Luciferina

Well, usually Argentina puts out some quality creative drama, but this time - ughhh! Still another demon possession - a been done too-many-times-before script. 1. Usual person wearing a goat's head. 2. Usual CGI or contact lenses - blue eyes if kinda good; red if a real baddie. Usual fake scary demonic teeth for demon possessed. 3. Usual demonic voices in the background or growling demonic voice from the possessed. 4. Usual old big house in a secluded environment. 5. Usual lots of insects - big cockroaches here; also found in the usual strange opening in closet, of course. 6. Usual old garden w/strange tree and sculptures; next to cemetery w/more sculptures. 7. Usual semi-dead ghostly women jumping closer to our innocent nun. 8. Usual lots of lit candles surrounding our future victims; pentagrams on floor or body. To be Argentinian they have an indigenous, face painted, shaman with drumming & chants. 9. Usual pregnant (by whom we wonder) women w/usual upcoming child sacrifice. Conclusion: About the only thing scary is seeing fake colored eyes & teeth for a few minutes other than that a few people are toast, but we don't see it happen. Film mentions Mahonin, a late 1500s name (given by Catholic exorcists) for a demon possessing a French women.

I have done ayahuasca many times and have found it always to be a beautiful, life-changing experience. Making a true film about the ayahuasca experience would have made a better film, but no; this film had to take a potentially beautiful experience and toss in a demon named Manohin (he actually named himself early on in the film, but nobody present seemed to be paying any attention to this fact, so a lot of time was wasted asking the demon what his name was), and the chaos that ensues while under the influence would be insurmountable for the heroine. Take OUT the references to ayahuasca, and it would stand alone as a good horror film.

It is about a girl who can see auras. She is in bad terms with her father and sister. Nevertheless, she goes with the latter and a bunch of her sister's friends to a secluded abandoned orphanage in a island to take ayahuasca-an hallucinogen drug. As expected, things start to become weird after they take the drug-thing that takes a lot.

At the beginning it does not look right although from the introduction of the second part, the end of the character's presentation, gets better. But in the end it is too long and sinks like a rock at sea.

I had little to none interest in seeing the end so I fast-forwarded from more or less and hour and so. Nothing interesting so I am rating it with a three and a half rounding up-as usual-to a four.

After learning of her parents' accident, a young woman leaves a nunnery to to return home to deal with the incident and falls in with her sister and her friends who are going on a trek into the jungle to undergo a sacred ritual which releases a satanic curse on the group as she uses a dark secret to save them.

Frankly, this was a spectacular and standout genre effort. One of it's strongest qualities is the fervent and utterly phenomenal religious symbolism apparent throughout here. As her religious background at first causes her to be made fun of and ridiculed, this soon gives her a fighting chance to overcome the forces plaguing her the longer she stays in the house. Her initial vision of the nuns in the church after learning of the accident ends up correlating nicely with the concurrent vision of her sisters' friends at the house, which is all tied together through the connections made about who she really is. This is all given greater importance with the scenes at the house detailing all the religious paintings left in the attic all coming after a former nun-in-training experienced her first sexual awakening shortly beforehand. That factors heavily into the traditional jump scenes that are featured throughout here, giving this one a rather enjoyable and somewhat creepy air. The first scenes of her being tormented by the ghostly beings like the figures in the paintings offer up some great jumps and the scenes with the rats charging out of a hole in the wall are rather enjoyable. The scenes on the island, though, offer up an overwhelmingly enjoyable series of scenes that really work nicely, including the ritual being performed in the candle-lit room as they go on their spiritual journey that pulls off the greatest scene in the movie in the pregnant woman being possessed while about to give birth. The work this section builds for the finale is just as spectacular. With the knowledge gleaned from the encounter with the midwife following her having survived the demons' attempts to finish its masterplan, this one brings the religious angle together alongside its tale of salvation where she's granted enough energy and power to fight the demon due to her condition. Taking place as a charged, full-scale fight for the soul of both parties through classic exorcism tropes as well as the unconventional method of sexually expelling the demon which is a wholly unique concept that works incredibly well here against the other demonic and exorcism imagery. The film might be a touch too long and feature some wonky effects-work, but these aren't in the slightest bit harmful to this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Nudity, a strong sex scene, several sexually suggestive images, Graphic Violence and drug use.

The story is a complicated, layered character study folded in a supernatural, demonic nightmare. At times the movie stumbles through continuity with the many micro-plotlines bridging toward a climactic end. However it maintains enough controlled focus to allow the overall story arc to hold together. It's steady pace creates a slow-burn suspense.

The cinematography is a delicious blend of neo-Gothic settings and devilishly creepy occult imagery. Calzada focuses his energy on taking these characters and the audience through a cavalcade of haunting, eerie locations that create an epic and entertaining atmosphere. The practical and CGI effects are equally superb and the camera isn't shy about showing the visceral horrors.

Overall "Luciferina" is well worth watching, and for fans of occult horror it packs a punch. It blends Catholic concepts of evil with tribal mysticism and pagan mythology. It also creates one heck of a demonic horror show complete with a sexorcism that is totally metal.