Más negro que la noche

I first saw this movie about 15 years ago when I was nine, and I still get scared when I think about it. Ooh, the old lady calling for her dead cat makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. A classic Mexican horror film. They don't make movies like this anymore. Worth watching more than once.

I really enjoyed this. It is paced a little leisurely and is not full of startling action but it is colourful and engaging with a gentle but relentless move towards the inevitable bad ending. A fairly simple, 'Old Dark House' tale featuring four good looking young women who go to live in the aforementioned mansion. They are disrespectful from the start of the building and its 'junk' contents and the elderly Sofia, the housekeeper, magnificently played with complete eeriness by Alicia Palacios, and the film makers seem to wreak their own revenge to some extent by allowing the girls to make such asses of themselves. Also, deliberate or not the many and varied 70s outfits they sport seem to get progressively worse as the film continues. One or two moments of half baked 'soapy' melodrama, usually featuring preposterous plump and mustachioed 'boyfriends but for the most part a creepy fully focused and unusual horror that is well worth a watch. I must also mention the cat. Featuring heavily in the great opening credits, this black cat does not put a paw wrong and is caught on camera looking as mysterious and fearsome as is possible. He also features in the fine original poster.

DARKER THAN NIGHT opens with the death of an elderly woman, witnessed only by her cat.

Ofelia (Claudia Islas) is the old woman's niece, and will inherit her enormous house, land, and fortune. The only stipulation is that Ofelia must keep the cat, named Bequer. Ofelia and three other women (Lucia Mendez, Helena Rojo, and Susana Dosamantes) move into the mansion right away.

The women are met by the stolid, sour-faced maid, Sofia (Alicia Palacios). When Bequer makes his appearance, he begins to act in an odd manner. Mysterious events soon occur- unexplained property damage, disembodied moans, etc.

With this movie it's all about the building atmosphere of gloom and uneasiness. Most of the true, more overt shocks happen toward the end.

The all-female cast is fantastic! Not only beautiful, but able to carry the film without a "leading man". This is pretty rare in the movies from the 1970's...

My favorite of the Taboada trilogy of horror...I don't think Veneno Para las Hadas counts as a horror movie. The soundtrack is really good for a horror movie- harpsichord, varied themes and styles. With a low budget, Taboada managed to convey fright, something that is hard to do. It has a classic vibe to it, a la "The Haunting" (the original one...no the hot mess from the late 90s). I have to admit, it's rather cheesy, but as a child, it captivated me. What I loved also, now that I'm an adult and have read my share of books, is the nod to Edgar Alla Poe's "The Black Cat." Film-making wise, I think Taboada was an unappreciated genius. I hope Guillermo del Toro honors him by remaking one of the three.

I'm a fan of this original 70s film about a group of young women foiled by the spirit of an angsty ghost and her black cat, Bekker. I'm amused and mystified at the choice of name for the cat which is an apparent attempt and fail at an English-sounding name. It would be like me naming my cat Beccia to try to sound Spanish or Italian.

Funny linguistics aside, the OG version of Mas Negro Que La Noche is fantastically atmospheric and easily watchable time and again for your Day of the Dead or Cinco de Mayo festivities. It's worth noting that the plot is fairly divergent from the 2014 remake (of which I'm also a fan). I think I prefer the ending to the remake but you'll have to decide for yourself.