Alucarda

First things first: although the name 'Alucarda' spells 'a Dracula; backwards, this film has nothing to do with vampires—it's simply the name of one of the characters, whose parents obviously didn't consider the possibility of bullying at school (not that the young lady cursed with such a silly moniker would have have stood for any nonsense from her peers: like Stephen King's Carrie, Alucarda is able to deal with those who vex her in spectacularly fiery fashion).

What the film does offer is demonic possession, strict Catholicism, nudity, self-flagellation, lesbianism, torture, orgiastic sex, and more screaming, wailing, and fainting than in the front row at a Take That concert. In short, its a prime slice of 70s nunsploitation, served up Mexican style ie., it's surreal, bloody, and more than a little bit bonkers (not surprising, I suppose, since it was directed by Juan López Moctezuma, the man who produced Alejandro Jodorowsky's equally insane El Topo).

Mixing elements borrowed from The Exorcist, DeSade's Justine, Ken Russell's The Devil's and the aforementioned Carrie, Moctezuma's medley of Mexican madness sees the titular character (played by menacing brunette Tina Romero) seducing pretty young blonde Justine (Susana Kamini) after she joins the convent at which Alucarda is staying. The two girls form a close bond, making a blood pact to die together, and eventually allowing themselves to become host to a demon (or possibly the Devil himself). This obviously upsets the nuns, who call for an exorcism. which in turn, upsets Alucarda. Cue flaming nuns, a collapsing convent, and a whole lot of histrionics!

Amongst the general lunacy, and the incessant screaming, the film offers these particular delights to those with a taste for the truly bizarre: an old hag with more straw in her hair than Worzel Gummidge; a gypsy who is the dead ringer for TV's Catweazle; nuns wearing dirty ra-ra habits (which are like a ra-ra-skirt, only full length, with a cowl, and dirty); a knife made from the tear of a gypsy girl (?!); an orgy attended by women with more hair than Cher, Tina Turner and Amy Winehouse combined; the exchange of blood during a Satanic ceremony; a reanimated dead nun being beheaded; blasphemy during a bible class; death by holy water; and lots and lots of nekkidness.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, and you think you can endure the wall-to-wall cacophony of screams, I say 'go for it'; the film proved a little too avant garde (and noisy) for my taste, but if nothing else, it was certainly a unique experience.

For the first ten minutes or so I thought 'Alucarda' was going to be a waste of time. It looked very cheap and mediocre. But boy, was I wrong! The movie very quickly kicked into gear and after that it was one fantastic scene after another! I suppose technically this movie could be classified as nunsploitation, as it is most definitely an exploitation movie and it DOES have nuns in it, and, like virtually all the movies in that fascinating subgenre I've seen, it draws a lot of inspiration from Ken Russell's 'The Devils', but I'd be a bit wary of giving it that slightly misleading description. The focus of the movie isn't on the nuns, but the girls they look after, "good" Justine (Susana Kamini) and "evil" Alucarda (Tina Romero), and their strange relationship, and that to me puts it closer to the witch tradition, or even to 70s erotic vampire movies like Hammer's 'The Vampire Lovers' and 'Twins Of Evil', or similar movies by Jess Franco and Jean Rollin. Anyway, this is my first experience with Moctezuma's movies, and if this is anything to go by, I hope it isn't my last! He was a friend of Jodorowsky and produced the cult classic 'El Topo'. 'Alucarda' isn't "just" a horror movie, like Jodorowsky and Ken Russell, Moctezuma creates some unforgettable surreal imagery and that combined with his strong anti-catholicism makes this a very striking movie that will appeal to Bunuel buffs as much as 'Carrie' fans. 'Alucarda' is a very underrated movie and not to be missed!

After much deliberation and, at one time, even an outright cancellation, I finally took the plunge and purchased Mondo Macabro's R1 SE DVD of Juan Lopez Moctezuma's diabolical horror opus ALUCARDA, which I've received a few days ago and have now watched for the first time. Essentially a modest undertaking, it still manages to be a very creepy piece (the demonic sound effects in particular) and, quite frankly, I found ALUCARDA a lot more enjoyable than either THE DEVILS (1971) and THE EXORCIST (1973) – perhaps the most obvious touchstones of the 'demonic possession' subgenre.

Before writing this personal appraisal, I've re-read all the reviews for the R1 disc I could find on the internet and one thing that I don't remember having been mentioned anywhere is that, unlike most films of its type, Alucarda is not gradually possessed but, as can be seen from the very first scene (her clandestine birth in an unused barn 'decorated' by the relics of ancient demons), she is possibly a spawn of the devil! In fact, her very first appearance as a grown-up – manifesting out of the shadows, like a supernatural entity, behind new intern Justine – seems to substantiate this thesis. The girl's essentially malevolent nature may have been tempered by her stay in the convent (considering her own genuine confusion and shock when, drawn to the barn once again, it is powerfully re-awakened) but it's also obvious that, perhaps unwittingly, she may also have been working her spell on the other nuns: their own religious zeal borders on possession (at one point one of them actually levitates and sweats blood, and witness also their behavior during the grueling exorcism scene).

The film offers any number of highly effective (and potentially subversive) imagery: the nuns themselves, clad exclusively in white, resemble nothing less than a host of mummies; the catacomb-like convent setting with its overhanging religious paraphernalia; a shepherd (usually associated with Christ as leader of the Church) is actually the tempter here, leading the two girls first into a lesbian blood pact and subsequently a demonic orgy!; there are also elements of vampirism on display, as when a charred corpse is suddenly re-animated and has to be restrained by being viciously beheaded and the scene in which Justine (also thought to have died) emerges naked and blood-soaked from a coffin filled with copious amounts of the red stuff and unceremoniously takes a bite off Sister Angelica, who had always been over-protective of the two girls (a sure sign of her own latent lesbianism)!; Alucarda's demise, fading away during the fiery climax when faced with Sister Angelica (being carried by the other nuns) striking a cross-like pose.

Another powerful scene is when Alucarda is sent to confession: she provokes and confounds the priest by first questioning his faith, and then taunts him to give in to his lust for her. The ending has caused a lot of debate: I must say that I had no trouble at all with the conflagrated figure of Christ on the cross. As for the film's apparent unwillingness to take sides, all I can say is this: while organized religion is definitely not portrayed in a good light (the cringe-inducing exorcism as already mentioned but also the self-flagellation sessions), it is also obvious that Alucarda and Justine would need to perish at the end, as we certainly cannot have Satanism emerge triumphant!

Though the film is obviously a period piece, there is no overpowering urge here to recreate it in detail (as was evident in THE DEVILS, for instance) – and, in fact, I would say that the film feels quite 'modern'. The acting is high-pitched but involving: Claudio Brook's ambivalent dual roles and Tina Romero (who also does double-duty as an actress, which fact I was not aware of until I re-read Mondo Digital's review!) – she is effortlessly seductive and possesses (no pun intended) an undeniable screen presence, yet this is mixed with an odd vulnerability which makes her something more than a conventional 'possessed' girl. The synthesizer-based score is also very effective, and genuinely unnerving.

Still, that quote from 'The Psychotronic Video Guide' on the DVD cover is somewhat misleading: it's true that the film is awfully bloody at times but this and the nudity are certainly not consistent, or in any way extreme, like I was led to believe! And while there IS a lot of screaming (I'd say even more so than in THE Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE [1974]), it is not as annoyingly hysterical as that heard in THE DEVILS either (though I concede that the latter film was made on a far broader scale). Conversely, the so-called 'Satanic' orgy is no great shakes; in fact, as a rule, I did not find the film all that shocking!

Some of you here may know that I'm not a great fan of Alejandro Jodorwosky's work, so I was actually thankful that ALUCARDA proved very dissimilar in approach to that film-maker's 'Surrealistic' films. On the other hand, I did feel that the few snippets I saw of Moctezuma's MANSION OF MADNESS (1971) smacked unmistakably of Jodorowsky's somewhat extremist style (though, being based on Poe, I would still love to watch it and, hopefully, Mondo Macabro's proposed DVD edition is not too long in coming)!

One final question with regards to ALUCARDA: does anyone know whether there is actually a longer 90-minute version of this film? Pete Tombs of 'Mondo Macabro' says he could not find any evidence of this, yet some (who were around when it first came out) feel that the 'present' version is somewhat choppy!

Now to the DVD itself: the print, with all its apparent defects and the fact that it is presented full-frame (though it may well be its OAR), is perfectly acceptable under the circumstances. The audio, however, was somewhat problematic displaying echo and distortion which I found rather distracting (I've encountered this same glitch on a small number of other discs and it has always bothered me) – all in all, the Stereo soundtrack sounded unnatural to my ears, and I truly wish the Spanish track had carried subtitles! The supplements, however, I found to be excellent indeed: the documentary on Moctezuma, as well as the text interview and biography, but also the enthusiastic interview with director Guillermo Del Toro who expresses his admiration for Moctezuma's work in general, and even discloses some of his other influences. The theatrical trailer is said to contain missing footage and alternate angles – but I have to say that, since it was presented in Spanish, I didn't give much attention to it!

This had only been the third Mondo Macabro disc I've purchased, but I look forward even more now to more obscure horror titles from this stable, beginning with THE LIVING CORPSE (1967; in terms of extras alone, perhaps their best release yet), which I hope to order in the very near future...

You can have so much fun with this!

In this crazy exploitation movie, young nuns Alucarda (anagram for Dracula) and Justine strike a blood pact, summon demonic forces of some sort and wreak havoc in a small religious community in Mexico. That's it in a nutshell.

It isn't simply a bad film, though it is in conventional terms. It's so utterly nonsensical, so bizarre and hysteric it becomes much more than it is. And isn't the whole point with movies that we construct what they mean to us?

It falls somewhere between Jess Franco's lesbian vampire films, and unconsciously Arrabal's Panic Theater and the Pythons. The beauty of it is that you can read it any way you feel like, there is no logic which is something I seek in films. Or rather, the logic is so inane compared to the anarchic joy, it breaks. My preferred reading is that the whole cacophonous mess is something between Justine's fears of motherhood strangling her sexuality (viewed through a Catholic prism), a confessional of scandalous teenage thoughts, and mischief caused by two young nuns in the back benches during Sunday school, perhaps imaginary, perhaps blown up into 'possession' by the shrill teacher.

It is all entirely theatric, but unselfconscious which is why its chaos works. Everyone is acting crazy, nuns drop down out of the blue. A book (ostensibly on demonology) simply reads 'Satan'. It's all of it disconnected, we visit one place then another. There is a satanic ritual and orgy for no good reason.

There is so much screaming, there is screaming inside the screaming.

It's awesome.

This deliciously sacrilegious and surreal bit of insanity from 1978 is pure exploitative gold. They just don't make them like this anymore!

The sets are imaginative and quite impressive. The convent has the appearance of a cave and the multiple tiered Christs hanging from the ceiling is one of the most brilliant props I have ever seen! Instead of traditional habits, the nuns are clothed in what appears to be torn bloodied bandages. Tina Romero, who plays Alucarda gives a brooding and wonderfully wicked performance. When the action starts, it keeps a spirited pace right through to the end. There is more hysterical female screaming then I've ever witnessed in a single film! The dialog is over dramatic at times and there are a few moments that are bordering on cheesy but Moctezuma's strange, daunting and moody presentation keeps it from slipping into silliness. There is some great bonus material on the DVD, including a brief doc on the films director, Juan López Moctezuma and an interview with Guillermo Del Toro. You will be treated to bizarre images, flagellating nuns, satanic rituals, copious nudity, lesbianism, and bloody violence. It is all complimented nicely by some trippy organ music. This little gem from Mexico City is a must see for horror fans! Highly recommended!