Summary:
A young girl arrives at a convent where she and her new best friend awaken an evil presence.
My Thoughts:
This movie is almost a masterpiece of nunsploitation/satanic panic cinema; almost. If the acting was a bit better, and not, say, on par with something you’d see on daytime soap operas, I probably would’ve given this film a perfect score. The story is fast-paced, grotesque, and thrilling; the production design is amazing, and it’s shot gorgeously; the themes, though I don’t quite agree with them, are developed enough to make even the most disturbing imagery in this movie meaningful. I urge caution, because even today “Alucarda” would probably be somewhat controversial (I would make comparisons to Ken Russel’s “The Devils”, “The Exorcist”, and “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders”). But, if you’re a huge fan of horror cinema (like me), then you’re probably used to controversy. I think “Alucarda” freaking rocks.
“And this is what the Devil does…”
After Justine (Susana Kamini), a naïve teenager, arrives at a convent, she befriends Alucarda (Tina Romero, “Missing (1982)”), an orphaned teenager who has lived at the convent all her life. The two become close, and one day after encountering a mysterious gypsy (Manuel Donde, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”) who leads them to a tenebrous, gossamer-curtained crypt, where the two friends accidentally unleash a slumbering dark force that threatens the very existence of the convent.
So the story for this film is simple: girl arrives at convent, girl becomes best friend with other girl, girls awaken evil, and all hell breaks loose. The way this film addresses its themes gives the film more meaning; much like “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders”, “Alucarda” a fantastical story about sexual repression under the Catholic Church, only this film is far more messed up (and “Valerie” sexualizes a thirteen year old- gross!). Part of the reason this film works so well is it’s meager runtime; it feels like it’s ripped right out of a book of fairytales or fables, and fairytales and fables often don’t worry about taking time to develop the worlds where the stories take place, or give us backstories of our characters beyond what is relevant to the story. That sort of focus just makes the pacing fly by, but it also allows us to see through the violence and sex to grasp the themes hinted at directly beneath the surface.
Another thing I loved about this film was the production design. Everything in this movie looks either gorgeous or horrific, and the fact that the imagery is so polarizing makes it even more shocking whenever anything horrific happens. Justine and Alucarda’s convent is grim, gross, dirty and confined, like a prison cell (even the production design is hinting at a kind of repression), but the outside shots are gorgeous and alive with vibrant colors, and when they meet the gypsy, his costuming is far more colorful than the outfits of the nuns. Again, it’s as if this gypsy, who quite literally shows them a different path to take, is showing them a world that is more open and free. As the gypsy leads them down this other path, and eventually to the crypt, which is still, somehow, more alluring than the convent where our protagonists live, they stumble upon a dark power and Alucarda seems to be struck by a sudden realization: that the life she’s been living is a lie. After that, they return to the convent, and Alucarda and Justine’s relationship takes a more sensual turn, eventually devolving into a nightmarish fever dream where a Black Mass/orgy is performed in front of a horned beast; if that isn’t a clear indicator this film is about sexual repression I don’t know what is.
Believe it or not, from there the film gets even more weird and disturbing, but I won’t go into the details. The ending is horrific and brutal and pretty darn awesome, but it’s also filled with buckets of blood and there’s tons of nudity. To me, the ending felt akin to that of “Suspiria (2018)”, wherein Suzy, whom has just revealed she is the true Mother Suspiriorum, summons death incarnate to kill those that were not loyal to her. This movie is about witches and black magic; it’s dark and bloody and evil- I wont pretend like it’s not, but when you go into a nunsploitation/ satanic panic horror movie, you sort of have to expect something along those lines.
Verdict:
This film is definitely not for everyone, but it certainly worked well for me. “Alucarda” is a beautiful, disturbing, meaningful horror film that wasn’t afraid to push the boundaries, and the result is something both spellbinding and revolting.
Review Written By: