Los vándalos

Marauding early 20th century motorcycle gang takes lodging in a rustic prairie farmhouse owned by two weird young sisters. We come to learn that the girls' parents are both deceased, and that "Ma" was a white woman, and "Pa" was some sort of Native-American spiritualist. Following a foiled rape attempt, the biker gang begins to rapidly lose its members under very mysterious circumstances. This creepiness transpires to the accompaniment of a rather harsh washboard/jaw-harp/kazoo music score which will have many folks ripping their hair out at the root within minutes.

Things get off to a decent enough start in this rummy little "rara avis", which introduces some colorful characters and offers enticing whiffs of what's to come. The upshot to these tantalizing prospects is an awkward and admittedly atmospheric juggling of genres which is proficiently executed on a technical level, but rather weak in exposition of its story. It's consistently watchable for the most part, chiefly by virtue of its idiosyncratic stylistic trappings, and a few solid performances from players at the budding-stage of prolific careers.

Though categorically a horror film, it probably has a stronger foothold in the revisionist/acid western subgenre, and might appeal to enthusiasts of pictures like THE SHOOTING(1966), EL TOPO(1970), and THE HIRED HAND(1971). In any case, I don't strongly recommend it.

4/10.

Summer in Nebraska, 1919 and a group of bikers on vintage motorcycles ride across the prairies on their way to California. On their journey they find themselves being pursued by a town posse. They decide to lay low, and invite themselves onto an isolated farmed owned by two sisters. Daughters of an Indian medicine man. The younger sister is welcoming, while the older is weary as she uses sorcery to defuse any sort of threat. Trippy rural, low- budget horror-comedy-romance-drama... I don't know how to categorise this one. I mainly sorted this one out for Scott Glenn. A bizarre, laid-back atmosphere with a touch of airy mysticism and a bunch of familiar faces giving animated performances (Keith Carradine, Scott Glenn & Gary Busey playing hillbilly cousins). While atypical (just look at the death scenes and ominous underlining), it was rather annoying to sit through (mainly the performances - Christina Raines taking top honors, music and its erratic mood swings) and its plot is threadbare with very little happening throughout. "Hex" is a neurotic story of love, acceptance and horror. But it doesn't completely come together, as there's not much to hold it there.

When it really comes down to it, this is not a sophisticated movie. There's this soundtrack, see, and it's pretty goofy with lots of jaw harp boing boing and fiddle-de-doo tunes and that certain barnyard pig chase type music that often accompanies country/co boys falling in the dirt with that "aww, shucks" look upon their faces. But, like with all sorts of movies, there's just something about this (the copy I have of it is called "The Shrieking") movie that I adore. I'm not sure if it's the audacity of the movie for being as weird and unruly as it is yet still holding together, not sure if it's the way the actors all bounce off each other in a nice way or what...I think mostly it's just the unexpectedness of the script, truly one of the strangest stories I've ever seen on film and by the end we can look back at all the oddities and know that whoever wrote it must have had a very healthy supply of something that was probably illegal in the early seventies, because this is a drug movie. I GUESS it could be called "horror" but it isn't that exactly, and it is a "teen movie" more or less, but not like any other "teen horror movie" I've ever seen, and it does have a serious propensity for the incredibly goofy, but that goofiness makes the horror (when it actually does happen) quite horrific (the scene with the frog comes to mind)...I notice that this film has a very low rating on IMDb, and that's a shame because it's funny and kinda scary at times, and altogether interesting and entertaining, not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but worth watching. Anyone else notice this one "feels" very similar to "Dead Birds"?

When HEX began, three things struck me. First, how incredibly pointless were the first scenes. Second, how the music score for the credits was incredibly jarring and loud. Third, I looked on the IMDB trivia and it said that the film was made in 1971 but sat on the shelf for two years and was also cut and recut... a clear sign the film was a s**tstorm. Holding a film for release it's a kiss of death with few exceptions.

In 1919 (soon after the war ended) a group of pilots and a woman (Whizzer, Golly, Jimbang, Chupo, Giblets and China) becomes motorcyclist and goes to California for seeking their fortunes. In rural Nebraska they are challenged to a race by a hot rodder. The result is disputed and they go in a farm owned by two sisters. Giblets (Gary Busey) tries to r**e Acacia that manages to escape, but her sister Oriole puts a curse on him; soon we see Giblets wandering at night where an owl attacks him taking his eyes out. After China goes missing other strange events occur such as Jimbang (Scott Glenn) that tries to shoot Oriole but the gun kills him instead, Whizzer killing Chupo in the barn with a sickle, Oriole that stabs a toad and kills also China because the toad had some hair in his mouth and many more I thankfully forgot.

The acting was amateurish by everyone. While you can't certainly blame Gary Busey and Scott Glenn as they were still making their bones, you can't forgive the others as they have a laziness comparable only to that of the TWILIGHT franchise actors. The soundtrack was all over the place, as they were the direction, photography and pacing: it looked like they knew they had a bad movie in their hands and simply didn't care to improve it in any way.

So, despite my reservations about the acting, the two year delay and the horrible beginning, is there something that makes this movie worth seeing? Well, considering its score of 4,5 it's unlikely I'd recommend it to anyone that soon. Do yourself a favor - don't watch this film. Even for someone who occasionally watches bad movies (like me) it's not worth it - unless they are masochists. And I gave it a 2 only because there wasn't that much blood nor gory scenes.

Hex is a whacked out blend of Western, stoner biker movie and supernatural horror that gives the impression that the makers of the film might've partaken of the same recreational substances smoked by its two main female characters.

Cristina Raines and Hilarie Thompson play siblings Oriole and Acacia, 'half-breed honeys' living on a small farm in rural Nebraska shortly after the First World War. The sisters' peaceful existence comes to an end when a group of motorcyclists seek refuge at their homestead, having been run out of the nearby town of Bingo. After one of the bikers, Giblets (Gary Busey), tries to rape Acacia, Oriole uses native Indian magic (taught to her by her father) to exact revenge.

Nothing about this film feels right - the performances, the direction, and the editing are all executed in an incredibly awkward and offbeat manner that makes it no surprise that this was the first and last film to be directed by Leo Garen. Not even TV wanted him after this mess. The whole thing is rendered even more ludicrous by the lively Jew's harp/harmonica/banjo score that accompanies almost every scene, which is more suited to a madcap 'good ol' boys' Southern comedy (starring Burt Reynolds) than a horror.

Still, with a film as downright bizarre as this one, there is fun to be had if cult cinema is your thing: we get an angry mob in a hot-rod (the group including a shotgun-toting ten year old), Oriole and female biker China (Doria Cook-Nelson) have a cat-fight (with Keith Carradine joining in the fun!), there's a trippy hallucinatory scene featuring a fat toad and savage mice, Gary Busey is killed by an owl, and, just when you think it can't get any more strange, the ending features four jet planes flying over the farm. WTF?

Also the costume coordinator for the film was Dick Butz, whose name is always good for a laugh.