in
love. Until that night. When something evil came
looking for a soul to possess. I can't stop thinking
about your husband. That creep. Forget him. Was
this Abby? Now the fun starts. Grab her. Hold
her. Hear me, demon. Leave this woman body. Abby,
rate it R. I was at the hospital, Mr. Thorne,
the night your son was born. I saw its mother.
I saw its mother. Fears, I've said. Fears. What
kind of fears? It's mother, Mr. Thorne. It's
all my work. It's mother. What is it you're trying
to say? His mother was a... This is not a human
child. Make no mistake. There are those who will
die for him. There are those who will kill for
him. Who is he? What does he want? Where did
he come from? And can he be stopped? Gregory
Peck. Lee Remick. The Omen. If this is the truth,
where does it end? So I'm going to talk about
the director of the film a little bit. His name
is Juan Lopez Moctezuma, Mexican director. He
only made five features throughout his career.
Several of them were in the kind of horror supernatural
genre. Earlier in the 1970s, he made movies called
The Mansion of Madness from 1973 and Mary, Mary,
Bloody Mary from 1975. So both of those, as the
title suggests, were horror movies. He was the
son of a judge. His family wanted and expected
him to go into law. Lopez Moctezuma had other
plans. He loved the arts. He was a jazz scholar.
He actually hosted a radio show in Mexico City
about jazz for a long time and kind of gained
some fame through that show. He loved film. He
loved theater. He started off in theater before
he got into film. His stage productions led him
to work with Alejandro Jodorowsky, who I was
talking about before. Jodorowsky was the Chilean
director who would soon make a splash in Mexican
cinema with movies like Fondo and Lice, El Topo,
and The Holy Mountain. Lopez Moctezuma co -produced
Fondo and Lice, so their partnership started
pretty early on. I kind of talked about this
a little bit before, but these are crazy movies.
surreal, like drug trips, very violent in some
ways. If you haven't checked them out, I recommend
it, but prepare yourself going into it. It was
one of the Beatles who really loved, I think
it was the Holy Mountain. I'm pretty sure it
was John Lennon who would just watch it over
and over and over again. So those were famous
drug trip movies back in their day. And maybe
there are some similarities with Alucarda in
that way. So yeah, Juan Lopez Moctezuma, interesting
guy. He was never a very commercial director.
Like I said, he only made five features. He worked
on the fringes of the Mexican film industry,
and he has one quote where he said, I am fairly
inflexible. In the artistic field, I think I
am fairly tough because I have principles I cannot
betray. I like that quote, and I think it applies
to this movie. Yeah, I mean, you have to admire
a creator who sticks to their guns. I think William
Crane with Blackula. It comes to mind as well.
He has a vision. He's going to fight to see that
vision realized. Del Toro is kind of like that
too, obviously with way more commercial success.
Right. And I do think it's impressive when directors
can straddle both worlds, when they can make
work that is very entertaining and very kind
of audience -friendly but still complex. powerful
in in different ways so so there's a lot to be
said for that but also i appreciate the directors
who are just like do not care about like making
a lot of money at the box office and do their
own thing i always kind of love that yeah tina
romero leads our cast here she plays alucarda
slash lucy westenra tina romero was a is a new
york city native who moved to mexico city with
her family when she was just a kid She made her
film debut in 1976 at age 27 in Lo Mejor de Teresa,
the same year she appeared in two movies by noted
Mexican director Felipe Cazales, who represented
a more outspoken and critical national cinema,
Canoa. In 1977, Tina Romero appeared in Alucarda
and the telenovela Santa, later appeared in many
telenovelas, Mexican films, and some Hollywood
productions, including Missing in 1982. I've
seen that. That's with Jack Lemmon. Yeah, it
is indeed. I have not seen that. I have seen
Kanoa, which is the Felipe Cazals movie that
I just put in parentheses there. It's great.
Highly recommend that movie. 1979, I think that's
from. Really, really good. All right. Nice. Susanna
Kamini joins Tina Romero as the Sisters of Satan,
and Susanna Kamini plays Justine. You know, Alucarda,
I just want to describe the characters a little
bit. Alucarda is a young woman. She was given
up to this convent, this nunnery, by her mother
in a prologue. And the mother was clearly possessed
by Satan or some demon. So Alucarda from the
get -go is already kind of marked by the devil.
And as she grows up now, she's like a young woman.
I think I was reading her as a teenager. Obviously,
her age as the actress is older, but this young
woman, nonetheless, is embattled with this demonic
possession of her body. And she befriends Justine,
who's like a good girl in the beginning, who
ultimately becomes corrupted by the forces of
evil as portrayed through Alucarda. The actress
who plays Justine, Susanna Comini, she didn't
have a huge acting career aside from appearing
in four Lopez Moctezuma films, and she mostly
retired by the late 1980s. Overseeing this convent,
this church, is Father Lozaro, and he's played
by David Silva. David Silva was an actor -producer
in the golden age of Mexican cinema, roughly
1936 to 1956. David Silva appeared in more than
100 films. He also appeared in two Jodorowsky
movies, El Topo and The Holy Mountain. And rounding
out our main cast here is Claudio Brooke, plays
Dr. Oscheck. And the hunchbacked, lives with
a caravan type of people. He wears spangles and
colorful clothing. Has a ridiculous accent. Yeah.
Anyways, Claudio Brooke often collaborated with
Luis Brunel. And their films included The Young
One, 1960, Viridiana, 1961, The Exterminating
Angel, 1962, Simon of the Desert in 65 and The
Milky Way from 1969. Claudio Brooke was one of
the one of his last final one of his final roles
was the villainous Dieter de la Guardia in Guillermo
del Toro's Kronos. Very cool connection. I got
to rewatch that movie. Kronos is great. That
might still be my favorite del Toro movie. And
that is a very cool connection. I love that Claudio
Brooke, you know, Mexican actor who worked with
Bunuel. Maybe Bunuel was Spanish, but like made
some of the best Mexican films of all time. Now
he's appearing in this del Toro film. I love
that connection. It's so cool. It must not be
a coincidence knowing now del Toro's connection
to this movie because this character, this, this
almost goat like caricature, this. You know,
this this gypsy character has the long goatee.
He's he's got his ears are maybe even made up.
He looks very goat like, which is satanic in
imagery. But it also reminded me very much of
Pan's Labyrinth, the kind of imagery and like
the folk tale aspect. And now this this satyr
character is coming out of the woods to. communicate
with a young woman. I was like, this is Pan's
Labyrinth in this moment. Yeah. Knowing del Toro,
it's probably not a coincidence. No, del Toro
loves this movie. He's talked about his love
for Alucarda. He said it's one of his favorite
Mexican movies of all time. So. There you go.
Definitely not a coincidence. And I, you're right.
Like that character, the hunchback character
is very goat -like and I love the connection
to Pan's Labyrinth. I think that's spot on. I
also love how this actor, Claudio Brooke, plays
two characters, both that hunchback and the sort
of like the doctor who is the symbol of reason
and logic and modernity. And it's kind of like
flip sides of the same, you know, like it's kind
of like the contrast that the film is trying
to present between like age old superstition.
And this like new because this movie is set in
the late 19th century, this new kind of like
science and reason and logic. And in this movie,
science kind of loses out. It's like the forces
of evil that we can't comprehend that that sort
of win at the end of the day, to some extent.
I gotta be honest, I didn't pick up on that,
that double casting, actually. So that's a great
way to drive home that theme that you just talked
about. Yeah, and I didn't pick up on that either
until I read the cast list and like learned more
about the production of the movie. So I love
that duality. And yeah, cool. Maybe it's hard
to say that anything in this movie is subtle,
but like that is kind of like a subtle way to
present that contrast, you know? So I will say
this actor, he is a terrific character actor.
He really disappears into his character so much
so that again, I didn't realize he was also the
doctor. Pretty impressive. Yeah. All right, so
let's talk about the making of Alucarda a little
bit. It is based on a classic Gothic novella
that we've talked about on the podcast before
called Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu from
1872. Very influential in vampire literature.
It's from 1872, so it predates Dracula by 25
years. Carmilla is the story of a young woman
pursued by the vampire Carmilla, and it kind
of popularized the lesbian vampire trope, which
we talked about with Dracula's daughter. So yeah,
Carmilla, definitely an influential work in horror
literature, and we see it in this movie for sure.
So production on Alucarda began in August 1975.
Lopez Moctezuma put together the funding himself.
It's kind of hard to find more information about
where that funding came from. Like I mentioned
before, it was an English -language production,
even though it was shot in Mexico. Horror was
not popular in Mexico at the time, so the English
-language soundtrack, or dialogue I should say,
was in part an attempt to gain an international
audience. Lopez Moctezuma... kind of predicted
that it might do better overseas than in Mexico,
which turned out to be exactly the case. Historian
David Wilt has raised another possible explanation
for the fact that the film was shot in English.
He believes that U .S. production companies funded
Alucarda so they could receive a tax break for
supporting productions in Mexico, which actually
a lot of production companies did in the United
States in the late 1970s. But those production
companies, Wilt believes, then stipulated that
the film be in English. So it's probably for
those two reasons that the film is in English,
even though it was shot in Mexico. It is really
fascinating to me. the long arm of hollywood
and and getting its fingers into the production
of certainly in japan we've talked about aip
getting involved funding these movies and here
in mexico yes we'll make your mexican film but
you have to have it in english you have to do
it this way and that way yeah i just find that
that kind of hegemony how do you say that word
hegemony yeah hegemony American hegemony. Right.
You can't get away from it. Yeah, you're totally
right. And even like The Abominable Snowman,
that was a hammer horror film. But like, you
know, I was co -produced by American companies,
featured several American actors who shaped the
finished product of that film. So Abominable
Snowman, too. We see the, you know, global influence
of Hollywood in that movie as well. Yeah. Just,
you know, I guess an unfortunate fact, you know.
That's what, you know, I mean, like Hollywood
really kind of like rose to prominence, I think.
Like it really entrenched its like power over
the entire world during World War Two, because
like European companies were busy fighting the
war. And at least until America entered the war,
they really dominated the box office, like in
like throughout the world, countries throughout
the world, you know. So even like, I don't know,
from that point on, after World War Two was really
Hollywood, that kind of like. dictated international
filmmaking and to some extent that's probably
still the case but you know hopefully that's
becoming less true over time i don't know if
it is though yeah i mean there's pros and cons
to everything i'm thinking about just real quick
real quick we're talking about vampires and and
if not mexican at least spanish language cinema
in 19 so universal studios at least had a had
a practice in the late 20s early 30s of simultaneously
filming English language and Spanish language
versions of whatever movie was in production.
Case in point, Dracula with Bela Lugosi, English
language film. At night, after Dracula's cast
left, a Spanish -speaking cast came in, used
the sets with a whole new director, and shot
a Spanish language version. And that movie is
kind of a cult classic in and of itself. If you
get a chance to watch it, it's very interesting.
But that was a common practice at the time. And
Hollywood's proximity to Mexico, there was some
sort of a beneficial relationship for both parties,
I think. Definitely, yeah. And it's maybe kind
of unfortunate that that... was a short lived
practice, like shooting the same movie simultaneously
in more than one language like that, you know,
was a product of the early 1930s, like kind of
the early sound era in general. And I think,
again, I think World War II kind of changed that
a little bit. And then English language movies
did kind of dominate throughout the world. But
I mean, this is why it's so cool that we unintentionally
or not are doing this like global tour of monster
movies because, you know, it's just more interesting
to like see everything the world has to offer,
obviously. Hear, hear. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Alucarda,
the production was intended to be avant -garde
and non -commercial. Lopez Moctezuma, you know,
intended that from the start. However, it did
have a very experienced crew that had worked
in the commercial Mexican film industry for a
long time. One example is the cinematographer
Javier Cruz, who had shot, or has shot, over
160 films. Again, I did not recognize the majority
of those titles, and that is a blind spot on
my part. I would love to explore Mexican cinema
a little bit more, but the crew members on this
production, you know, they were accomplished.
They had worked on many, many movies, and even
though the style of this movie is kind of in
-your -face and bizarre and surreal and dreamlike,
it is very accomplished, I think, in the production
quality, you know? The photography of this movie
absolutely stood out to me. Because, and I'll
talk about it later, but this movie is visually
enveloping. There's a sense to it. The cinematography
supports the storytelling. And I'm trying to
do better at looking out for that. Because it's
not just, oh, some effective lighting here and
there. No, there's intentionality that supports
the overall story being told. That's really eye
-catching in this movie. Absolutely. I'm glad
you said that. I'm sure we'll probably both have
some specific examples later, but the set design
in this movie I think is really beautiful too.
It's very unrealistic. It looks very theatrical,
but obviously that's the intention. Yeah. One
last quick note here about the movie. Lopez Moctezuma
initially planned on a sequel to be called Alucarda
Rises from the Tomb, but sadly it was never made.
You know, Juanita. No, sorry. Justine rises from
the tomb and then she gets her head chopped off.
Spoiler alert. I think it might be one of the
sisters, one of the nuns in the convent who gets
her head chopped off because she's the one who's
burned alive, I think. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're
right. But I think Justine. If I remember right,
she kind of, like, she bites the other nun in
the throat, and then she gets holy water poured
on her, and then she kind of just, like, disintegrates
into nothing. Yeah, that was definitely Justine.
Yeah. Yep. Poor Justine. Man, I fell for her.
She gets it rough in this movie. Let's be honest.
Yeah. Yep. And the, it's not exactly the Catholic
church, but I think like for all intents and
purposes, it's meant to be the Catholic church
is largely to blame for that. As we'll also talk
about. Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm just comparing her
to Alucarda. Alucarda never gets abused the way
Justine gets abused in this movie. Yeah. Very
true. That's kind of hard to watch sometimes.
Just like the brutality against this. Justine.
Yeah, it's tough. Yeah. An innocent woman who
is, you know, the brunt of the movie's violence.
It is hard to watch. Yeah. All right. Well, the
legacy of this film, first and foremost, it premiered
in 1977 at the Paris Fantastique Film Festival.
Reviews were negative and the box office was
poor in Mexico, where it played on theaters for
only two weeks in a censored version, no less.
why would you even watch this movie? Right. It
must have been like 40 minutes long, you know?
I know. Because it's not long to begin with.
Right. But, but critic Leonardo Garcia Chow,
Zhao, Zhao, I think, Leonardo Garcia Zhao claimed,
it's quote, one of the 10 worst films I've ever
seen in my life. It's horrible. Very emphatic.
I love that. More positively received, however,
in other countries. It was released theatrically
in France, but not in the US, as we mentioned.
It later received a cult following after it was
released on VHS in the US under those great titles,
Sisters of Satan, Mark of the Devil 3, and Innocence
from Hell. Retrospective reviews, however, are
much more glowing, with some critics considering
this among the best Mexican horror films of all
time. We're going to say the man's name again.
Guillermo del Toro has lauded this movie and
Lopez Moctezuma in general. This is one of those
movies that the average filmgoer, film lover,
movie lover just has not seen. And I'm just speaking,
you know, I, before this podcast, I was very
much like mid -tier movie lover. And now because
of this podcast, I like to think I'm a little
more, I don't want to sound pretentious, but.
I've seen some real diamonds in the rough that
would not have come my way unless I went looking
for them. That makes sense. Like this, Alucard
is not going to cross your plate. If you're,
if you're just browsing through Netflix, you
have to go find this movie. And, and I think
you should. So there you go. There's my little
speech. I love it. That's the moral takeaway
from this episode. There might be other moral
lessons that we'll be talking about soon. But
the main lesson, watch foreign movies. You know,
push yourself a little bit. Be adventurous. Do
what you did. Google best Mexican horror films.
Choose an old one and see what happens. Exactly.
Yeah. I mean, like, you know, read up on the
history a little bit. Like, I didn't really know
a lot about Mexican cinema in the 70s. So it's
just cool to... To learn about it and just like,
again, discover a new experience. You know, that's
what movies are all about. You know what we could
do? We could pick a random country. Let's say
India. And let's pick a decade. 19, you pick
a decade. 1980s. Great. Let's look up after this
horror movies, best horror movies of 1980s Indian
cinema. Man, let's do it. That sounds great.
Especially because I'm sure we'll find some Bollywood
movies. And Bollywood, sadly, is another kind
of cinema that I just don't know very well. And
I've been meaning to fix that for a long time.
Yeah. So we'll see what's out there. Listeners,
this could be a fun game. You hit us with a country,
a decade, and we'll see what happens. I love
this game. This is fun. Man, this might be our
next season's lineup. Who knows? Movies you've
never heard of. Yeah. But maybe you should. Our
next podcast, yeah. All right, it is time for
our sponsor break. Camp Kaiju is brought to you
by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by
Coldwell Banker Realty. Whether you're looking
for your dream home, a savvy investment property,
or expert guidance in home rehab and flipping,
the Zach Pack has you covered. Check the link
in the show notes for more information. Vincent,
what do we have in Minya's mailbox today? Oh,
so much. You know what? We don't get enough mail
these days in our fast -paced cyber world. But
here we go reading some mail. And we have one
is an email from our anonymous patron. Fantastic
stuff. He goes into the Abominable Snowman's.
Versions of release between the U .S. and the
U .K. and cut footage and this and that. Love
that information, but I want to keep it short
and sweet here and just shout out that, Matt,
we were wrong in how we pronounced the screenwriter's
name, Nigel Neal. So I'll read Anonymous Patron's
email to us. He says, was going to ask you about
Nigel Neal. Maybe I misheard, but it sounded
like you were pronouncing his name like Niger
instead of Nigel. Did you see something about
how he pronounced his name differently? Everything
I have seen has always said Nigel. And Steffi
was great. You should have her back soon. I wonder
if one of us just said Niger and like the other
ones were just like, yeah, I'm going to assume
that's correct and went with it. That's probably
what happened, you know? Yeah. Our bad. Whoopsie
daisies. But Steffi was great. Thanks again to
Steffi Theodora. Hopefully we'll have her back
in the podcast someday. So following Anonymous
Patron's email, We have Don on The Abominable
Snowman. And Don says via Spotify, this was a
very interesting film. Made me think that I need
to watch more Hammer films. I like the buildup
of suspense, although there wasn't as much horror
elements as I expected. That didn't really take
any enjoyment away, just unexpected. Peter Cushing
was great in his role as a scientist. Cinematography
and music were quite impressive. Those shots
of the mountains with the majestic music were
amazing. I definitely enjoyed this one and will
recommend this movie. Thank you, Don. Totally
agree 100 % of the way. I feel like when I first
watched it, I did expect a little bit more action,
a little bit more horror, and maybe I was a little
bit too negative on the movie for that reason.
But now that I know what it is, if I watch it
again, maybe I'll be more forgiving because I
know what it's trying to do. I feel the same
way. It's one of those movies that has actually
stuck with me and grown on me, and I'd like to
revisit it. Yeah, I think I will too someday.
Yeah. The appearance of the snowman at the end
is still kind of ridiculous, but maybe in a charming
way. That's the camp element, obviously. Yeah,
it has its moments. Yeah. And then Sean Childers
wrote in and said, Ginger Dead Man, which is
a horror movie from the 2000s, about a killer
gingerbread man. Hey, sign me up. I've heard
that title before, and I do love that title.
That's a good one. Yeah. Any monster -based pun
in a movie title is all right by me. Baked goods
turning evil? We don't get enough of them. Yeah.
Yeah. That kind of reminds me of Killdozer a
little bit, where the title is the best part
of the movie, but that is a great title. That
is true. Ginger Dead Man meets Killdozer. Oh,
man. I don't think I would watch that, but, uh,
but I'll try ginger dead man first. If I like
that one, maybe the crossover would work. We'll
see. We'll see. Thank you everybody for writing
in, um, truly keep it, keep them coming. Yeah.
So much. It's always good to read those, uh,
those messages. Like you said, Vincent, thank
you again, everybody. What is coming up on the
poverty row picture show? Oh, Peter Lorre. He's
got a. He's got a questionable one for us this
week. But, you know, he's he talk about a film
lover. He dives deep and good, bad or campy.
He's on the forefront. He's got a movie called
The Vampire's Ghost from 1945. The according
to Letterboxd, the tagline for this movie is
slave of the bloodlust. Maybe not a great tagline
because this movie is set in Africa. at a tawdry
bar run by an old man named Webb Fallon. And
Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming
weary of his life of the past few hundred years.
I don't know, Matt. I'm here in Africa. I'm hearing
slaves. I'm hearing vampires and B movies. I'm
not holding my breath for this one. Yeah, that
sounds rough. Peter is truly doing the Lord's
work. He's doing a service for us all. He will
watch literally anything. I hope it goes okay.
Good luck to you, Peter. I should mention the
next time I see Peter, I should tell him I saw
him in a movie from 1946, I think it was, called
The Verdict. Sydney Green Street, isn't it? It's
a film noir. I just saw that at the Heights Cinema.
Peter Lorre is the best part of it. He's amazing.
He plays this illustrator who draws courtroom
scenes for very grisly murder trials. And he's
very world -weary and cynical, and he's fascinated
by... all these deaths and murders and everything,
but then it wears on him over the years and he
becomes totally disillusioned with people. And
he's fantastic. So if I see him, or Vincent,
if you happen to see him anytime soon, please
tell Peter he was so good in The Verdict. I will
tell him that. I think I have a Teams meeting
with him in a couple hours after I hop off of
this call. So yeah, I'll pass it along. Nice.
I'm amazed he can even work his laptop and figure
out the technology. I would not have expected
that of him. Peter, do not underestimate Mr.
Lorry. He transcends time and technology. You're
right. You're right. That was a rude of me. Sorry,
Peter. If you can give such an amazing performance,
you can handle Microsoft Teams. Welcome to the
Poverty Row Studios on the other side of Hollywood.
Yes, where the stars were dimmer and the red
carpets dripped with blood. Together we will
watch the best of the worst. Movies known for
their limited budgets, their outlandish concepts,
and questionable performances. But with enough
haunted houses, zombies, ape men, and devil bats
to keep you up at night. This is the Poverty
Row Picture Show, and I dare you to sleep through
these nightmares. I am your host, the walking,
talking, reanimated devil known as Peter Lorre.
You may know me from a certain movie called The
Verdict. Yes, with my pal, big old Sidney Greenstreet.
The Verdict is a film noir, but it is worth your
time. But you heard it from me and not that rotten
scoundrel Matthew Cole Levine. Ah, it is all
well and good. Yes, how can I be mad when I am
here on the beaches of the South Pacific with
my darling Lenore? She drinking pina coladas
and I slurping fish heads on the rocks. Mmm.
And you know, my pasty white skin is not burned
too bad under this infernal sun. Sort of reminds
me of a certain vampire from the Republic film,
The Vampire's Ghost. Yes, from 1945, this movie
is about the 400 -year -old vampire who haunts
the villages of Central Africa, doomed and depressed.
Things take a turn for drama -ville when other
white people arrive and our vampire takes an
interest in the young beauty in his pursuit.
The vampire knocks off all those in his way.
Now, despite the potential of an African location,
the Vampire's Ghost is everything you would expect
from a vampire chiller of the 40s. Aversions
to mirrors and the like. However, this vampire
can walk during the day, and he sports some rather
groovy shades. Now, I will leave it up to your
judgment as to the effectiveness of this choice,
but above all, the Vampire's Ghost is not a total
drag. In fact, there are some good performances.
and solid enough screenplay, however derivative,
we may attribute the more entertaining aspects
of the picture to co -writer, a woman named Lee
Brackett. Miss Brackett was, yes, a woman, which
was rare among screenwriters of the time. Furthermore,
Miss Brackett would go on to pen a little ditty
known as The Big Sleep with my other pal, Humphrey
Bogart. The Howard Hawks picture, Rio Bravo.
And perhaps most interesting to listeners of
Camp Kaijin, The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, Lee
Brackett was a noted writer of science fiction
in the mid -20th century and penned the original
drafts of the Star Wars sequel before it began
production. Nonetheless, her name remains in
the credits for her work. This initial screenplay
has officially been published and I would recommend
you give it a read. There you have it, listeners.
From African jungle vampires to the icy battlefields
of Hoth, the vampire's ghost lurks among the
bushes. So after watching this movie in the previous
Phantom Speaks, dare I say we are on a hot streak.
Can our next film continue the trend? It is called
The Strangler of the Swamp, and I dare anyone
to strangle this ghost from his sandy beach paradise.
It's the night of the senior prom. The Bates
High School gym is alive with excitement. Everybody
is there. Even Carrie White. The girl no one
likes. We're all sorry about this incident, Cassie.
It's Carrie! And everyone makes fun of her. Free
Carrie! Free Carrie! The girl who lives in that
creepy house. With her crazy mother. Help the
sinning woman see the sin of her days and ways.
Show her that if she had remained sinless, the
curse of life would never have come on her. The
girl with the strange power. If I concentrate
hard enough, I can move things. But tonight,
no one will laugh at Carrie. If you don't have
a date for the prom next Friday, would you like
to go with me? She's with the best -looking boy
in the senior class. He's trying to trick me
again. She'll be voted queen of the prom. You
know, I can make sure that you don't hurt Carrie
White anymore. For Carrie, it will be a dream
come true. For everyone else, it will be a nightmare.
Carrie. A new film by Brian De Palma. Based on
the chilling bestseller. Starring Sissy Spacek,
Piper Laurie, and introducing John Travolta in
his first motion picture role. If you have a
taste for terror, you have a date with Carrie.
Back to Alucarda. What a strange, interesting,
fascinating movie this is. There are a lot of
themes in this movie, or at least, you know,
like the themes are a little bit messy, but they're
certainly overt. They're like right there in
the foreground of the movie, you know? Mm -hmm.
You know, I see you have these great notes here.
You can read those notes. I'll just kind of go
off the top of my head. You know, when a movie
critiques Catholicism, which you see a lot in
Mexican cinema, at least what I've seen, like
from Del Toro. The Untamed touches on religious
themes, and it's religious in terms of oppression,
in terms of not being able to, I don't know,
be your true self. Sexual repression, certainly,
in this movie. I mean, nuns by nature, priests
by nature, by profession, are celibates. So I
think there's a lot of tension in that in filmmaking
and storytelling. And in this movie in particular,
I think I definitely see the themes of sexual
repression with the lesbianism and the structure
of the church as a system, as an entity in and
of itself to tamp down on, quote, deviant lifestyles.
A lot of imagery supports that. I was getting
a lot of like Spanish Inquisition type imagery
with men in hoods and lots of fire and candles
and tortured devices. Yeah. But yeah, what do
you think in terms of Catholicism as a subject
to critique here? Yeah, I think you're spot on
there. I think ultimately in the movie, we do
kind of see, you know, Justine and Alucarda very
quickly develop this. Very close, intimate friendship,
which soon becomes more than a friendship. It's
very clear that they have romantic feelings for
each other. And Alucarda does kind of seemingly
invite, you know, evil forces into Justine's
life, and they start blaspheming in the church.
They start saying sacrilegious things to their
priest and the other nuns around them. But then,
you know, it becomes clear, I think, in the movie
that these very harsh, vindictive, cruel... priests
and nuns and overseers who, who tortured Justine
for like what they consider to be, you know,
the, the evil, the sins she supposedly committed,
you know, they do things infinitely worse. They,
you know, they bleed her. They, in a, in a, like
a scene that's like very much like the crucifixion,
they ultimately kill Justine. And, and then Alucarda
comes back and has her bloody insane vengeance,
which is just a crazy final scene in the movie.
So yeah, I think the themes in this movie are
a little bit, they kind of have things both ways
at once in some ways, because I think Alucarda
and Justine are, at least Alucarda, is possessed
by something. We don't know exactly what. So
there are evil forces here, but then what's really
the evil thing, the very destructive, violent
thing, is this cruel, oppressive, patriarchal
institution of Catholicism. So it is kind of
messy, but I do think that theme gets across
in the end. What drove it home for me was the
juxtaposition between two set pieces. There's
a sequence where Alucarda and Justine go into
the forest and there's an orgy, a very satanic
ritual. But everyone's dancing and euphoric and
having sex, which is just like... Whatever the
moral or ethics of that is, the fact is these
are human beings without a care in the world
and being as free and open with their bodies
as they can be, without judgment. That is juxtaposed
with the Catholic Church, which is ostensibly
the quote, good entity of love and loves messaging.
However, ironically, it's the church that tortures.
and kills and does absolutely nothing but repress,
repress, repress to the point of abuse. And so
that juxtaposition really drove home those themes
of agency, empowerment, female autonomy, which
is another central theme related to that good
versus evil presentation. Yeah, well said. I
think you're totally right. And I think The scene
where Alucarda is kind of being forced to confess
to Father Lorenzo. That's his name? I think that's
his name. She's being forced to confess to the
priest, and she doesn't. She basically says,
like, I have nothing to confess. I haven't committed
any sins. And she basically says that he is...
Very loosely paraphrasing here, but he's on a
power trip. He's kind of, you know, he's not
sexually satisfied, so he's just condemning everybody
else around him, especially her and Justine.
And, you know, it's hard to argue with that.
I mean, there's a lot of truth in that, I think,
you know? So, like, what is seen is, like, the
very sacrilegious things that Alucarda says to
him. Is it sacrilegious or is that just what
an institution of religion would say to kind
of maintain a sense of power? I think as a result
of the frustration of the priest, of these nuns,
whatever that feeling inside, it's got to come
out one way or the other. And if you can't be
having sex, sometimes people resort to violence.
Yeah, there's a lot we could say about that.
But in this movie, at least, it's, yeah, there
are no incels in this movie, probably. But like,
there are definitely like, yeah, it's sexual
frustration. It's like using religion as a tool
of control. And, you know, there was a Letterboxd
review that said it very well, which I would
like to quote. Let me see if I could find it
here. Yeah, so this was written by a Letterboxd
reviewer just named Brian. I don't have any more
information than that. So Brian, if you happen
to be listening, thank you for this quote. Please
take credit for it if you want. But Brian says,
Christian institutions, or in this case, Catholic
institutions, yeah, sublimate the erotic drives
of their constituents into persecuting the erotic
drives of others. And that's basically what we
see here with the priests and the nuns in this
movie. There's another quote I would just, you
know, doing research on this was pretty fascinating
because there's been a lot of really compelling
things written about just how complicated and
provocative this movie is. So there are two scholars
who have written a lot about Alucarda, Raul Rodriguez
Hernandez and Claudia Schaefer. I do just want
to quote one of the things they wrote in one
of their works. They wrote, actions taken by
two young women, in this case, Alucarda and Justine.
Against teachings, structure, and moral guiding
principles of the church, speak directly to a
post -1968 generation that celebrates the body
but has lost faith in the society's master narratives.
There's lots of that quote, but I think that's
especially fascinating because Alucarda has an
anti -Catholic strain to it or theme in it, and
I think that can be extended to being anti -government.
I think there was a lot of... frustration with
the Mexican government by a lot of different
Mexican films around this time. We talked about
the movie Canoa from the late 70s earlier in
the episode. And so, yeah, I love this quote
because I think it shows how the movie's condemnation
of a very oppressive religious institution can
then be extended to the government and how they
exert control over their citizens, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't even thinking about the
historical cultural context of the piece here.
You know, it's 10 years, less than 10 years since,
you know, the sexual liberation of the 1960s.
And you have very conservative institutions like
the Catholic Church. And I'm not Catholic and
I don't, you know, I'm just spitballing here.
But conservative institutions have to reckon
with progressive waves that happen in the culture.
Maybe we're dealing with that right now. And
what's that backlash? And I think you could see
a depiction of that in a fictional film like
Alucarda. Definitely, yeah. It's a good point
that I think a similar thing might be happening
right now. We haven't really had any movies like
Alucarda in this current historical period that
we're in, but maybe they'll be coming at some
point. But yeah, I think when things seem very
oppressive and restrictive, then I think... You
do lose faith in those master narratives and
maybe believing in the body and connection between
two people or more people kind of takes precedence
a little bit, you know? Yeah. I also saw this
movie again as a story about two young women
who it's like a coming of age as well. They're
confused. They find stable ground in each other
because they're not finding it in their church,
which is also their home where they live. They're
finding it in Satan. They're finding some sort
of community. Again, I'm not talking about the
moral aspect of it or whatever. I'm just saying
these young girls who are abused more than men,
for sure, in this world are finding stable ground
wherever they can. And if it leads them to a
path of destruction, It's only because they were
driven there by people who were supposed to be
taking care of them. Perfectly said. Absolutely.
Yeah, you're totally right. And I think like
basically it's a love story, you know, and I
think a different movie, if it was like more
character focused and a little bit more about
like the story, which I mean, like the narrative
is very loose in Alucarda. So that's that's not
the focus of this movie. But I think a different
movie would focus. on the relationship between
Justine and Alucarda, which is tender, even though,
you know, so much of the movie is like bloody
and like very sexual, like their relationship
still is a mutual support, you know? Right, right.
I mean, and yeah, they truly care about each
other. Alucarda truly cares about her because
that's why she flips out at the end. Yep. And
they have a blood pact, which is done very intimately
in their private rooms. But I think the focus
in that scene is on intimacy and not horror.
Despite the blood involved, it's not a scary
moment. You know what I mean? And despite the
nudity. Full frontal, listeners. Don't be caught
unawares. You get everything. Don't watch this
in a library. Don't watch this with the kids
around. But with that said, despite the nudity,
despite the – because when I first saw that,
I thought – because I didn't know anything. I
thought, is this movie going to go into something
really sleazy, into something almost pornographic?
It doesn't. It's actually, like you said, intimate.
So I think that actually goes a long way in selling
this movie and those moments as something to
be taken sincerely. and not exploitatively. Definitely.
I had the same concern as you. And I like, especially
in that early orgy scene, like, you know, there
are like hooded figures and like goat figures
and everything. It was like, oh, where is this
going? I might want, this might be going in some
questionable territory, you know? But like, that's
really the most, what's the word? Tawdry, I guess,
seen in the movie where it's like, maybe there
is a little bit of like sexual titillation there.
But like, for the most part, that's not the point
of the movie. You're right. And for the most
part, it is in terms of sexual explicitness.
It kind of gets it out of the way in the beginning.
And then for most of the movie, it's like, oh,
everyone's clothed and it's it's it's watchable.
Yeah, totally. They might be on fire or, you
know, like decapitated or bathing in blood. But
they're well, when she's bathing in blood, she
is actually fully nude. But like most of the
time, there's not. Yeah, they're they're clothed
and it's it's OK. It's not she's covered in blood,
which covers her nudity. It's like when people
paint their bodies. True. Yeah. Yeah. Performance
art. I do think there's another contrast that
we should talk about briefly. And that's, you
know, we briefly mentioned this earlier, but
it's kind of like modern science and logic and
reason as represented by Dr. Oshchek versus like
the traditional superstition that's practiced
by the church, but also by Justine and Alucard
in a way. And I think the Dr. Oshchek character.
is pretty interesting. He's like mostly benevolent.
He's trying to help. He's worried about the health
and welfare of Justine and Alucarda. And he's
like scandalized by what the church is doing
when he walks into the torture chamber and he
sees that Justine has died. He is totally traumatized
or that's not the right word. He's, he's shocked
by it, you know, but I, you know, like the medicine
that he practices is still kind of like a way
to like, he thinks that he's in control, but
he's not like things. quickly go downhill after
that, you know? I do, you know, it reminded me,
though, we were talking about, like, possession
movies from the 70s and late 60s, and it reminded
me of Rosemary's Baby a little bit, a classic
of that subgenre where Rosemary, poor Rosemary,
played by Mia Farrow, is... You know, there's
a similar sort of like network of like oppressive
institutions in that movie, too. Like, first
of all, it's patriarchy and manhood in general
because her husband is, you know, a misogynist
who doesn't really care about her at all. And
then it's Catholicism because Rosemary was raised
Catholic and kind of taught to be subservient
as a wife and a mother. But then it is also health
care and medicine because her obstetrician. Actually,
both of the obstetricians that she sees are against
her and betray her in the end. So, you know,
maybe there's kind of a similar network of evil
forces in Alucarda as in Rosemary's Baby. Rosemary's
Baby, man, that movie would knock your socks
off. Listeners, if you haven't seen it, I don't
want to spoil it for you, actually, because I
think, I mean, don't let me overhype it either,
but just go in to it and pay attention to it.
Like, that's what I would say. Like, don't get
distracted by your phone or anything else. Like,
sit down, commit to watching Rosemary's Baby,
and let us know what you think. Yes, please.
In my opinion, you cannot overhype Rosemary's
Baby. That's one of my favorites, one of the
best horror movies ever, one of the best American
movies of the 60s. So I'm going to overhype it.
Yeah, it's just, it's one of the strongest examples
of... storytelling on film that i've ever seen
like it's just so well constructed and it's so
tight in the the character journeys and the script
it's just it's just it's just a phenomenal storytelling
it is yeah and i think you know it probably it
does those things better than alucarda does not
that alucarda is trying to do those things i
don't think it's necessarily trying to be you
know, tell like a cohesive story or be totally
character based. But I think Rosemary's Baby
does those things so well that it succeeds where
Alucard probably does not, you know? Well, let's
talk about other movies because see your notes
here in the 70s, maybe post -Exorcist. And what
other movies come to mind in this maybe golden
age of satanic possession movies? Yeah, I mean,
The Omen is definitely a big example. Not personally
one of my... favorites in like you know in horror
cinema and it's i think a big reason is because
what's the linda blair's character's name in
the exorcist regan that's her name the exorcist
is so scary because like you buy that child performance
and you believe that she is possessed by the
devil you know with the omen i feel like you
always know it's like a kid in a movie like giving
a performance and it's like not very scary in
my opinion So you really have to sell the idea
that like this demonic force is like ruining
childhood innocence. And if you don't buy that,
then it's not very scary. And that's why I think
The Exorcist works and The Omen doesn't. But
The Omen is, you know, a big franchise and was
very popular. Yeah. Have you heard of Abby, the
blaxploitation film? Only because of you telling
me about it. It sounds really fascinating though.
Yeah, 1974. I, it's really interesting. I did
not know this when I went into, I found it on,
it's not streaming anywhere. I found an old beat
up 16 millimeter like version on YouTube. Turns
out that's really all you can, the only place
you can find it because it is so close to the
exorcist that Warner Brothers has sued it from
any kind of distribution. Wow. Which is historically
fascinating to me. But if you find it on YouTube,
despite the quality, watch it. It is basically
The Exorcist. At some points, it really inhibits
the movie because you're like, The Exorcist did
this better. But in other points, it does do
its own thing. And those are really refreshing.
And I'm like, okay, I like what this is doing
here. Abby, 1974. William Marshall is in it.
He plays the priest. Yeah, that's what I would
check out. Alucarda does things a little bit
maybe conventionally tighter than Abby. It's
not a ripoff of The Exorcist. But it's also like,
how can we compare things to The Exorcist? The
Exorcist casts such a large shadow. Yeah, it's
unfair for sure. I recently watched a movie called
To the Devil a Daughter, which is also about
like a satanic conspiracy. It was actually Hammer
Horror's last film in their sort of like classical
period. It's from 1976, I think. I just heard
about that film, but go on. It's... I think ultimately
it's not really very good. It had a very like
troubled production. There's some really sleazy
stuff like Nastassja Kinski is in it. She's very
young, but she's very sexualized and it's hard
to look past that in the movie, but like she's
in it. Christopher Lee is in it. Richard Widmark
is in it. And that cast is phenomenal. And there
are some really strange, you know, nightmarish
scenes where it's like, yeah, all these things
we've been talking about, like tradition versus
modernity and like, Religion versus Satan, obviously.
So, you know, there's some good imagery in it,
but like ultimately not a very good movie. Well,
great cast though. But it does beg the question,
like, were all these movies just made to like
cash in on the success of The Exorcist? Or was
there something bigger in society and politics
going on that made people like very paranoid
about like, you know, religion is not what it
used to be. And like, there are all these evil
forces in the world. You know what I mean? I
would say that success follows success. So there
was probably a lot to owe to The Exorcist's success.
But I'm also thinking about music. And you had
bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath who
really tapped into this dark imagery, this dark
religious satanic imagery. They weren't they
weren't doing it because the exorcist was a success.
They were clearly reflecting some sort of cultural
revolution. But I think that also goes back to
the 60s. Generally speaking, like some sort of
progressive dam had burst and people were just
more liberated and and free to explore to explore.
What's this dark side of religion that I wasn't
able to explore before, but now I can. Yeah,
I think you're totally right. I like what you
said before about like conservatism versus progressivism,
you know, and like that comes through in movies
and music, obviously. And it's like, yeah, if
you start to like doubt or mistrust the forces
of law and order, like just bigger kind of like
forces of control, then you're going to try to
find ways to push against that, you know, and
that happened in a lot of different ways. And
there was a lot of reason to distrust our government
in the 70s. History teacher time. Watergate,
Vietnam, those are the big things. But that's
all you need. All of a sudden, the government
is not here to... The government is not a...
People lost trust in the government at that time.
In the 50s, in the early 60s, in the 40s, the
government's here to protect us. They're an altruistic
institution. But then our illusion broke and
we realized, oh, the government is sending us
to our deaths for some ill -conceived reason
in Vietnam. The government is spying on us and
Nixon has to resign. Yeah, it's just since then
we've, I think, rightfully so as Americans have
questioned our institutions. Yeah. And it comes
out in films too. Yes, 100 % agree. I love that.
And like, now I'm kind of wondering where are
the modern day movies that are going to like
kind of like push against things a little bit,
but we'll see if they're made or not. Who knows?
We need a new American new wave. Yeah, absolutely.
It's hard to imagine in like an age of streaming
and an age of like, you know, disposable entertainment,
but like, I'm not totally cynical. It can happen.
I hope it does. Yeah, that's a conversation for
another time. Indeed, yeah. Thank you to Alucarda
for getting us in this direction, for pushing
us into this conversation. It's great. Yeah,
it's a tough film. Again, it affronts your senses.
I don't think that's a bad thing. Right. Because
you can do that in art. It's catharsis, and that's
a safe place to do it. You know, yeah, you can
talk about these sort of uncomfortable things
in a movie like Alucarda. A couple quick things
I wanted to say about the form and the aesthetic
in the movie, just because, like, there is kind
of a lot to it. Like you said, it's very in -your
-face. It's kind of a disorienting style. One
kind of theater that Lopez, Moctezuma, and also
Jodorowsky practiced in Mexico, something called
panic theater was the name of it. So it's live
theater that's very intense, very in -your -face.
like simulated sex acts on stage. There was violence,
sometimes even like real blood, like cutting
on stage of the actors and everything. And the
entire point of it was to make the audience uncomfortable
and like sometimes to engage them in the performance
in audience participation. And I think we can
see that. I think both Lopez Moctezuma and Jodorowsky.
brought that panic theater aesthetic to the films
they made. And we absolutely see that in Alucarda.
And it's like you said, Vincent, it makes you
uncomfortable. It makes you pay attention. And
it's kind of expressing things that are hard
to put into words, you know? You have a theater
background. Have you heard about any similar
performances like that or like artistic movements?
Yeah, yeah. The first thing that came to my mind
was a 1920s play from France called, the English
translation is Spurt of Blood. And it's like
a one -page play, but it's very influential in
the avant -garde movement. And the play, there's
animals, there's blood spurting. So even actually
just performing it is not... I'm not going to
say it's not possible. It gets performed. But
to perform it literally written, it's almost
impossible. That's not even the point. So it's
very avant -garde in that way. There's other
movements. The Dada movement in the 1910s, which
affected art, the art world in general, like
a urinal placed in a public square. Is that art?
The debate continues. Right. I don't know how
to pronounce it, but there's the really well
-known French theater tradition of violence and
gore and spectacle sensationalism. I can't pronounce
French. Théâtre des Grandes. guignol the theater
oh grand guignol yeah yeah but like body horror
on stage i mean people would go for the experience
they're not going for for character -based narratives
they're going for in -your -face violence stylized
violence so i definitely think of that when i
hear of panic theater and i yeah what you said
about like they're not character -based narratives
i think that applies so perfectly to alucarda
for better or worse Yeah, right, right. That's
not my forte slash cup of tea as an actor, as
a viewer, but I respect the hell out of it. Exactly,
yeah. You know, it definitely serves a political
purpose and there's a lot of power to that kind
of performance and that kind of film. It's time
for the good, the bad, and the campy here on
Camp Kaiju. We've already talked about so many
of the themes and, you know, I'll just leave
that there. I love a movie that is so complicated.
so thought -provoking, that has so much to say
about the state of the world and the state of
Mexico in this case. But I also just love how
this movie looks. It's so theatrical. I talked
about the sets before. The art director was a
man named Cleomenes Stamatiatas. Great name and
great art direction. The sets in this movie,
they look like... They couldn't actually exist
anywhere on the planet. They're so like phantasmal,
phantasmagoric maybe is a better word for it.
Yeah. Even the interior of the convent seems
to be chiseled out of rock. The sort of grotto
where they have this orgy is seemingly on a soundstage
and is filled with lush green grass and everything.
It just looks amazing. And I really do appreciate
movies that don't even aim for realism. Sometimes
that's what you're going for. But in this movie,
the more demented and nightmarish, the better.
And I just love the visual style of this movie
so much. Very cool. Adding on to that, like I
said, in the, the, the cinematography, the use
of shadow in this movie, it's not just like,
Oh, we've got some shadows. This so many scenes
are like the action happens in a pool of light
and then darkness surrounds them. You cannot
see the walls in the rooms. Yeah. So like action
will be happening. And then a character. emerges
from the darkness you didn't even know what they
were there and it's so unsettling and provocative
i think alucarda emerges from the darkness at
one point that that's really effective and then
speaking of alucarda her costume is very is a
black smock of some kind turtlenecky so then
when she is enveloped in shadow it's literally
just her head oh and because her hair completely
surrounds her face this lush mane of black hair
so so often when she's on screen she's a floating
face and it's it's a really cool effect yeah
Totally. I love that. And that happens at the
end of the movie where she's basically setting
a lot of people on fire. This is her act of vengeance
at the end of the movie. And you do just see
her floating head and a little flicker of flame
right in front of her eyeball. And that's how
the movie suggests that she is setting people
on fire. And it's just so... yeah. bizarre and
dreamlike and beautiful, but also terrifying.
It's like, you know, like a similar thing happens
at the end of Carrie, but it's like totally different
in this movie. Interesting comparison. I'll get
to that in a second. My thoughts on that. What
else did I really like? So, so again, I mentioned
how the sexual imagery in this film is done actually
tastefully for as tastefully as you can get in
a movie like this. There's also male frontal
nudity, which I was just like, Hey, I appreciate
that because. We're keeping things equitable.
It's not just female exploitation. It could be
male exploitation too. And the moment when Justine
and Alucarda do undress, up until then, I will
admit, I was kind of like, all right, it's another
Exorcist movie. It's another Possession movie.
I see exactly where this movie is going to go.
And then it completely went the other direction.
And I went, oh, I have no idea where this is
going. This is great. Now you have my attention
movie. So that was a good thing. Yeah, I know
what you mean. Yeah. You saying exploitation
before reminded me that this movie is sometimes
referred to as mexploitation. which is just kind
of ridiculous, but also like also referred to
some of those Jodorowsky movies where there is
like sex and nudity and violence, but also mixed
with like political provocation and like avant
-garde sort of like aesthetics. So there is like
an actual style or like description to the word
mexploitation. I still don't know how often I'm
going to use that, but, but yeah, I, but like,
I feel like it's actually kind of contradictory
in a way, because I agree with what you're saying,
which is that it doesn't. ultimately seem all
that exploitative you know like even though it's
in your face it's like it is worried about the
characters and it's like yeah it's not just trying
to shock you you know right which i think that's
what exploitation is right rather than i think
it's intent i think it's intent and i don't think
the intent is pure shock i think it's still to
tell a story And artistically, if that involves
nudity, well, that's art too. So yeah, how many
painters paint nude figures? And we go, let's
put that in a museum. But you look at Alucarda,
you may not have that same thought, but I think
you should because it's just done artfully more
than shockingly. Yeah, totally. And I think,
you know, another thing that I'll put in the
good category is Tina Romero as Alucarda. I think
she gives an amazing performance. And I think,
you know, she and also Susanna Kamini, but especially
Romero is so good. And like, you know, I think,
yeah, a big reason why the movie does not seem
callous and shocking and exploitative is because
of the actors. And they like, you know, I think
with Romero, especially we see. the tenderness
early on. And we see the sort of like liberation
of like her, the time that she spends with Justine.
But then we also absolutely believe her like
fury and her rage and her, you know, her revenge
at the end. So Romero is great. And she's a big
part of this movie's success, I would say. Oh
yeah. I just wanted to mention that the, again,
echo some of the folk fairy tale aesthetic with
the, the Seder like character. And. And the flogging
of the nuns, which was really brutal and violent
and bloody. And that scene is specifically what's
juxtaposed with the orgy, which is actually a
very peaceful ceremony compared to this awful,
abusive ceremony in the church. You know, when
we hear the word orgy, we probably think it's
like sordid and like evil or negative in some
way. But like, yeah, the orgy is full of... Like,
yeah, intimacy, obviously. And like, that's a
lot better than self -flagellation and blood
and like, you know, torturing yourself for no
reason. So that's a very powerful contrast for
sure. Yeah, yeah. So the bad stuff, you know,
maybe this sounds like unadventurous of me, but
like, I do still want a little bit of like character
depth. And I think if this movie had a little
bit more of that with Alucarda and Justine, then
it would be more powerful in many different ways.
It wouldn't just be this like provocative. you
know, aggressive sort of stylish thing, it would
also have this kind of like emotional power that
I don't think Alucarda has or probably is really
even going for. But I, you know, early on, again,
we do see the love that these two characters
have for each other. And even though thematically,
like I think... it makes sense why that all gets
like blown apart by the end of the movie. I think
emotionally it's not really there. And it could
have been if like the movie spent just a little
bit more time on who these young women actually
are as people, you know? I wrote, you know, style
over substance, maybe a little bit and which
I love and I appreciate, but my tea, my cup of
tea is I do want a little bit more time with
the characters themselves. Because the movie's
only 90 minutes. It's 100 minutes. But there
were moments where I was kind of, it was kind
of the pace, not the pace, but I was kind of
losing interest a little bit. And then a person
would be on fire. And I'd be like, okay, cool.
That's cool. But then, okay, so to be more articulate,
the movie does kind of, it's kind of a one -note
movie. Like Alucarda gets chastised by some nuns.
and she cries and then justine is tortured and
she cries and then alucarda it just it kind of
is the same thing until we get to the end yeah
you're right about that yeah yeah which is hard
to sustain for an audience member i think yeah
maybe just like more more of a dynamic tone might
have been good if there were like some moments
of like quiet and like slowing down and focusing
on the characters instead of everything just
kind of being like so intense all the time then
then it might have seemed like less repetitive
you know yeah yeah yeah but that's a style thing
but that's but I don't have any specific bad
things like yeah everything everything all the
particulars were very strong yeah and I think
even the things I didn't personally like all
that much were probably intentional that's like
the movie that they wanted to make you know right
yeah yeah And I think probably another example
of that, which might lead us into the campy category
a little bit, is I think most of the performances
outside of Romero are pretty over the top. They're
like very heightened. And like, Claudio Brooke,
I think he, again, he does probably what is intended
of him, you know, like, but I mean, like that
hunchback is so over the top, ridiculous accent,
absurd makeup, and like, who even is this character
and like these traveling nomads, like just outside
of the convent, you know? And that kind of like
over the top theatricality, again, intentional,
but like probably does like take you out of the
movie a little bit. It's different. It's so tonally
different. It's like, yeah, it's like Pan's Labyrinth.
But then the movie never really sticks with that
aesthetic, that choice. Yeah, it's like a weird
intrusion into an otherwise conventional story,
tonally. Well, that character. when he's the
doctor, that actor when he plays the doctor,
there's a point where he goes like into his library
and he opens a book simply titled Satan. And
I thought, well, that's an aptly named book.
Right. That is great. Yeah. And it just like
lingers on that title page for a while, which
is awesome. This book is about Satan. It's like
500 pages long. Yeah. That's like maybe all of
the books in his library. That's all they're
about. Just Satan over and over again. But yeah,
I thought that was ridiculous. And there's even
kind of like a Dracula tribute or homage in the
movie where they see the coffin of apparently
it's Alucard's mom, Lucy Westenra, which is the
name of a character in Dracula. So not campy
per se, but maybe just like a little tip of the
hat to like horror, you know, lore beforehand.
Surprisingly, this movie I found light on camp.
I mean, it is over the top. It is exaggerated,
but it is still very serious in its intentions.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it, yeah. I feel
like some of the stylistic things are kind of
outdated in a way. They're really quick, like
zoom in and zoom out. They do that a couple times,
but I think it's actually pretty effective. It
works in the context of the movie, you know?
The nun's costumes? I've never seen those before.
Yeah. That seemed campy to me. And they're probably
historically accurate. But I thought this is
this is they look silly. That can't be way. You're
right. I was wondering about that. I thought
maybe it was like an attempt to not. be catholicism
per se you know to like maybe be like ah it's
some other made -up religion or something you
know or maybe it's just like part of the sort
of like surreal visual style of the movie i wasn't
totally sure about that hey i want to i want
to do my research here but but without knowing
anything i these these costumes were vaguely
futuristic to me so maybe it's here i go maybe
it's it's underpinning the theme that these nuns
are just just automatons within this institution.
So they're all going to look like space robot
women. I like that. Yeah, I'll go with that reading.
All right. Cool. I do think it'll flesh it out.
I'll work on it. Yeah, that can be the next script
that you write. I can't wait. I do think in a
way that kind of does go along with like the
style of some of those earlier Jodorowsky movies
like El Topo and the Holy Mountain, where it's
like not at all trying to be realistic, even
though I think it's El Topo is kind of a Western
and there are like some gunslinger characters,
but they don't wear costumes that look anything
like any cowboy that you've ever seen before.
So I think maybe part of it is just like that
style where it's, you know, again, very over
the top, just like not even trying to like. resemble
anything we recognize in reality. It's a look,
though. It's definitely a look. It's a look.
That'll be my next Halloween costume. Wow. Oh,
my God. Maybe I'll go as the hunchback, the goat
-like hunchback. There you go. It'll be an Alucarda
Halloween. Nobody will know what's going on.
Nobody at all. It'll be great. All right, Alucarda,
one -of -a -kind film. And now it is the time
for us to give it a rating. As always on Camp
Kaiju, we have four ratings here. Number one,
it's a timeless classic. It definitely stands
the test of time. Number two, there may be some
antiquated moments, but overall it's great. It
stands the test of time. Our third rating, it
may be historically significant or just fun,
but it does not stand the test of time. And our
lowest rating, it is not worth revisiting. It
definitely does not stand the test of time. This
is one of those movies where at first watch,
I was like... I could take it or leave it, but
after this discussion, understanding a little
bit more about the artists involved, and it may
not be my cup of tea, but this is a strong cup
of tea, a strong brew, and it's done with care
and craft. So I'm going to give it our second
highest rating. I think it does stand the test
of time in a lot of ways thematically, but I
would like to see... More investment in the characters
themselves. So I have a little bit more substance
with my spectacle. And for better or for worse,
I do think of other movies that do combine that
spectacle with character -based narratives. The
Exorcist, and I think Carrie, also nails that
duality really well. But Alucarda, I think she
should be up there with... with carrie with regan
as a real lady you don't want to cross with hey
that was a pun no pun intended you don't want
to cross with with some holy nonsense man i mean
your review could be mine verbatim basically
i'm also going to give this our second highest
rating There may be some antiquated moments or
just things that don't totally work for me personally.
But overall, it's great. I mean, it's such a
one of a kind movie. It's very powerful. Love
the formal style, which is so creative and adventurous.
I do think what makes this movie so distinct
and so powerful is also maybe what keeps it from
greatness, where it's like so provocative and
in your face the entire time. It never really
slows down to like truly. depict the characters
and to make us feel what's at stake emotionally
but there are many other things going on in this
movie that are so fascinating to think about
and reflect you know the late 70s in mexico and
as we were talking about really a lot of the
world at that time so yeah fascinating movie
i'm very glad we um you know watched alucarda
we introduced ourselves to a new New kind of
movie. And for anybody out there who hasn't seen
it, prepare yourself mentally, but check it out.
It's worth it. Yeah, because honestly, it's just
not what I expected. It ended up being a surprise
in a lot of ways. In a lot of good ways. Absolutely,
yeah. One of a kind. Thank you again for staying
tuned to this episode. Next time we're going
to talk about Troll Hunter and visit Norway on
our trip around the world. So join us for that.
Thank you again for hanging out, friends. Please
rate and review the show and follow us on patreon
.com slash campkaiju for additional videos, reviews,
merchandise, and more. Other ways to get in touch
are email at campkaiju at gmail .com. Our website,
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number, 612 -470 -2612. Camp Kaiju is recorded
in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Mena's mailbox
music by Ben Cook -Felts. Thanks, friends. And
until next time, stay campy. Camp Kaiju is brought
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