Mexican horror

[Fenril]

I've never reviewed all the mexican horror movies that I've seen, mainly because there are just so many, but I think it's time to try to give it a shot. So first, just a list in alphabetical order. This is only horror movies, through a couple do fall closer to dark fantasy or thriller (I did try to leave out the entries that are plain fantasy, thriller or sci-fi). I did include those luchadore movies that can be called horror and not just action with some monster movie elements. I left out shorts and tv series, but did include at least one anthology film. Finally, this has the official title followed by alternative titles, if they exist; only in spanish for now, I'll probably add the international title when I get around to reviewing each movie:

El ahijado de la muerte
Alucarda [La hija de las tinieblas; Hermanas de Satán]
Alucardos, retrato de un vampiro
El ángel exterminador
El ángel negro
Ángelus [Ángelus, ángel o demonio]
¡Aquí espantan!
El ataúd del vampiro

Bajo la sal

La cámara del terror
Canoa
Cañitas [Presencia]
Cazador de monstruos
Cementerio del terror
Ciclón
Cien gritos de terror
Cumpleaños diabólico [Vacaciones de terror 2]
Curados de espanto [Se les metió el diablo]

Dimensiones ocultas
Doña macabra

El escapulario
El esqueleto de la señora Morales
eXXXorcismos

El fantasma del convento

El grito de la muerte

Hasta el viento tiene miedo
La horripilante bestia humana

La invasión de los vampiros
La invención de Cronos [Cronos]

Los jinetes de la bruja [En el viejo Guanajuato]
J-ok’el

Kilómetro 31

Ladrón de cadáveres
Ladrones de tumbas
El libro de piedra
La llorona (1958)
Las lloronas
La loba [Los horrores del bosque negro]

Macario
La maldición de la llorona
La mansión de la locura
Más negro que la noche
Más que a nada en el mundo
Misterios de ultratumba
La momia azteca
Las mujeres vampiro [Santo contra las mujeres vampiro]
El mundo de los muertos
Muñecos infernales

La noche de los mil gatos

Orlak [El infierno de Frankenstein]

El profeta Mimí

La rata maldita [Mutantes del año 2000]

La santa muerte
Santa sangre
Santo contra las lobas
Satánico Pandemónium
El signo de la muerte
Sobrenatural
Somos lo que hay
Spam

Terror y encajes negros
La tía Alejandra
Trampa infernal

Vacaciones de terror
El vampiro
El vampiro sangriento
24 cuadros de terror
Veneno para las hadas
La venganza de la llorona
Viernes de ánimas [El camino de las flores]

[Fenril]

Let´s go by theme. First, movies about "La llorona" (or the weeping woman), one of the most famous mexican ghost stories [it has equivalents in several countries as well, but it's mostly associated with Mexico]:

- El grito de la muerte (1958) [aka The living coffin]. A pair of cowboys try to help a family whose mausoleum is being routinely desecrated. Even more worrysome are those strange cries heard at night, the cries that sound like the scream of a madwoman....

A western / monster combo, altrough it's ultimately more of a mistery than an horror outing. Still, it's a pretty original effort.

- J-ok’el (2006). A close-minded american journalist travels to a mexican small town to look for his half-sister, who has become the latest casualty in a rash of child dissappearances attributed to J-ok'el, or as she's more famously known, the crying woman.

I HATED this movie, it has a terrible script, embarassing special effects and one of Dee Wallace's worst performances.

Curiously the tv show "Grimm" recently did an episode of La llorona with virtually the same script as this movie, and yet did a much, much better job (having better dialogue and good acting helped a lot; and the special effects on that show are even cheaper, yet here they didn't distract so much).

- Kilómetro 31 (2006). After her twin sister falls into a coma due to a car accident, Agata journeys to a lonely road known as "Km. 31" where her sister was struck down. This place was once the connection point of two rivers, said to represent the gate between the world of the living and that of the dead; they are also said to be guarded by a certain female spirit that seeks "children" to carry away...

I'm a bit torn on this movie. On the one hand, it has an okay script and a visually arresting sequence of a road dissolving into a river (and taking a few unfortunate souls with it); the llorona's one line ("Like me, you'll lose everything you loved in life; and then, life itself") is a pretty memorable quote, and the ending is a gleefully wicked twist.
The problem is that the lead characters are incredibly bland, to the point where it's hard to care what happens to them. Also, the ghosts here are just not very scary.

- La llorona (1958). An ancient family is stricken with a curse: a vengeful spirit which kills their firstborns on their fifth birthday. The last heiress is convinced by her husband that they can avoid the curse somehow. Too bad they didn't research their new nanny more closely...

Sort of a mixed bag: a great opening (a crawl down a busy city street that culminates in a cemetery), a romance drama first act, a great second act (a visual recreation of the llorona's origin) --all undone by an unintentionally hilarious third act.

- Las lloronas (2004). Again, a family cursed by the spirit of la llorona --this time, however, she doesn't just take the firstborns, she takes all the men in the family sooner or later, leaving the women grieving the rest of their life and destined to become lloronas themselves after death...

Again, a mixed bag: a good first half, some intersting visuals for the ghost (it helps that she only shows up a couple times, and feels like a real menace), along with a fairly cruel twist ending. The weak part is the second act, with a series of accidents that seem a bit out of place in this kind of movie --the director can't seem to decide if she wants to do a supernatural drama or a dark comedy.

- La maldición de la llorona (1963) [aka Curse of the crying woman]. A young woman is set to inherit her aunt's hacienda, unaware of the dark nature of this place. A place that houses vampire witches, shackled werewolves and evil dwarves. And it's presided by the remains of the infamous Llorona...

One of the most original interpretations of the legend, yet; while this owes more to Universal's gothic productions than to local legends, it has a neat script that mixes horror tropes with family melodramas, in the stile of famous shows like the original "Dark shadows". It has a pretty neat visual design for the llorona, and a nod to another classic mexican gothic, "El vampiro" (the eerie Hacienda de los Sicamoros appears in both movies).

- La venganza de la llorona (1974) [aka Santo and Mantequilla Napoles in: Vengeance of the crying woman]. A mexican wrestler / superhero joins forces with a cuban boxer to stop a vengeful spirit that's targetting an extended family.

When in doubt, add luchadores... this is a pretty fun entry, with another good visual design for the llorona, and strangely enough one of her highest cinematic body-counts. Fairly entertaining.

[slayrrr666]

There's one more TV show adaptation of the legend missed, at least as far as I'm concerned: an episode of "R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour' which features Sofia Vergara's son from 'Modern Family' sent to live with his cousins for the summer unaware the family is being stalked by a vengeful figure with a strange habit of wailing deep into the night. I found it pretty good and is definitely one of the better adaptations of the legend (obviously it's a young children's show so not a lot can be done about how vengeful or destructive it can be) and while it does change around the legend somewhat in order to make it more palpable for young kids, it wasn't bad.

[Fenril]

I've heard good things about "The haunting hour"; apparently, third time is the charm for Stine, as it's a much better show than his previous productions ("Goosebumps" and "The nightmare room", both in a similar vein).

[slayrrr666]

'Goosebumps' the show wasn't bad at all but I think way too many people compared it to the books and expected literal translations which is impossible. There's some good ones in there but if you compare them to their book counterpart, yeah it falls short but they're still enjoyable.

But totally with you on 'Nightmare Room.' That was just terrible all around.

[Fenril]

Good point on Goosebumps; mostly, I felt they toned down the books' endings a little [but as you say, some of those couldn't really be done on a kid's show].

I was going to list the vampire movies next, but I'm a bit busy this week, so for now:

Movies with the personification of Death itself:

- El ahijado de la muerte (1946). Foreman Pedro is the godson of Death itself (Pedro's father had made a bargain with Death, giving up his wife to save his son; Death wanted to see what human relationships can be like), as such, he's practically immortal and something of a daredevil. When he crosses paths with a ruthless landowner, he'll learn that this gift does not extend to his loved ones, with tragical consequences for all.

"Charro" movies are more or less Mexico's answer to Westerns; the key difference is that these aren't always adventure riffs; they may have elements of melodrama, romance, musical --and noir fantasy, as is the case here. Good atmosphere, a couple neat sequences here and there (the baptismal in a cemetery and the climatic shootout, for instance) and an intriguing ending are this movie's strongest points.

- Cien gritos de terror (1965). Antology film with two stories.

In "Pánico", a married couple inherit a home said to be haunted. The wife spends the night there and soon suspects there is something there with her: something that drags chains behind it and has something wicked planned for her. But she has a few plans of her own...

In "Miedo supremo", a man faints inside a mausoleum and wakes up long after closing time; he's joined by a woman who claims to have been buried alive --and that death is still chasing after her. This is an intense night the man will never forget, no matter how much he wants to...

While the first entry is a strong enough monster riff, the second is the real highlight here (and the reason I listed this movie here), a somber and suspenseful drama that slowly evolves into a nightmare.

- Macario (1960). On the day of the dead, impoverished farmer Macario sets out to devour an entire turkey by himself. He's approached by three figures (God, the Devil and Death) who each ask him to share his meal with them. He rejects the first two, but decides to strike a bargain with the last one...

Classic Mexican fantasy, with a fairy-tale like script, a memorable sequence in the world of the dead and a haunting ending.


IMHO the best mexican iteration of this character (concept?) was the tv show "La hora marcada", wherein she appeared as "The woman in black" --always played by a different actress (ocassionally an actor as well) and with a very different role in each chapter, as we each have our own type of death.

[Fenril]

Vampire movies! In chronological order:

- El vampiro [aka The vampire] (1957). Martha returns to the eerie Hacienda de los Sicamoros, where she had spent her childhood. But things have become quite strange: one of her aunts has recently passed away and the other is acting strangely secretive. Why is the local populace terrified of the immigrant Count Lavud? And what of those strange chants Martha hears at night, the ones that sound remarkably like those of her supposedly deceased aunt?

Perhaps *the* classic mexican vampire movie, which ushered in a wave of similar flims throughout the 60's. While the special effects are terrible the movie manages to make up for it with tons of atmosphere, earnest performances and a clever script.

- El ataúd del vampiro (1958) aka The vampire's coffin. Sequel to "El vampiro"; Count Lavud is resurrected by a grave robber and follows the previous movie's survivors back to to a thriving Mexico City.

This sequel retains all of the elements of the previous movie; while the seedy (yet strangely chic) city surroundings don't have quite the atmosphere of the original hacienda, this retains the important gothic elements. It's also aided by slightly better special effects and one suprisingly violent death (not the vampire's).

- Las mujeres vampiro [Santo contra las mujeres vampiro] (1962). Santo's first monster outing has him being hired to protect a young heiress from the clutches of a clan of female vampires and their shapeshifting slaves.

One of the best luchadore / monster combos, this one has all the esential ingredients for a fun time.

- El vampiro sangriento (1962) aka Bloody vampire. The mysterious Count Frankenhousen seeks to take back an ancient castle that belonged to his family and the secrets within. Secrets that mortal eyes were never meant to see...

Fairly good gothic horror that, while not having an original line in its' script is nevertheless a pretty entertaining supernatural romp. This is rare case of a movie actually being surpassed by it's sequel:

- La invasión de los vampiros (1963) aka Invasion of the vampires. Sequel to "El vampiro sangriento". Count Frankenhousen has managed to take over an entire small town; can Dr. Alvarán convince Frankenhousen's repentant housekeeper to reveal the secret that might defeat the evil count once and for all?

The sequel holds up quite well to the original (they were filmed back to back), still gaining in gothic atmosphere what it doesn't quite have in character development.

- Curado de espantos [aka Se les metió el diablo] (1992). A hot archaeologyst accidentally revives a vampire who had been sealed away in an Aztec pyramid (!) and enlists the help of two goofball wizards to defeat him.

Terrific mix of politically incorrect comedy and gothic horror, through the movie ultimately leans more toward the former. The highlight here is the heroine's final confrontation with the vampire, where she has to combine old-school methods (wooden stakes) with modern trickery to stand a chance. Neat twist ending, too.

- La invención de Cronos [aka Cronos] (1993). An antiquarian finds the fabled "Cronos device", an alchemist's charm that restores youth and vigor to whoever possesses it --for a price. Just in case the ruthless americans looking out for the device weren't enough of a problem, Jesús finds himself thirsting for fresh blood...

Guillermo del Toro's debut feature (and his only proper Mexican movie, not counting his work in "La hora marcada" or his short films) is a stunning gothic melodrama. Great cast and a classy storyline (that is punctuated by gleefully nasty set-ups such as Jesús hungrily licking blood off a restroom's floor), too.

- Más que a nada en el mundo (2006). When her recently divorced mother starts staying out late and displaying marks in her neck that she's quick to hide, young Alicia becomes convinced that their elderly neighbor is a vampire who is feeding on mom. Alicia decides she must kill him to save everyone...

Family drama with subtle horror overtones. Nice acting and a nicely ambigous conclusion.


Other local vampire films include, in no particular order: El impero de Drácula; La venganza de las mujeres vampiro; Los vampiros de Coyoacán; Chabelo y Pepito contra los monstruos; El castillo de los monstruos; Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary; El mundo sangriento de los vampiros; and the Nostradamus tetralogy.

[Fenril]

- Addendum: while not Mexican productions as such, the movies From dusk till dawn and Vampires: los muertos do deserve at least an honorable mention, due to the use of local elements (and local actors) combined with a Hollywood budget.

Possibly the Canadian production Jesus Christ: vampire hunter as well due to an unauthorized use of Santo, but I haven't actually seen that one yet.

[slayrrr666]

Here in the US, there's a boxset for El Vampiro and El Ataud that has both the original and dubbed versions, commentaries and more that I've been dying to pick up but have never seen it for a price that justifies my picking it up. It's getting close but not yet.

Otherwise, I've seen three of those you haven't: Vampiros de Coyoacan, Venganza de las mujeres vampiros and what I believe to be part 2 of the Nostradamus series, Nostradamus y el destructor del monstrous. Coyoacan is still in my top 10 favorite Mexican horror due to it's glorious, ridiculous cheese mixed with some high-energy action scenes and a great dose of Gothic atmosphere. Mujeres Vampiros is right close behind as it's got a special pride in being the first solo Santo effort I saw (I had seen several Blue Demon team-ups before that one) and the Gothic atmosphere, updated gore and probably one of the best matches of the Santo efforts I've seen so far still make it hold up quite well.

I'll reserve true thoughts on Nostradamus since I've yet to see the entire series or know what part of the story is the episode I saw.

[Fenril]

The Nostradamus tetralogy goes in this order:

1. La maldición de Nostradamus.

2. Nostradamus, el genio de las tinieblas.

3. Nostradamus y el destructor de monstruos.

4. La sangre de Nostradamus.

All helmed by the same director, Federico Curiel, and with Germán Robles (the same lead of "El vampiro") as the title character.

[slayrrr666]

Oh, it's part three. Thanks for that. ;D

[Fenril]

You're welcome.

And now, a few 'were' movies, meaning werewolves and other beastly transformations:

- Cazador de demonios (1983). A wrongly condemned wizard comes back from the grave in the form of a werewolf that proceeds to off most of a small town's populace in spectacularly gory fashion. Meanwhile, the town's skeptic sheriff and compassionate doctor have to team up with a lunatic priest who may actually know a thing or two about dark magic...

Surprisingly good (and pleasantly gory) werewolf movie, which gets bonus points for the use of a local beast, the Nahual. My one complaint is that the script doesn't quite take advantage of some terrific ideas [such as a chilling subplot having to do with a lynch mob who has the wrong victim and the fact that a Nahual was traditionally a spirit companion that could take the shape of pretty much any animal it wanted to]. Good climatic fight in an abandoned building, too.

- La horripilante bestia humana [aka Horror y sexo aka Night of the bloody apes] (1969). A female wrestler and her cop boyfriend stumble into the results of a mad doctor's attempt to cure his terminally ill son: an ape man that is viciously raping and dismembering his way through the local populace.

Unfairly maligned shlock with abundant gore [NOTE: This is only in the uncut version, which for obvious reasons is the recomended version to watch. The cut version removes all instances of nudity, as well] and a plot that isn't quite as dumb as you've heard (it's not good, either, but what were most critics expecting?). Fairly entertaining.

- Ladrón de cadáveres (1957). A detective recruits his athletic best friend to pose as a luchador in order to investigate the truth behind a rash of recent kidnappings and unexplained deaths in the lucha libre circle. They stumble into a mad doctor's plan to create a new and monstruous species, with tragic consequences for all.

One of the first luchadore / monster hybrids, with a surprisingly good script and performances. The downer ending (quite unusual in this particular subgenre) is another plus.

- La loba [aka Los horrores del bosque negro] (1965). A physician arrives at the wealthy Fernandez hacienda to ask the daugher's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, she's keeping certain secrets from her family. Such as her midnight rendezvous with a mysterious stranger or the curse he has passed onto her...

Gothic horror with lots of atmosphere and fine performances. The climatic transformation scene, wherein Clarisa turns into a wolf while nonchalantly playing the piano remains impressive despite the cheap makeup employed. There's also a neat twist involving what is at first thought to be a werewolf victim.

- La rata maldita [aka Mutantes del año 2000 aka Demon rat] (1992). In a bleak near future (well, now we have surpassed that future), a schoolteacher discovers that the actions of a highly immoral company have created a new race of mutant humanoid rats. She'll have to decide wether the creatures or human assassins are worse, as both follow her home one night...

Pretty entertaining sci-fi / creature feature combo with low budget but a fairly imaginative script. The rat creature itself isn't much to look at, but it's attacks are pretty vividly realized, while the human villains manage to be scarier with a simple gas mask and unkempt hair.

- Santo vs. las lobas [aka Santo vs. the she-wolves] (1976). Virtual remake of "Santo vs the vampire women" substituting vampires with werewolves and adding color and gore.

Surpisingly good luchadore romp that actually manages to be scary at times (check out the wolves' attack on a schoolbus in broad daylight). The special effects aren´t much to look at, but they do get the job done. Likewise, this doesn't quite have the gothic atmosphere of the vampire women version, but it does have its' moments. Basically, they'd make a good double feature.

[Fenril]

And now, witchcraft movies [note that since "magic" can pretty much mean anything in fiction, this includes movies that could also be clasified as "haunted houses", "satanic thrillers" and whatnot]:

- Cementerio del terror (1985) aka Cemetery of terror. During Halloween night in Acapulco a group of rowdy teenagers break into the home of an executed serial killer and read aloud from a Grimoire for fun --naturally, the killer is resurrected and soon pulls the teenagers, a sheriff and a group of trick-or-treater children into his deadly games. Worst, he's not the only one raising from his grave tonight...

A mix of several genres (slasher, witchcraft, zombie, even whodunit) that nevertheless manages to be entertaining all the way through. Low budget and gory, both of which just add to the overall fun. The shift from a teenage cast to a pre-teen one isn't nearly as jarring as one might think (particularly because this movie isn't afraid to put its' child characters in actual mortal danger), through the fact that there isn't really a lead character can be a bit confusing at first.

- Dimensiones ocultas (1988) aka Don't panic. A group of teenagers fooling around with a Ouija board bring back a serial killer from the netherworld, who proceeds to possess one of the teenagers and wreck havoc on the local populace.

A low-budget ripoff of "A nightmare on Elm St." and other 80's american slashers, but a fairly entertaining one. The killer itself is a cypher rather than the rock-stars most slasher franchises give us, but in this case that actually helps with the suspense (this killer prefers to be silent and to dispatch his victims as quickly and messily as possible).

- Doña macabra (1972). A gold-digging couple move into the house of an excentric family whose matriarch is rumored to be a witch (and the patriarch, a mad scientist), seeking to steal their rumored fortune. But this family doesn't take kindly to invaders...

Failed adaptation of a 1963 tv series [itself sort of a mexican "Dark shadows" meets "The munsters"], with a plot that seems to have been written on the spot and thoroughly inexplicable character motivations [at one point a detective infiltrates the house by disguising himself as a talking gorilla. Which nobody finds the least bit strange].

- El escapulario (1968). A dying old woman summons a priest to her mansion and gives him a family heirloom --the titular scapulary. She proceeds to narrate it's past influence on her family (thus setting the place for three scary stories) --basically, those who believe in the scapulary's power will be granted the grace to overcome impossible odds. Those who don't believe in it will have a much darker fate...

Delightful mix of gothic horrors and colonial legends, with a clever double twist ending.

- Los jinetes de la bruja (1966) aka En el viejo Guanajuato. An ageing rancher is framed for the murder of a puppetter; thus his family requests the services of the town's witch and her three trusty (if not thrustworthy) cowboys. Meanwhile, what's with the mysterious masked rider who is also stalking the villains? And what's with those puppets that seem to be moving on their own?

And adventure / fantasy movie with ocassional dark touches (truth be told, the first ten minutes make this movie look as if it's going to be a serious horror drama, with an atmospheric opening on the woods, a spectral puppet show and a violent murder --and then the main character serenades his girfriend with a decidedly modern song and you know it's going somewhere else). I can't decide if I liked this movie or not, but I do concede everyone involved did a pretty good job with the script they were given.

- El libro de piedra (1969). Julia, a young schoolteacher, is hired to be the governess of a rich and withdrawn girl named Silvia. She introduces Julia to her best friend: a statue that she calls Hugo, and whom she claims is actually a wizard that comes to life at night and is teaching her black magic. Julia dismisses this as child's play --until she catches Silvia dabbling in some rather complicated rituals at sunset. And the fact that the people who upset Silvia always seem to die in horrible accidents...

One of the best Mexican horrors from director Taboada (of Hasta el viento tiene miedo fame, among others), a gothic thriller with a nice use of shadows and sounds to create an atmosphere of fear and a fairly impacting ending.

- El mundo de los muertos (1969) aka Santo y Blue Demon en el mundo de los muertos. A witch condemned by the Inquisition swears vengeance on her executioner's descendants. In the twentieth century, said ancestors are being hunted down by Damiana and her army of zombies --luckily, Santo and Blue Demon are on the case.

One of the best luchadore / horror hybrids, mixing the requisite wrestling matches with some suprisingly effective scare pieces and a pseudo-mithology woven in (having to do with knights and sorcery, basically).

- Muñecos infernales (1961) aka Curse of the doll people. Four men and their family are targetted by a voodoo priest they once wronged. But since their lives won't be enough for the priest, he intends to capture their souls as well --by turning each victim into a a living puppet that he then sends to kill the next target and their extended family...

Fairly eerie killer-doll movie with a dash of adventure thrown in for good measure. Also notable for lead Karina, a suprisingly strong female character for the era.

- La santa muerte (2007). Four very different people request the favors of the infamous "Santa muerte" to get something they desperatedly want --like the welfare of their sick daughter, a job, revenge on a cheating spouse...

A terrific premise that's ruined by the single fact that this is an evangelic movie, and as such constantly hammers in that the characters have no right to pray to what is presented as a demonic entity and that only Jesus can save them. The director had previously helmed "Hades, vida después de la muerte", which was actually much more competent, and at least didn't overstate its' intended message.

- El signo de la muerte (1939). A mysterious cult is sacrificing virgins to their dark god. Two dueling reporters attempt to solve the mystery; meanwhile, anthropologist Dr. Gallardo is starting to discover just how close the carnage is to his own home...

One of the earliest Mexican thrillers, with a surprising amount of nudity and gore [only in uncut versions, that is]; also notable for the presence of the infamous Cantinflas, here presenting one of his weirdest characters: a secretary / amateur magician / crossdresser by night.

- Sobrenatural (1996) aka All of them witches. After her neighbor is murdered, a housewife discovers that there is a witch coven right in her building, and that she may have been targeted as their next victim.

Fairly blatant rip-off of "Rosemary's baby" (to such a degree that at one point our heroine watches that movie to figure out her next move), that nevertheless manages to be entertaining and even atmospheric at times. The best scene is the climatic confrontation with a voodoo zombie.

- La tía Alejandra (1979). When old aunt Alejandra moves in with a typical middle-class family, the children and the husband are fairly wary of her and eventually start playing thoughtless pranks on her. Unfortunately for them, Alejandra is actually a powerful witch with an agenda of her own and the means to get rid of any nuisance in her way...

Pretty effective mix of family melodrama and supernatural thriller, especially notable for being a rare horror movie that is quite willing to kill it's underage characters. Curiously, this is yet another mexican horror wherein a magic user sends living dolls to kill a target (here only for one scene, but a rather frightening one).

- Vacaciones de terror (1989). A family rents an idyllic hacienda as a summer house, unaware that it was once the site where a witch was executed by fire. The witch's spirit soon possesses one of the children and proceeds to create chaos for the rest of the family...

Blending of a lot of horror clichés (haunted houses, bleeding walls, possessed children, living dolls, etc.) that is nevertheless a very entertaining (and IMHO very unfarily maligned) shlock.

- Cumpleaños diabólico (1991), aka Vacaciones de terror 2. Julio, the researcher from the first movie, tracks the evil doll to a new house, where a children's birthday party is about to start. It's gonna be a party no one will ever forget...

Even crazier sequel that's only marginally related to the original (early in the movie the doll uses magic to transmute into an Orc-like creature, and this time she uses more spectacular tricks rather than just possessing children), but is even more fun and with better special effects. The halloween-esque decoration of the party is another highlight.

- Veneno para las hadas (1984) aka Poison for the fairies. Two little girls want to be witches and engage in several arcane rituals. It's all fun and games, until the people they pretend to curse actually do start dying...

Terrific gothic movie from the director of "El libro de piedra", with an understated horror and the neat visual trick of shooting the entire movie from the children's point of view (the adults's faces are always hidden from the viewer). Surprisingly cruel (and fiery) ending, too.

[slayrrr666]

Ah, good stuff here. I've seen a couple of these:

Cementerio del terror and Dimensionas occultas are both in my top-10 favorites of the country as a whole, Cementerio coming out on top slightly for it's just jaw-droppingly effective zombie sequence that I can't stop smiling about when I think of it. Loved your point about it throwing children into the fire effectively as well.

Vacacionas del terror is another country highlight for me as well, chockfull of cheesy good fun that slips a little due to others doing the same material a little better throughout (I believe there was some pacing issues related to when they arrive at the house and when the possession occurs that knock this one down) but overall I like this one a lot more than most of it's American inspirations.

Sobrenatural is a mixed bag for me, it's effective and eerie enough at times but then it's just so slow and dull that it begins getting boring in the middle segments, especially when she starts investigating.

[Fenril]

And now, ghost movies:

- ¡Aquí espantan! (1993) [alternatively titled ¡Aquí espaantan!, which is a comedic way of pronouncing the title. Said title can be roughly translated as "This place is haunted!"]. Two newlyweds move to a house inhabited by a ghostly couple, who decide to use several tricks to scare them away --with darkly comic results for all.

Terrific fantasy comedy that still manages to be scary at times (probably because the comedy stems more from the characters' logic than from the situation), this reminded me a lot of "Beetlejuice", through with a much lower budget [both, incidentally, seem to be inspired by Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville ghost"], and a neat twist ending.

- eXXXorcismos (2002). After a suicide pact between two male lovers goes wrong, one of them is left to wander a mall at night, searching men from whom he draws "more than blood". Then there's Roberto, the new security guard who has a few secrets of his own...

Queer horror drama with a nice atmosphere and a surprisingly bloody climax. The one problem here is that the script appears to have been intended for a stage play, so there is lots of monologuing to the camera and most of the action happens off-screen .

- El fantasma del convento (1934) aka The phantom of the convent. Due to a car accident, a married couple and the husband's brother are stranded in the woods. They arrive to a mysterious convent, where the monks welcome them in and share a strange story over dinner: it seems the convent was cursed due to the actions of a man who killed his brother to steal the brother's wife. As night falls, a sealed door is opened and history seems condemned to repeat itself...

One of the earliest mexican horror films, and IMHO one of the best, a ghost drama with a very gothic atmosphere, complex characters and a neat little twist ending. This was also one of the first movies to firmly establish a distinctly latinoamerican element for fright films: the supernatural characters are more ambigous than outright evil or good (they are scary because it's not quite clear what their motivations are), and human evil is what drives the story.

- Hasta el viento tiene miedo (1967) aka Even the wind is afraid. Seven girls at a boarding school grow obsessed with the mystery behind a hushed-up suicide that one of them has been having recurrent nightmares about. When they enter a belltower that had been boarded up, they'll discover more than they wanted to about the faculty's past --and unleash an unstoppable force from beyond the grave...

My personal favorite mexi-horror, a Gothic tale with a great cast, a simple yet effective storyline and several memorable fright pieces. From the director of "Veneno para las hadas".

- Más negro que la noche (1975). Four young women move to the mansion that one of them inherited from her reclusive aunt on one condition --that they take care of her beloved black cat, Bécquer*. Shortly after the cat is found dead, a malevolent presence starts stalking the women and it won't be satisfied until they have all paid in blood...

The director of "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" scores another great fright film, this one with more explicit sexual connotations and an inceasingly frantic storyline --all culminating in a surprisingly cruel ending.

*An allusion to Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, short of the Spanish Edgar Allan Poe.

- Spam (2008). A cursed chain e-mail is dwindling the populace of a prestigious college; the girlfried of one of the victims and a police officer must join forces to solve the mystery behind the deadly mail and it's relation to a bizarre suicide that took place ten years ago on a nearby church.

If the premise of this movie sounds more fit for a Japanese or Korean horror tale, the firs problem here is that "Spam" appears to be modeled after the American remakes of such movies. This isn't really as bad as you might have heard and the entity behing the deaths is actually a pretty neat concept, but this is still a pretty dull affair due to the underdeveloped characters and the director's lack of skill at creating suspense.

- Viernes de ánimas (2011) aka El camino de las flores. A psychic youngster takes a weekend vacation at a friend's country house and stumbles into a mystery having to do with the disappeareance of an entire family. The secrets he soon uncovers will have some rather tragic consequences for his friend and their host, however...

Low-budget supernatural thriller that tries so hard, but whose script needed at least one rewrite, as the characters often act in rather inconsistent ways. There's also a twist that was probably intended to be a huge suprise, but mostly comes across as the writer running out of ideas.